Wage subsidies for strikebreakers and no premium pay at the LCBO -- Dispatches from the bailouts

Locked out co-op workers picket in January

In yet more evidence that the coronavirus bailouts in Canada are being constructed to heavily favour the interests of big business and the corporations, Unifor is calling out the federal government for a loophole in the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) that allows it to be used to subsidize scab labour. 

There is apparently nothing in the legislation (Bill C-14) that prevents companies from using the wage subsidy of up to $847 per week per employee to hire or contract out for strikebreakers. Using scabs during strikes -- which should be made illegal at all times -- undermines collective bargaining and the power of workers. When profitable corporations can continue to operate during a strike, they have little incentive to bargain in good faith.

Jerry Dias, Unifor National President, said "Companies that have chosen to use scabs to prolong labour disputes should not benefit from the scarce emergency funds designed to help legitimately struggling businesses and organizations. COVID-19 financial support should not be used to weaken workers' bargaining power."

This should be perfectly obvious, but governments are much more interested in keeping the economy going than they are in treating workers fairly.

In its press release Unifor points to:

...the example of Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) in Saskatchewan, where the company has locked out refinery workers for 144 days and has flown in scab labourers and housed them in cramped conditions. The local community has expressed concern that the scab camp is a health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FCL recently rejected recommendations to end the dispute from independent mediators appointed by the provincial government. Unifor says employers like these can't be rewarded with federal CEWS funds.
"Co-op's repeated refusal to compromise has been made possible by its use of scabs," said Dias. "If those scabs are subsidized with federal CEWS cash, the government will further tip the balance in favour of a company that saw over $2 billion in profits between 2018 and 2019."

Meanwhile in Ontario, despite the publicly owned alcohol retailer the LCBO having been deemed an "essential service" thereby forcing its workers to work under dangerous conditions, LCBO management is refusing calls for a pandemic pay premium.

It was recently announced that frontline healthcare workers would receive a $4.00 an hour wage increase -- long overdue though likely only temporary -- but LCBO workers are not getting any extra pay even though the LCBO is bringing in "record sales" according to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) that represents them.

In an OPSEU press release:

First Vice-President/Treasurer Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida says the rot at the LCBO starts at the top, pointing out that LCBO President and CEO, Dr. George Soleas, takes home a reported annual salary of $560K plus benefits.
"Mr. Soleas is sitting comfortably in his ivory tower, making record profits off the backs of hardworking employees who are risking their lives," says Almeida. "Since the LCBO has seen a windfall in profits during this pandemic, Soleas and all the other LCBO managers are anticipating hefty bonuses, while all the essential workers get is a sneering brush off."

This is clearly wrong, especially given that the LCBO is public.

Always remember that "We are all in this together" is more rhetoric than reality.

 

Report: Nearly half of Canadian working renters a month or less away from not being able to pay bills -- Urgent relief for workers needed

In an analysis and press release today the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has found that close to "half of working renters in Canada don't have enough savings to pay their bills for more than a month if they lose their jobs".

According to the CCPA release:

"As more Canadians lose their incomes to COVID-19 every day, hundreds of thousands of families could soon be forced to choose between buying groceries and paying the rent," said Ricardo Tranjan, political economist and senior researcher with the CCPA Ontario office. "It's good that the Government of Canada has announced plans to support lower-income Canadians, but many families can't wait for support by April or May – they need it now. A lot of out-of-work tenants will be in dire straits before the end of the month."
Statistics Canada data from 2016 show that 3.4 million Canadian households are renters whose main source of income is employment or self-employment income. Of this group, 46 per cent, or 1.6 million households, only have enough money saved to pay their bills for a month or less, the CCPA analysis shows. Twenty-four per cent of the total, or 830,000 households, don't have enough income to get through a single week without pay.
"When we say people are living paycheque to paycheque, it's not just an expression, it's reality," Tranjan said. "As the crisis worsens, the need to support low-income renters becomes even more urgent. Both the federal and provincial governments must work to keep renters safe and solvent."

The report itself includes graphics that show very starkly the situation we are facing.

The analysis reinforces the urgency of demands for Employment Insurance reform and wage premiums from unions like Unifor. 

In a press release today Jerry Dias, Unifor National President said "We are facing a crisis of catastrophic proportions that requires fast action from government. Despite promising first steps, federal progress on worker supports has stalled and I'm afraid our opportunity for quick action may have passed".

The release further noted that:

Unifor is calling on Parliament to pass emergency measures on Tuesday to expedite the delivery of paycheques to displaced working families, through whatever means necessary, including via existing employer payroll systems or direct payments to households.
"Canada's workers were feeling the squeeze before they were forced out of a job by this pandemic. Without a dramatic change of tack, in a few more days laid-off workers will be left with empty cupboards and bare dinner tables," said Dias.

Unifor wants retailers remaining open to -- in addition to enhanced safety measures -- give their workers essential wage premiums like the extra $2 an hour that have been instituted by major chains like Rexall, Loblaw and Metro. This would both help workers to save towards a possible future shutdown of their workplace as well as with supporting their families where other household members may already be out of work. 

The time for action is now. 

"Last week, more than 500,000 individual E.I. claims were filed and there is no reason to expect that number to slow down," said Lana Payne, Unifor Secretary-Treasurer. "Millions more will have their work interrupted by this pandemic. The E.I. system, once overwhelmed, is now completely under water."

Dias added further that "Members of Parliament need to be prepared to make an immediate decision about how they plan to fund income replacement for Canada's workers tomorrow. If the E.I. system cannot handle these claims in a timely way, an immediate and temporary alternative is needed to ensure hardworking Canadian families do not fall into financial ruin.".

Tranjan in his CCPA report concludes:

The findings in this report show the magnitude of the need. Tenants don’t
have enough financial cushion to pay next month’s rent. And once they are
back to work, they won’t be able to pay arrears, given how little they were
able to save in normal times.
The federal government and its provincial counterparts need a plan, or
several plans. 

Ontario Bill 186 "falls far short" Dias says as Unifor continues to call for 14 point plan for workers

Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union, is calling out the Doug Ford government for its woefully inadequate response to the capitalist cornonavirus crisis. On Thursday, March 19, the government of Ontario passed Bill 186. With considerable fanfare the bill allows workers 14 days of sick leave if they have to go into quarantine, but this sick leave is unpaid. So while their job may be protected, their income is not.

In a press release today Jerry Dias, Unifor National President said "This legislation falls far short of where we needed it to be in order to have a comprehensive response to this pandemic. If we are going to get through this crisis, then the plan has to start with giving everyone directed to self-isolate or quarantine paid sick days."

Naureen Rizvi, Unifor's Ontario Regional Director, added "Ontarians should not be put in the position of choosing whether to protect their health and that of their friends, family, and co-workers or picking up their next paycheque, and that's what this legislation appears to do. The government's COVID-19 plan shouldn't be aimed at protecting the pocketbooks of employers but should help protect our health."

Unifor had previously released a comprehensive 14 point plan so that Canada and its provinces do not try to fight the virus on the backs of workers.

The plan calls for all governments to:

1) Institute a minimum of 14 days of paid sick leave whether a worker has been formally quarantined by a health official, or been asked to self-isolate;
2) Establish special provisions that provide workers paid leave to care for children affected by government-mandated school and daycare closures;
3) Establish direct, emergency income assistance measures to all workers and families – including those ineligible for Employment Insurance benefits (including seniors, students, recipients of social assistance, as well as gig economy, contract, and precarious workers);
4) Ensure all workers are protected from any employer reprisals for any and all absences as workers are required to provide childcare, care for elders and dependents and other mitigating circumstances resulting from the ongoing pandemic;
5) Workers’ Compensation Boards adopt an irrebuttable presumption of work-relatedness for health conditions related to Coronavirus/COVID-19, for all health care workers, first responders and all other workers who come into contact with the public;
6) Waive requirements for employees to produce doctor’s notes in cases of illness (at the very least, consider other less onerous ways to substantiate absences due to illness);
7) Waive all fees for registration or other services at all health institutions including any planned COVID-19 assessment centres and existing community clinics, hospitals, and other facilities regardless of status;
8) Ensure that vital health services, including health agencies, remote health care services (e.g. telephone information services), assessment centres and hospitals, are properly resourced to deal with rising patient volumes;
9) Provide appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to workers in high-risk and frontline service positions;
10) Ensure that all Indigenous communities have immediate access to clean water and practice the prevention measures advised by health professionals to prevent the spread of COVID-19;
11) Establish and adequately fund provincial Anti-Racism Councils and Directorates that provide advice and direction to governments to combat xenophobia. As COVID-19 continues to spread racialized groups, including but not limited to Chinese and Iranians, are disproportionately likely to face loss of income, and to suffer the effects of racism;
12) Instruct all provincially-regulated institutions to extend and relax payment requirements on financial responsibilities facing consumers and households, including student loans, rent, mortgage payments, utility bills;
13) Include labour, community, anti-poverty, and migrant worker advocacy groups included in all government planning of its COVID-19 response; and
14) Fully implement the recommendations of public health officials to protect vulnerable residents and workers in long-term care facilities by enforcing screening of staff, residents, and visitors in long-term care facilities.  Ensure that long-term care homes increase staffing – including increasing hours for part-time and casual workers – so that workers are able to provide care safely and follow all precautions necessary to protect themselves and residents.

Wet’suwet’en, Sanders Surges, Iraq, the Co-op Refinery Strike & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos January 19 - 26

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  January 19 - 26


The round-up of international links, videos and photos are presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically except for links and videos related to situation in Wet’suwet’en which are at the start along with the Featured Article post which is related to police brutality in Halifax.

Featured Article:

- Halifax Police Chief Dan Kinsella is proof a fish rots from the head down

"Kinsella is proof that a fish rots from the head down. The lack of police leadership in forces across the country is a crisis. Whether its corruption and misogyny in the RCMP, racism and brutality by officers in the Ottawa and Toronto police services, or racist assaults against innocent Aboriginal people in Regina or minorities in Halifax, the real problem is a cadre of self-important, supercilious and haughty police chiefs across the country who say politically correct things to protect rogue police, but lack the courage to confront these reprobates, less it endanger their positions or careers.

Kinsella deserves special mention. The “I, as chief, will take personal responsibility and follow up in every case” Halifax Police Chief went into hiding for five days with no comment to the public after three of his ‘officers’ brutalized Santina Rao, a 23-year-old mother of two small children (and person of colour) at a Halifax Walmart last week."

(Related: Kinsella says Halifax police have no plans to drop charges in Walmart arrest ) 

Wet’suwet’en

- B.C. human rights commissioner defends her support of hereditary chiefs who oppose LNG pipeline

- Victoria City Council declares solidarity with Wet’suwet’en People

- Trudeau dodges, Horgan and Singh contort on Wet'suwet'en, the RCMP and UNDRIP

- Green Myths Canada’s LNG Sales Force Tells the World

- RCMP Admits It's Monitoring Wet'suwet'en Camps by Air Now

- 12 people arrested after Indigenous demonstrators occupy B.C. minister’s office

- Wet'suwet'en request legal observers before possible RCMP action

- GROWING RESISTANCE AGAINST HORGAN AND TRUDEAU ENERGY POLICIES

- NDP support of fracking/LNG industry a shame

- Swartz Bay ferry terminal reopens after pipeline protesters delay sailings

- Disruption of Port of Montreal during Rush Hour in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Fighting Coastal GasLink

Asia:

- Sri Lanka finally admits 20,000 missing Tamils are dead

- Nepal: Ruling Nepal Communist Party won 16 seats out of 18 in National Assembly

Bolivia:

Ahead of Bolivia's next presidential elections, Evo Morales talks about the repression by the current right-wing coup government and how neoliberalism destroyed Bolivia.




- Bolivia's De-Facto President Jeanine Añez to Run for Office

- Bolivia's Coup-Born Regime Suspends Relations With Cuba

Brazil:

The crimes of Jair Bolsonaro

India has invited Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's far-right president, as the guest of honor on its 71st Republic Day. Bolsonaro's visit is being met with opposition and protests, particularly from the sugarcane farmers in India, whose livelihoods are threatened by Brazil's moves against India at the World Trade Organisation.



- Brazil prosecutors charge 16 people with murder in dam collapse that killed 270

- Lula Calls on Brazilians to Fight to Regain Nation's Democracy

- Glenn Greenwald Charged With Cybercrimes in Brazil

Canada:

- These Policies Could Help End Single-Parent Poverty in BC

- Families of CP Rail workers killed in B.C. mountain crash demand investigation be reopened

- Growing Indigenous inmate population shows need for change

- In Sask., 65 per cent of federal inmates are Indigenous: Correctional investigator

- ‘Disturbing and entrenched imbalances’: Indigenous people make up 30 per cent of prison population

- Woman denied settlement for sexual assault on way to residential school because she wasn't yet a student

- Early parole for cop James Forcillo sends a terrible message to the public and police

- Jewish group fails to stop postal union lawsuit over pro-terrorism comments

- Eviction notice served to Fredericton's tent city residents

- Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs to Vancouver police: "We ask that the transcript of the BMO call to the VPD be made public"

- ‘I don’t want nothing to do with them right now:’ Grandfather closing BMO account

- AUSTERITY VS EMPLOYMENT – A CALL FOR A UNITY AND SOLIDARITY IN ALBERTA

- Report ‘buried’ by Alberta government reveals ‘mounting evidence’ that oil and gas wells aren’t reclaimed in the long run

- Trudeau and His North Van Climate Minister Are ‘Wrestling’ with a Massive Oilsands Decision

- GO Transit, TTC Discount For Presto Users To End March 31

- Presto...fares, fees and harassment!: The war on transit riders continues in Ontario

- Ontario’s human rights watchdog made a shortlist for new commissioners. Doug Ford picked two of his own instead

- MASS SOLIDARITY FOR ONTARIO TEACHERS

- Big Majority of Ontario Public is Supporting School Teachers Over Doug Ford, New Polling Finds

- ‘A complete lack of compassion:’ Kitchener store that welcomed homeless is evicted

Central & South America:

On January 15, a new migrant caravan of around 1000 Hondurans left from the city of San Pedro Sula for the United States, hoping to seek asylum and escape their harsh living conditions. They are undertaking this ordeal to escape violence, extreme poverty and for the prospects of a better life.



- Mexican Soldiers Attack Central American Migrant Caravan, Arresting 800

- Mexican Feminist & Activist Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre Killed in Juárez

- The People of Colombia Are Cracking Up the Walls of War and Authoritarianism

- What the Right Wing in Latin America Means by Democracy Is Violence

Climate Emergency:

- Trump Administration Cuts Back Federal Protections For Streams And Wetlands

- Huge dust storms in Australia hit central New South Wales

Co-op Refinery Strike:

- 'Stand together and fight together:' National union leaders join Unifor on picket line

- Unifor national president Jerry Dias taken into custody at refinery picket line

- Unifor president arrested during blockade of Regina’s Co-op Refinery

- Unifor digs in after arrests as premier urges return to bargaining

- Judge finds Unifor in contempt of court order; union launches appeal

- UNIFOR SHUTS DOWN THE CO-OP REFINERY

Europe:

- Jewish groups warn about Nazi glorification in Eastern European nations

- Communist MEP Lefteris Nikolaou blasts the EU for attempting to re-write History

- Denmark’s Prime Minister goes to Israel and uses the Holocaust to incite against immigrants

- Switzerland: World Economic Forum Kicks Off Amid Demonstrations

- Greek Neo-Nazis Swarmed and Beat This Journalist for 4 Straight Minutes. The Cops Did Nothing.

- “You Have to Get Out of Parliament and Speak to Workers” (Belgium)

- UKRAINE: NATO ENSURES PEACE REMAINS A DISTANT HOPE

France:

French workers on strike went out at night across the country with torches while shouting "revolution".




- France: 7th National Strike Against Macron's Pension Reform

- FRANCE: FOR THE RIGHT TO RETIREMENT – NO BREAK IN THE STRUGGLE!

Thousands upon thousands of workers take to the streets of Paris and other cities across France as the nationwide strike against Macron's pension reforms enters its 50th day.




- French doctors call for intensification of emergency strikes

Ideas:

- Corporations Would Literally Kill You to Turn a Profit

India:

- 7 million people take part in human chain against India’s divisive citizenship law

- CPI-M to launch door-to-door campaign against CAA

- 'Modi is afraid': women take lead in India's citizenship protests

- Muslim women stage Delhi sit-in as protests over citizenship law spread

- CPM terms governor post a colonial hangover, wants it abolished

- Tens of millions form human chain in India's Bihar state in climate protest

Iraq:

- Over 1 Million People Join March Against US Presence in Iraq

Israel / Palestine:

- Netanyahu Exploits the Holocaust to Brutalize the Palestinians

- Palestinians Threaten to Quit Oslo Agreement Over Trump Plan

- Jordanian parliament unanimously votes to scrap gas deal with Israel

- Court Okays Eviction of Palestinian Family Because Land Was Once Owned by Jews

Italy:

Tens of thousands of Italian anti-fascists sang the famous resistance song 'Bella Ciao' as a protest against the rise of the far-right last weekend.

The manifestation was part of the growing Sardines movement against the politics of hate and the far-right leader Matteo Salvini.



- Salvini vows to 'evict' government if far right wins Italy regional polls

Martin Luther King Jr.

Shaun King:


I need you to see this and I need you to imagine what would happen, and what Trump would say and do, if these men, armed with assault rifles, were ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHITE. It’s King Day, and heavily armed white supremacists have surrounded the state Capitol as a show of force. It’s despicable.




- Countering Annual Whitewash of His Legacy, Progressives Remember the 'Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist' Martin Luther King Jr.

- Activist, professor Angela Davis ties MLK’s legacy to current fight for equity, justice

- MLK’s final campaign lives on: The war against racism and poverty

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The continuing legacy and call to conscience

Pornography & Prostitution:

- Pour en finir avec l’exploitation sexuelle

- 'We're constantly asked for pictures': Teen researches why sending naked pics is now normal

United Kingdom:

- Labour needs to wake up to the fact that U-turning on Brexit cost it the election

- The Slow Death of European Social Democracy: How Corbynism Bucked the Trend

- Unite backs Long Bailey and Burgon in Labour leadership contest

United States:

- I worked for Hillary Clinton. Her attacks on Bernie Sanders are a big mistake

- Sanders Seizes Lead in Volatile Iowa Race, Times Poll Finds

- CNN poll: Bernie Sanders surges to join Biden atop Democratic presidential pack

- While Establishment Erupts Over Anti-Corruption Expert Pointing Out Biden's Troubling Record, Progressives Say: Look at the Troubling Record

- Vowing Not to 'Demonize' the Rich, Biden Tells Billionaires 'Nothing Would Fundamentally Change' If He Was Elected

- Elizabeth Warren Endorses Trump’s Economic War on Venezuela, Then Soft-Pedals Far-Right Bolivia Coup

- Media Stupidity Is Uniting Left and Right

- Delbert Africa speaks following release from prison

- Supreme Court Could Be Headed To A Major Unraveling Of Public School Funding

- Uber and Lyft Price-Gouge Customers Trying to Flee Seattle Shooting

- Overhaul US labor laws to boost workers' power, new report urges

- White House reportedly credentials again website that called impeachment a ‘Jew Coup’

- Immigrant Kids Were Restrained to Chairs With Bags Over Their Heads at a Juvenile Hall in Virginia

- The US’s Inalienable Right to Violence

- Targeted killings via drone becoming 'normalised' – report

- OAKLAND’S MOMS 4 HOUSING WERE EVICTED BY A GIANT CORPORATION THAT RUNS NATIONAL HOME-FLIPPING OPERATION

- Pharmaceutical Executive John Kapoor Sentenced To 66 Months In Prison In Opioid Trial

Venezuela:

- The New Society Will Emerge in the Commune: A Conversation with Angel Prado

- Protests in Madrid Against Visit of Venezuelan Lawmaker Guaido

- Venezuelan Opposition Leader Tours Europe as US Threatens Fresh 'Action'

- Maduro: Venezuelan Opposition Has Only Created Threats to Peace

- Cuba can count on Venezuela for everything, today and always, Maduro states

- Venezuela Strengthens Cuba, China and Iran Ties Following Guatemala Row

- Venezuelan Assembly to Investigate US Funding to Guaido

Martin Luther King Jr., Unifor, #MeToo and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List January 14-21

This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  January 14-21. It is generally in order of the date of the article's release.


This installment has two entries from before the period. They have been integrated into the post.

1) Ex-FARC Members and Social Leaders Ask UN to Mediate with Govt

Telesur

Ex-members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, now converted into a legal political party, need more guarantees for the reinsertion into civilian life, said Sunday the National Council of Reincorporation in a meeting with UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres.

Read the full article.

2) Abuse isn't romantic. So why the panic that feminists are killing eros?

Jessica Valenti, The Guardian

This moment isn’t about romance, it’s about abuse. Perhaps the fact that so many people can’t tell the difference is part of the problem.

Read the full article.

3) The Aziz Ansari accusations may not be about rape, but they are about rape culture

Meghan Murphy, Feminist Current

While the #MeToo movement has resulted in man after man being outed as rapists, serial harassers, or general creeps, we would be mistaken to view this as a kind of culling. The truth revealed via #MeToo is not that there are a lot of bad men in this world (though, of course, there are many), but that all men, in this culture, are socialized in a particular way, and that socialization is what leads to men’s disrespectful, unethical, and too-often violent treatment of women.

Read the full article.

4) Women deported by Trump face deadly welcome from street gangs in El Salvador

Mark Townsend, The Guardian

Hundreds of young women are killed every year and many face sexual violence in the world’s most dangerous land. Now the president wants to send 200,000 more Salvadorans back home.

Read the full article.

5) #MeToo isn’t enough. Now women need to get ugly

Barbara Kingsolver, The Guardian

Let’s be clear: no woman asks to live in a rape culture: we all want it over, yesterday. Mixed signals about female autonomy won’t help bring it down, and neither will asking nicely. Nothing changes until truly powerful offenders start to fall. Feminine instincts for sweetness and apology have no skin in this game. It’s really not possible to overreact to uncountable, consecutive days of being humiliated by men who say our experience isn’t real, or that we like it actually, or are cute when we’re mad. Anger has to go somewhere – if not out then inward, in a psychic thermodynamics that can turn a nation of women into pressure cookers. Watching the election of a predator-in-chief seems to have popped the lid off the can. We’ve found a voice, and now is a good time to use it, in a tone that will not be mistaken for flirtation.

Read the full article.

6) 'Change is slow': Female superintendent of police in India tackles sexual violence and harassment

Anna Maria Tremonti, CBC Radio

Rema Rajeshwari is a female superintendent of police in the Indian the state of Telangana — a rare figure in a country where women make up only 7 per cent of police officers, and 2 per cent of those in police leadership positions.

Read/listen to the full episode.

7) Aid in reverse: how poor countries develop rich countries

Jason Hickel, The Guardian

Poor countries don’t need charity. They need justice. And justice is not difficult to deliver. We could write off the excess debts of poor countries, freeing them up to spend their money on development instead of interest payments on old loans; we could close down the secrecy jurisdictions, and slap penalties on bankers and accountants who facilitate illicit outflows; and we could impose a global minimum tax on corporate income to eliminate the incentive for corporations to secretly shift their money around the world.

Read the full article.

8) FLORIDA PRISONERS PREPARE TO STRIKE, DEMANDING AN END TO UNPAID LABOR AND BRUTAL CONDITIONS

Alice Speri, The Intercept

FLORIDA PRISONERS ARE calling for a general strike to start this week — marking the third mass action over the course of a year in protest of inhumane conditions in the state’s detention facilities. Detainees in at least eight prisons have declared their intention to stop all work on Monday — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — to demand an end to unpaid labor and price gouging in prison commissaries, as well as the restoration of parole, among other requests.

Read the full article.

9) MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SPENT THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LIFE DETESTED BY THE LIBERAL ESTABLISHMENT

Zaid Jilani, The Intercept

King’s slide in popularity coincided with his activism taking a turn from what Americans largely know him for — his campaign for civil rights in the American South — to a much more radical one aimed at the war in Vietnam and poverty.

Read the full article.

10) Martin Luther King’s Radical Anticapitalism

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The Paris Review

In a posthumously published essay, Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out that the “black revolution” had gone beyond the “rights of Negroes.” The struggle, he said, is “forcing America to face all of its interrelated flaws—racism, poverty, militarism and materialism. It is exposing the evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced.”

Read the full article.

11) Jeremy Corbyn just got even more control of the Labour Party

Ashley Cowburn, The Independent

Jeremy Corbyn’s influence on Labour’s governing body has received a significant boost after left-wing candidates won all the positions up for grabs in a crucial set of elections.

Read the full article.

12) ‘It’s not the laws that kill our women. It’s not the streets that kill our women. It’s the men’

Rahila Gupta, Feminist Current

Prostitution or sex work? Your choice of words gives the game away, marks out where you stand on the issue. Violence against women or just a job? It is a serious battleground for the soul of feminism.

Read the full article.

13) Why won't the so-called 'sex workers' rights movement' help ex-teenage prostitutes have their convictions wiped?

Julie Bindel, The Independent

I have never met anyone during my decades of campaigning against the sex trade who supports the criminalisation of prostituted people, and yet it has proved impossible to put aside our differences and form a united front.

Read the full article.

14) Why we shouldn't call it 'sex work'

BBC 4

A woman who was forced into prostitution at 15 wants to see her permanent criminal record erased.

Watch the clip.

15) Real estate industry provided 75% of Vision Vancouver's by-election campaign donations

Jen St Denis, Metro Vancouver

Campaign finance filings show that 75 per cent of recent donations to Vancouver’s ruling civic party, Vision Vancouver, came from just one industry.

Read the full article.

16) Alberta payday loan crackdown shrinks industry

 Reid Southwick, CBC News

The payday loan industry is shrinking in Alberta after the province cracked down on the businesses often accused of predatory lending, though dozens remain in Calgary.

Read the full article.

17) Niagara pro-choice campaign gains traction

Richard Harley, Niagara Now

An unofficial group called Niagara for Women’s Rights has started an online fundraising campaign to put up pro-choice billboards across the region.

Read the full article/donate.

18) Mass expulsion under way as Israel begins deporting 40,000 Africans

Tessa Fox, Middle East Eye

Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel will be forced to accept a plane ticket to unsafe countries or face indefinite prison.

Read the full article.

19) The NHL Flips Off Its Fans Again

Acting the Fulemin, SB Nation

More than anything, this is just tiring. If I’m left to follow my uncool, fourth-place league, that’s okay, I love hockey and I love watching it. I’d rather the league not go out of its way to show that it neither gives a shit about improving its popularity beyond its current demographic, nor about a lot of the fans it already has. But hey, I guess that’s too much to ask.

Read the full article.

20) Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

Telesur

With no solution in sight regarding infant mortalities, residents of Chicago's South Side, home to numerous predominantly Black neighborhoods, have resorted to mentors from the Cuban Ministry of Public Health for help.

Read the full article.

21) Wynne’s Liberals gut their own affordable housing policy

John Lorinc, Spacing Toronto

Remember when inclusionary zoning was going to solve Toronto’s affordable housing crisis, or at least take a big step towards ameliorating it?

Read the full article.

22) Indefinite solitary confinement in Canadian prisons ruled unconstitutional by B.C. court

Jason Proctor, CBC News

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that the practice of prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement in Canadian prisons is unconstitutional.

Read the full article.

23) Notice to Members on Unifor’s Disaffiliation from the Canadian Labour Congress

Unifor

Over the course of the past year Unifor has been vocal and public about our concern with US-based unions trampling on the rights of workers and their democratic right to choose their own representation or to express dissent. In light of the ongoing lack of action and will by the affiliates of the Canadian Labour Congress to address the aggressive and undemocratic tactics shown by US-based unions towards workers in Canadian locals, a decision was made by the leadership of our union.

Read the full statement.

24) Unifor-CLC split demands unity from below

 Doug Nesbitt, Gerard Di Trolio, Evan Johnston and David Bush, Rank and File

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has left the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Unifor’s website says the decision was made by its National Executive Board on January 16. In a letter to CLC President Hassan Yussuff dated January 17, Unifor President Jerry Dias states that Unifor’s Executive Board has voted to cease affiliation to the CLC “immediately.”

Read the full article.

25) CLC head accuses Unifor of leaving lobby group to raid another union

Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press

Severed ties between the Canadian Labour Congress and Unifor have culminated in the head of the national lobby group for the labour movement accusing Canada's largest private sector union of raiding another union for members.

Read the full article.

26) Cape Town at risk of becoming first major city in the world to run out of water

Geoffrey York, The Globe and Mail

Cape Town, one of the biggest cities in South Africa and a famed tourist attraction, is warning its residents that they will soon have to queue for water.

Read the full article.

27) Coral Reefs Have Reached 'Make-or-Break Point': Scientists

Telesur

"Today I appeal to every single person on Earth to help us. We must replace the present culture of abuse," said Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

Read the full article.

28) Toronto's rental market now the most expensive in Canada

Derek Flack, Blog TO

Anyone searching for an apartment in Toronto already knows just how expensive rent is in this city, but to start the year we've now reached a troubling milestone. When it comes to one-bedroom apartments, Toronto is now the most expensive city in the country.

Read the full article.

29) Dear Gal Gadot: #TimesUp for Invisible Girls, Too

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Muslim Girl

Dear Gal,
When I was 16 years old, my main concern in life was figuring out how to get a class with my high school crush. My afterschool occupation involved locking myself in my computer room to design my perfect MySpace profile and rearrange my Top 8. I’d spend hours chatting on AOL Instant Messenger until dark and my mom would tell me it was time to cut the lights. That was the year before I created MuslimGirl.com, to create a space for girls like me to feel like our voices mattered in the real world.

Read the full article.

30) Protesters swarm Tim Hortons locations across Toronto


Lauren O'Neil, Blog TO

Protesters are out in full force today across Toronto and much of Ontario to tell Tim Hortons what they think of its response to the province's minimum wage increase.

Read the full article.

31) Want to understand the problems with minimum wage? Talk to people who earn it

 Nick Purdon, CBC News

The National's Nick Purdon and Leonardo Palleja went to St. Francis Table in Toronto, a restaurant for the poor where meals cost $1. The restaurant is run by the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of Central Canada and has served more than a million meals since it opened in 1987. The homeless, people on social assistance and seniors have traditionally been the main customers, but the Friars are increasingly seeing people on minimum wage frequenting St. Francis Table.

Here are three of them, talking about the realities of working hard and trying to live on minimum wage.

Read the full article.

32) Liane Tessier at the Halifax Women′s March: Speaking out has been the sanest thing I have ever done

Liane Tessier, The Nova Scotia Advocate

My name is Liane Tessier. I was once a firefighter, but I was targeted and forced out of a job that I loved and was good at, because I spoke out against the discrimination I faced as a woman.

Read the full article.

33) 'We've kept the ball rolling': Canadians mark 1 year since Women's March

Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News

One year ago Sara Bingham was part of a caravan of Canadians on buses heading to Washington, D.C., for the historic Women's March in protest of Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president.

Read the full article.

See also: Tim Hortons, BDS and Israel, Donald Trump and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List January 7 - 14

See also: Ontario Minimum Wage, Black Mirror, Woody Allen and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List December 31 - January 7

Ginger Jentzen, Pope Francis, Podemos and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List October 22-29

This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  October 22-29. It is generally in order of the date of the article's release.

1) A Toronto imam was accused of hate-preaching against Jews. But that wasn’t the whole story

Jennifer Yang, The Toronto Star

Ayman Elkasrawy’s controversial prayers sparked outrage and condemnation from many, including members of his own faith. In the aftermath, he reached out to the Jewish community to educate himself and learn from his mistakes. Still, a key question remained unanswered: did he really say what he was accused of saying?

Read the full article.

2) Sexual Harassment is Old News for Women in Trades

tradeswomn musings

In the wake of harassment allegations against sexual predators including movie moguls and our president, tradeswomen applaud women who are telling their stories and rising up against this outrage.


Women in male-dominated occupations have been fighting this fight for as long as we can remember. We’ve been on the front lines of the feminist movement for decades defending our sisters, supporting legislation to protect women against sexual harassment and helping employers and unions see their responsibility on this issue. We and our fight have been invisible except to each other. Every female construction worker has experienced harassment and all of us can say #Metoo.

Read the full article.

3) CAMI Strike 2017: After Another Setback Can Unifor Move On?

Herman Rosenfeld, The Socialist Project Bullet

A four-week strike at the CAMI assembly plant, that began on September 17th, ended on October 16th. Members of Unifor Local 88 voted 86% in favour of the tentative agreement bargained with the stand-alone GM plant. Located in Ingersoll, Ontario, close to London, it is a former joint venture between Suzuki and GM. CAMI assembles hot-selling Chevrolet Equinox crossover vehicles.

Read the full article.

4) Why did Masuma Khan’s post invite censure from Dalhousie if free speech is so vaunted?

Shree Paradkar, The Toronto Star

Dalhousie University is facing scrutiny for investigating a student leader's polarizing social media comments as a group of law professors and a civil liberties group accuse the university of censoring political speech.

Read the full article.

5) Please turn up the volume on the #MeToo outrage

Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine

Don’t buy the argument that smaller abuses aren’t harmful – there is a spectrum of abuse, and it has to be acknowledged.

Read the full article.

6) Quebec Gov't To Keep Crucifix Despite Banning Niqabi Women From Public Transit

Huffington Post

A crucifix that is prominently displayed in the room where members of the Quebec national assembly hold their regular sittings is staying put.

Read the full article.

7) Catholic school sex-ed plan as advertised won't ever be taught, premier says

The Canadian Press

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says an alternative sex education curriculum being crafted by Catholic school officials will never be taught if it arrives as previously advertised.

Read the full article.

8) Labour leaders rally at Union Station to demand transit services be kept in public hands

Muriel Draaisma, CBC News

A handful of labour leaders launched a campaign at Toronto's Union Station on Tuesday morning to stop what they say is the privatization of public transit projects.

Read the full article.

9) James Toback: 200 more women allege harassment by director, reports LA Times

Gwilym Mumford, The Guardian

Julianne Moore among new accusers as paper says it has received hundreds of stories of unwanted sexual attention from Toback, who has denied earlier allegations.

Read the full article.

10) Fashion must now move on from female exploitation – and Terry Richardson

Namalee Bolle, The Guardian

The Harvey Weinstein scandal has triggered a wave of allegations, revelations and even confessions, via the #metoo campaign, across media and entertainment. I’m not the only one working in the fashion business wondering whether this will finally signal the end of our own disgraceful “hush hush” culture surrounding harassment.

Read the full article.

11) Woody Allen Keeps Telling Us Who He Is. Women Should Listen.

Kali Holloway / AlterNet

Someone should invent a word for that moment when you realize an artist you love is a terrible person. The term could be used to succinctly describe the painful transition between before and after, that fracture in time separating carefree consumption from morally weighted knowledge. It would define the general discomfort of watching Last Tango in Paris versus the full-on horror of learning Bernardo Bertolucci and Marlon Brando conspired to commit verité sexual assault against Maria Schneider to get an authentically humiliating take. It would sum up the sudden creepiness that emanates from Cliff Huxtable with awareness that serial sexual abuser Bill Cosby is actually ensconced in that sweater. It’s the disturbing realization that sexually predatory thug Harvey Weinstein was involved in so many iconic films and incidents of sexual harassment dating back decades, it casts a shadow over an entire industry. Or the insight that R. Kelly—who will never face charges because this country doesn’t believe black women can truly be victims, as Weinstein also proved—was genuinely trying to sell us all on age-of-consent laws being useless.

Read the full article.

12) 'I will never not speak out again': Cindy McCormick killed in murder-suicide, says friend

Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon, CBC News

As Jennifer Gordon struggles to cope with the slaying of her best friend, Saint John dentist Cindy McCormick, in Alberta last weekend, she has made a promise to herself.


"I will never not speak out again," she said. "I will never stay silent."

Read the full article.

13) Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad

Martin Lukacs, The Guardian

Canada taxes its oil and gas companies at a fraction of the rate they are taxed abroad, including by countries ranked among the world’s most corrupt, according to an analysis of public data by the Guardian.

Read the full article.

14) MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE IS A SOCIALIST WHO GETS THINGS DONE

Zaid Jilani, The Intercept

A Group of about 20 Minneapolis residents huddled outside a downtown building on a recent Friday, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with messages, like “Tax the Rich” and “Minneapolis Needs a Political Revolution.”

Read the full article.

15) A Harvey Weinstein Moment for the Restaurant Industry?

Jen Agg, The New Yorker

In September of 2015, I organized a conference in Toronto to discuss gender inequality in the restaurant world. Titled Kitchen Bitches: Smashing the Patriarchy One Plate at a Time, the conference was the first of its kind, and it came in the wake of several instances of women in the Toronto restaurant industry speaking out about the discrimination and harassment they’d faced.

Read the full article.

16) Ontario makes it illegal to protest outside and near abortion clinics

The Canadian Press

It will soon be illegal to protest outside and near abortion clinics in Ontario.


The legislature passed a bill Wednesday to create zones around the eight clinics in the province of between 50 and 150 metres in which anti-abortion protests, advising a person not to get an abortion, and intimidation or interfering with a woman's ability to access the services will be banned.

Read the full article.

17) Quebec police officers accused of trading money and drugs for sex with aboriginal women placed on leave

Postmedia News

Police officers trading money and cocaine for sex, a missing persons case that collected dust for months, and allegations of wanton cruelty against vulnerable women.


These are what indigenous people say they have encountered first-hand in their dealings with the Sûreté du Québec in the remote mining city of Val d’Or.

Read the full article.

18) Social media brings Pakistan's persecuted women rare justice after the violence

Farhad Mirza and Sophie Hemery, The Guardian

Sarah Gill, Suman Ali – aka Acid Survivor – and Khadija Siddiqi represent a growing movement using the internet to demand justice for the shocking crimes they have suffered. Will it trigger long-awaited change in Pakistan?

Read the full article.

19) Why deny the Ukrainian Nazi connection?

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen

The Russian Embassy in Ottawa has created quite the controversy with its latest tweets about Nazi monuments in Canada.

Read the full article.

20) Podemos Leader Pablo Iglesias Calls Catalan Independence Illegal

Left Voice

The repression of October 1 may be small compared to the immense repression that Rajoy could bring down on the Catalan people as a result of this independence vote and concrete move to separate from the Spanish State. Iglesias turns his back on those workers and students who are in the streets celebrating right now, and who may tomorrow be in the streets facing the Spanish police. All progressives must position themselves in opposition to Article 155 and against the repression of the Spanish State. Podemos must put its immense political weight on the side of the workers and youth instead of leaving the Catalan people isolated to face off against the Spanish State and its imperialist backers. They must call for a huge movement against Article 155, against repression, and against a possible occupation of Catalonia by the Spanish armed forces.

Read the full article.

21) The war against Pope Francis

Andrew Brown, The Guardian

Pope Francis is one of the most hated men in the world today. Those who hate him most are not atheists, or protestants, or Muslims, but some of his own followers. Outside the church he is hugely popular as a figure of almost ostentatious modesty and humility. From the moment that Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became pope in 2013, his gestures caught the world’s imagination: the new pope drove a Fiat, carried his own bags and settled his own bills in hotels; he asked, of gay people, “Who am I to judge?” and washed the feet of Muslim women refugees.

Read the full article.

22) Marital rape myths have no place in Canadian law

Jennifer Koshan, Melanie Randall and Elizabeth Sheehy, The Globe and Mail

Since 1983, it has been a crime in Canada to sexually assault one's spouse. Yet marital rape too often remains effectively decriminalized, as shown in a recent Ontario decision. In R. v. H.E., an Ottawa man was acquitted of sexually assaulting his wife. Justice Robert J. Smith found that "the accused probably had sex with his wife on many occasions without her specific consent, as both he and she believed that he had the right to do so." With respect to the incident that led to criminal charges, however, the complainant testified she had told the accused to stop several times, and the judge found her to be credible. It is difficult to see how the accused could have honestly believed that his wife was consenting in these circumstances. It appears the accused was acquitted because he did not understand the law of consent, despite the fact that ignorance of the law is no defence.

Read the full article.

23) Judges failing women again on sex assault cases

Vicky Mochama, The Toronto Star

Companies and institutions will have to reckon with how they have created environments for predators to thrive but is the criminal justice system is ready for this change?

Read the full article.

24) 'An insult to women': Roman Polanski retrospective causes outrage

Agence France-Presse, The Guardian

French feminists have voiced outrage over a planned retrospective of the films of director Roman Polanski, who has been accused of several sexual assaults, calling it “an insult” to women following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Read the full article.

25) How Terry Richardson created porn ‘chic’ and moulded the look of an era

Richard Benson, The Guardian

The photographer, now ostracised by the fashion industry after many allegations of sexual harassment, shaped an aesthetic of exploitation.

Read the full article.

26) Iceland's centre-left opposition takes narrow majority in parliament

France 24

Icelanders, angry over a string of political scandals, ousted the centre-right government in an election that could pave the way for a young charismatic opposition leader to form a left-leaning coalition, final vote counts showed on Sunday.

Read the full article.

While this piece is from before the period covered, it is important and we are including it as we missed it before:

27) POLICE REPORTEDLY CLAIM A BROOKLYN TEEN CONSENTED TO SEX IN CUSTODY. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE.

Natasha Lennard, The Intercept

On September 28, attorney Michael David filed notice of a claim against the New York Police Department, the City of New York, and two unnamed police officers, referred to as John and Jim Doe. These plainclothes cops, alleged the claim, “brutally sexually assaulted and raped” his 18-year-old female client. David told me that within a day, he needed to amend the claim: The officers had been identified by police in the press as Brooklyn South narcotics detectives Richard Hall and Edward Martins.

Read the full article.

See also: Bill 62, Harvey Weinstein, Climate Change and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List October 15 - 22

See also: Harvey Weinstein, Sidney Crosby, Cuba and more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List October 8-15