We have written it on placards and we’ve chanted it in the streets.
It’s time for Green Jobs now!
But what is a green job? And what does it mean to fight for them?
As I write this, postal workers across Canada are being threatened with back to work legislation after being locked out by Canada Post. After a rolling strike began in early June, following eight months of negotiations. This heavy-handed attack on the rights of workers is more than just a warning shot by the Canadian government across the bow of organized labour, and the actions of our sisters and brothers in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) are more than just a strike. This is the frontline of the fight for Green Jobs in Canada.
When we ask people to tell us what a green job looks like, we often hear about building windmills, installing solar panels and re-powering our fossil fuel addicted energy grid. Of course this is true, a shift to a just and sustainable economy means re-tooling how our energy is made and consumed, but a green job is not simply a carbon neutral source of income. Equally, if not more importantly, a green job represents a shift to a new idea about employment, a new economy where work is meaningful and just, and where people are not simply making ends meet, but able to enrich our families and our communities. The future we are fighting for is not simple clean and green, it is also just, and that means respecting and defending the rights of all people -- including workers.
So what does any of this have to do with postal workers?
For more than 50 years CUPW has fought not only for the rights of postal workers, but for the rights of all people in Canada. In 1981 they were the first union to win paid maternity leave, setting the standard for employers across the country. They won this through a 42 day strike, putting themselves on the frontline for all of us, just as they are today.
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Despite attacks from their detractors spreading disinformation, Canada Post remains a profitable enterprise. During the recession of 2008-2009, they turned a profit of 281 million dollars, money that seems to be going towards steps in the wrong direction for both the rights of workers and our environment. Instead of investing in their labour force, Canada Post is taking steps to add more vehicles to their fleet and buying new machines to mechanize their operations.
All this is to say one thing. To every member of CUPW standing on the line today and for however long this fight lasts, thank you for showing us what the fight for Green Jobs looks like. And to everyone out there fighting for a cleaner, greener world, support your postie, because last time I checked, pounding the pavement to deliver our mail is about as carbon neutral as it gets.
Cameron Fenton is the National Director of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition an active member of Climate Action Network Canada.
What about those people working in stores, restaurants, farms taking minimum wage with no benefits, no paid vacations, no complaints and then there are these postal workers with a $19 starting wage up to a maximum of $26 whining about trying to make ends meet. Trust me, give those other people the job as a postie they would be happy to take $19/hr and be grateful as ever. If they are not satisfied, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants willing to take this job.
Yeah, why the hell should Canada Post Corporation pay Canadians decent wages and benefits when we could be importing slave labour to do the job?
Well, the answer may lie in actually reading the article before shooting off one's ignorant mouth about it. There one might read:
Well, my point is unless you've been through what the immigrants went through you probably wouldn't understand how they feel when they hear the posties are complaining about a much better paying job. It's easy for this author to write all these because I'm sure he's really well-off. To be honest my family came to Canada in 2003 and my parents worked hard as hell trying to make ends meet for the first few years and that wasn't easy by any means. My parents, like many skilled workers such as the doctors, engineers, and dentists, come from other country to Canada but ended up doing some low paying job. They are not here to be your so called "slave labours" but their credentials and experiences are not recognized in most cases. Would you call this ignorant thought? To people earning $8/hr, wouldn't you agree a $19/hr job is like a dream come true? It doesn't matter what the standard is the truth is people are continuing to get paid minimum wage and where is the union to represent them? We can stop talking about the big picture and look at people at poverty line, if everyone's getting paid $45k+ a year then I guess there would be much more support for a strike.
Gee, I'm poor. Therefore everyone else should be poor as well. And moreover, shut up and not complain about it.
That's not my point and I wasn't complaining. My family made it through but we need to be more considerate to people actually in need. BTW I was just expressing my opinion, you may agree or not, which is fine but don't tell others to shut up.
I was mimicing what you were saying when you criticized postal workers for "whining" and "complaining". They have every right to complain - it is you who want to shut them up by threatening to take away their jobs and give them to immigrants who are supposedly willing to work for minimum wage.