On April 26th Solidarity Against Austerity hosted a dayschool, “On past and current struggles.”
The fourth panel at the dayschool, entitled ‘Organizing Beyond Current Struggles.’
The panelists:
Brian McDougall an organizer with the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) and member of Solidarity Against Austerity.
Jeremie Bedard-Wien an activist with Quebec Solidaire, and was an organizer of the 2012 Quebec Student Strike.
The panel was moderated by Rebecca Schein.
Picket Tory Minister to Defend Postal Services
All Out for September 20!
by Barry Weisleder
Momentum is growing towards a monster mass picket and rally to defend Canada’s postal services. The protest, set for Saturday, September 20, is directed against Canada Post Corporation plans to terminate home mail delivery. It will be held outside the Toronto constituency office of Conservative Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver at 511 Lawrence Avenue West.
Organizations endorsing the September 20 mass picket now include the Canadian Labour Congress, Ontario Federation of Labour, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union, Public Service Alliance of Canada-Ontario, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Brampton and Mississauga District Labour Council, CUPE Local 3903, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, NDP Socialist Caucus, Communist Party of Canada, International Socialists, and Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste.
Socialist Action/LAS initiated this effort, on the heels of a successful picket it convened on a very cold March 15 at the same site.
The September 20 speakers’ list now includes CUPW National President Denis Lemelin, CLC V.P. Marie Clarke Walker, OFL President Sid Ryan, OPSEU President Smokey Thomas, Sharon DeSousa, V.P. of PSAC-Ontario, and representatives of other endorsing organizations.
The aim of the protest is to compel the Conservative federal
government and Canada Post Corporation to reverse plans to end home mail
delivery, to eliminate thousands of jobs in the postal service, and to
raise the price of postage.
The scheme to degrade postal services, to alienate the public towards the post office, serves the goal of gutting the federal public sector. Within that framework, the rulers strive to trash good jobs, slash postal workers’ pensions, and break a progressive, democratic union. It is a road that leads to selling the most profitable parts of Canada Post to private sector vultures.
This brazenly broadscale assault must be stopped. It is a watershed moment for public services and for the workers’ movement across the Canadian state. The need for public resistance is urgent. Protest activity is developing across the country, with rallies, pickets and town hall meetings. Many municipal governments, including Toronto’s City Council, have voted to oppose the replacement of home mail delivery with collective mega-mail boxes.
September 20 is part of that resistence. The message to Eglinton-Lawrence MP Joe Oliver, the Tory Minister of Finance, is that his Conservative federal budget which aims to slash jobs and kill vital public services, while pampering the corporate elite, is unacceptable.
Joe Oliver voted in Parliament against the New Democratic Party motion to maintain door-to-door mail delivery. Seniors and people with mobility problems strongly oppose being forced to collect their mail at a so-called ‘community mail box’, blocks from home, under all kinds of weather conditions.
The resulting elimination of up to 8,000 letter carrier jobs would be a serious blow to young people and to many others seeking decent-paying employment in a time of great economic stress.
Canada Post is not in debt. It made a profit in 18 of the past 19 years – the exception being 2011, when CPC locked out its employees. And it could be even more profitable as a public asset if it provided banking services at postal outlets across the country. Canada Post and the Tory government suppressed a study that shows how providing banking and other services is the way forward. To the consternation of the vast majority of Canadians, the Tories are stealing workers’ pensions, while cutting vital jobs and services.
If this is the best that the Harper Conservatives have to offer, then they must go. If this is the best that capitalism has to offer, then it too must go. If Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper cannot run a postal service to meet human needs, they should step aside. Let postal workers show how to run the service – under workers’ control.
Take notice Deepak Chopra, Joe Oliver and Stephen Harper: This fight has just begun. Across the country you are facing a rising torrent of opposition to the placement of mega-mail boxes in every city and town. We will not stop fighting your cuts until we reverse them. We will not stop until we remove you.
Thanks for posting this panel discussion. It’s very relevant to organizing discussions happening across the country.