The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at: https://rabble.ca/podcast/canadas-nurses-will-say-no/
This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a piece from CUPE about a bill just passed into law in Quebec that allows for the privatization of the province’s electricity generation and distribution system. This is an even bigger deal in Quebec than it would be elsewhere as the creation of Hydro Quebec back in the 1960’s was a huge point of pride. Hydro became cheaper and more reliable and electrification spread to rural areas that had been ignored as unprofitable. In some ways Hydro Quebec symbolized the Quiet Revolution.
Inevitably we also carried news of union reactions to the new USian tariffs, the Posties’ attempt at resolving their strike using arbitration, and why unions in Ontario are wigging-out over the Tory government’s Bill 5 and Bill 6 and why the rest of the country should be watching carefully. If the dictatorial powers the Tories have given themselves are sustained by the courts it is hard to imagine the UCP and the Saskatchewan Party not copying them. At least those two provincial governments. At least.
But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was also my favourite global top story: the announcement by the New Brunswick Federation of Labour that delegates to its convention had voted to impose a hot cargo edict on military equipment destined for Israel.
Why it’s my favourite is complicated, but a big part of my reaction is due to the long and proud history the province’s longshoreworkers have for giving effect to the principles of international solidarity.
International Longshoreworkers Association Local 273 in St. John most recently refused to load armoured fighting vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia. And most famously in 1979 its members designated nuclear equipment and materials being shipped to the military dictatorship in Argentina by the Trudeau government. Their action had a practical effect on the dictatorship’s plans for civil and military nuclear programmes but it was of huge symbolic value to those fighting for the return of democracy there.
And when they won that struggle the new government of Argentina honoured the local union with its Orden de Mayo, the highest award given by the Argentine government to citizens of another country for courage, honour and solidarity.
So, yeah, it’s a big deal.
As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you. This week’s is from Saudi Arabia where a coalition of unions from 36 countries is taking on the government of Saudi Arabia over the widespread abuse of migrant workers.
Over on our Women Workers page Canadian stories this week included a piece from Press Progress about the work being by the City in Colour Cooperative in BC to better understand the unsafe and exploitative working conditions many racialized immigrant women face, and how unions can better support them.
The short summary is well worth reading if only because it will make you want to listen to the half hour audio interview.
Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was the announcement by UFCW Canada that the union is taking on Health Canada over pesticide exposures suffered by farmworkers and more threats against the PSAC members tasked with culling an ostrich flock in BC infected with avian flu.
LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from India where one of country’s largest unions, the Self-Employed Women’s Association, is confronting police and courts over the abuse suffered by a Dalit domestic worker.
The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:
This week in 1987, in British Columbia, 250,000 workers walked off the job in a one-day general strike against restrictive labour laws introduced by the Social Credit government. The legislation was repealed when the New Democratic Party returned to power in 1992.
In 1986, in Edmonton, meatpacking workers struck against wage and pension rollbacks. One of their slogans was “Gainers makes wieners with scabs”. There were more than 400 arrests before an agreement was reached in December.
And in 1935 hundreds of unemployed men boarded boxcars in Vancouver, beginning the historic On-to-Ottawa Trek to protest conditions in the relief camps run by the Department of National Defence.
There are lots more labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages. Look for them and be inspired.
This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.
Labour News Network 