Tim Heffernan and Martin LeBrun are Ontario and BC educators. They say that school days are the best days of our lives. This may be debatable at the best of times. But as the topic of this year’s return to school dominates media and family discussions, one thing is certain: everything is uncertain. With the […]
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Workers across the province are facing an uncertain future. Many of us were temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and under the current Employment Standards Act those layoffs will become permanent and accrued benefits lost unless we are among those “lucky” enough to be called back before 6 months has elapsed. Although some […]
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On June 22 2020, after a gruelling 6 month lockout, members of Unifor Local 594 who operate the Co-operative Refinery Complex in Regina reached a settlement with their employer, Consumer Co-op Refineries Limited (CCRL). The lockout was an often bitter and at times hostile dispute involving 730 workers. The settlement that was approved by 89% […]
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Governments across Canada, and the world, are pushing to re-open the economy. With COVID-19 still rampaging, this is putting profit before people. But the economy won’t just re-open. Millions are unemployed, many more have lost wages and face a rent crisis. People are not going to spend as they did before. Business is not going […]
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Nina Mo is a member of Sozialistische LinksPartei (ISA in Austria). The statement by former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) commander Alireza Alavi-Tabar recently that, “if the current situation continues, people will rise up and the government will face a revolution or collapse which we should deter at all costs,” demonstrates how the Iranian ruling […]
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Karl Marx once said, “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” While this may be a critique of liberal democracy, it can also apply to the state of temporary foreign workers in Canada who hope to live under better […]
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Tony Wilsdon is a member of Socialist Alternative in the US. The spark ignited by West Virginia teachers in 2018 has given new energy to the labor movement. The dynamic teacher strikes which spread from “red states” to big urban areas like Los Angeles and Oakland, centered around mobilization of teachers themselves with active support […]
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Anonymous is a nurse and shop steward in a hospital in Brussels. From Applause to Being Stabbed in the Back Colleagues with a few years of experience felt it coming: following the applause the stabbing in the back. Health care workers off course knew it all along: the politicians who applaud the “heroes” are the […]
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The metaphors of war have been in abundance since the onset of COVID-19. In Britain, the Queen, in a speech, evoked the WW2 song, “We’ll Meet Again.” The Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, also invoked WW2 when he used Winston Churchill’s words to talk about Italy’s “darkest hour.” Donald Trump has described himself as a […]
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The word “hero” is in vogue these days. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance in our society of nurses, cleaners, and grocery store workers to millions. Most Canadians are rightly grateful for the labour of these workers, who are doing their best to contain the pandemic and keep the country fed, often at great […]
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