Class war is not just a metaphor. It is real war, being murderously waged against workers around the world. We cannot, in good conscience, pretend we are neutral. It is far past time to choose a side and get involved.
“What we desire for ourselves we desire for all” is one of the cherished mottoes of the workers’ movement. This is a ringing endorsement of human solidarity, and it is also an expression of enlightened self-interest. Human liberty is indivisible. So long as any workers anywhere are denied basic human rights, those of us who silently enjoy those protections are complicit in the exploitation of our sisters and brothers around the world if we do not speak out and demand equal protection for all. And our own ongoing struggles in Canada are undermined by global exploitation.
This is one of those cases where doing the right thing in terms of ethics is also in our own best interests. Until all workers have basic human rights protections, including the right to organize and bargain collectively, employers will take advantage of our divisions and weaken us in our struggles. It’s the tired old “divide and conquer” tactic that has seen racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other structures of bias used to weaken our solidarity and divide our movements for too long.
Canadian workers, many of whom have seen their unionized jobs disappear while production shifts to low wage, union-hostile jurisdictions, have good reason to embrace international solidarity. Until workers around the world all have the right to organize and improve their conditions, their low wage labour competes unfairly with workers making decent union salaries in the developed world.
As this column is being prepared in late November, two examples of solidarity in action are in the news. We should all be paying attention.
On November 22, 2022, the Canadian Labour Congress and the United Steelworkers union (USW) filed a complaint with the recently created Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE). CORE describes itself on its website as “…a human rights ombudsperson or ‘ombud.’ We review complaints about possible human rights abuses by Canadian companies when those companies work outside Canada in the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors.”
The complaint says that factories in Bangladesh supplying garments to Canada Tire and Marks retail outlets are paying their workers far below a living wage and calls on Canadian businesses to take action to compensate workers for past harm, increase transparency about its supply chain and immediately negotiate with Bangladeshi unions to ensure that all workers in supplier factories are paid living wages.
READ MORE: Canadian unions have not forgotten Rana Plaza
“In the first part of this year, in the areas where Mark’s sources its merchandise, average monthly wages for women garment workers were only 12,673 taka – that’s $173 per month, or less than $1 per hour in current Canadian dollars. It’s not enough for a decent life,” said Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada. “This is a shameful and long-standing violation of workers’ human rights.”
Canadian Tire told CBC news that it works to ensure that its suppliers comply with all local laws, including compensation.
“As part of our activities to ensure compliance, [Canadian Tire] regularly tracks wage rates and works with reputable third parties to audit factories that manufacture our owned brand products,” the CBC story reads.
This polished public relations language will provide little comfort to exploited workers in the Bangladeshi factories that supply Canadian Tire and its subsidiary, Marks.
Meanwhile, a private member’s bill (C-262), which would address some of the human rights abuses imposed on workers around the world by Canadian firms, has passed first reading and stalled at that level. We should all be in touch with our MPs and remind them that this is an issue important to many Canadian voters and urge them to increase their efforts to pass this bill. At least one labour rights advocate in Bangladesh thinks this bill would represent significant progress.
“If Bill C-262 were in place, Canadian Tire would be forced to proactively address issues of human rights and poverty wages in its supply chain,” said Kalpona Akter, Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity. Call your MP and tell them Kalpona sent you!
Meanwhile, on another solidarity front, Amnesty International is currently circulating a petition that calls for justice for the brutally exploited workers who suffered and died while building the infrastructure for the current World Cup extravaganza in Qatar. The contrast between the pain and squalor that haunts exploited workers in Qatar and the sumptuous display of luxury and conspicuous consumption attending the FIFA gala is sharp, and makes the argument for our solidarity. I urge every reader to sign and circulate the Amnesty International petition. And if you are an active union member, please consider urging your union to actively support this initiative.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
