CANADIAN POLITICS:
SUPPORT OCAP ARESTEES:


Last July 21 11 members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) were arrested at a demonstration at the Liberal Party headquarters in Toronto. The cases are now coming to court, and OCAP is asking for solidarity with its members. Here's the story and appeal>>>
OCAPOCAPOCAP
2 Events to support OCAP Arrestees
-This Thursday court support, Fundraiser This Saturday,
Please See Below
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**We would like to also add - that court dates are also coming up for G20 arrests - info about that will be sent out as soon as we have it
1. COURT APPEARANCES FOR OCAP MEMBERS AND ALLIES CHARGED AT LIBERAL HQ JOIN US:
Court Support for Anne and Lenny:
Thursday, August 19th, 9 AM @Old City Hall (60 Queen St. W)
Rally @ Attorney General’s (720 Bay St.):
Monday, August 30th, 9AM

On July 21, during an OCAP rally against the McGuinty Government's cutting of the Special Diet, eleven OCAP members and supporters walked into the offices of the Liberal Party to deliver an 'invoice' outlining how much money is owed to poor people on assistance in this Province. They went to a window, put out a banner and addressed the crowd outside. Police soon arrived and, rather than issue warnings and provide any opportunity for the protesters to leave, they handcuffed them, announced they were under arrest for trespass and that they would be taken to the 52 Division.

One of the people who entered the office, Anne Abbott, uses a wheelchair and had her communication assistant with her, Lenny Olin. Clearly at a loss over how to deal with a disabled person, the police declared their intention to arrest Lenny and 'drop Anne off at a hospital'. When this was obviously strongly objected to by Anne, they decided to give them both summonses to appear in court for trespass and, eventually, released them. In the wake of the G20, where a deaf man was arrested and denied access to an ASL interpreter on the grounds that 'he can read our lips', this episode points to the shocking level of ableism that exists amongst the Police in the City of Toronto.

The remaining nine people were taken to 52 Division. As they were loaded into the police wagon, they were told that the charge was being elevated to mischief. At that point, 'the arresting officers' assumed that the group would be released from the station. At 52, however, detectives informed them that the charge of forcible entry was being added and that everyone would be held overnight because each accused person would need to line up a surety to put up money for them. After more than 24 hours, everyone was released from the courthouse. Only through the efforts of lawyer, Mike Leitold, were we able to prevent massively restrictive bail conditions being imposed.

These charges are a sign of the times. The massive police operation around the G20 was not an isolated development. They are ready for resistance to social cutbacks and austerity and want to silence it. A matter that the cops would have previously dealt with by asking the participants to leave is now the basis for criminal charges that carry two year jail terms.

While one of the ironic expressions of the ableism Anne faced is that she and Lenny are not facing such serious charges, their situation is not at all trivial. The fact that the cops used summonses on them means they run the risk of having serious and restrictive conditions imposed on them if they are convicted.

All eleven people charged will soon make court appearances to set dates for trial. However, the Crown Attorney's office and the Attorney General of Ontario can’t be allowed to drag this matter out and have these severe and ridiculous charges hang over the accused for months still to come. We demand that they be dropped now.

Anne and Lenny have to appear in Old City Hall on Thursday, August 19 at 9.00 AM. The injustices that flow from the treatment Anne and Lenny received are best demonstrated in their own words.
Anne:
"I was truly horrified by the ableist attitudes and actions of the police. First they separated me from my communication assistant, which is against the human rights code. When I objected and indicated that I needed my assistant, they told me "don't worry, we will put you in a hospital." They questioned everybody except me, and I felt they thought I was incapable of giving any valid information. With the examples of the abuse on disabled people during the g20 and my recent experience, it's obvious that ableism is running rampant through the Toronto police."
Lenny:
"The police made it obvious that they don't even think of disabled people as human beings. We were there to draw attention to a provincial government that doesn't think that people deserve to be able to eat, and they responded with harassment and threats that were very blatantly ableist. We will continue to fight together for the rights of all people to live a life free of state violence and harassment, and to live a life where our basic human needs are met."

The other nine defendants are to appear at College Park at 10.00 AM on August 30. However, on behalf of all those facing charges, a rally will beheld at the Attorney General’s office at 9.00 AM to oppose the criminalization of social mobilization and to demand the dropping of these charges.

The threat of jail won’t stop the fight to defend the Special Diet or to oppose other austerity measures. We’ll defend those they try to criminalize and the struggle will continue regardless of their attempts to intimidate and silence it.
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
http://www.ocap.ca/
416-925-6939
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2. Please join us at a fundraiser hosted by the Latin Solidarity Network and Barrio Nuevo, in support of Ilian Burbano and the 11 Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) activists/allies arrested for peacefully protesting cuts to the Special Diet benefit by the McGuinty provincial government.

Express your solidarity and acknowledge the valuable efforts of these activists to serve the community and to further social justice.
August 21, 2010
8pm-Midnight
Live music, spoken word, dj's
Location: 22 Wenderly Drive, Toronto

If you can not attend the event and would still like to donate, please click below. http://www.cupe3393.ca/


Cheques can be made in the name of: CUPE Local 3393 and mailed to:
Att: Judi Snively
CUPE Local 3393 co-president
248 Ossington Ave.
Toronto, ON, M6J 3A2
Indicate "Ilian Burbano legal defence fund" in memo line

CANADIAN LABOUR-NEWFOUNDLAND:

VOISEY'S BAY WORKERS LIKELY ON STRIKE SOON:

The following item, originally from the CBC News, came to Molly's attention via the strike solidarity site Fair Deal Now set up by the workers on strike in Ontario against Vale Inco. As has been mentioned before on this blog the contract between Vale Inco and workers at Viosey's Bay in Newfoundland is expiring soon (tomorrow actually), and there is little doubt that the Newfie workers will be on strike soon. The more general the strike is, the more likely that the company will be pressured to settle. One can only hope that, as the strike drags on, that workers at other facilities owned by Vale Inco will find ways to put pressure on the company (work to rule ?) even if they are not in a legal strike position. One can also hope that workers employed by Vale Inco in other countries will see fit to carry out such solidarity actions as well.

As the reader can find out from the Fair Deal Now site there is now a court injunction prohibiting more militant picketing in Sudbury and Port Colborne. Just a little word to the wise here. This injunction, in its present form, applies only to the United Steel Workers. It says nothing about what a group of non-union members may undertake on their own initiative. take this as you will.

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Voisey's Bay union in legal strike position:
More than 200 workers at the Voisey's Bay nickel mine in northern Labrador are preparing for a possible strike on Saturday.

Members of the United Steelworkers union are in a legal position to strike as of midnight Saturday. Unionized workers have voted 90 per cent in favor of job action.

Negotiations between the union and Vale Inco, the company that operates the Voisey’s Bay mine, broke off in June. Workers have been without a collective agreement since March.

The United Steelworkers union has said Vale Inco wants to roll back an employee bonus based on the price of nickel. The company also wants to impose a three-year wage freeze.

The union has accused the company of using the global economic slowdown to try to roll back bonuses and freeze wages.

"We do realize that we were in a very bad economic situation," Darren Cove, spokesman for the union local, told CBC News on Friday.

"Right now we’re in recovery mode, and we don't think that we should base a three-year collective agreement on the recession that we’re recovering from right now," he said.

"The only way right now to avert a strike would be for the company Vale Inco to inform us that the concessions that they're asking are off the table and that they are willing to bargain in good faith towards a fair collective agreement for the membership,” Cove said.

The nickel bonus was at the centre of a strike that shut down production at Voisey's Bay for eight weeks in the summer of 2006.

Unionized workers at Vale Inco’s nickel mine operation in Sudbury, Ont., have been on strike since July 13.

No one with Vale Inco was available for comment.(I wonder why-Molly)