Published on Monday January 7, 2013 by UFCW Canada Political Action Blog For many Canadians, the phrase “Canada: The True North Strong and Free” means that we are free to live in a democratic society where we have the right to freedom of expression and association, but under Government Boss
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wmtc: workers doing it for themselves: fighting the austerity agenda in north america
I’m re-running this, which I wrote for Socialist Worker Canada (now at a temporary site while a new website is being completed). If you are part of this struggle – or if you want to be part of it – and live in the GTA, please join us tomorrow night
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Karl Flecker discusses how the Cons’ push to encourage employers to use temporary foreign workers will affect wages for everybody: In fact, what Kenney said was untrue. He has conveniently forgotten that his government significantly changed the wage rules for employers hiring
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Daniel Wilson discusses how Stephen Harper’s antipathy toward First Nations is making a failure of his time in office: On the global stage, he stood almost alone in opposition to 144 other countries in voting against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Murray Dobbin connects a pattern of economic trends which has seen more and more wealth concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people to the elimination of public discussion about work life: The neo-liberal revolution of the 1980s proposed unfettered capitalism
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Alberta Federation of Labour urges Canadians to be Idle No More
by Alberta Federation of Labour: The Alberta Federation of Labour is urging Canadians to be Idle No More in opposing Bill C-45. On the morning of Friday, Dec. 21, union representatives marched with First Nations leaders and Albertans from all walks of life in Edmonton at an “Idle No More” rally against
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jim Stanford is the latest to point out that the Cons see accountability and transparency solely as punishments to be inflicted on their perceived enemies, not as values to be applied to their own decision-making: Following Mr. Hiebert’s logic, any organization in society
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canadian Labour Congress supports Idle No More and Chief Spence
by Canadian Labour Congress: The Canadian Labour Congress supports Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, who is on a hunger strike in Ottawa. She is determined not to eat until granted an audience with the Prime Minister to discuss conditions on her reserve and government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses the meaning of the Ontario Libs’ attempt to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers in the context of the wider labour movement: The union movement is one of the last remnants of the great postwar pact between labour,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jeremy Warren reports on the origins of the Idle No More movement – recognizing it as an ideal example of how a few people resolving to take action can have a massive impact on public discussions. And Tim Harper notes that Stephen Harper
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tim Harper writes about Tom Mulcair’s success in building the NDP up as the leading alternative to the Cons for Canadian voters: Two-thirds of his questions since becoming leader have dealt with the economy as he attempts to build the case that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – While far too many in the media seem to have glossed over what the Cons’ attacks on votes in Parliament this fall actually meant, Mia Rabson nicely sums it up: (F)or the government to simply reject every single suggestion the opposition makes as
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada’s Human Rights Reputation is Fast Becoming a Myth
by Ontario Federation of Labour: This year, as the global community recognizes December 10 as International Human Rights Day, many Canadians struggle with a vanishing sense of pride in Canada’s once renowned reputation as a leader in human rights. While that reputation has always been contradicted by the lived experiences
Continue readingwmtc: workers rising: global day of action against walmart
In the US, on the biggest shopping day of the year, Walmart workers in 47 states took action against the abusive, illegal retaliatory practices of their behemoth employer. Today, workers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Nicaragua, Zambia and South Africa will show solidarity with those US workers with a
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: At Chinese-owned B.C. mine, no Canadian hires for four years
by BC Federation of Labour “It’s clear HD Mining is in no hurry to hire Canadians and that the province of BC and Government of Canada have been complicit all along.” Documents released today show HD Mining planned to use exclusively underpaid Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW’s) underground for 4.5 years
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the need for the labour movement to reach beyond currently-unionized workplaces to address the needs of unrepresented workers – and the positive signs on that front. For further reading…– Thomas Walkom recognizes the same common interests between workers in different types of workplaces, but worries that the labour
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Bill C-377 can be just the start – let’s shine a light on some corners that are really in the dark!
The ideal Canadian workforce, Harper Conservative style. Below: Social conservative B.C. MP Russ Hiebert. Well, you can’t fight a call for transparency, so why bother? I say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! The so-called Conservative Party of Stephen Harper quietly whipped its troops in the privacy of their
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Right To Work For Less Coming to Ontario
My operating assumption is that Tim Hudak’s “Progressive” Conservative party of Ontario will win the next Ontario election and form the next government. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s certainly the safe bet after events drove McGuinty out of power and Horwath’s NDP haven’t managed yet to convince voters they’re
Continue readingwmtc: more signs of life in the labour movement: non-union workers rising
Of all the reasons for hope that we’ve seen in recent times – Wisconsin, the Occupy Movement, the Quebec students’ actions, the Chicago teachers’ strike – this trend gives me the most joy and the most hope. Here are three stories of non-unionized workers organizing themselves to change conditions in
Continue readingwmtc: from greece to chicago to toronto, workers fighting back against austerity
Working my way backwards, this the second of four talks I attended that I’ll be reporting on. * * * * In November, I heard Nikos Loudos of the Socialist Workers Party in Greece (by Skype) and Canadian activist and organizer Carolyn Egan speak about the recent general strike in
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