CANADIAN POLITICS/CANADIAN LABOUR- TORONTO:

JUST GIMME MY MONEY:

The following story is from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). It's all about how the city of Toronto is trying to use the poor as a political football during the present civic workers strike in that town.

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OCAP Demands that People on Assistance get Their Money!:‏
July 17, 2009

About 75 people on welfare and members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty went to Mayor David Miller's office in City Hall today to demand that people be issued their benefits that they city is illegally withholding because of the strike.

“We waited outside the Mayor's office for over an hour but the city refused to even send someone out to speak to us. Eventually we delivered about 35 forms for the special diet by sliding them through a crack in Miller's glass doors,” said one member.

The City says that it will only deal with "emergency" situations for people on welfare. This means that the City is refusing to process most new benefits for people on assistance and has frozen people's cheques. Not having enough to eat because you can't get your special diet is an emergency but Miller doesn't think so. Right any now, people cannot access the special diet - money people desperately need to be able to buy groceries.

There is also a large number of people who are homeless or who are moving who cannot get last month's rent and risk losing apartments they have lined up. There are even people who have found jobs since the strike began who cannot get money to get to work and risk losing their jobs because of it. One person we spoke to was simply told not to cash his cheque because they would go after him for the money when the strike was over. Another person explained that he desperately needs glasses but was unable to get welfare to release a voucher so he can get them.

In a tremendous gesture of solidarity, CUPE workers lifted the picket line for OCAP to enter City Hall. While Miller is trying to spin the welfare crisis he created as just another reason for CUPE workers to sign a contract. But workers taking concessions does no good for people on welfare - it just creates a race to the bottom that makes things worse for everyone.

Miller's response to OCAP’s delegation was: "due to the limited number of workers that we have, and of course the demands for social assistance brought about by the recession, we are unable to process special claims like the special diet," he went on to say "While the garbage issue gets headlines, the example of social assistance is a very stark reminder of what I've been saying throughout -- this is a strike against the most vulnerable Torontonians, including social assistance recipients and children."

In other words, Miller blames the strikers for the city's refusal to issue people the money they desperately need. At the same time, Miller has been blaming welfare recipients for causing the financial crisis that led to the strike.

OCAP explains: “OCAP will continue to fight for people on assistance to get what they need and what they are entitled to. If you or someone you know is on welfare and being denied what you need right now or ever, call OCAP and we will fight together to get it. Today's action was only a first step we will not stop until the Miller ensures people are getting their grocery money, their rent money and the other benefits they are entitled to.”

Watch for more details & pictures on the OCAP website tomorrow, or for more information, call OCAP at 416-939-6950 or email ocap@tao.ca

CANADIAN LABOUR-WINDSOR/TORONTO:

ONTARIO CIVIC WORKERS STRIKES CONTINUE:

Here, from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is the latest news about the civic workers strikes in Windsor and Toronto.

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Windsor workers reject city offer:
CUPE 82 and 543 members voted Jul 17 to reject the City of Windsor's latest offer.

Members of CUPE 82 voted 77 per cent against the offer while CUPE 543 members were 85 per cent against.

CUPE 82 president Jim Wood hopes this will convince the City to bargain seriously.

“Our membership just sent a clear message to Mayor Eddie Francis,” he said. “Our workers are ready to return to work but not at any cost. The City is asking for major concessions and offering nothing in return. We have been fighting for fourteen weeks and this should finally make the City understand we are not giving up.”

Wood said after Wednesday's events, where city managers were leafleting CUPE members out front of their union meeting, the locals are considering another unfair labour practice complaint.

"These tactics from the Mayor have to end," Wood said. "He’s the one who provoked the continuation of this strike.”

CUPE 543 president Jean Fox said “We need to resolve the strike as quickly as possible and resume services for the citizens of Windsor. Our members showed today how serious they are about fairness and respect. It’s now time for Mayor Eddie Francis and Council members to step up to the plate.

The locals which together represent about 1800 inside and outside workers at the City of Windsor, have been on strike since mid-April.

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Here, once more from CUPE, is another story on the rejection of the city of Windsor's offer.

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CUPE members reject the offer presented by the City of Windsor:
WINDSOR, Ont. – Yesterday, members of locals 82 and 543 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) were voting on an offer presented by the City of Windsor. After the final count, 77 % of local 82 members rejected the offer and 85 % from local 543 also voted against the City’s proposal.

Jim Wood, president of local 82, hopes this outcome will convince the City to bargain seriously: “Our membership just sent a clear message to Mayor Eddie Francis”, stated Wood. “Our workers are ready to return to work but not under any condition. The City is asking for major concessions and offering nothing in return. We have been fighting for fourteen weeks and this should finally make the City understand we are not giving up.”

After some of the events that took place on Wednesday, where management members were handing out flyers to members waiting to vote, Wood was upset at the City’s attitude: “At the moment, we are discussing with our legal counsel the possibility of filing an unfair labor practice. These tactics from the Mayor have to end. He’s the one who provoked the continuation of this strike.”

After the vote, Jean Fox, president of CUPE local 543, was pleased by the support of her membership: “Today we sent a clear message to council members: Start bargaining seriously”, said Fox. “We need to resolve the strike as quickly as possible and resume services for the citizens of Windsor. Our members showed today how serious they are about fairness and respect. It’s now time for Mayor Eddie Francis and Council members to step up to the plate. The two locals are committed to returning to the table but the City will have to be serious in getting an agreement and offer a fair package that addresses our members concerns. ”

CUPE local 82, representing outside workers, have been on strike since Wednesday, April 15th. Their colleagues of local 543, the inside workers, joined the picket line on Saturday, April 18th.
For information:
Luc Tittley

CUPE Communications

519-564-7468

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And finally, from CUPE in the city of Toronto where another and more mediagenic civic workers strike is also ongoing, comes the union's side of what the city is demanding. Molly is most impressed by the "118 pages of concessionary demands" part. There is the old "pound of flesh nearest the heart", but this has to be at least three pounds.

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City of Toronto’s concession demands made strike necessary, says Local 416:
Mayor David Miller got one thing right in his remarks to media this afternoon.

“We have said from day one that this strike should not have happened,” said Mark Ferguson, president of Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 CUPE.

“But it did happen because the city waited until we were three weeks into the strike to table an offer that gave us something to work with. And that is what we have been trying to do since last Friday. If that offer had been tabled before the strike deadline, we may not have had to strike.”

Mayor Miller is deliberately misleading Torontonians when he suggests that the city is no longer demanding concessions from the members of Local 416, Ferguson said.

“There has been nothing fair about the city’s proposals. Taking away our members’ accumulative sick plan is a huge concession,” he said. “And the city is still trying to force senior employees out the door on layoff while junior employees remain on the job. Let’s not forget, well into the strike we were still trying to fight off a total of 118 pages of concessionary demands – and the mayor wonders why we continued to bargain even after going on strike.”

The longer the strike continues, the more resistant members are to giving up hard-won benefits and working conditions, Ferguson said.

“We all want a resolution to this strike. The best way to achieve it is for the city to stop its rhetoric and put in some real work at the bargaining table.”
For more information, contact:
Pat Daley,

CUPE Communications,

416-616-6142

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

TORONTO PARAMEDICS PROTEST IN THEIR OWN WAY:

The following from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is an update on solidarity actions for the Toronto civic workers' strike. Paramedics who are employed by the city of Toronto have, of course,to provide an essential service. This doesn't mean that they can't show their solidarity with their fellow workers in other ways. Personally I like the black and red colour scheme, but I guess I'm prejudiced.

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Paramedics step up in Toronto strike:
At the same time as Toronto Mayor David Miller was publicly releasing the city’s latest offer to Locals 416 and 79 on July 10, paramedics who work for Toronto EMS were announcing their plan to make sure the public knows they are part of the city-wide strike.
***Charles, CUPE 79's picket line troubadour (YouTube)
***Paramedics announce t-shirt campaign (photos)
***Steelworker solidarity barbecue (photos)





The medics, who belong to Local 416, will begin tomorrow to wear black t-shirts with the slogan “paramedics on strike” instead of their regulation shirts. Local 416 and the city of Toronto have an essential services agreement that requires staffing levels be maintained at about 75%.





Meanwhile, the two locals have submitted counter offers to the city. They say they will not join the city in bargaining through the media.(Ah, those politicians- they just can't stop campaigning no matter how imappropriate it may be-Molly)




Earlier in the week, the Steelworkers Toronto council held a solidarity barbeque at Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall for picketers and their families. Solidarity activities continue next week with an OPSEU picket at city hall on Monday, barbeques sponsored by CUPE 4400, CAW and the Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Association at various picket lines on Wednesday, and a CAW picket on Thursday.

CANADIAN POLITICS:

CITY MANAGERS BEAT HOMELESS MAN IN TORONTO:

It seems that the managers in the city of Toronto are getting right mean these days. Tomorrow, as the following press release says, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) will be holding a press conference about the recent beating of a homeless man in that city by managerial personnel staffing one of the 'shelters' down there. As the garbage piles up because of the civic workers' strike the boy scout thrill of actually having to work for a living wears a little thing after a few days. I'm sure the managers will be happy to get back to the hour long coffee breaks and the 2 1/2 hour long lunch. It seems that the jolly crew below were on the bottom of the ass kissing pyramid. Work for a change ? Yeah,as long as it doesn't last too long. But the boneyard shift ? This gets bad. Finally, they drew the flophouse (excuse me, am I supposed to say "shelter" in our politically correct society ?) detail. Considering that the city of Toronto is hiring outside contractors to deal with the vermin at the temporary dumps, this particular flophouse watch is probably the worst piece of bad luck a manager could pull. Or maybe not. What about sewers in TO ? Is that being contracted out as well ?

Who knows. One thing is for sure; the boys in the suits are getting right snake mean. One can only imagine what they'd do to their workers if they could get away with it. In any case, here's the story...

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Press Conference Thursday: City Management Assaults Homeless Man At Seaton House Shelter:‏
City management assaults homeless man at Seaton House shelter: Man severely beaten and dumped on sidewalk over dispute about a sandwich.

Press Conference

Date: Thursday, July 9

Time: 11:00 am

Location: Seaton House, 339 George Street(east of Jarvis Street, south of Gerrard Street)

Everyone is welcome. Please come out and support OCAP and condemn the assault of homeless man by City management at Seaton House.

Man severely beaten and dumped on sidewalk over dispute about a sandwich.

On June 24TH, 2009, Brian DuBourdieu went to The Seaton House men's shelter in downtown Toronto, to get something to eat and a night's sleep. Instead, he ended up spending the night in the emergency room of St.Mike's hospital.

The assault took place after Mr. DuBourdieu asked for something to eat from the city management who are staffing the shelter during the current strike. Despite his serious allergy to peanut butter, he was told by the managers that was all there was to eat, after which a sandwich was thrown at him. Upset and angry, Mr. DuBourdieu threw the sandwich back at the manager, kicked a steel door (causing no damage), turned and walked away.

“That is when the five city managers that were working, jumped me from behind, tackled me to the ground and three of them held me down while the other two kicked me repeatedly,” said DuBourdieu. The managers then picked Mr. DuBourdieu up. “They carried me down three flights of stairs and outside to the sidewalk where they dropped me on the ground and left me there”, says Mr. DuBourdieu. He was assisted to the hospital by a friend,where he was treated for his injuries, including torn cartilage and ligaments in his knee. There is a strong likelihood he will need surgery to repair the damage to his leg caused by the repeated kicks.

“The shelter system has been in crisis for a long time and sending in untrained managers to work in shelters does not help matters. Shelters are overcrowded, have insufficient food and are infested with mice and bedbugs” says Gaetan Heroux from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

"The shelter system desperately needs more funding and more beds, especially now when we expect an increase in homelessness.” “We call on the City of Toronto to apologize to Mr. DuBourdieu, return his missing property, make restitution towards him, lift the ban against him at Seaton House, and ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. We also demand that the police lay charges against the managers involved in the assault", said Heroux.

Press Conference Speakers:

Brian DuBourdieu

Gaetan Heroux, OCAP

Mike Leitold, Lawyer

For more information call OCAP - 416-925-6939

Visit ocap.ca to read our statement of support of CUPE

**

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

10 Britain St.

Toronto, ON M5A 1R6

416-925-6939

ocap@tao.ca

www.ocap.ca

**

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

RALLY IN SUPPORT OF STRIKING TORONTO CITY WORKERS:

While the garbage piles up, and the city fathers refuse to budge on negotiations city workers of Toronto and their supporters held a strike support rally yesterday. Here's the story from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

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Rally for CUPE 79 and 416:
Local community and labour supporters joined striking Toronto municipal workers at the Ted Reeve Arena temporary garbage drop off site in Toronto's East End, for a support line and rally Saturday, July 4th.

A similar rally was held at Christie Pits in the city's West End. The rallies were organized by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, and John Cartwright, the Council's president, led the line at Ted Reeve Arena.

CUPE 416 and CUPE 79 members walked off the job June 22 to defend their collective agreements from concession demands from the City.

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

TORONTO CIVIC WORKERS STRIKE:

Two days ago the city of Toronto became the second major community in Ontario to been visited by a civic workers' strike. this follows a strike by workers in the city of Windsor that is edging towards three months. Like in Windsor, both Toronto inside workers, represented by CUPE Local 79, and outside workers represented by CUPE Local 416, have gone on strike. Interested readers can follow the progress of the strike from a labour point of view by visiting the sites of these two locals. What follows below is the official announcement of the strike from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). But before that, here's a little Molly aside....

New Brooms Become Old in a Few Years ?

A little backgrounder on this strike is in order. The last civic workers' strike in Toronto occurred in 2002, and it lasted 3 weeks before the provincial government legislated the strikers back to work. A year afterwards an aspiring municipal politician rode discontent with the city's handling of the strike (amongst many other issues) to victory as the new mayor of Toronto. His name...David Miller, the present Mayor of Toronto. He rode to power on a slogan of being a "new broom" to sweep clean the entrenched cronyism, corruption and unresponsiveness of City Hall.

The years have passed. The Toronto civic workers have demonstrated their disgust with Mayor Miller's record of broken promises by "breaking brooms" at their recent solidarity rally, a media stunt that says what they think of him now. It must be admitted that Mayor Miller rode to power on a set of promises, almost all of them unfulfilled, that were more of a vague lefty "greenishness"(sort of the colour of lower small intestine bile), rather than a traditional socialist program, let alone a libertarian socialist one. As far as I can see a socialist program, traditional or libertarian, is pretty well a non-starter in terms of electability anywhere on the North American continent if one is vying for a mayor's chair. A vague lefty "greenishness" can, however, swing into power in some situations.

Is it, however, worthwhile to devote more than a few nanoseconds of one's time to helping such sparkling politicians to power ? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the example of Mayor Miller example number 86,953,284,631 of the treachery of leftist politicians. I might be out by a few million ! No doubt a lot of the civic workers who are now opposed to the Mayor were great supporters of his as little as 6 years ago. Is electing lefties to power any worthwhile way to spend one's limited time on Earth ?

But anyways, here's the story from CUPE.

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Toronto city workers strike:
City of Toronto inside and outside workers walked off the job just after midnight tonight in a fight against management demands for concessions.

“After six months at the bargaining table, the city has not heard the message from our members that they must be treated as fairly as all other unionized workers who provide public services to the people of Toronto,” said Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE 416.

“This city cannot treat their direct employees, our members, like second-class citizens,” said Ann Dembinski, president of CUPE 79, representing about 18,000 inside workers. “We had two choices – roll over and play dead or stand up and fight for our rights.”

In all, about 24,000 workers are on strike. Other unionized public employees in the city, ranging from Toronto Community Housing, Parking Authority, and Port Authority to police and firefighters have achieved collective agreements with wage increases of at least three per cent and no concessions.

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Here's another interesting item, this one from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). Here they state their solidarity with the Toronto city workers, and they also say more about the so-called "progressive" Miller Administration. History is full of examples of such treachery, as too much of the "left" is more concerned with becoming a new ruling class through political means rather than actually carrying out the ideals that they profess.

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OCAP STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH TORONTO CITY WORKERS:

The members of CUPE 416 and 79 who work for the City of Toronto are now on strike. The business media has begun its inevitable campaign of misinformation to produce the greatest possible backlash against these workers. We are encouraged to focus on uncollected garbage and suspended services but not, of course, to give any regard to the rights of public sector workers or to think as working people about what is at stake in this strike.

OCAP, as a matter of basic principle, stands in solidarity with workers' struggles. We don't hate or blame workers who have been able to win a living wage or support calls for them to be driven into poverty. Rather, we want to see the poor provided with wages and incomes that raise them out of poverty.

This strike occurs in a context that makes it especially important for all of us that it end in victory and that the concessionary demands of the 'progressive' Miller Administration be defeated. The Mayor defended his shameful efforts to gut the collective agreements of City workers by pointing to rising welfare caseloads brought on by the economic downturn. What a disgusting statement. To pit City workers against those who are being forced to turn to the wretched sub poverty pittance that welfare provides is an outrage. This comes from a man who boasts that there are more cops on the streets under his regime than every before and who is taking us towards an obscene billion dollar a year police budget, while he has frittered away the welfare reserve fund to a fraction of where it was when he took office.

The Mayor points to the state of the economy to justify his attack on City workers. In doing this, he makes clear what side he is on when it comes to who should pay for this economic crisis. As unemployment shoots up, we face the situation with an empty shell of an unemployment insurances system that shuts out most of the unemployed and with a post Mike Harris welfare system that fails to provide the necessities of life. None of the 'solutions' to the crisis involve meeting the basic needs of the unemployed and poor. For those who still have jobs and unions, the bankrupt corporations they work for will be bailed out at vast public expense while their rights as workers are destroyed and they are presented with massive concessionary demands.

The process of attacking workers started in the auto industry and other parts of the private sector. The drive for austerity is now spreading, inevitably, to the public sector. Beginning with militant fights by postal workers in the 1960s, public sector workers have spent decades struggling for decent wages and conditions. The present crisis of capitalism will mean an all out confrontation to take back those gains. Moreover, an attack on the workers who deliver public services can't be separated from the attack on the services themselves and the rights of those who receive them. (NB-Molly )

That is the context of this strike and we in OCAP know what side we're on. We call for full support for the City workers.

Send messages of solidarity.

Be there with them on their picket lines.

Stand with them in their fight because they are fighting for all of us.