Over the past couple of weeks, Donald Trump has truly shown us the depth of his cruelty, at least I hope he has.
Trump’s administration has been separating children – including babies and toddlers – from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border on the flimsy excuse that the parents have committed a crime by trying to escape the violence at home and provide a better and safer life for their families.
The challenge ahead for the labour movement and progressive voters is great.
Doug Ford’s election as premier of Ontario marked a significant change in the politics of the province, and the country. Ford stands for policies that are opposed by the labour movement and by progressive voters across the Canada.
Here is no downplaying the challenge of trying to pursue progressive policies while the Ford Conservatives are in power.
We have been here before, however. We know how to do this.
For more than 470 days, workers at the DJ Composites aerospace facility in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, members of Unifor local 597, have been locked out by their American-based employer.
These workers earn modest wages, by any standard and certainly by aerospace industry standards.
Most who know me, know of my profound respect for central labour organizations, as a force to build solidarity among unions, and bring about change for working people. This is especially true of federations of labour and labour councils across the country, where grassroots campaigning and mobilizing happens.
As a past president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL), I also know how challenging this is.
By Ignatius Oram Unifor Member, Unit Chair of Local 597
I am one of 32 workers who were locked out a few days before Christmas last year by my American employer, D-J Composites, which operates an aerospace manufacturing plant in Gander, Newfoundland.
When people are hurting, such as after a natural disaster, the normal human reaction is to find a way to help.
In fact, for most people, the immediate reaction is not whether they should offer help, but to think about how they can help out best.
In La Doré, Quebec, where the major employer is a Resolute Forest Products sawmill, the obvious way for them to help victims of a devastating hurricane last August in Florida was to send down some of the softwood lumber they produce at the local mill.
It seems as though some in the aviation business are operating under the impression that fatigue is not a big deal. Some have gone so far as to claim on the record that "[fatigue]'s never been identified as a contributing factor in any commercial aviation accident or incident in recent ... in as long as I can remember."(1) Or how about this: “I don’t know of one cargo accident in North America because of fatigue.”(2)
I’m shocked that anyone in this industry would profess such ignorance.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO)—an independent, arm’s length, non-partisan research institute—released a paper on September 12th outlining the likely economic impacts flowing from the pending minimum wage increase (see here). The FAO’s findings are already garnering significant media attention and will almost certainly be used by the opponents of Bill 148 as further proof that the Ontario Government is economically reckless.
After a first round of negotiations for a renewed North American Free Trade Agreement two weeks ago in Washington, where all sides mostly outlined their opening positions, talks move this weekend to the place where much of the problem with the deal lies: Mexico.
