Articles
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Manufacturing Gone Missing
Canada’s Economic Disappearing Act
Canadians can be forgiven for being a bit confused about the state of Canada’s economy. Breathless news reports exclaim about the low unemployment rate, surging dollar and buoyant forecasts. But in our neighbourhoods, something seems amiss. Across the country, working people seem to be treading water at best. Keep reading…
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Facebook Facts
Finding Friends and Foes
Unions and workers are making much use of the latest web fad: social networking sites. But are sites like Facebook really adding anything to our ability to organize? If yes, how, exactly? And where are the pitfalls in using online commercial sites for organizing (in every sense of that word)?Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Second Life are hard to avoid these days. For those who haven’t caught the bug yet, these are websites that allow users to organize themselves and… Keep reading…
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Oh Brother
State of the Union Family
“Stop calling me your brother I find it offensive. You are not a member of my family and I do not want to be referred to that way.“That was an e-mail I received at work. And it’s not the first. I get an e-mail like this about once a month. I work for a union local made up of teaching assistants and contract lecturers. Most of them are unionized for the first time, and most of them give me a strange look when I call them Sister or Brother.It’s not that I’m such an old hand at t… Keep reading…
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NEXT UP
A Leadership Program for Young People
“It was either activism or hockey, and I wasn’t allowed to play hockey because I was a girl,” laughs Tria Donaldson, 22, in a quiet Gastown pub. She’s traveled six hours by Greyhound bus through avalanche country from Kamloops, B.C., to the coastal drizzle of Vancouver to be part of “Next Up,” a new leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice. Keep reading…
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Factory Girl
Child Labour and Sweatshops
Kids Can PressToronto, 2007136 pages, $16.95ISBN-13: 978-1-55337-649-1Review by Janet Nicol"So there Emily had stood ever since, shoulder to shoulder with the girls on either side, part of a group of eight around the table, snipping, snipping, snipping, absolutely mute. But would it hurt to smile?” So began the first day of solemn work, almost a century ago, for 12-year-old Emily Watson, who was learning lessons in a Toronto garment factory instead of a ... Keep reading…
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Sex, Race & Sacrifice
Union Organizing
The union cry to organize the unorganized has again become a rallying cry for the labour movements in both Canada and the United States, and it’s not surprising. In both countries there has been an explosive growth in traditionally union-weak areas of the economy, such as in private service work, and in union-weak job classifications such as part-time and contract work.This has been matched with a decrease in union-strong sectors and job classifications. Another challenge for the labou… Keep reading…
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THE ILO AND YOU
Promoting Workers’ Rights in the Global Economy
Canadian unionists, it seems, if they think of the International Labour Organization at all, think of well-paid bureaucrats in Geneva or a bureaucratic dinosaur. Keep reading…
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Math That Matters
A Teacher Resource Linking Math and Social Justice
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2007304 pages, $24.95ISBN: 0-88627-512-1Review by Brian HarrisonThe experience is most likely a universal one for those of us who step into classrooms and teach every day: students, young and old, asking, “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” If the teacher is leading a Grade 7 or 8 math class, this question may be heard on a daily basis. This is, in part, due to the nature of the adolescent learner to question. But it… Keep reading…
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Calling On Call Centres
INTRODUCTION BY DAVID DURNINGIn 2003, the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) filed a certification application in a bid to represent workers at one of the largest call centres in British Columbia. The campaign turned out to be one of the largest and most difficult in recent memory in British Columbia.The union was up against a notoriously anti-union U.S.-based company in a provincial jurisdiction where employers enjoy a lot of freedom to cond… Keep reading…
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Old-Growth Trees and New Coalitions
B.C. Forest Workers and Environmentalists
When it comes to old-growth forests and clear-cut logging, woodworkers and environmentalists have stood at opposite sides of the road for nearly 20 years. Fast forward to today and you’ll find both sides have found a lot of common ground - and it’s not just the one covered in sphagnum moss. Keep reading…
