Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Cheers to Jennie for sending us this report on the World/Labour Peace Forums, held recently in Vancouver. For more information about these events visit worldpeaceforum.ca and vdlc.ca.

Blogging on the World’s First Peace Forum in Vancouver BC, June 23-28, 2006by Jennie Chu, BC EO rep for PSAC-Agriculture Union

I was one of 4500 delegates registered for the World Peace Forum (WPF) and truly was grateful to Vancouver District Labour Council (VDLC) for organizing the 2-day Labour Peace Forum (LPF).

Patty Ducharme (NEVP, PSAC), Jennie Chu (AGR EO Rep, BC) and Yves Ducharme (National President, AGR).

The LPF was made possible through the generous financial support from CUPE National, PSAC, BCGEU, CUPW, BCNU, CEP, HAS, CUPE BC, HEU, CAW, COPE 378, BCFED, ILWU 500, CUPE METRO, IUOE 963, CUPE 402, MWBIU 1, UFCW, BCNU Shaughnessy Heights, CAW 2200, IBEW 258, Saskatoon Labour Council, and Campbell River Labour Council.

As trade union activists, we talk a lot about grievances, collective bargaining, contracts, pay equity, etc. So many of the members may ask:Why is peace a union question?Why should we care? This will only divide the membership and what does it have to do with Collective bargaining or fair wages or Education?

Jim Sinclair, President of BC Federation of Labour arrived early to welcome labour activists attending the LPF on Sunday, June 25th/06

Ken Georgetti, President of Canadian Labour Congress, expresses that as a labour movement, it opposes war.

At our workplaces, the concept of diversity will soon replace Employment Equity and the ideal is to work in harmony while being diversified. The goal is to work in peace side by side. This would happen if every person truly respects each and every person. How do we obtain this respectful, harmonious work environment?

In the real world, that is, the communities in which we live, is yearning for less violence and less racism but more tolerance for others. Do we not take who we are to where we work?

Can we, on one hand, talk fairness at work and totally ignore the fact that our Canadian soldiers are in combat when we voted for peacekeeping and not War?

The hard question asks if we are inflicting stress on ourselves by caring about or worrying about what happens to our neighbours who are occupying Iraq. What about their families who are unionized members or not? Do we care about our soldiers who were supposed to be peacekeepers in Afghanistan? What about their families who are unionized members and who have been separated for some time? Does it really not concern us as unionized members? Is War our topic? What do you think about Peace?

These are only some of the many questions asked during the WPF and it’s too bad more citizens didn’t attend. There were over 350 events to choose from.

Mable Elmore shared the duties of Master of Ceremonies with Bill Saunder, VDLC President.From left to right: Mable, Ken Georgetti, and Karen Dean (Board of Directors of the WPF)

VDLC contracted the videotaping to Working TV who covered most of the LPF. Copies are available through workingtv@telus.net or call VDLC. The sessions were very informative and successful in engaging the audience of 350-400 labour attendees.

Kent Wong, UCLA Labour Centre

Basically, Day One of the LPF spoke about Part 1: the Economics of War versus the Economics of Peace and the following topics were covered extensively:

• Globalization, Trade Agreements and “Deep Intnegration” – Should Workers be Concerned?
• The Military Industrial Complex: Military Spending and its impact on Social priorities – evaluating the U.S. experience
• Alternatives to Militarism – Building a Peaceful, Sustainable Economy and Military Conversion.

Day Two included Part 2: Organizing within the Labour Movement for World Peace

• Developing the issue of peace in the trade union movement (moderated by Patty Ducharme, newly elected National Executive VP for PSAC)
• The Experience of US. Labour Against the war
• Organizing undocumented workers in the US

Part 3: Interational Perspectives

• Trade Union’s struggle for peace in a war environment
• Roundtable – Building an International Peace Movement

In between the two hearty sessions, BC Fed of Labour and VDLC included a networking event for WPF delegates to mingle with trade unionists and artistic labour musicians, poets, and singers. At one of the tables, I met a woodmaker, Alan Haber and his wife, Odile who shared about their cherrywood peace table, Megiddo Peace Project. Its goal is to invite people around the table to present any ideas about peace.

From right to left: Patty Ducharme (moderator), Ingo Schmidt (The European Experience, Germany), Barb Byers, CLC Exec VP (replacing Jinny Sims, BC Teachers’ Federation – called to bargaining), and Terry Engler, Pres. Of ILWU 400 (longshoreman)

Quite enough blogging or rantings … There’s a World Peace Forum photo album and portfolio of clippings in my file cabinet. I’ll bring them out to the next AGMs or general gathering and we can have a dialogue on what you think peace is about. In closing, boarding the Peaceboat, Topaz with several hundreds of visitors was a great peace experience as well as an education.

At the closing ceremonies on June 28th at the art gallery downtown, all the people present were invited to sign the World Peace Forum banners and one of them would be displayed in the Peaceboat as it journeys around the world to teach a culture of peace. On behalf of PSAC, I signed off with a little saying I adopted from the Peaceboat session. To reach peace, teach peace to one. I added to “to live peace” as a lifestyle – to resolve our conflicts in peace and not in violence. As we teach or share, we listen. As we listen, we begin to understand.

Part of the World Peace Forum Banner

Antonia Juhasz, guest speaker (Day one, Part C) is an expert on international trade and finance policy With a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University. She’s the proud author ot the Bush Agenda. Jennie (me) is enjoying just meeting the Different guests.

Sayonara, a prochaine fois! (Until the next time we meet). Video of the presentations by Kent Wong and Antonia Juhasz are available online at www.pasifikost.ca.