Ninety-year-old Joy Taylor asks all of us to ‘be the voice’: Recommend this Post
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Politics, Re-Spun: IKEA’s (Sad) Spin Reply to My Boycott Letter
Solidarity means an attack on one is an offense to all! So if you have sent your letter to IKEA explaining why you are boycotting them for locking out their Richmond workers for 10 weeks, you may have received this precious reply from the corporation, below. I will re-spin it
Continue readingcmkl: My sweetie has a blog
One of the labour movement’s great minds and most driven, brilliant researchers has a blog. Oh and did I mention she’s got great taste in partners? She’ll be mostly following equality issues as they pertain to unions and their role representing individual workers and advocating for social justice generally. But
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Ikea’s Union-Busting Lockout in Richmond, BC Reaches Two Months
Is Walmart Ikea’s labour relations mentor? Ikea, that family-friendly darling of home decor and Swedish innocence is trying to break its union, Teamsters Local 213. They have locked out their Richmond, BC workers for two months now, while deciding to bargain in reverse: Start with a pathetic offer, then as
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Dozen Reasons why Bill C-377 is the Worst
There has appropriately been a lot a criticism about Bill C-377 at House of Commons committees and the Senate. Hugh Segal has been particularly eloquent as have the many submissions. Graham Cox has a good selection of them on his Citizens’ Press website. Here’s a short summary with a dozen
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: C-377: A Chance for the Senate to Prove Its Worth
There’s a hilarious piece in today’s National Post by Dean Beeby, who cleverly used an access to information request to ferret out a copy of the training manual they use for the summer students who guide tourists around Parliament Hill. Anticipating critical questions about the role of the Senate in our
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: International report condemns Harper government’s attacks on workers, trade unions
By: Obert Madondo Twitter: @Obiemad A new report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) condemns the Harper Conservatives for repeated violations of union and worker rights. The annual report, titled Countries at Risk: 2013 Report on Violations of Trade Union Rights, was released in Geneva earlier this week. It suggests that labour conditions have deteriorated under Prime Minister
Continue readingLeft Over: Strength in Numbers, or Just Numb?
Unifor: CAW, CEP Merger Creates Largest Private-Sector Union In Canada Posted: 05/30/2013 11:59 am EDT | Updated: 05/30/2013 5:12 pm EDT Considering that CUPE, the largest public sector union, seems to be powerless when it really matters, I’m not sure what difference this is going to make to the private sector…the same things apply
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: UNIFOR: Canada’s new super union that combines CAW and CEP
Meet Unifor Canada, the son-to-be super union combining the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP) and the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW). It’ll be biggest private sector union in Canada. The post UNIFOR: Canada’s new super union that combines CAW and CEP appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Profits Before People: Richmond Ikea Lockout Enters Day 17
Generating enough media spin to rival a jet engine at take off, the management and PR folks at Ikea Canada want you to believe that their poor little corporation is being held hostage by greedy, soulless union workers in Richmond. Woe. Pity poor Ikea. It’s tough being a multi-national
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Hahahaha Clement Hahahahaha…Nice Joke!
Tony Clement to bring in performance reviews for public sector employees. “if your not performing, prepare to be out.” What a joke! I wonder if Tony Clement has some type of performance review that dictates if he keeps his job? Oh yes, I believe he does…it is called an election…and
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: organized labour is the only potential political force with enough critical mass & enough organizational capability to get things moving.
Here’s my take on the May Day CUPE Sponsored Workshops in Ottawa on Saturday, the 27th of April: It was an interesting affair for its lamentations and the myriad problems it laid forth with little emerging by way of tactics, however, and certainly no overall strategy. Unions can’t even wrestle concentrated concern from
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Someone Always Has To Die…
It has been a pretty busy week so far and this beautiful weather has been a much needed treat(ment) for the woes of working a stressful job and trying to get by. Fortunate for me, but unfortunately for 500 other people, there will no longer be good and bad days,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Conservatives attack on unions a threat to shared prosperity in Canada, says Broadbent Institute
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: The right-wing’s regressive anti-union rhetoric and U.S.-styled attacks on the labour movement threatens Canada’s prosperity, says a report recently released by the progressive Canadian think tank Broadbent Institute. The report expresses grave concern about the Conservative government’s current political agenda and “highly-organized right-wing campaign to import American-style
Continue readingcmkl: Treasury Board takes Crown corporations from arm’s length to short and curly length
To hear Pierre Poilievre howl about the Conservative government’s plans to put a Treasury Board negotiator at the bargaining table of Canada’s Crown corporations you’d think that the places were run by the Soviet Workers’ Councils of Leon Trotsky’s dreams.
Continue readingcmkl: Merit Canada wants to keep unions out of politics even as they play politics themselves
The nerve. Chapter one: Terrance Oakey, the spokesmuppet for Merit Contractors Association, a lobby group that wants, among other things, laws passed to require unions to cough up private information on any expense over $5000 to Revenue Canada, legal restrictions on what sorts of issues unions can comment or act
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Public sector wages lag private sector
Conservatives often suggest that public sector settlements are out of whack with private sector settlements. In fact, the evidence from Ontario over the last couple of decades proves the opposite. Public sector settlements have fallen behind private sector settlements. Here is the data from the Ontario Ministry of Labour: Percent
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Public sector wages lag private sector
Conservatives often suggest that public sector settlements are out of whack with private sector settlements. In fact, the evidence from Ontario over the last couple of decades proves the opposite. Public sector settlements have fallen behind private sector settlements. Here is the data from the Ontario Ministry of Labour: Percent
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: This song against the recently deceased former British prime…
This song against the recently deceased former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is “Oxford Lady” by the Manchester-based post-punk/New Wave band The Brigade. Lyrically, it’s a bit more subtle than most of the anti-Thatcher songs I posted, but that just means you have to listen a bit more closely. As
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: Summit tackles growing unfairness in Canada: Unions resolve to be part of solution
Canadian Labour Congress | Press Release: More than 350 labour leaders met for a one-day summit on Friday, March 22 in Toronto to talk about how their members can advocate for greater fairness for all Canadians. “We met to reaffirm our resolve that all Canadian workers have the right to share
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