Canada’s long codependent economic relationship with the United States has abruptly and involuntarily ended. The election of a tariff-obsessed, unpredictable, incompetent, crony capitalist autocratic Donald Trump administration requires Canada to rethink its economic future.
Sectoral bargaining could level the playing field for today’s employees.
For more than 30 years, unions in B.C. have been fighting for sectoral bargaining — a process to bring workers and employers from similar businesses to a single negotiating table.
Instead of organizing hundreds of fast-food outlets, for example, one model of sectoral bargaining could require representatives of the businesses and workers to negotiate a framework agreement for the industry.
Interview with Bashir Abu-Manneh & Hoda Mitwally on how US activists can more effectively support Palestinians. Two years after Oct 7, public outrage against Israel is widespread, yet grassroots solidarity nowhere near as powerful as it needs to be.
While Trump’s ceasefire plan might provide relief from Israel’s genocidal onslaught, Gaza has been decimated, and the proposed deal would codify a vastly deteriorated situation for millions of Palestinians.
On 22 September, half a million workers, students and solidarity activists mobilised in more than 80 cities across Italy under the slogan “Blocchiamo Tutto” (Let’s block everything). The Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), which initiated the action, has called for “the immediate break-off of relations with the terrorist state of Israel”.
The working class must be ever vigilant of the machinations of the political class. Mark Carney positioned himself as Canada’s response to Trump, but his actions show him to be pro-business and anti-worker.
Workers need to be wary this season. The ground is cluttered with politicians who claim to be our friends. These claims are almost always lies, whether they are uttered in Ottawa or DC, or in any other capital where poisonous populism is celebrated by autocrats. Looking at you, Orban, Putin and Modi!
