by Emily Leedham On Wednesday February 5, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. CEO Scott Banda gave a shout out to United We Roll, the group responsible for last year’s well-publicized but small convoy to Ottawa claiming to defend oil and gas workers. “…I kind of noticed that United We Roll was here as well,” said Banda. “Thank Continue readingStrange new allies for FCL CEO Scott Banda
racism
Karen Cocq from the Migrant Rights Networks discusses the #UniteAgainstRacism campaign, why it matters and how you can get involved. “We are struggling to make ends meet, while the rich keep getting richer. Instead of fixing this, politicians are using anti-immigrant racism to distract us. Sign this pledge to tell politicians that you will not Continue readingIt’s time to #UniteAgainstRacism
by Haseena Manek Thirteen labour council presidents from across Canada have signed onto an open letter calling for the theme of Labour Day 2019 to be #UniteAgainstRacism. The letter was released by the Migrant Rights Network (MRN) as part of their ongoing anti-racism campaign. It calls for the labour movement to endorse the campaign by Continue readingLabour council presidents across Canada #UniteAgainstRacism
Rank & File Radio – Prairie Edition, February 17, 2019: Daniel Huber, founder of the Alberta Vanguard Association and Fairserve.ca, reacts to UCP leader Jason Kenney’s new proposal for a sub-minimum wage for youth and alcohol servers in Alberta. Kenney announced that idea at a recent meeting for Restaurants Canada, an industry lobby group opposed Continue readingCombating Alberta’s restaurant lobby | Worker-driven workplace inclusion
By Doug Nesbitt Going viral this week was a video of a white man in a London, Ontario Sobeys grocery store blocking a young brown man from leaving the store. Pushing him and and threatening a “citizen’s arrest” for being an “illegal alien”, the racist attack is now being investigated by police. With nearly two Continue readingOrganizing against racist attacks in your workplace
By Robert Devet Halifax CAO Jacques Dubé was getting a bit carried away when he told CBC yesterday that “we’re making good progress” to rid the Municipal Operations workplace of racism, misogyny and ableism. That’s not what the African Nova Scotian workers thought when they rallied at City Hall, and it also isn’t what the Continue readingHalifax action against workplace racism moving along at snail′s pace
By Haseena Manek The Human Rights Council of Ontario has ruled that the applications made by two of 54 current and former participants of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program regarding racial profiling in Elgin County were in ‘good faith’. The legal representatives for the respondent in the case, the Ontario Provincial Police, called for the Continue readingMigrant workers score victory against racial profiling and coercion of DNA by police
By Robert Devet Here in Nova Scotia we hear about racism in the workplace too often. It’s terrible, and there is little we can do, apart from writing a letter or maybe boycott a store. But when that workplace is our very own city than we own that problem. In 2016 a report by an Continue readingWhen your very own City Hall is a racist employer
By Robert Devet As traffic infractions go, driving with a (lightly) tinted front window must be pretty low on the seriousness scale. At least, that is what Jason MacLean, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) always assumed. After all, he had interacted with police several times while driving that same Continue readingFighting for the union, fighting systemic racism in Halifax
By Daniel Tseghay Released in September by Fernwood Publishing, Robyn Maynard’s Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present clearly details a long and, arguably, actively forgotten, history. It’s a history of the repression and exploitation of black people in this country – a country whose identity is largely formed by Continue readingBook Review: Policing Black Lives
By Alia Karim Alia Karim interviewed Malka Paracha, a Muslim worker and trade union activist at York University, about overcoming Islamophobia in her workplace. Racism on college and university campuses comes in many forms. The past year has seen a dramatic upsurge in hate-crimes and open racist sentiment across North American schools. On my campus, Continue readingFighting racism and Islamophobia through the struggle for $15 and Fairness
By Nora Loreto In Charlottesville, Virginia, when a car ploughed into a crowd of anti-racist activists killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others, many people linked that tactic to recent terror attacks, especially in Europe. Indeed, driving a truck into a crowd of protesters has become a favoured tactic for some who seek to murder. Continue readingRe-engaging unions in the fight against fascism