At noon on March 16 in Scarborough, Ontario, protesters wearing hoods, toques and sunglasses under sunny spring skies hoisted round blue and white signs with messages scrawled in marker: "Fix EI" and "360 hours now." The multi-ethnic crowd of about a hundred men and women marched in a lopsided loop around the entrance to the skyscraper housing Scarborough's Service Canada offices.
workers
Urgent EI fix needed now
Reading the tea leaves of federal politics is always fascinating. How will Nannygate or the isotope scandal play out in the corridors of power? Who will trigger an election and when?
In the grown up world of real life though, for many working people fear is turning to anger.
Too many people are losing their jobs because of risky or incompetent management behaviour; all the while the CEOs keep collecting stratospheric paychecks.
On top of the terrible injury of job loss is the real insult of trying desperately, and often in vain, to collect the meagre benefits of the Employment Insurance system. Although we are in a global economic crisis, far too many Canadians are failing to qualify for EI now because of the where they live.
Toronto strike enters week five
Toronto city workers' strike enters week five with no end in sight.
Related rabble.ca story:
Mind the gap: Navigating Canada's EI system
With less than $600 left in the bank, the letter finally arrived. Opening the envelope in her one-bedroom apartment in north Toronto, Kendra read that her application for Employment Insurance (EI) had been denied: her two part-time jobs didn't add up to enough hours to qualify. "I was sad, but then I knew what my next option was: to apply for welfare," says Kendra softly, matter of fact.
Rich cause the crisis, workers get the blame
For a while, the Wall Street meltdown gave the rich a bad name.
Even they seemed embarrassed by their own excess. There were reports of designer shops packaging purchases in plain paper bags.
But as going downscale lost its novelty, the rich have grown weary of their own embarrassment. Gratuitous extravagance is making a comeback. I noticed a Tiffany's ad in a Toronto newspaper last week for a "diamond solitaire on a platinum band of channel-set diamonds. From $3,550 to $1,000,000."
Clearly the rich are feeling good in their own skin again. Public wrath, having briefly nipped at the heels of the well-to-do, has moved on to the heels of the less well-heeled -- who also carry plain paper bags, but ones you can eat lunch out of.
The Labour Show
Thought I'd drop this in here - an open appeal to the forum if you have any pod ready contributions I will gladly take them and get them on The Labour Show here at rabble.ca
The podcast gets a minimum of 500 downloads with a peak of 2500+ for the J4MW show.
I would love to have more participants from the greater rabble family.
Thanks, Scott
redreid at look.ca
Swallow self-respect? Er, no thanks
There's an excuse-me quality to the Toronto civic employees' strike. "We knew it was not going to be a popular strike," said union leader Ann Dembinski. She didn't request support, just "for the public to be understanding." Further down the (picket) line, it's the same. "We're not asking for anything. We just want to keep what we've got," said a district captain.
Harper gets failing grade
It's report card season and workers are giving Harper a failing grade. Ignatieff is also getting poor marks for a deal with the PM on EI reform. (Photo: http://canadianlabour.ca/)
Related rabble.ca story:
Collective bargaining
Unions are typically responsible for collective bargaining but what if a workplace has yet to be unionized? Workers still can effectively negotiate with employers as long as they maintain solidarity throughout. An employer can't risk all of her/his employees walking out at once or refusing certain tasks. Because of this workers can band together and make specific demands to improve the workplace. This guide will cover:
What collective bargaining is
How to decide demands
Marching on the boss
Harper's impact
Collective bargaining