April 30, 2006

Political action and social justice focus of pre-convention forum

"Political and social action are a long-standing priority for the PSAC," said PSAC National President Turmel when she opened the pre-convention forum on political action and social justice. "Political action is an important tool in our struggle. Over the past three years, PSAC has taken political action to a new level. Members from coast to coast to coast mobilized and took action around federal strikes, federal and provincial elections, and so much more."

Forum moderator, Canadian Labour Congress Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff, acknowledged the PSAC as a union "rich in social activism." "This forum on political action and social justice is important because fundamentally we can make a difference in the world we live in and in our local communities," he said.

Yussuff also gave a nod to PSAC's Social Justice Fund, which, he pointed out, has more than 36 projects to help alleviate poverty in Canada alone. "This forum is fitting because it will demonstrate how activism will improve our communities and how solidarity can extend beyond our borders."

Think globally, act locally

Alex Munter, from his perspective of 12 years' experience as a city and regional councilor, linked the viability of our cities with the labour movement and the ongoing struggle for social justice.

Most Canadians live, work and are educated in urban areas. Yet they face growing costs and declining services. According to Munter, it is wrong for modest income citizens to face routine property tax increases of 10 to 30 percent and skyrocketing hydro and transit costs. It is wrong for municipal governments to sell off assets and privatize just to balance city budgets.

He called on PSAC members to think globally but act locally to create cities that engage citizens in decision making, provide affordable housing, reliable and affordable services and protect environmental assets. "The health and well-being of our cities will determine the health of our planet."

Munter also thanked the PSAC and its members for their support and active engagement which were key elements in obtaining equal marriage. "In a generation, we'll look back and take pride in being part of the struggle to end exclusion and eliminate second class citizenship."

Protecting child care

NDP Member of Parliament Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) pressed the need to stand up against inequalities and give voice to the voiceless, especially in the face of the current Conservative government. Chow raised the crisis in Darfur , Sudan , criticizing how the West has ignored the plight of victims, mostly women and children.

She focused on the threat to a national child care program in Canada . "Since 1993 when the Liberal Red Book promised a national child care program, a whole generation of kids has grown up and still it's unfulfilled," said Chow. "Now, with this government, with a stroke of a pen, a law we've been pushing for has been cancelled."

Chow also pointed out that the fight for child care is an equality issue, saying that "soft services" such as child, home and elderly care are seen by society as women's work and therefore deserving of low pay. "We have to put the pressure on to make these government services."

We have the numbers… and the imagination

For Carole Lavallée, Bloc Québécois MP ( Saint-Bruno-Saint-Hubert), political action is a way to obtain social justice. She shared her experience with anti-scab legislation which the Bloc will table next week in Ottawa for the tenth time.

"PSAC members are first and foremost voters", she said. "You have the numbers, you have the strength, you have the will and you have the imagination. I want this to be the last time we have to introduce this Bill," adding that she wants the Bloc and the PSAC to work together to make it law.

Her action plan is quite straightforward: raising MPs' voting track record, lobbying, letters to the media and more. She also proposed an anti-scab day in Ottawa in order to raise public awareness and to meet with MPs to solicit their support. "With boldness and imagination, we are going to win it this time," she predicted to the delight of the delegates.

It's all about mobilizing and organizing

"There is a strong connection between unions and democracy", according to B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair. "In countries without democracy and freedom, unionists are either in hiding, in jail or in the graveyard." He noted that privatization and contracting-out of services, increasing corporate power, trade deals and tax cuts for the rich all undermine citizen participation and labour rights.

Sinclair describes how the labour movement has participated in the political mobilization of working people in his province. "It's about mobilizing, organizing, educating and taking action, the same way you would in the bargaining process."

A year before municipal elections in the province, they recruited candidates, set up phone banks and sent out information, resulting in over 250 progressive candidates being elected. In the last provincial election, almost one-million pieces of literature were distributed, 250,000 phone calls made, and members trained to raise issues in the workplace with equal success. Sinclair observed that if union members voted in their self-interest, anti-scab legislation would be a given.

PSAC supports Rogers campaign

A UPCE-PSAC convention delegation visited the Rogers Call Centre in Toronto Sunday to support a PSAC organizing drive under way at this location.

A group of convention delegates visited the Rogers Call Centre in Toronto on Sunday to distribute union literature and to invite workers to sign a PSAC card.

According to Gordon Lee, a Rogers workers and one of the campaign organizers, "The campaign is going fine, but is facing some challenges. Many of the technicians are new Canadians who don't have a good knowledge of labour laws that protect them. They are afraid that their supervisors might learn that they have joined the union. So we try to educate them on their rights." Lee was fired once in 2003 but reinstated thanks to the fight put up by the PSAC.

Marilyn Adlam, the Regional Vice-President for Ontario at Union of Postal Communications Employees, thinks the call centres and UPCE are a good fit. "We share the communications aspect with Rogers workers and PSAC offers the union's protection against unlawful dismissals."

The workers at the Toronto Rogers Call Centre are service support technicians for internet services. For more information on the campaign, visit the special web site: http://www.gopsac.com/index.shtml.

National Day of Mourning

Participants at the forum heard a statement remembering workers injured or killed on the job.

"The observance of the Day of Mourning strengthens everyone's resolve not only to establish safe conditions in the workplace for all, but to finally change the culture and end the carnage in workplaces from coast to coast to coast," read the PSAC statement, which also called on members to support their brothers and sisters who work on Parliament Hill and who are still not covered by health and safety laws.

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