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 When interference comes from every direction, who’s on our side?By Bill Baron, Office Manager We live in interesting times. News reports are filled with stories about terrorist threats, gang violence and drug turf wars. Every violent domestic incident is a potential act of terrorism. I’m reminded of the rallies and huge meetings in the 1930s. How would gatherings like this be regarded now? Let’s hope that peaceful protests don’t get labeled as terrorism. What it was, is now and always has been about, is someone or some group imposing its will and ways on someone else. Property taxes, fuel surcharges, insurance fees and so on... There are always more and more things intruding on our lives. What can we do about it? Can’t we just be left alone? No, it appears not! We used to be good at banding together to elect people to government who actually represented the needs of citizens, demanding that we not be gouged at the grocery stores or abused by stupid laws passed by people with their own agendas. We don’t do much of that anymore. In a so-called civilized and educated country, we seldom take the time out of our individual lives to back each other up. The poorest countries and people in the ghettos around the world do a better job in some ways. They at least know how to identify each other by tribe, by religion, or by the neighborhood they live in. Why can’t we, at least, do that much? Why can’t we find out who supports whom? What do we have to do? Create our own tattoos? That’s not an original thought but it works for the gangs in Los Angeles and Asia and others. Union involvement may provide some of the answers, Here are some facts you may not be aware of. Did you know— • The federal government’s Bill C-257, the private member’s bill to ban replacement workers (scabs) on federally funded work sites, was recently defeated. Korea and Ireland are among the many countries that have ended the use of replacement workers. • The number of years after which Canada will face a labour shortage of nearly one million workers: 4 • The number of years after which 100% of net labour growth will depend on immigration: 5 • The cost to the Canadian economy of failure to recognize foreign workers: $1 billion • The national Day of Mourning on April 28th was first recognized in Canada in 1984 and is now observed in more than 100 countries. Unions are schools for democracy in a society where there are few places to practice democratic decision-making. Unions provide workers with a vehicle for exercising their rights in the workplace, reaffirming the most basic principle of democracy—the right to participate in decisions that affect you. Unions represent the common interests of members as well as those of the wider community. Unions are the best vehicles for workers to band together on issues of common interest. They also don’t require any painful tattoos! —The statistics come from Organizing the Organized by Elaine Bernard, Canadian Association of Labour Media |
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