Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

We have lots of photos this month! Many from May Day in Vancouver where a good contingent of the PSAC BC members and staff joined migrants, immigrants, undocumented, indigenous and Canadian workers for the May Day Organizing Committee’s annual International Workers’ Day march & rally on May 1st. This years’ theme was “Reclaim May 1st, International Workers’ Day! March for Workers Rights!”. Megan Adam, Alternate-REVP and First Vice-President for the PSAC Vancouver & District Area Council (VAC), spoke as a member organization of the May Day Organizing Committee at Grandview Park in Vancouver.

As well as some from the 2008 BC Regional Triennial Convention (a full convention report and all the photos are coming soon) and from the May Day celebrations in Terrace where Be Gomes, RC Geographic Coordinator for Northwestern BC, distributed “Think Public!” materials with the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council.

Cheers to Jack Seto and the GSU 20008 Executive for sending in some We Support Our Bargaining team photos (the posters have been signed and sent to the TB Bargaining Team) and to Rosemary MacKenzie, James Little and Cindy Little (RC Coordinator for the South Island) who attended the April 28th Day of Mourning event in Victoria.

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On May 1^st, 1886, 80,000 workers took to the streets of Chicago to demand an eight-hour work day. This was at a time when the right to organize and strike did not exist. The peaceful mass meeting at Haymarket Square in Chicago that followed was broken up by armed police, leading to the death of seven police officers, and later, the execution of seven prominent labour leaders. Since then, people all over the world have used May 1st as an opportunity to commemorate the struggle for decent working conditions and to press for social justice and workers’ rights.

• Read more about the Haymarket Affair at wikipedia.org.

In 2008, workers are still fighting to protect their hard-won rights to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike. In the last couple of years alone, we have seen workers’ rights eroded through:

• The defeat of Bill C-257, which would have made it illegal for employers to hire scab labour.
• The Harper government’s dismantling of a hard fought-for universal child care program.
• The removal of the “equality” mandate from Status of Women Canada and the abolishment of the Court Challenges Program, which gave marginalized groups access to the court system to fight for their constitutional rights.
• Continued closed-door negotiations on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America – a pact between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, which is being led by some of the world’s richest corporations, with zero input from working people.

In addition to standing up for people’s rights in the workplace, PSAC is building a movement to fight back and defend Canada’s valuable public services. We believe that the needs of people come first – that the role of government is to protect and promote the social, economic and safety needs of the public, rather than promote profits at any cost.

One hundred and twenty two years after the Haymarket Affair, PSAC celebrates our successes but we remain vigilant against attacks on our rights.

Café Rebelde Presents: Our Struggles, Our History: Celebrating May 1st International Worker’s Day

• Friday, April 25
• Rhizome (317 East Broadway)
• 7:30pm

Join us in a discussion to commemorate May Day, learn about our history, accomplishments, and current challenges facing the Canadian and international working class today. A panel discussion will be followed by a multimedia presentation and live music by local artists. Let’s keep the tradition alive and join millions around the world who celebrate this important holiday.

Speakers:

• Cynthia Oka, from No One Is Illegal will speak on the ongoing attacks by
  the Conservative government on immigrant communities and the new proposed
  bill C50.
• A representative from ILPS May Day Committee will speak on the importance
  of May Day and current struggles waged by the immigrant working class in
  Canada.
• A member of the VDLC Young Workers Committee will speak on the current
  fight for fair wages for working people in BC.

On May 1, 1886, a general strike was called in the United States at a time when the right to organize and strike did not exist. A peaceful mass meeting at Haymarket Square in Chicago that followed was broken up by the police and led to the hanging of four labour leaders. All these events sparked the declaration of May 1 as an international day to remember and celebrate workers’ struggles.

One hundred and twenty years later, workers are fighting to protect their hard-won rights to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike. Recently, there has been a concerted effort by the labour movement to protect the right to bargain by pressuring Members of Parliament to adopt federal anti-scab legislation and first contract arbitration.

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OTTAWA – “With two-thirds of mothers with children under the age of three working outside the home to support their families; with three quarters of mothers with children between three and five working outside the home and with more than half of all Canadian children in some form of child care, governments across the country, federal and provincial, have a duty to make sure our children enjoy high-quality and safe child care,” says Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.

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