Activist and journalist Kevin Brice-Lall talks about the situation facing sugar workers in Guyana and the attempt of the government to shut down Wales Estate. You can sign a petition supporting the sugar workers here.
international solidarity
By Kevin Brice-Lall The same ties which link companies from Canada to Guyana don’t just link those companies exploitative practices—like Canadian owned Omai Gold Mine which was responsible for Guyana’s worst environmental disaster—they can also link together the struggles against those practices. The current struggle against privatization and closures in the sugar industry in Guyana Continue readingSupporting Guyana’s sugar workers
By David Bush and Gerard Di Trolio In the wake of Britain’s shocking vote to leave the European Union, a recent polls shows that only 1 in 4 Canadians believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is good for the country. This poll was timed to coincide with the “Three Amigos” summit in Continue readingLet’s hate NAFTA like we used to
By Dawn Tefft Just as the tourist season is starting in France, strikes are preventing half the trains from running. Fuel is in short supply, as workers blockade oil refineries. The news is full of riots, burning tires, and police attacking protesters. Strikes across multiple industries are shutting down transportation across France, as workers protest Continue readingStrike wave sweeps France
From the LabourStart 2016 conference in Toronto on May 8, 2016: The global labour movement has long criticized Israel for human and trade union rights violations and abuse of Palestinian workers, while workers in Palestine are resisting oppression and building a movement we can support. Trade unions and federations of labour in Canada are heeding Continue readingLabour Struggles in Palestine and International Solidarity
By Daniel Tseghay They worked 12 hours a day, with no more than an hour break under an unrelenting sun, for six days a week. When one worker left the work site without authorization he was imprisoned for four months. Working for the equivalent of $30 a month, they were rewarded with inadequate food and Continue reading“Labour Struggles truly have no borders:” Vancouver’s connections to Slave labour in Eritrea
By Gerard Di Trolio South Korea has seen the the largest crackdown on labour and civil rights since the end of the military dictatorship in the late 1980s. Protests led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) against reforms that would weaken labour protections were repressed by police. The KCTU leader Hang Sang-gyun has Continue readingTime for Canada’s Labour Movement to Think and Act Globally
Support for resettling Syrian refugees from the Canadian Labour Congress and the wider labour movement is to be commended. The Labour movement has stood strongly against the Islamophobia and racism that reactionary forces inject into the issue. But the calls to welcome refugees and fight racism aren’t enough. The labour movement must take a principled Continue readingThe labour movement should say NO to war!
By Daniel Tseghay In the year of Vancouver’s incorporation as a city in 1886, industrial unionists formed a local branch of the Knights of Labor. The union, which sponsored the Asiatic Exclusion League, played a prominent role in the riot that erupted the following year. Three hundred white workers expressed their animosity towards the Chinese Continue readingA history of migrant work in BC: Labour’s choice between exclusion and solidarity
OFL to launch “Dump Harper” campaign | Stephen Harper has worst economic record of any Prime Minister | Unifor and the NDP at odds over NAFTA | Miniature gardens sprout up where community mail boxes are planned in London | Ottawa cleaners reach tentative deal | Staff cuts affecting food safety | Claims of BC Continue readingR&F Labour News Update – August 3 2015
By Toby Moorsom On Aug. 16, 2012, the South African Police Force (SAPF) gunned down a group of striking miners. Following the first hail of bullets, they hunted down the remaining workers in commando fashion, shooting many in the back. In total, 34 were killed and scores of others injured in what’s been dubbed the Marikana Continue readingCanadian Labour Must Change its South African Alliances
Unpaid work | PIPSC convention | Canadian Hockey League | Ontario colleges | Campbellton, NB lockout | BC public sector bargaining | Saskatchewan privatization | Temporary Foreign Workers Program | Federal sick leave | Marikana massacre | San Francisco minimum wage Encouraging youth to engage in unpaid work is a recipe for exploitation Jerry Dias, Continue readingRankandfile.ca Labour News Update: November 10, 2014