When it comes to jobs, we live in very precarious times, with fewer and fewer people securing full-time work with benefits. Paradoxically, union membership continues to decline, while right-wing propaganda about the evils of such associations flourishes. As a society, we seem to have lost the will to fight for
Continue readingTag: anti-unionism
Politics and its Discontents: Walmart’s Shameless Anti-Union Propaganda
This epitomizes why I don’t shop at Walmart. A training film was released yesterday showing the shameless propaganda the corporate giant uses to discourage those entertaining the seditious thought of starting a union drive at one of their stores. Originally located on You Tube, the video has been taken down,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Cudgel Resurrected
To the red-meat crowd (a.k.a. the Harper base et alia), few things can seem more gratifying than an attack on unions. Viewed as the enemy of all that is good and holy (i.e., unfettered profits), unions, we are often told, have had their day and really shouldn’t be disrupting our
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Bit Of Anti-Union Hysteria From John Ivison
It’s funny, isn’t it, that the Harper regime can use our tax dollars to monitor us, manipulate us, and promulgate all kinds of propaganda, but somehow it’s not right, indeed downright unholy, according to the National Post’s John Ivison, when unions fight back. Said journalist suggests Mr. Harper should consider
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Poilievre Declares War on "Radical Unions"
Posted by MoS, the Disaffected Lib: Pierre Backpfeifengesicht Poilievre has declared Conservative war on Canada’s “radical” unions and their electoral meddling. The Parliamentary Punk has sent out a letter asking for 5-dollar contributions to help the CPC fight back the union menace in the next general election. Poilievre has singled
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Too Good Not To Share
This one’s for you, young Tim. H/t Union Thugs Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Day Of Rest
Once again in my neck of the woods, we are experiencing punishing cold, cold that is predicted to remain throughout the week, so it seems like a propitious time to take a day off, get caught up on my newspaper reading, and complete a really interesting book by Oliver Sacks
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Walmart: Skirting Around Labour Laws
Excerpted from a slide on how management should speak to employees to discourage union talk. As reported by ThinkProgress, the above is but one of the ‘clever’ strategies for ensuring that the world’s largest retailer keeps unions out. As well, here is a sample of advice to management during a
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Hudak’s ‘Truth’ Exposed For The Lie It Is
In response to an opinion piece written by Stephen Skyvington espousing the Tim Hudak canard that mandatory union membership is one of the reasons Ontario is faring so badly economically, Hamilton Spectator readers weigh in with insights of their own: Hudak is no friend of the workers Spectator readers fooled
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Oh Tim, Why Don’t You Stop Bothering Us?
When considering the political motivations of Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, the boy who would be premier, there seem to be only two possibilities: he is either an indefatigable demagogue appealing to the same kind of folks (a.k.a. Ford nation) who blindly support Toronto mayor Rob Ford, or he
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On The Minimum Wage And Tim Hudak’s ‘Bold’ Plan For Ontario
Continuing on with the theme of the minimum wage, which groups in both Canada and the United States are demonstrating to significantly increase, The Star had a good letter in yeterday’s edition that points out the hidden costs of having so many working for poverty-level remuneration. Fight poverty, boost wages,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Joseph Stiglitz On Income Inequality
Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz recently gave a powerful speech at the annual AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles. Watching this video leaves one little choice but to feel a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Tasers And Tim
As usual, Star readers offer their penetrating commentary on recent events and the benighted Tim Hudak. Enjoy! 80-year-old woman tasered a day after rules changed, Sept. 4 I find it extremely disturbing that Peel Region police officers called to Thomas St. and Erin Mills Parkway on Aug. 28 around 3:30
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Union-Busting Eatery I Will Not Patronize
Several days ago I commented on a story from The Star about the unsavory labour practices of Richtree Market, a Toronto restaurant that ‘closed’ its business, terminated all of its unionized staff, only to reopen this coming Monday a few doors down from its prior location. None of the old
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: So Many Stories, So Little Time
Most days that I post a blog entry, I choose my topic based on my reaction to news stories. Today, two disparate pieces seem particularly noteworthy, one that confirms what all but the profoundly naive know about government, the other about yet again another police incident that, thanks to the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Struggle For Dignity
All of us have a right to respect and dignity. Many of us do not receive it. Having been ‘educated’ in the Catholic system at a time when the application of both verbal and physical abuse was regarded as proper corrective methodology, I experienced many times in my younger life
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Tim Hudak’s Evangelical Political Fervour
Crazed clerics are not the only ones possessed of an evangelical fervour. Young Tim Hudak, leader (at least for now) of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, is well-known for wanting to bring back some of that old-time religion in the form of union-bashing and dismantlement, something he likes to describe
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Is Pierre Poilivre Related To Joe Oliver?
They certainly seem to be singing from the same hymn book. Orwellian and hypocritical are inadequate descriptors of this little twit: And speaking of Orwellian, how else might one describe the “Working Families Flexibility Act?” The Harperites must be salivating. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Porter Air, Pension Funds, and Invisible Strikers
Many years ago, in the midst of my teaching career, there was a movement by a group of us to try to get the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to divest itself from Maple Leaf Foods when it was in the process of reducing its workers’ wages in Burlington by about
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Free Ride
I do hope young Tim Hudak enjoys this brief video, directed by Bruce McDonald: Recommend this Post
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