One hundred and fifty years ago, Friedrich Engels wrote that the solution to housing for the working class was, in fact, workers not owning their own homes. Today it is a myth that owning a home is the path to financial security. Housing in Canada is becoming ever more expensive: buying a house is the […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in solidarity on the picket line. On Friday, August 4, BC’s longshore workers voted to accept a new agreement. This follows more than a month of strikes, bargaining, and the members rejecting two earlier tentative agreements. Behind it all was a major attempt by the bosses, backed by the federal […]
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“We can’t even shop at our own grocery store. We can’t afford to.” The above comment in a news article came from Eman Chaudhry, a part-time cashier at a Toronto Metro store, explaining why they are striking. The article that included her quote stated that “she and her family struggle to make ends meet to […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in solidarity on the picket line. The rollercoaster of the struggle of BC’s longshore workers has taken another turn with the announcement late on Sunday, July 30, that there was a new tentative agreement. This followed International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) members voting to reject the proposals of […]
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This article was published in the latest issue of Socialist Alternative’s magazine. Since then, further strikes have erupted including ILWU at BC’s ports and 27 Metro stores around Toronto. Over the last thirty years, academics and pundits have written off the working class, arguing that it has changed or disappeared. The last few years has […]
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Oliver Twist, desperately hungry in the workhouse, famously asked for “some more” thin gruel. Mr. Bumble is outraged and berates Oliver for his impertinence. Fast forward to 2023 Ontario, land of the business fat cats, auto makers Volkswagen (VW) and Stellantis, who do not request “more,” they demand billions in subsidies, or else. Not a […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in solidarity on the picket line. On Wednesday, July 19, the leadership of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) changed their position on their legal strike multiple times. In the morning they announced they were suspending the strike, after restarting it the day before, only to announce a few […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in solidarity on the picket line. What was Won? The longshore strike on BC’s coast is over. After 12 days of solid action, on the morning of Thursday, July 13, The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) and the employers, the BCMEA, announced they had reached a tentative agreement […]
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Blaine Higgs, the Premier of New Brunswick since 2018, has recently found himself at the centre of multiple controversies. These include but are not limited to his attacks on the LGBTQ community, the status of French language, limitations on abortion access, and a halt on land acknowledgments. His positions on many of these issues are hardly […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in solidarity on the picket line. Workers in Canada have the right to strike. But if a strike is effective, the bosses go bleating to the government demanding they impose back-to-work legislation. This is what is happening with the ILWU strike. The employers’ representatives have walked away from bargaining three […]
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