R&F.ca Weekly Update
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- Published on Friday, 11 March 2016 05:45
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WORKERS' RIGHTS IS A FEMINIST ISSUE
By Charlotte Gilman
Front line workers in women’s shelters perform essential, yet underappreciated labour. Our work begins before women even come to a shelter. We respond to crisis calls, giving immediate support and information each time we pick up the phone. We clean up rooms and ensure that they are stocked with essential items like bed sheets, towels, blankets, and toiletries. When a woman arrives to the shelter, we invite her to have a meal and support her while she settles in.
When she is ready, we sit down with her and listen as she tells her story, perhaps for the first time, providing non-judgmental support. We stand by her side as she works through oppressive systems by asking, “How can we support your advocacy? What do you need from us?” Read more!
SHAKING UP OTTAWA'S LABOUR COUNCIL, PART ONE
By Doug Nesbitt
On February 18, the Ottawa & District Labour Council held its biannual election. Sean McKenny was re-elected as president for a seventh consecutive term but a strong challenge was mounted by a campaign group that put forward Joel Harden for president. Harden, chief steward for CUPE Local 4600, received 44 percent of the vote.
Rankandfile.ca’s Doug Nesbitt spoke with Joel Harden on March 3 2016. Pulling no punches in this two-part interview, Harden talks about the changing nature of work in Ottawa, the potential power of federal public service workers, the ODLC’s current problems, and the types of organizing that can make the ODLC relevant and effective in building workers struggles. Read more!
CANCELLED: HOW A LOCAL TV STATION DESTROYED A UNION
By Brad Walchuk CUPE 1281 member
Upwards of 100 workers and community allies gathered in Hamilton, Ontario on February 29, 2016 for a rally in support of the roughly 170 unionized workers (Unifor Local M-1 Hamilton) at “CH”, a local Hamilton television station, who were terminated without cause in mid-December 2015 as part of what appears to be an orchestrated bankruptcy in a deliberate attempt by Channel Zero (CH’s parent company) to rid itself of the union. As former NDP MP Wayne Marston told the crowd at last week’s rally, “if it smells like union busting, it is union busting.”
The rally itself was well-attended and featured speakers from Unifor, the local labour movement. Read more!
HOW STUDENT CASEWORKERS UNIONIZED THEIR SUMMER JOBS
In the summer of 2015, summer student caseworkers at Parkdale Community Legal Services joined the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union. Two worker-organizers who were central to the campaign, Jenna Meguid and Parmbir Gill, took time to answer some questions from Jason Edwards for Rankandfile.ca.
Rankandfile.ca: The Ontario Labour Relations Board certified your bargaining unit as “all persons employed by Parkdale Community Legal Services Inc. as summer students enrolled in the Osgoode Hall Law Program in the City of Toronto…” Who does this encompass: how many workers and what kind of work are they doing? Read more!
Check out our weekly labour news update every Monday for a summary of the past week's top labour news stories, and our feature labour video every Saturday! @rankandfilca Youtube r53 | r54This email was sent to s6
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