Defend our Parts Industry ! Save our Canadian Auto Footprint

On Wednesday, September 23

Rally At Colin Carrie’s Office To Stop Harper’s Job-Killing Trans Pacific Partnership

Stephen Harper is desperate to sign the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) before the Oct. 19 election and is willing to put 26,000 jobs at risk.

The TPP includes the elimination of tariffs on Japanese imports with no guarantee of reciprocal exports from Canada to Japan and other Asian countries.

Demand that Stephen Harper stands up for Canadian jobs!

The event is tomorrow night (Sept 23) at Colin Carrie’s office (378 King St. W
Oshawa, Ont L1H 8N9), starting at 7 p.m.

Unifor has spoken out on this matter for a number of years now, as well now the Automotive Parts Manufactures Association has also commented in an Open Letter to Mexico and Canada Trade Ministers: Re: Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations addressed to The Honorable Edward Fast Minister International Trade, Canada and Dr. Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal Minister of Economy, Mexico. NAFTA auto parts makers mount drive to sweeten terms of TPP deal.

Destroyed Cars from TPP Trade Agreement

It’s been a while…

Lately alot has been happening in the labour movement in Canada… But more is happening in our communities, building silently and strategically.

Workers ready to take on the Harper conservatives in 2015, along with grass roots organizers from coast to coast are preparing to take back their governments decision making powers, and put them in a government that may take years to roll back the damage done to our nation by this Conservative government.

I look forward again to writing more posts in the future. The last four years have been very busy… if they are not posted here, did it really all just happen?

 

Can you wait another year for a minimum wage increase?!!

Tell the politicians no more delays!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – ‘We Are Oshawa’ Group Demands $14 Minimum Wage

A local group of concerned citizens, under the banner We Are Oshawa, are joining folks from across Ontario for a Day of Action to raise the minimum wage to $14. This time they are making a stop at Christine Elliott’s constituency office, Progressive Conservative MPP for Whitby-Oshawa.  We Are Oshawa is a group of concerned citizens organizing on a broad-range of local, provincial, and federal issues. The group will be debut “Minimum Wage Monopoly” street theatre outside Elliott’s constituency office.

The Liberal government has recently announced they will strike a long-awaited panel on minimum wage. We need to let our local MPPs know that low-wage workers have already waited 3 years for a raise! We can’t wait any longer – tell your MPP it’s time for action!

Concerned citizens will gather on the 14th of every month at 1400 hrs (2pm), at the constituency offices of Durham Region MPPs. On September 14th, we will gather at Joe Dickson’s office, Liberal MPP for Ajax-Pickering.

For more information, please contact:

John MacDonald: 905.424.2776, johndmac@rogers.com
Jesse Cullen: 905.441.9112, jesse.m.cullen@gmail.com

1 Minimum Wage Monopoly

 

Part 3: Without Corporations, Tim Hudak Wouldn’t Be Elected

Guest Blog also posted in the Huffington Post.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak’s recent white paper, “Flexible Labour Markets,” has been the centre of much controversy and debate.

Hudak trumps up a lot of nonsense and feigned concern about union democracy and transparency, but in the end offers little more than selfish individualism in opposition. That his hostility towards the union principles of social cooperation and compromise for the greater good puts him at odds with the basis of Canadian democracy — from elections to tax collection — appears to be lost on him.

However, the depth of his hypocrisy is perhaps best illustrated by his total lack of concern for fairness and transparency when it comes to his corporate backers. According to a recent study of Ontario elections, between 2004 and 2011, over 40 per cent of Progressive Conservatives’ funds ($26 million) came from corporations.

By contrast, the New Democratic Party received a paltry $666,000 from corporations. Overall, corporate contributions comprised nearly 40 per cent of all election financing while union contributions made up a mere five per cent. And in a testament to the extent of internal democracy within the labour movement, it is worth noting that unions donated money to parties of all political stripes, including a handful who pitched in to the Progressive Conservatives.

Part 2: Hudak and Harper Attempt to Silence their Critics

Guest Blog also posted in the Huffington Post.

 

Sid Ryan, President, Ontario Federation Labour

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sid-ryan/tim-hudak_b_1681298.html

This is part two of a three-part reply to Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak’s series of HuffPost blogs about his party’s “Path to Prosperity” white paper.

From Queen’s Park to Parliament Hill, if there is one lesson that Conservatives have learned from Indiana, Alabama, Louisiana and other states where “right-to-work” laws have decimated worker representation and driven down wages, it is that attacking unions is also the best way to silence your critics. It has become standard training for every new conservative strategist: you cannot implement a cheap labour economy without neutralizing opposition.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has led the way byattacking the finances of any group or individual that dared to criticize his policies: de-funding church-based charities and immigrant advocacy organizations, smearing environmental groups and firing outspoken public servants. And now, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak is taking a page from the Harper playbook by attacking unions.

Because unions have an independent source of funding they are far less susceptible to the state-sanctioned bullying and financial blackmail regularly meted out by governments in collusion with the corporate elite. By undermining dues collection at source, Hudak hopes to undermine workers’ ability to oppose his agenda.

Last month, Hudak released his party’s white paper on “Flexible Labour Markets” and, in doing so, opened up a new attack on generations of hard-fought workers’ rights. In seeking to repeal the Rand Formula, Hudak opens an affront on workers’ rights that even former premier Mike Harris was unwilling to touch. The Rand Formula is a basic tenet of workplace democracy that was secured nearly 60 years ago to ensure that all those in the workplace who benefit from the improved wages and benefits achieved by the union make the same financial contribution. While the law allows workers not to join a union, they are required to contribute to charity an amount equivalent to the dues paid by union members.