Articles
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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…
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Minimum And Living Wage Campaigns In Canada
A Fair Day’s Pay
Cora Mojica gave up working three jobs after she became sick and nearly died. “That was in 2005,” she says. “I was working evenings in the housekeeping department for Aramark at St. Paul’s hospital and, in the morning, I worked for Sodexho as a dietary aide at Vancouver General Hospital.” On evenings she didn’t work for Aramark, Mojica worked for a retail business. “It was very tiring and hectic,” she says.Prior to 2002, the wages for the unionized hospital workers like Mojica were in ... Keep reading…
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Wage Campaigns in Canada
A Fair Day’s Pay
In Victoria, BC, a household of two adults with two children working a combined total of 60 hours a week at $14.88 an hour - with no car, no savings and no student loans to pay off - would have $6.27 left at the end of the month after paying rent, childcare, utilities, and other related living expenses Keep reading…
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Growing Older, Working Longer
The New Face of Retirement in Canada
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa, 2006$19.95, 254 pagesISBN: 0-88627-473-7Review by Ruth LattaBaby boomers need not be afraid of Growing Older, Working Longer, at least not of Monica Townson’s recent book with this title. This 254-page report by an expert in social policy provides a thorough examination of the changing nature of retirement. Townson has been an economic consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, served on t… Keep reading…
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Labourstart And Stop
Online Activism and the Need for Interaction
A few years ago I did a short piece for Our Times about the Internet asan organizing tool. I concluded that, as a tool for helping unioncertification drives, the Internet didn’t yet have a whole lot to offer.This is still true, partly because our legal system is running behindand not all that interested in catching up and partly because theInternet isn’t yet completely imbedded in our culture (especiallyamongst the over-40 crowd). But, mostly, it’s because organi… Keep reading…
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Imagine There’s No Labour Board - Counterpoint
Organizing workers, on the face of it, should be far easy than it is.Twenty-first century Canadian workers, after all, are not slaves, norare they indentured servants. They have extensive rights as workers,which have long been codified in provincial, federal and eveninternational treaties, regulation and law. Put plainly, and as RoyAdams point out, whether or not workers are union members, they have theright to organize collectively, negotiate with their employer… Keep reading…
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Imagine There’s No Labour Board - Point
Roughly seven of 10 Canadian workers are unable to collectively negotiate their conditions of work. There are many reasons for this unsatisfactory state of affairs, including employer opposition to collective bargaining and inadequacies in our labour policy framework. One important reason for the representation gap has gone generally unrecognized. The language that we use to talk about labour relations, and the imagery embedded in that language, have put us in a prison of our own construction… Keep reading…
