The official Olympic Torch Relay for the Beijing Olympics involves passing the torch from runner to runner. Play Fair 2008, through their 'Catch the Flame', provides an electronic relay race to bring public attention to the need for the Olympics movement to stamp out abuses of labour standards in workplaces making Olympics goods. A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
The Canadian Peace Alliance campaigned about Canada's war in Afghanistan: Don't Extend it. End it. Bring our troops home now.
The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan is now over six years old, longer than World War Two. And sadly, there is now more instability and violence in Afghanistan than in 2001.
A clear majority of Canadians now oppose Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Sixty-one per cent are against plans to extend the mission past February 2009.
Call on the Government of Canada to stand with the majority of Canadians and say no to extending the mission in Afghanistan.
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
On Saturday, January 26, 2008, over 80 U.S. and Canadian auto industry worker / activists met in Flint, Michigan, birthplace of militant unionism in the Auto Industry in the late 1930s. The agenda was how to measure and respond to the crippling impact of the 2007 auto industry collective bargaining agreements. The daylong discussions led to the issuance of the Statement and Call for a Campaign to Oppose Two-Tier Wages, here in part:
'In the face of the continuing assault on worker wages, benefits, and the quality of work life where rising economic injustice is destroying the stability and hopes of an increasing numbers of workers and their families, here and around the world; and where inequality and income discrimination are celebrated by a protected few at the desperate expense of so many others; we call on all workers of conscience everywhere to join a campaign to bring our collective strength and renewed solidarity to the struggle against the agenda of social devaluation and despair.'
'This fight is winnable. The U.S. working class needs a victory and it needs this victory in particular. The one-sided class war against workers has gone on far too long. The defeat of the two tier system is a crucial step in the struggle to address broader inequalities in our society. It's time to draw the line.'
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
In April 2007, UAW 3520 workers at the Cleveland, North Carolina Freightliner truck plant went on strike over health and safety and other conditions and benefits. In retaliation, the Daimler Benz owned company fired 5 strike leaders. They are known as the Freightliner Five and have been fighting to get their jobs back ever since. This struggle is not just about the Freightliner workers but union organizing throughout the South. If Freightliner can get away with this illegal firing, other workers will think twice about joining a union.
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
An Autoworker Activists Gathering was held on Saturday, January 26th 2008 in Flint, Michigan, with the theme 'From the Ashes of the Old...'
The Center for Labor Renewal & The Solidarity Education Center, in conjunction with Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union, FactoryRat, Labor Notes and numerous rank & file committees of resistance sponsored this one-day meeting for all autoworker activists to focus on the concessionary Big Three Auto Contracts, ratified in the fall of 2007.
The session was an opportunity to analyze the economic & structural impact of the negotiations, to share experiences from the effort to mobilize opposition, and explore strategies and tactics for reclaiming unionism's direction and rebuilding rank & file solidarity.
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
Martha Grevatt has been working on this book, all the while being employed as an autoworker on the shop floor at a Chysler plant in Ohio. The text includes interviews with the few living veterans of the strikes of the 1930's.
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
Several links pages have been rearranged and some links have been recatalogued.
The Saskatchewan Government Employees Union leadership locked out their office staff. The office staff, whose work it is to serve the members of the SGEU, are members of another union, CEP 481. The mean spirited campaign by the SGEU leadership is being met with calls for resolution by the government employees teachers themselves, who support CEP 481 members.
In October, 2007 the CAW joined with Magna International to sign the (FFA) or 'Framework of Fairness Agreement'. In that deal the CAW has given up the right to strike, the real grievance procedure and the stewardship on the shopfloor.
Many individuals and groups came out to oppose the CAW Magna deal. Some that spoke out in opposition were members of the CAW union itself. A loosely knit team of dissidents came together to raise their voices in denouncing the FFA.
A banner was presented in support of this campaign.
The Canadian Labour Congress as well as regional Labour Councils, Federations across Canada
joined in raising awareness to the loss of manufacturing jobs across the country. They held
town hall meeting, rallies, marches, parades, teach-ins and spread their message far and wide.
collapse.
The British Columbia Teachers Federation leadership locked out their office staff. The office staff, whose work it is to serve the members of the BCTF, are members of another union, CEP 464. The mean spirited campaign by the BCTF leadership was also countered by the teachers themselves, who supported CEP 464 members.
'Child Labour In Agriculture' is the focus of this years' campaign against child labour.
Supporters across France rallied in support of the left-of-centre candiadate Segolene Royal.
Around the world, public services built up by past generations are under attack. The most rewarded public service system benefactors of all time, these highly educated decendants of those that built up the social service systems are unable to develop any equivalent systems of comparable value. In this sense, their forebearers failed. These offspring failed to develop an ability to work together for the common good. Instead they pick apart and dismantle the systems they inherited, for otherwise they themselves would be unemployable and collecting welfare. In their efforts to face their shame, and to avoid such a fate, these now soon-to-retire children justify their existence with slogans like 'Creative Destruction' or 'Globalism'.
In defiance of this seed corn eating fest, organized labour now seeks to legislate the more idle minded rationalizations out of existence.
The GM Opel Vauxhall Saab crisis grew as GME management threatened to close their Combo vehicle operation in Azambuja, Portugal and move production to Zaragoza, Spain. GME management added to the turmoil with statements of their intentions to expand its capacities to Central and Eastern Europe.
This banner was presented to signal that there would be no support for M. Pen in 2006 either.
When Delphi / GM requested the bankruptcy court to through out the employment contracts of 33,000 unionized workers, and requested permission to close 21 factories in the United States, the entire auto-parts workforce was stunned into silence. Earlier risk-averse hourly employees had pointed fingers at the radicals, blaming their activist ways for the threat to their way of life. The radicals pointed back to those true believers claiming that concessions and 'jointness' were the means to everyone's work extinction. Both sides were proved wrong when Delphi / GM made it known that none of the countless offers from senators, congress members, mayors, county councillors business persons, unions, or anybody else had been considered. Delphi / GM had taken their wealth out of the US jurisdiction and was closing operations there. Clearly there had been no position that could have saved some of the jobs. No position except all out war against the auto makers and their allies.
Several banners were presented to support the rising awareness that the SOS movement mustered. Slowly the workers began to understand that their common enemy was the corporation and not one another. New messages of solidarity were declared to bolster resolve of the growing rebellion.
