The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at: https://rabble.ca/podcast/what-is-a-far-leftist-in-the-us/
I think the federal government’s plans for the post office is generating our first-ever breaking news interruption to the normal flow of my reports.
Look for the Posties’ reaction and updates on the strike the announcement inspired on our Canadian pages in French, English and any other languages where we can find coverage.
Prior to Thursday evening, the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included our latest podcast, an interview with the president of the BCGEU. It covers, of course, the union’s escalating walkout and how the strikers plan to come out of the current round of bargaining with the government of British Columbia with a win.
It’s worth noting here that our podcast series has had a few interviews with Canadian trade unionists and they’ve consistently been amongst our most popular. This interview with Paul Finch looks to be no exception. We’ve already seen some indications that Paul has a following, a fan club even, amongst retired British comrades who listened to the interview within minutes of it dropping.
Follow the link on our main page to give it a listen.
Other stories included the ongoing and now two weeks-old strike by OPSEU members who work at the province’s colleges, what the CLC is looking for from Parliament in the current session, the NSFL’s reaction to proposed changes to the Workers Compensation Act, and what looks like an impending strike by Vancouver Symphony musicians.
As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you. This week’s is from Italy where we saw strikes in solidarity with the flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza by landing token amounts of food and medical supplies.
The one-day walkouts hit Italy’s largest cities hard with hundreds arrested.
Oddly enough, we’re carrying news of and from the flotilla itself on national news pages scattered across our site.
Several unions from around the globe are supporting members who are participating. Some of the best coverage comes from members of the Maritime Union of Australia aboard a sailboat that has joined the flotilla.
Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included progress or the lack thereof in the ECE strike in Cape Breton. As in the rest of the world, early childhood education is considered women’s work and their pay and working conditions reflect the gendered nature of their work. If you get a chance, cheer them.
What’s also common across the country is that these Unifor members have the overwhelming support of the parents with sprogs in the facility.
Another is PSAC’s push for meaningful pay equity action in the federal public service. The Alliance campaign is starting to generate some favourable editorials in the media and we’re carrying a few of them.
Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was another Alliance item, this one detailing the ways in which the union works to improve health and safety not just in Canada, but around the world.
We also have items about the hope for safer work for Ontario’s firefighters and the launch of the CLC’s workplace harassment and violence cross-country survey.
LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from France where on 18 September unions organized a national general strike and protest over the Macron regime’s commitment to neoliberal austerity budgeting, cuts to public services and its refusal to raise taxes on the rich and corporations. In Paris 500,000 joined a protest march. Similar events were held across the country.
The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:
In 1873 the Canadian Labour Union was founded in Toronto. This first attempt to organize a Canadian labour central finds limited support, mainly from skilled workers in Ontario.
And in 1963, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, now Canada’s largest union, was founded in Winnipeg through a merger of NUPE and NUPSE. The union goes on to break new ground in building the labour movement and in organizing women workers.
Finally, and this is a really big deal for us here at LabourStart, 25 September 1995 Canadian unions supporting the Liverpool Dockers Solidarity Campaign participate in national actions using the internet, thanks to Larry Kuehn and his union, the BCTF. This is believed to be the first time the net was used to organize an international labour solidarity action.
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.
Speaking of inspiration, we are currently campaigning on behalf of textile workers in Turkiye whose union is under attack. The workers are out picketing after facing all kinds of harassment for having the temerity to organize.
Their union, TEKSIF and the global union federation IndustriALL are asking us all to take a few seconds and send a solidarity message. A link to the campaign page is right up there on LabourStart.org.
This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.
Labour News Network 