LABOUR ACTION Summer | 2016

Toronto Labour Day Parade 1952

@torontolabour facebook.com/labourcouncil labourcouncil.ca SUMMER | 2016

COMMITTEES 2016 - 2018 EXECUTIVE BOARD EQUITY Mark Brown - CUPW 2016 - 2018 Joe Chang - UNIFOR Local 700M Bevoria Martin Clarke - CUPE Local 79 Joy Davis - CUPE Local 4400 Danica Izzard - OSSTF District 12 Kingsley Kwok - OPSEU Local 575 Keith Menezes - USW Local 9197 Ainsworth Spence - SEIU Healthcare MUNICIPAL Brendan Haley - CUPE Local 4948 Guled Warsami - UNITE HERE Local 75 John Humphrey - USW Local 8300 John Cartwright Andria Babbington Maureen O’Reilly Jeff Irons (Carpenters 27) (UNITE HERE 75) (CUPE 4948) (IBEW 353) Josephine Petcher - UNIFOR Local 700M President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Charlene Mueller - CUPE Local 1 Lily Chang - CUPE Local 79 David Kidd - CUPE 79 Damien Walsh - Toronto Firefighters EDUCATION Darren Campbell - ETFO York Region Marie Coulter - CUPE Local 4400 Kathy Harding - CUPE Local 1328 Hayssam Hulays - OSSTF D. 12 Kristof Barocz Ibrahim Bozai Lily Chang Carolyn Egan Deborah Karam - OECTA Elementary (SEIU Healthcare) (OPSEU 526) (CUPE 79) (USW 8300) James MacKasey - OECTA Secondary Andy Lomnicki - ETT Filomena Ferraro - OECTA York Region WOMEN’S Mina Amrith - SEIU Healthcare Sandy Heeralal-Judhan - CUPE Local 4400 Jodi Kerr - ATU Local 113 Helen Kennedy - CUPE Local 79 Laura Thompson - OPSEU Local 503 Andrew Eyles Filomena Ferraro Abdi Hagi Yusuf Miguel Lima (USW 8300) (OEACTA York) (CUPW Toronto) (CUPE 4400) Alexandra Thomson - USW Local 1998 Heather Tynes - CUPE Local 4400 Maggie Yen - COPE Local 343 Diversity Networks Filipino Workers Network Chinese Workers Network Tamil Workers Network Somali Workers Network Ethiopian/Eritrean Workers Network Jonathan Lobo Andy Lomnicki Mary Ellen McIlmoyle Josephine Petcher To join any of the Diversity Networks (UFCW 1006a) (ETT) (UNIFOR 673) (UNIFOR 700M) Call or Email 416 441 3663 [email protected]

LabourACTION is a publication of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council that is published several times a year.

To receive the Council’s weekly email updates, please contact Kiruthiha Kulendiren at [email protected]. www.labourcouncil.ca LABOURACTION 3 EDITORIAL This issue of Labour Action just grew a few more pages, because so much is happening that affects workers and their families in greater Toronto, across Canada, and the Globe. From the journey of a young person to become a skilled construction worker, to challenging bigotry, ideas on just transitioning of work in a green economy – it all connects! Let’s start with today’s life and now exploited by the Workers has launched an hard won, essential essential - work! ’s select few to futher their absolutely brilliant strategy inspiration for challenges labour movement is agendas of racism and to build a better future on the horizon for surely, mobilizing to win new bigotry, disempowering for themselves and all of together we prove we are and stronger employment citizens, causing chaos and Canada – by becoming true stronger. laws that would make creating greater profits for changemakers that deliver Hope you enjoy this issue. life easier for people; to the 1%. This is why Labour not just mail but also green When you have finished join unions, win decent stands strongly against all jobs and affordable financial pass it on to a friend or contracts and create better forms of discrimination, services! Called Delivering co-worker, perhaps add it working conditions. Labour and have done so for many Community Power and to a waiting room table for is determined to win new decades – as the cover page taking pride of place in others to read? Find us on rights for workers without of this issue reminds us. The the centre-spread of this Facebook or Twitter, and get unions, to tackle temp Canadian labour movement issue, postal workers are our weekly e-message by work, wage theft and unfair has also been fighting unfair showing that leadership signing up at labourcouncil. scheduling. Together, trade deals since 1988. and innovation is well and ca and send your the MakeItFair and Today, Labour continues to alive in Canada. It shows feedback to kkulendiren@ $15+Fairness campaigns demand changes to CETA how the principle of “just labourcouncil.ca are looking to reach tens and calls on the Trudeau transition” can be applied Together we can make of thousands of union government to firmly scrap to an organization that Labour’s voice louder! members this Fall so pencil and not recycle the Trans- owns the largest chain the date in your schedule Pacific Partnership (TPP) of retail outlets in the In Solidarity, and make sure you attend negotiated by the Harper country. A Canada greenjob Kiruthiha Kulendiren the Rally for Decent Work Conservatives. This is about network that is owned by set for October 1st at making sure that the rights us for generations to come. Queen’s Park. Bring your of all Canadians is made Imagine if every union in family, friends, neighbours a priority for generations Canada develops such a far- because this is about to come and not sold to sighted plan to look at the EVERYONE in Ontario. corporates interests in opportunities in their sector Who doesn’t want a drawn out legal battles to combat climate change. good job? consuming precious tax Just imagine... What about the impact money better spent on Let us take time to celebrate of trade and technology creating improved lives victories hard won. Like on jobs? The reason for for our most vulnerable the expansion of Canada the resounding force of and deeply wounded, our Pension Plan after seven the Brexit vote in UK and Indigenous communities. long years of struggle. TRUMPmania in US can be But even jobs that can’t be And the election of Chris found in feelings of betrayal exported are under attack, Moise to the Toronto and degradation felt by as we see with the nasty District School Board. Not the working class - a direct tactics of Canada Post forgetting the leadership outcome of globalization. CEO Deepak Chopra. The of the Toronto Community Feelings entirely human Canadian Union of Postal Benefits Network. Victories 4 SUMMER | 2016 Your Family and Precarious Work – Take the Survey!

Today in Ontario, well more than a hopes to create a strong narrative around you directly, and that’s what the survey million workers earn minimum wage workplace justice. Unions across the is designed to find out. or just above it. Too many of our province are undertaking a major survey We want to hear from everyone, so neighbour or family members are on precarious work – an issue that is fast please share your thoughts by arranging trapped in precarious work - part-time, becoming the ‘new normal’ for Ontario for a survey through your union or by temporary, contract and subcontracted workers. visiting www.makeitfair.ca. Participants jobs. This changing economic reality Is there anyone in your immediate or will have a chance to win a $200 gift has brought the extended family who finds themselves card for either Loblaws or Metro grocery to examine the out-dated Employment in part-time, contract or temp agency stores. Check out the website regularly Standards Act and the Labour Relations jobs with lower pay, fewer benefits or to see the results and updates on the Act, and the labour movement is hoping unpredictable schedules? campaign. to seize this historic opportunity to win If yes, please take the survey. At the real improvements in the law. July Labour Council meeting, Delegates The OFL’s Make It Fair campaign aims interviewed each other and came to reach a million union members to up with astounding results. Nearly engage in building a movement for everyone had someone in their family labourcouncil.ca change. It will partner with the $15 and who was affected. It makes the issue a makeitfair.ca 15andfairness.org Fairness campaign for public events, and whole lot more relevant if it impacts on LABOURACTION 5 Welcome Mohammed Hashim – Labour Council Organizer!

Mohammed Hashim may be a new Organizer voter turnout in the federal election. Prior for Labour Council, but he is a familiar face to LCS, Mohammed worked for its sister to many of our affiliates. Before being chosen organization in Peel. A leader in the Canadian as TYRLC Organizer, he served for three years Federation of Students before he joined the with Labour Community Services, helping labour movement, Mohammed is helping to build workplace United Way campaigns and outreaching to young workers. He was to build the Young Workers Network and very involved in the efforts within the Muslim has major assignments at , communities across Canada to challenge the the School Boards and York Region. You can Harper government’s bigotry and build strong reach him at [email protected]

Filipino Workers History Tour

Toronto’s history includes countless geography of Toronto, and has led Union members from a wide variety of stories of working people fighting for to the development of a number of occupations. equality, social justice, and to make suburban working class immigrant To register for the Migration, Food a living for themselves and their communities. Little Manila is one of and Identity in North York’s Little families. 100 years ago, the Ward, a these neighborhoods, located North Manila tour on September 3, visit neighbourhood in central Toronto York’s Bathurst-Wilson area. After the heritagetoronto.org. centred on the intersection of Bay Second World War, Filipino migrant- and Dundas Streets, was the centre of workers began moving to Bathurst and immigrant, working class community Wilson. in the city. Today, the transnational And today Toronto has a vibrant nature of labour has shaped the Filipino Workers Network, including

Chris Moise Wins Ward 14 TDSB By-Election!

Thirty-six hours after winning the Toronto came from all over the city – from Scarborough District School board trustee by-election in to Etobicoke and many parts in between,” Ward 14 -Rosedale on June 20, Chris said at his victory party. Chris Moise was sworn in as the new trustee And many of those volunteers included union and then whisked into his first board meeting. members who on their own time came and He hasn’t stopped since. canvassed at many doors during the by- The by-election was a hard fought campaign election. Chris spent much of his first couple on the ground in the riding and the newly- of weeks as an elected trustee attending elected trustee knows his victory came about graduation ceremonies at both the high because of the time and commitment from schools and elementary schools in his ward. the community and the Toronto labour And he has also already started meeting with movement. parent groups, other trustees and board staff. “I am humbled by the many volunteers who We’re sure Chris will be a strong voice for came and worked so hard to win this. They public education in our communities. 6 SUMMER | 2016

THE Not Just Bigots and Boors

The decision of British voters to leave Europe has been treated as evidence that they’re intolerant xenophobes keen to seal themselves off from the world. That Donald Trump is on their side only helps make the case that they represent a boorish throwback, a desire to make the English-speaking world great again by turning it into a giant gated community surrounded by sky-high walls. Having such a collection of bigots and don’t like, and to have their lawsuits boors opposing “globalization” may turn decided by closed tribunals. out to be a boon for those promoting The TPP, rather than removing this globalization — that is, the laws that indefensible, anti-democratic set of govern the global economy. rights for wealthy foreigners, actually This is unfortunate, since these laws — extends them. and the international trade deals that Indeed, the TPP could open a floodgate enforce them — have delivered benefits of new claims by wealthy foreigners, almost exclusively to those at the top in according to a powerful report by recent years, and should be thoroughly Osgoode Hall law professor Gus Van overhauled. Harten, released last month but ignored But with Neanderthal wall-builders by the media. lurking in the background, it may be “With the TPP, many more such claims easier for the Trudeau government to will become possible,” notes Van Harten, convince Canadians to accept these an expert in international law and badly flawed and increasingly unpopular investment treaties. trade deals as part of living in an open, The report documents how corporations modern world. and wealthy investors have taken U.S. President Barack Obama helped advantage of the bizarrely generous make this case in his address to legal rights available to them under Parliament last week, urging us to resist NAFTA, suing Canada 39 times and “sealing ourselves off from the world,” as winning more than $190 million in he derided opposition to foreigners and compensation from Canadian taxpayers. opposition to international trade deals There is no cap on how high the with the same broad brush. compensation can be, and the vast But whoa, Nelly! Let’s not lump Trump’s majority of it goes to the ultra-rich scurrilous Muslim ban in with legitimate – corporations with annual revenues resistance to trade deals such as NAFTA, over $1 billion and individuals with net as well as the highly contentious new wealth above $100 million. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the sweeping 12-nation trade deal Obama is Globalization pacts, keenly promoting. such as the Trans- There’s a litany of reasons why any sensible person would resist these trade Pacific Partnership, deals. give too much power But the most outrageous aspect of to corporations over them has always been the special set of legal rights they bestow on foreign elected officials corporations and investors. These rights — which go beyond anything Oh, and let’s not forget what it is these that exists in domestic or international foreign interests are objecting to: law — enable wealthy foreigners to sue laws passed by democratically elected governments over policies the foreigners governments to protect the public. LABOURACTION 7

Labour Council celebrated 145 years of working for justice with a gala dinner dance combined with honouring two dynamic leaders. Keynote speaker CLC President Hassan Yussuff praised the work of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council over it’s history, and credited its activism with helping to win major struggles on behalf of working people. A slide show featured images from 1871 to today, and can be seen on the LabourCouncil.ca website. David Onyalo and Winnie Ng both received the 2016 Bromley Armstrong Award, and a birthday cake appeared for Council staffer Maureen King. It was a great night to celebrate!

For instance, Philip Morris challenged protection for some of the richest people she told reporters “we are a party that anti-tobacco regulations in Australia, on Earth, making it easy for them to believes in trade, and a government that Lone Pine Resources challenged fracking sue us for uncapped amounts, in closed believes in free trade.” regulations in Canada. Just last month, tribunals adjudicated by lawyers with a The Trudeau government will no doubt TransCanada sued the United States for financial interest in siding with the rich fill us with dark Brexit and Trumpian $15 billion to compensate for Obama’s foreigners. images to warm us up to the TPP. But decision not to approve the Keystone But surely there’s also got to be not even revulsion for Donald Trump pipeline. something in the TPP for foreign banks? will provide enough lipstick to pretty up And the cases are decided by private this pig. sector lawyers acting as arbitrators. Yes, there is: the TPP goes beyond Unlike regular judges, these arbitrators, NAFTA in creating new opportunities Linda McQuaig is a journalist and paid exorbitant hourly rates, have a for foreign banks to sue for author. Her column appears monthly in direct financial interest in encouraging compensation. Who would have Toronto Star. foreign investors to bring claims and to thought of that! To learn more about TPP, go to stretch them out, and have so far earned Last February, Trade Minister Chrystia canadianlabour.ca and share the video! “well over $1 billion in fees,” Van Harten Freeland flew to New Zealand to sign says. the TPP. While Canada still must ratify Published in the Toronto Star OK, so the TPP offers sweetheart legal the deal, Freeland sure sounded keen as July 7, 2016 8 SUMMER | 2016 Asante: A Man With a Plan

It’s a hot summer day in Toronto. With the mercury approaching 32 degree celsius, it’d be hard to find anyone with a burning desire — pardon the pun — to be in the sun all day. Yet, that is exactly where you’ll find Asante Obeng along with six other construction workers, hammering away at a bridge over the QEW, near Cawthra. Asante recalls being Local 183’s training center he is in California playing interested in construction on highway 50. After football at a Junior College. work since he was a little learning basic skills like Asante is a man with a boy. “I was always the one measuring and use of tools, plan. Ultimately he wants tinkering with stuff, taking “we took on projects, like to be playing in the NFL things apart” he says. Now putting up walls, building or the CFL – at 6’5” he 24, he is the youngest slabs, stairs, etc.” says has the stature to succeed. member of the Torbridge Asante, clearly impressed In the meantime, to the crew on this particular by the comprehensive great satisfaction of his site, but he is certainly not training he received from Ghanaian-born parents, he’s inexperienced. the union. Moreover, his taking his academic studies training allowed him to find Back in grade 11, very seriously, hoping the right balance between Asante was recruited to complete a degree in productivity and safety into the Ontario Youth Construction Engineering. Apprenticeship Program when he started to work Asante recognizes that (OYAP), a government in heavy constructions initiative that introduces throughout the city, right his life could have been high school students to the after high school. very different today if it trades. For two consecutive Asante has no doubt that he wasn’t for the OYAP and summers he attended the can have a successful career the training he received at LIUNA local 183 Training being a CCW. “If he wasn’t Local 183. Sure, he would Centre where he learned for school, I would’ve been probably still be helping his the necessary skills to well off, owning my own neighbour on his renovation become a construction craft house already” he says. But gigs, but he doubts that he worker (CCW). “They do his plans are multilayered. would be in a safe, well- really good work out there” When he’s not in Toronto paying union job that has Asante says, speaking of working in the summertime, opened up a great future. Connect + Follow + Share

Did you know? Have you heard? Did you read? Got a campaign? No .. No .. No .. Yes! Stay connected with Twitter & Facebook Follow @torontolabour and Like facebook.com/labourcouncil Visit www.labourcouncil.ca and youtube/labourcouncil for video, articles, press releases & much more! Got feedback about Labour Action? Comment on an article? Story ideas? Email [email protected] LABOURACTION 9

Toronto Workers’ History Project

Did you know that the first women organized into a union in Toronto were boot-and-shoe workers in 1870? Did you know that Toronto printers got the eight-hour day in 1907? Did you know that 5,000 unionists marched on Queen’s Park in 1918 to end prohibition and bring back beer? Toronto’s working people have a building of this city, in the home, long, rich history, but it is not well in the paid workplace, and in the known, either by activists or the community. We want to highlight public. A new group wants to do the vitality and creativity of something about that. The Toronto working-class cultures in the history Workers’ History Project started up of Toronto. We are determined to in May, and includes a large number include the full diversity of working- of workers, unionists, professors, class experience, including women, the past for the struggles to change students, artists, teachers, librarians, indigenous people, racialized the world today. “ educators, researchers, community people, people with disabilities, and gays, lesbians, and trans people. We To put this vision into action, an activists, and retirees who want to embrace the histories of people from interim steering committee and four preserve and promote working- all parts of the world. We aim to working groups have been set up class history in the city. The make these stories available through and will be reporting to the next group’s mission statement promises a variety of media for audiences of general membership meeting on 12 inclusivity and relevance: all ages and backgrounds. We want September at the Steelworkers’ Hall “We are committed to bringing to to educate the people of Toronto on Cecil St. Anyone can join - $10 light the experiences of working and beyond, but also to inspire for the employed, $2 for students, people and their contributions as activists in social-justice and labour unemployed, and retirees. Contact individuals and collectively to the movements with the lessons from Craig at [email protected]. Art-Activism of Condé + Beveridge

For more than 40 years, Carole Barrie, Ontario, ended with a historic Condé and Karl Beveridge have first contract for working women. constructed images that illuminate They have since created numerous the contest between private interests other projects involving dozens of and collective needs in the workplace, unions, and have been a key part of communities, and the environment. A Toronto’s progressive arts and culture powerful retrospective of their work community for decades. Check them entitled Public Exposures was part of out at www.condebeveridge.ca the Contact Festival this summer. The artists have made the concept of work and working people’s stories the central theme in their staged photography. Their first substantial union collaboration came in 1980 when the bitter Radio Shack strike in 10 SUMMER | 2016 Reimagining Our Postal Service

Many think of Canada Post as a place to mail a care package, buy stamps or pick up the latest commemorative coin. Some consider the post office past its We want a 100% renewable economy prime: the last decade has seen efforts that addresses inequality, puts power DELIVERING to cut, devalue and undermine this in our hands and improves our lives. quintessentially public service. These Our post office can deliver it. COMMUNITY moves have been fiercely resisted by people across the country. Delivering Our POWER Renewable Future What if our cherished national How Canada Post can be the hub Canada Post’s vast infrastructure and of our Next Economy institution, with its vast physical delivery network has the potential to infrastructure and millions of daily become the hub of a green and social human interactions, could offer us economy. Here’s how we could do it: something completely different? What if the post office could play a central • It starts with those negatively affected by the old economy. role in building our next economy — Indigenous communities an economy that is more stable, more downstream from polluting equal, and less polluting? projects; neighbourhoods relying We’re thinking big. Will you join us? on precarious or low-paying Just Imagine… work; regions facing job losses in • Charging stations for electric extraction industries: postal banking vehicles at post offices and new sustainable businesses could provide solutions for all. • A renewable-powered postal fleet that connects farms to dinner tables • Transition the Canada Post fleet to 100% renewable energy. Canada • Door-to-door mail carriers checking Post has the largest public vehicle We own the 6,300 in on seniors and people with biggest retail fleet in the country. Federal Post offices mobility issues as well as delivering network in infrastructure funding could add a locally- produced food and other the country. nation-wide network for charging What will we services electric vehicles — a springboard do with it? • Post offices as community hubs toward a broad shift to low-carbon for social innovation, connecting vehicles. 3,468 climate-friendly businesses to • Electric charging stations could Tim Hortons customers be added to every post office and • Postal banking services that depot, which would encourage provide small towns and public use and build infrastructure Indigenous communities with for electric vehicles. inclusive financial services – like • Expand door-to-door delivery loans to families underserved by services. Door-to-door delivery commercial banks reduces use of fossil fuels than • Public-interest financial services customers driving to pick up their that fuel the green energy transition mail. in urban, rural and Indigenous • Support for elders and those with communities limited mobility. Mail carriers, LABOURACTION 11

• providing financial services to low- Postal banking could provide basic income communities financial services for everyone. • using profits to help fund other It could also offer affordable loans to public initiatives boost renewable energy development, For over a century, Canada Post including energy- saving retrofits. has provided the same world-class By offering banking services through service to everyone in the country. its network of over 6000 postal By reinventing our post office as the outlets, Canada Post could overnight engine of the next economy. We will become the most accessible — and “Meeting our climate connect people and communities into greenest — bank in the country. commitments requires a bold the next century. vision, and public support for that vision. By working Get Involved closely with communities, Canada Post offered banking Canada Post could deliver services until 1968 DeliveringCommunityPower.ca green energy in ways that Postal banking is simple: like the address their concerns and Shape Canada Post’s Future meet their needs.” big banks, post offices can provide We have a rare chance to push everyday financial services like David Suzuki for a bold vision and a leap chequing and savings accounts, forward. remember the ideas we’ve loans and insurance. There’s one key presented in this pamphlet and already the eyes and ears of their difference: unlike the big banks, our contribute your own innovative neighbourhoods, could check in on postal banks are owned by the people thinking. elders and deliver medicines and who use them. other services. Canada’s major banks raked in $35 Join Us • Turn post offices into community billion dollars in profits in 2015 — Visit deliveringcommunitypower. hubs. Local entrepreneurs can use while cutting jobs and raising their ca to join the call for Canada Post the post office as a meeting space already high fees for day-to-day to Deliver Community Power. or pop-up shop to connect with services. Hundreds of thousands of Spread the Word customers and collaborators. Canadians don’t have bank accounts On our web site, you can request at all. access to banking is particularly Why Canada Post? copies of this pamphlet to limited for Indigenous communities; distribute in your community. What would you do if you owned… only 54 of 615 First nations • The biggest chain of retail outlets in communities are served by local bank Get Your MP On Board the country? branches. Call your federal Member of • A way to easily communicate and About 2 million people a year in Parliament and ask them to connect with every household from Canada use payday lenders, which support the campaign. coast to coast to coast? often charge interest rates of over Join or Host a Local Event 400%. For various reasons, these • A logistical network that can Spread the word about customers are denied overdraft mobilize people and move materials the campaign and identify protection, lines of credit, credit cards, to every corner of the world’s local allies. Details at and short- term loans. second-largest country? deliveringcommunitypower.ca WE OWN IT. Canada Post isn’t just Every year, workers in Canada transfer a mail and parcel delivery service; it’s billions of dollars in remittances to a powerful national logistics network family members overseas, but the cost that could address some of our most of sending money can be as high as pressing challenges, such as: 20% on smaller amounts. These high rates hurt the people that depend • climate change, upon them the most. • delivering services to an aging population, 12 SUMMER | 2016

Share the Screen – ACTRA Shout Out for Diversity! ACTRA Toronto’s Diversity Committee, which serves the performer union’s self-identified diverse membership, has launched a multi-tiered awareness campaign called #SharetheScreen. The campaign provides links and tools for Canadians to tell broadcasters, producers, funders and policy and decision makers that we want a more inclusive Canadian media industry. Together, we can show the world that Canada is a leader in creating exciting stories led by characters of various ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, and abilities. A #SharetheScreen video, to be launched later this summer, addresses the realities and experiences of diverse performers in the entertainment industry, while also speaking to larger issues of diversity and gender inequities. Go to: http://www.actratoronto.com/sharethescreen/ to see how you can help.

The Long Fight to Expand the Canada Pension Plan The Canadian Labour Congress is appreciate that this will be the first benefits. By contrast, the CPP follows celebrating the agreement by federal increase in the plan’s history, and one workers from job to job, keeps up with and provincial Finance Ministers on that will benefit all Canadians,” said the cost of living, and pays out benefits a modest universal expansion of the Canadian Labour Congress President for life, regardless of how the stock Canada Pension Plan. The CLC and Hassan Yussuff. market performs. its member unions have supported an This issue is important for union and “Canadian unions believe we all expanded CPP for more than 50 years non-union workers, because even have a responsibility to work to and have been actively campaigning on those employees with a workplace end seniors’ poverty. We know that this issue since 2009. pension plan or alternate savings pensions are crucially important, not “Too many Canadians today are are vulnerable to financial insecurity just to the well-being of workers and struggling in retirement and change in retirement. Fewer employers are their families, but to the economic is long overdue. Even though we had offering workplace pensions, and more health and vitality of our cities and asked that the CPP be doubled, we workplace pensions are seeing reduced communities,” Yussuff said. LABOURACTION 13 Make Every Vote Count

In a democracy, every vote should count equally. But that’s not how it works - in the 2015 federal election, it took just 38,000 votes to elect each Liberal MP compared to 57,000 for each Conservative, 79,000 for each New Democrat MP, 82,000 for each member of the Bloc Québécois and 603,000 votes for one Green MP. Overall, nine million votes were wasted – meaning they were cast for a candidate who didn’t win in our first-past-the-post system. This fundamentally unfair system is now up for review, as Prime Minister Trudeau has pledged 2015 will be the last election run in the traditional “first past the post” method. Trudeau says he prefers Ranked Ballot voting, but that is very different than Proportional Representation (PR), where the party representation in Parliament reflects their share of the votes. The vast majority of OECD countries elect their governments through PR, resulting in stable administrations that rule effectively. Labour Council has long supported Fair Vote Canada in its efforts to win electoral reform for Proportional Representation. There are different variations of PR. Labour Council is supporting a move to a Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP). That system features one ballot with two choices: a local representative and a party choice. Voters elect their representatives in two ways: in local districts and province- wide. All elected members would serve together in the Legislature. Local members are elected in MMP in the same way they are elected under the current system. Local candidates are nominated by parties or run as independents. The votes are counted in each electoral district and the candidate with the most votes is elected. The winning candidate represents the district in the legislature. List members are elected through the party vote on the ballot. Each party nominates a list of candidates, in the order it wants them to be elected. Candidates at the top of the list have a better chance of being elected than candidates farther down the list. This helps voters decide which party to vote for because they know which candidates will be elected if a party wins list seats. MMP won’t guarantee that pro-labour candidates will prevail – the elites will still do everything possible to shape the outcome in favour of business. But it will provide the opportunity for political voices that speak for the interests of workers and their communities to be elected more often. It has also been shown to increase both voter turnout and diversity of winning candidates. We have been saddled with false majorities for too long. It’s time that Canada moves to a more representative system that ensures that every vote counts. 14 SUMMER | 2016 Truth and Reconciliation

For over a century, generations of Aboriginal children were separated from their parents and raised in over-crowded, underfunded, and often unhealthy residential schools across Canada. They were commonly denied the right to speak their language and told their cultural beliefs were sinful. Some students did not see their parents for years. Others—the victims of scandalously high death rates— never made it back home. Even by the standards of the day, discipline often was excessive. Lack of supervision left students prey to sexual predators. To put it simply: the needs of tens of thousands of Aboriginal children were neglected routinely. Far too many children were abused far too often.

But this story is about more than neglect and abuse. Those painful stories rightfully have captured national headlines. They are central to the story this book tells. But there is more to tell. • This is a story of loss • For Canada, this is a shameful story • It is also a story about the response to a sacred call • It is a story about Canadian colonialism.

• It is a complicated story The Battleford, Saskatchewan, school cricket team in 1895. In 1899, an Indian Affairs official wrote of the Battleford school, “A noticeable feature of this school is its games. They are all thoroughly and distinctly • It is a story of humility and the ‘white’. The boys use the boxing gloves with no little science, and excellent temper and play good games possibility of change of cricket and football with great interest and truly Anglo-Saxon vigor.”

• Most importantly, this story is a the international stage. That does events, and, in the coming years, to tribute to Aboriginal resilience: a not mean we should abandon our join in the ongoing task of coming determination not just to endure, ideals. We cannot change the past, to grips with our nation’s past and but to flourish but the future is in our hands. We charting a future in which we can all • It is a story about how, in crucial are called to undertake the ongoing take pride. ways, our schools failed all of us work of reconciliation: to right the relationship between Aboriginal and The text above is excerpted from the • This is a story of destruction carried Introduction of the Truth and Reconciliation out in the name of civilization non-Aboriginal Canada. This is no Commission Report. Each bullet point easy or straightforward task. We need introduces a full section that summarizes • This is our story and Canada’s story to revive old visions in which these the long history covered by the report. The • This story is not over. communities came together in a spirit Canadian Labour Congress is developing a framework for a labour action plan to address of sharing and mutual exchange. The The history recounted in this book the issues raised by the report. Every Canadian will cause many Canadians to see Truth and Reconciliation Commission should take time to read this important story their country differently. It is painful will be seeking to guide this process – www.trc.ca to discover that, as a nation, we have throughout the rest of its mandate. not always lived up to our ideals We encourage Canadians to read this or the image we seek to project on history, participate in Commission LABOURACTION 15

On May 14th Labour Council held its annual Aboriginal/Workers of Colour Conference (AWOC) at the Don Valley Hotel. Over 250 people turned out engage in a full day of learning and sharing. Keynote speakers were Chief Leslee White-Eye of the Chippewas of the Thames; and Terry Melvin, President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Packed workshops featured topics on Fighting Racism + Islamophobia, Changing Labour Law/ESA, Indigenous Issues, Engaging Members, Building Effective Campaigns, and Young Workers. Thanks to everyone who worked to make this AWOC a great success and to all the participants for being involved.

Chinese Workers Network

Kingsley Kwok of the Chinese Workers Network speaks at the July 1st ceremony remembering the sacrifice of 17,000 migrant Chinese Railroad workers who built the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Rockies. Over 4000 were killed or injured. The government imposed a “head Tax” on would be immigrants, and passed the “Chinese Exclusion Act” on July 1, 1923. It was only repealed in 1947. 16 SUMMER | 2016 Ground-Breaking Work

After almost 4 years of leading the Toronto Community Benefits Network the time has come for the TCBN to have a new, full time leader. Starting as a project from the corner of my desk in 2012, the TCBN has grown to be recognized as the leading proponent of the Community Benefits model in Canada and close to half a million dollars budget. Community Benefits is a concept that maximizes the economic from the City’s neighbourhoods to the job site. and social impact of infrastructure spending. It does so by By far the most rewarding interactions over the past 4 years creating pathways for people from historically disadvantaged have been working in the community. My eyes have been communities and equity seeking groups to enter the opened as to the structural difficulties faced by many City construction industry, with a goal of diversifying workers in residents through accident of birth. The willingness of so the industry. This is done by recruitment of apprentices, and many to train hard for a difficult career while supporting by making it easier for internationally trained professionals family members without falling into despair has shaped my to enter the Canadian industry, and through granting of thinking on human resilience and silent sacrifice. procurement contracts to social enterprise. A part of that inspiration has come from working with people The TCBN was able to win support from Ontario’s transit in the building trades. The willingness of so many in the agency in 2013 to include Community Benefit trades to come to evening and weekend meetings to tell their Agreements in its major transit projects. In 2014 I signed own stories and to inspire and guide others into the trades has a historic Community Benefits Framework with Metrolinx exhilarating. I would also like to thank the hundreds of people CEO Bruce McCuaig, outlining the our common goals and who have and continue to make such strong contributions to providing for a Community Benefits Working Group to ensure the Community Benefits movement, especially staff colleagues implementation. Metrolinx included Community Benefits Rick Ciccarelli and Prince Sibanda. clauses in the Eglinton Crosstown contract, and is working to strengthen those clauses in the Finch West contract. There are challenges ahead for the TCBN and all the other organizations working on Community Benefits. It is always In 2015 the province of Ontario enacted the Infrastructure a difficult to move from good intention to creating effective for Jobs and Prosperity Act, which further enshrines the new structures. TCBN resources have grown, but are still Community Benefits model. The province has embraced minuscule in relation to the enormity of the task. Community Benefits as a mechanism to ensure equity is a strong factor in the social and economic gains that will These are just some of the challenges to be faced by the new flow from their massive $100 billion plus infrastructure Executive Director of the TCBN. In July Rosemarie Powell investments. Several ministries are engaged in ensuring these began as the TCBN’s first ever full-time Executive Director. I equity goals are met, and for the first time the Province and wish her all the best in leading the TCBN to the next level. City of Toronto are collaborating on an apprentice pathway Steve Shallhorn is Executive Director of the Labour Education Centre.

Rosemarie Will Lead TCBN

Rosemarie Powell is succeeding Steve Shallhorn at the helm of the Toronto Community Benefits Network. A veteran community activist, she has held senior roles in workforce development agencies. While working for the Jane/Finch Centre she developed the multiple award-winning, Green Change Project. Green Change in Jane and Finch promoted environmental stewardship and green jobs among residents of this large multi-cultural community. This project helped to fuel the imagination of the community around the concept of green jobs and the possibilities linked to Metrolinx’s expansion of transit in the west end of the city. LABOURACTION 17 Toronto: Uber & Hydro?

In 2014 Torontonians were made to believe that in John Tory’s election they could choose a compromise, a reasonable middle of the road politician who respected good governance and generally progressive values. Two years later it is no longer clear what direction Toronto is headed. Uber is a case in point. We know changing technology is going to make a significant impact on our lives and create new ways of living, but the real question is how do we transition responsibly while protecting working people? a much lower floor of Hydro would be ludicrous regulations (to allow Uber – as CUPE Local 1 President to operate) and it agreed John Camilleri told the City to pay out the millionaire Executive, Hydro has given plate owners. Over 5,000 the City $499 million in professional cab drivers will revenues since 2006. see their incomes greatly The City has barely survived diminished as the market over the last many years by is flooded with unregulated tightening its belt, gapping competitors. hundreds of positions and Mayor Tory has repeatedly delaying repairs or new talked about expanding infrastructure. The tax transit infrastructure, but burdens have shifted from In May the Mayor chose has been reluctant to talk property taxes to user fees, to undermine the taxi about sustainable sources such as higher fees for cab industry in favour of that provide long term programs and continually Uber and ‘ride sharing’ funding and a commitment rising TTC fares – both of programs. Companies like to long term infrastructure which disproportionate Uber disguise themselves development. Instead he affect the poor. Meanwhile as ‘technology solutions’ has asked City staff to service reduction impacts but in reality are doing the explore monetizing assets low-income families and same function as taxi cab – the most likely targets newcomer communities the brokers without any of the being Toronto Hydro most. It will take a major regulations and safeguards. and the Toronto Parking fight to keep Toronto from For years, the City regulated Authority. Both Hydro and falling into the austerity trap the industry to ensure the Parking Authority are that we tried to leave behind protections for the customer revenue sources to the City after the last election. and the driver such as – of Toronto, and selling minimum fare rates, security them would provide one alarm lights, bi-annual time short term bursts of mechanical checks and funding but will also create other protections to ensure significant revenue holes for that taking a cab was safe every single future budget. while providing a decent The City of Toronto is income for drivers and heading towards a financial healthy profit for brokers cliff because the expected and plate owners. expenditures for the 2017 The Mayor’s deal did two budget are much higher things - it gutted all those than the projected revenues. protections by creating But selling off Toronto 18 SUMMER | 2016 It Takes Money To Build A City

The City of Toronto has seen some significant chronic underfunding of programs and services over the last decade and every year during the budget cycle community organizations, recreation centers, child care programs and workers start feeling the pinch. The reality is that our City, from current expectations, is going to have a deficit of $516 million dollars for 2017. So how do we fix that? Our Mayor and many right wing The Labour Council has endorsed, councilors every year chant the among others, the implementation of same mantra - that the City needs to a new commercial parking levy to be squeeze its belt some more and just paid by those who have the greatest try to do the same with a little less ability to pay – large commercial money. Academics from the Canadian landowners. According to KPMG, Centre for Policy Alternatives and a Commercial Parking levy which ’s Institute on would be charged to mall owners and Municipal Finance and Governance office towers per parking spot could have repeatedly said that the City of potentially raise $171-535 million per Toronto does not have a spending year in new revenue. This levy exists problem but rather a revenue problem. in almost every major municipality in North America and the Labour Everyone knows there is no gravy Council and its affiliates believe it’s one train. The City Manager and many of of the most significant ways we can the Councillors know and agree that address Toronto’s budget deficit. the City needs to find new sources of revenue in order to maintain the The City needs many new things - service levels we have now or face our transit is outdated, our roads are crumbling, our community programs dramatic cuts. are suffering and many within our The Labour Council has been meeting City are struggling to make ends with City Hall staff and Councillors meet. If the City of Toronto is serious over the and summer to about building a world class city understand the potential revenue that reflects the needs of a diverse streams being made available to the community, we need real leadership. City. During those conversations, and We cannot accept cut services as the after the release of the Report on New solution or leave hundreds of jobs at Revenue Sources by KPMG, we know the City unfilled - creating major holes that the City has many good options. in service delivery, but we need to However, the reality is that bringing create a vision of a City that prioritizes any new revenue or tax requires a the environment, new transit and significant amount of public support programs that benefit the vast majority and a ton of political courage. As of Toronto. the Labour Council, and through our We need a livable city that inspires Municipal Committee, we have agreed creativity and provides sustainably, to focus our push on a variety of new and we need to work collaboratively tools based on conversations with our with City Council and you to make allies on Council and affiliated unions. this happen. LABOURACTION 19 Better activist + better co-worker + better friend = Stronger Union

Sitting across from me in a quiet board room, Matias Valdez recounts the gut-wrenching tale of losing his friend during their final year of high school. After months of enduring an antagonistic home life, this easygoing young man took his own life by jumping out of a 32-story window. “I was blanked out by shock,” these things,” he explains, recalling Matias describes. “He landed only a his first day in the programme. “But I few metres away from where I was quickly realized that knowledge isn’t standing. But I was scared to approach power until you learn how to apply his body; once I touched him, it would that knowledge.” make it real.” Each session of the ten-week course This story is one of many in recent covers a different topic – like years that remind us of the importance addiction, unemployment, divorce, of learning how to address mental and other issues that face regular health issues. working people – and features an “Looking back, there were warning expert guest speaker. “They’re not just signs. A few weeks earlier, he had lectures. We got to ask questions and told me that he’d removed the safety hear from people with experience in latch from the window.” But at 17, the field.” Matias wasn’t equipped to recognize “People often talk to you about their the signs. “It was a cry for help, but I problems,” he elaborates, “and you didn’t know.” can sympathize. But how can you help For months afterward, Matias them if you don’t know what resources struggled with his own guilt: he are out there?” wished he could have done something Over the past two years, Matias has more. completed all three levels of the LCAT Twelve years later, Matias is now a programme, and he praises it for CFQ-certified electrician with IBEW making him more aware of the role 353. His younger sister Lia is about he can play, both in his union and his to enter the same trade. “Now she’ll day-to-day life. really be a union sister,” he says with a “This course has turned me into a chuckle. better activist, a better co-worker, and It was, in fact, a high school teacher a better friend. Now that I have the who had been close to both Matias tools and the knowledge, I can help and his friend who had encouraged others with their problems. I’m not him to consider a construction going to miss any more cries for help.” apprenticeship. The Labour Community Advocate Matias credits the union with exposing Training courses are open to union him to numerous training seminars members from Toronto and York – but the most important one, he Region. The next round of the course maintains, was the Labour Community begins on September 21st, 2016. Advocate Training programme. For more information, contact Najib Soufian at 416.445.5819 x26 or “I figured it’d be interesting to know [email protected]. Canada Post Corporation Publication Mail Agreement No. 41123033