Not one word. Not one about the real problem. It’s not wages. It’s soaring profits that are the problem. Come on: workers wages have not kept pace and the one chance to catch up and central bankers coaching biz not to raise wages too much! #cdnpolicbc.ca/news/business/…
"As a business, don't plan on the current rate of inflation staying. Don't build that into longer-term contracts. Don't build that into wage contracts. It is going to take some time, but you can be confident that inflation will come down." /3
As a lifelong trade unionist who has spent a lot of time on picketlines and at protests, it's not lost on any of us how the police have been used to suppress democratic trade union rights and bust strikes /1 #cdnpoli#canlab
Indeed, often police forces are used to enable the transport of scabs across picket lines. In other words they act as a agent to help capitalism suppress working people's legitimate charter right to a union and all that this should entail /2
There are too many examples to cite. Pick a picketline. The Fleck strike of 1978 - a strike of mostly women working in horrific conditions. These women were courageous and their cause just. riseupfeministarchive.ca/activism/issue… /3
The UCP govt has declared war on workers rights (Bill 32), on public not-for-profit health care (Bill 30).
And so much more.
Enthralled with American Republicans, Kenney and the UCP are bringing this nastiness north /1
It isn't an incremental attack or a slight erosion of trade union and worker rights. It's a full court press.
Health care and education: important public goods that help share the wealth and give everyone a fighting chance are also getting the Kenney Republican treatment /2
The Alberta Labour Movement (@ABFedLabour) and dozens of civil society organizations are fighting back hard. But friends they need our help.
Some thoughts on Canada's Employment Insurance system.
In the best of times, it's inadequate, failing 100,000s of workers - precarious workers. During a pandemic, it is 10,000x inadequate. It's an example of how eroded safety nets come back to haunt us during tough times.
/1
Some of the troublesome features remaind from the early 1990s when govt, specifically the Chretien/Martin Liberals, hacked away at EI. Unemployed workers were labelled cheats and therefore the system needed harsh penalties to encourage ppl to find work /2
The built-in penalties: waiting periods and reduced benefits. In the early 1990s, govt slashed the benefit rate to 55%. At one point, the benefit rate was as high 75% income replacement. Until governments decided unemployed workers needed to be punished for losing their jobs /2