June 21, 2013 - No. 77
National Aboriginal Day
Demand Governments Recognize First
Nations'
Rights and Nation-to-Nation Relations!
National
Aboriginal Day
• Demand Governments Recognize First Nations'
Rights and
Nation-to-Nation Relations!
• First Nations People Call for Escalation of
Activities
• June 21 Mass Gathering on Parliament Hill
- Idle No More Ontario
• First Nations in Action to Affirm Sovereignty and
Rights
• High Rates of Poverty for Aboriginal Children
No
to Foreign Aggression in the Name of a Political Solution!
• Hands off Syria! Hands Off the Middle East!
- Windsor Peace Coalition
In
the Parliament
• The Harper Conservatives' Anti-Worker Spin
About "Jobs Without Workers"
- Jim Nugent
• The Crown in Parliament
Generates More Disequilibrium in Canada, Part Three
- K.C. Adams
National Aboriginal Day
Demand Governments Recognize First Nations'
Rights and Nation-to-Nation Relations!
June 21 is National Aboriginal Day. It acknowledges the
First Nations, Métis and Inuit within Canada's boundaries. In
recent times, the day has been taken up by Aboriginal peoples as an
occasion to vigorously affirm their rights. This year, the day takes
place in the midst of a stepped-up struggle by Aboriginal peoples for
the recognition of their hereditary, treaty and constitutional rights.
The federal government uses the
occasion of National Aboriginal Day to issue token statements that
cover up its responsibility to recognize the rights of Aboriginal
peoples and deal with the long-standing injustices arising from the
negation of their rights. A June 21 statement by Bernard Valcourt,
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, says in part:
"Since the founding of Canada, Aboriginal peoples have
played a vital role in shaping the country we know today. National
Aboriginal Day provides all Canadians with an opportunity to reflect on
their contributions, on our shared history, and on the importance of
strengthening the relationship between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals
that is so fundamental to our identity as a country."
Valcourt's remarks are indicative of how governments
treat Aboriginal peoples as a mere adjunct to Canada or just another
"ethnicity," as if they are not nations and peoples in their own right
which the government is duty-bound to deal with on a nation-to-nation
basis. Such remarks cover up the brutal racist treatment and
exploitation of Aboriginal peoples at the hands of governments in
Canada from the colonial era to the present.
The fight of Aboriginal peoples to affirm their rights
belongs to everyone. Workers, women, youth and all the collectives in
society know from their own experience that the fight to affirm rights
is one fight -- Canada's future lies in the fight for the rights of
all! The fight in Canada to guarantee the rights of all, including
First Nations' hereditary, treaty and constitutional rights, concerns
every worker, senior and youth.
The Canadian state refuses to recognize the peoples'
rights and instead does its utmost to recognize only monopoly right.
This is leading to a deepening crisis. The situation calls for the
Workers' Opposition to work together with the Aboriginal peoples for a
profound renewal of the political arrangements in the society and
deprive the authorities of their power to deprive the people of their
rights. The people themselves must be empowered to take control of
their economic, political and social affairs.
First Nations People Call for Escalation of Activities
Idle No More and Defenders of the Land call on all
people to participate as they transition from their "Solidarity Spring"
campaign to "Sovereignty Summer" with increased and escalated
activities. In March, Idle No More joined forces with Defenders of the
Land to launch these campaigns to bring attention to the Harper
government's agenda that undermines the rights of Indigenous peoples,
Canadian citizens, and the ongoing policies disrupting Indigenous
peoples' lives -- such as land claims, third party management, and no
free and prior consent to development on First Nations' lands. "We are
in a critical time where lives, lands, waters and Creation are at-risk
and they must be protected," their statement reads. It continues:
"The Harper government is moving
quickly to pass the suite of legislation (C-45, C-428, S-2, S-6, S-8,
S-212, C-27, and the First Nation Education Act) that
undermines the treaties, our nation-to-nation relationship and
Indigenous sovereignty, which is the last stand to protect our lands.
Idle No More calls on non-Indigenous people to join Indigenous
communities in coordinated non-violent direct actions in the summer.
Alternatives will only come to life if we escalate our actions, taking
bold non-violent direct action that challenges the illegitimate power
of corporations who dictate government policy.
"People have been inspired to engage in creative
activities of reclaiming, resurgence and resistance in exercising their
Nationhood in ways they see appropriate for them. There has been a
historic 'Turtle Lodge Treaty' signing ceremony on Indigenous
education, nations have reclaimed sacred spaces and peoples continue to
protect their lands from invasion. There is a spiritual energy stirring
and a large awakening is on the horizon as we transition to Sovereignty
Summer. The spirit in which Idle No More began was through the
resurgence of Indigenous laws and it is only appropriate for the
resurgence of our spiritual and ceremonial practices -- which are the
foundation of our Nations -- to guide us into this transitioning
period. The time for Unity and Solidarity is NOW, our future
generations are depending on us and asking us to come together to think
about what we will leave for them. [...]
"Leading into Sovereignty Summer, Idle No More calls on
all people to join in a grassroots gathering for a Public Awareness
Campaign in all Cities, Towns, Indigenous Communities and Villages
across Canada and Internationally. [...]"
June 21 Mass Gathering on Parliament Hill
- Idle No More Ontario -
11:00 am: Gather at Victoria Island
11:30 am:
Ceremony to welcome Walkers, cyclists
12:30 pm:
Leave for Parliament
1:00 pm:
Parliament Hill -- speakers, drumming and dancing
3:00 pm:
Canoeists arrive -- people can walk down back of
Parliament Hill to cheer them on
4:00 pm:
Canoeists go to Parliament Hill
5:30 pm:
Event ends
Show your solidarity with First Peoples this solstice at
Parliament Hill. Travellers from all four directions will converge on
Ottawa with their messages of protection for Mother Earth.
Embrace Indigenous sovereignty through our ceremonies,
the wisdom of our speakers, the power of our songs, our drumming and
dancing.
The Conservative government has pushed through hundreds
of pages of legislation that go against treaty rights of Aboriginal
people without consulting First Nations or Canadians. The latest
omnibus Bill C-45 is being criticized by Canadians, environmentalists
and Aboriginal groups. It's a bill that affects Mother Earth
drastically and as stewards of the land and Mother Earth we must stand
up against these reforms which are being made under the guise that they
will make things better for our society economically and financially
when in reality they are detrimental to the life, spirit and longevity
of Mother Earth and so to ourselves!
So we ask you to come from wherever you are in
solidarity and unity, to bring your prayers, your drums, rattles,
voices, regalia and spirits to this event! An event that will bring
awareness, education, a sense of unity, responsibility and community to
the people!
This will be a peaceful protest, a day for prayer,
ceremony, community and enlightenment. Please share this with all your
friends across Turtle Island and let's come together as one for the
first Million First People's March on Turtle Island! Idle No More!
For full details, see event on Facebook.
First Nations in Action to Affirm
Sovereignty and Rights
Opposition to Seismic Testing for Shale Gas in New
Brunswick
The Mi'kmaq First Nation and their
supporters are opposing seismic testing for potential natural gas
reserves by Texas-based Southwestern Energy Company (SWN), near the
community of Elsipogtog in New Brunswick. SWN exercised its permit to
conduct preliminary testing for shale gas exploitation without prior
consultation with First Nations, as required by law. Natives and
non-Natives alike are concerned that the seismic testing will lead to
hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of Kent County, much of which is under
exploratory lease to SWN.
On June 4, Elsipogtog Mi'kmaq Warrior Chief John Levi
and some 65 protesters, including women and children, seized a SWN
truck at a gas station and surrounded the vehicle so that it could not
be removed from the parking lot. Levi stated that SWN broke the law
when they first started fracking "in our traditional hunting grounds,
medicine grounds, contaminating our waters."
Protests against SNW's testing have continued since
then. A sacred fire was lit and a camp set up at the junction of
Highway 126 and Highway 116 West, directly in the path of seismic
testing trucks -- or "thumpers" -- that are conducting geological
surveys on behalf of SWN Resources Canada. Levi stated that the
gathering would remain peaceful, but that the seismic testing would not
be allowed to continue beyond the sacred fire.
On June 14, at approximately 7:45 am,
when numbers were low at the encampment, SWN seismic trucks, flanked by
an RCMP escort, pushed past the blockade. Although protesters were in
the middle of a sunrise ceremony, RCMP arrested 12 people who had
physically blocked the road.
Protesters are continuing their actions and call for
support from everyone.
Occupation of Enbridge Pumping Station near Hamilton
On June 20 at 6 am, people from the Six Nations Iroquois
community near Hamilton began an occupation at Enbridge's North
Westover pumping station. The action opposes Enbridge's plans to
reverse the flow of its Line 9 oil pipeline which would bring Alberta
tar sands oil east. The action includes other local residents.
"This is a huge risk, from my point of view, to our
lands, our waters and our future generations. It's my responsibility to
stand for our lands," said Melissa Elliott, 22, a Tuscarora from Six
Nations. "We don't want an oil spill to happen in our territory."
Elliott said the protest is the start of cross-country
actions against the tar sands in Alberta and Enbridge's plans to move
oil from the west to the east. She said Six Nation's sister communities
of Tyendinaga and Akwesasne would be involved in future planned actions.
A statement released by the protestors reads: "We are
establishing a camp on Enbridge property in the middle of the Beverly
Swamp, the largest remaining forested wetland in Southern Ontario. The
health of this wetland is crucial to the health of the Spencer Creek,
which feeds Cootes Paradise, the beautiful marshland that forms the
western end of Lake Ontario. Protecting the water is vitally important
-- once water is poisoned, it can't be undone."
The statement points out, "This is also stolen
Indigenous land and is the traditional territory of the Chonnonton
people as well as of the Mississagi Anishinabec and the Onondawaga
Haudenosaunee. This pipeline crosses the territories of dozens of
Indigenous nations along its route, including the Six Nations of the
Grand River who have taken an inspiring lead in building resistance to
Line 9."
The protestors invite people to come to the site to show
their support and also "welcome any donations of food, camping
supplies, money, or whatever you think would be useful."
The protest has stopped construction at Enbridge's North
Westover terminal, which began following a recent National Energy Board
(NEB) ruling approving phase one of the company's planned pipeline
reversal. The NEB allowed for the reversal of the oil flow along Line
9A which runs from Sarnia to North Westover.
The second phase of the project, or Line 9B would
reverse the flow of oil between North Westover and Montreal.
Pimicikamak Cree to deliver "Friendly Reminder Notice"
to Manitoba Hydro
A press release from the Pimicikamak Cree First Nation
informed that on June 19 citizens from Cross Lake would arrive at
Manitoba Hydro headquarters to deliver their own version of the
"Friendly Reminder Notices" that Hydro has sent to many homes in Cross
Lake. The notice would be accompanied by the signatures of over 1,000
Pimicikamak citizens in support of the action.
The "friendly notice" is intended to remind Manitoba
Hydro of its "legal and moral commitment to ensure that all
hydro-affected communities share in the abundant wealth created by the
dams."
Since last fall, Hydro has begun cutting off some of the
roughly 280 Cross Lake households believed to be on its disconnection
list.
"We want to be able to pay our bills," says William
Osborne, who speaks for the group, "but we also want Hydro to honour
its obligations to us."
Those two things go together the Pimicikamak Cree point
out. "When we consented to the hydro project in our homeland, Hydro and
governments promised to work with us to address poverty and
unemployment," says Osborne, a former Pimicikamak Vice Chief. "If they
would have fulfilled these commitments over the past three decades, far
more of us would be able to pay our bills now."
Osborne points out that the underlying question is
simple: "Who owes who?"
High Rates of Poverty for Aboriginal Children
Half of First Nations children in Canada are living
below the poverty line, indicates a study by the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives and Save the Children Canada, released June 19. The
figure reaches nearly two-thirds in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In the case of Métis, Inuit and non-status Indian
children, the poverty rate is 27 per cent, bringing the overall rate to
nearly 40 per cent for all Indigenous children compared to 15 per cent
of non-Indigenous children living in poverty .
Federally funded on-reserve children face the most
hardships compared to those who live off reserve. The federal
government funds on-reserve social services, health care, education and
income supports.
According to the study, transfer payments for these
social services on-reserve have increased two per cent a year since
1996 and are not adjusted for population growth or need.
"The removal of this cap on funding growth and an
adjustment of transfers for need could reduce the alarming rate of
status First Nations households living in poverty. It is a matter of
choice," states the study's executive summary. "The failure of ongoing
policies is clear. The link between the denial of basic human rights
for Indigenous children and their poverty is equally clear."
The report also points out that Aboriginal children fall
behind on family income and access to education, and experiece
overcrowding and homelessness, poor water quality and health care, as
well as high levels of infant mortality and suicide.
"The Indigenous population is the fastest growing in
Canada. With adequate and sustained support these people will become an
integral part of society and the workforce -- particularly as baby
boomers retire," said Daniel Wilson, Indigenous rights advocate and
co-author of the study. "But if we refuse to address the crushing
poverty facing Indigenous children, we will ensure the crisis of
socioeconomic marginalization and wasted potential will continue."
Nearly $7.5 billion would be needed to bring all
children up to the poverty line, states the study. The study examined
child poverty statistics from the 2006 census, the most recent data
available according to the authors.
No to Foreign Aggression in the Name of a
Political Solution!
Hands off Syria! Hands off the Middle East!
- Windsor Peace Coalition -
Weekly Anti-War Picket
Saturdays --
11:00 am-12:00 noon
Corner of Walker Road and Ottawa St.
|
|
This week the Windsor Peace Coalition is calling on all
justice-minded and anti-war Canadians to oppose Canada's meddling in
the affairs of Syria and other countries of that region.
The U.S. and Canadian governments are calling for a
political solution to the conflict in Syria. At the same time they are
supporting armed groups within Syria with weapons, "non-lethal" war
materials and open political support internationally. For Canada and
the U.S. it seems the call for a political solution is in reality an
attempt to use whatever means necessary to carry out regime change in
Syria as part of schemes to undermine any governments or resistance
movements which do not submit to NATO domination.
While they talk about a political solution they fan the
flames of war in order to use whatever opportunities they can --
political, military, covert or overt to achieve their goal. Meanwhile,
the anarchy and chaos this creates is also used to justify foreign
intervention with claims that the situation may spill over into
neighbouring countries. One of these neighbouring countries, Iraq, has
already born the brunt of U.S. crimes against humanity and aggression.
Another, Turkey is being used, against the will of its people, to do
NATO's dirty work, allowing its territory to be used as a base for
armed Syrian opposition forces to organize and launch their attacks
from the north. Jordan is being slated for a similar role on the
southern border. So who is destabilizing the region?
It is time for the U.S. and Canada to stop meddling in
the affairs of the peoples of the world, whether it be in the Middle
East or elsewhere. If they are truly concerned about human rights
abuses and corruption they should set an example by sorting it out in
their own countries instead of using it as a pretext to commit gross
violations of human rights internationally.
In the Parliament
The Harper Conservatives' Anti-Worker Spin About "Jobs
Without Workers"
- Jim Nugent -
The 2013 budget which the Conservatives just pushed
through Parliament before it adjourned has once again revealed that the
Harper government has no solutions for the problems of working people.
Workers have been suffering from the effects of economic stagnation and
mass unemployment for four years. They consider addressing this problem
to be the first duty of government. The Harper Conservatives, however,
do not even recognize their responsibility. They think it is good
enough just to say unemployment is related to external factors beyond
their control. The Harperites praise themselves for doing a great job
of managing the economy despite the reality of millions of workers
unemployed or underemployed in part-time jobs.
The budget process has also revealed that the
Conservatives are not even interested in providing solutions to the
problems facing working people. What other conclusion can be drawn from
the way Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the centrepiece of his
budget spin alleged "labour shortages" and "job vacancies" in some
sectors and regions? While there are 1.4 million workers without jobs,
Flaherty's only concern is "jobs without workers." According to
Harper's Finance Minister, employers being unable to fill vacancies at
the wages they are willing to pay constitutes a crisis and solving this
alleged crisis is a national priority.
The problem of employment was defined as being one of
"connecting Canadians to jobs," as if there are millions of jobs just
waiting for the unemployed and underemployed to take up, perhaps after
a little retraining. This way of defining the problem of jobs is very
convenient for the Harper Conservatives and serves their overall
anti-worker, anti-social agenda in a number of ways. Besides letting
themselves off the hook for four years of economic stagnation and mass
unemployment, this definition of the job problem also provides
justification for the broad anti-worker offensive of the Harperites.
Slashing EI benefits and
criminalizing EI recipients, for example, can be peddled as necessary
structural changes to the labour market aimed at "connecting Canadians
to jobs." Unions can be attacked as preventing Canadians from
connecting with jobs by stifling labour market flexibility. Even
extending the retirement age from 65 to 67 is marketed as a way of
dealing with predicted "labour shortages" in the near future.
The actual budget measures for "connecting Canadians to
jobs" involve a program being rolled out called Canada Jobs Grants.
This program will result in the federal government withdrawing $300
million in transfers to the provinces and Quebec under Labour Market
Agreements. These funds will then be distributed directly by the
federal government through employers. Participating provinces will have
to contribute matching funds. Federal transfers of $1.95 billion of EI
funds to provinces and Quebec under Labour Market Development
Agreements may also be rolled into Canada Jobs Grants as these
agreements for federal funding of provincial training programs expire.
It is expected that much of the redirected funding will
be nothing more than disguised wage subsidies for employers.
Undoubtedly, much of the funding will end up in the pockets of the
Harperites' patrons among the Alberta oil and gas monopolies who are
said to be suffering the most from "labour shortages" and "job
vacancies." Discourse around the Canada Jobs Grants also indicates the
program will be used to fund wage subsidies used to sweeten deals the
government has on offer to attract investment by other global resource
extraction monopolies.
Redirecting training funds may also serve the Harper
agenda of weakening unions, especially construction unions. Federal
funds, distributed through the provincial and Quebec governments,
currently support the apprentice training programs operated by
construction unions. Assuming direct control over the distribution of
these funds would allow the Conservatives to redirect apprentice
training funds to their friends in the anti-union Merit Contractors
Association and the yellow union Christian Labour Association of Canada
(CLAC) which would give their attacks on the unionized construction
workers a big boost. Direct control of these funds will also enable the
Harperites to purchase political influence among social service
organizations dependent on training funds currently distributed by
provincial governments.
Like the entire agenda of the Harper government, the
Canada Jobs Grants program is based on fraud, in this case a fraud
about "job vacancies" and "labour shortages." The job vacancies
Flaherty and the Harper Conservatives are so concerned about are not
even on the same scale as the number of unemployed workers. Labour
force statistics show that on any given day, there are approximately
200,000 job openings across the country. If every "job without a
worker" was immediately filled and there were no new layoffs, there
would still be 1.2 million unemployed workers and millions of more
underemployed.
Typically, "labour shortages," are identified in the
construction trades among both skilled and semi-skilled workers, but
these alleged shortages have more to do with the dreams of capitalists
who see only six workers lined up for a job opening and wish there were
100 competing for that job. On average in 2012, for every vacancy that
opened in the construction sector nationally there were 6.4 workers
lined up waiting for that job. This compares to an unemployed worker to
job vacancy ratio of 5.5 to 1.0 in all sectors of the economy. The
number of unemployed construction workers in Canada in 2012 averaged
107,000 while the number of jobs open averaged only 18,400.
Even in Alberta's booming construction sector the
"shortage of labour" is greatly exaggerated. In February 2013, the last
month for which figures are available, there were 14,600 unemployed
construction workers seeking 4,600 job openings, a ratio of more than 3
workers for every job. During October 2011, the busiest month that
year, there were still 8,500 unemployed construction workers and only
3,500 jobs open, a ratio of 2.6 workers for every job. Throughout 2012,
the average number of unemployed construction workers in Alberta was
13,000. The lowest the unemployed worker to job vacancy ratio got
during the year was 15 construction workers available for every 10 jobs
that came open.
There are sectors in Alberta's
economy where the job vacancies are greater than the number of
unemployed. In the restaurant and accommodation sector, for example, it
is reported that there are typically 3,000 more vacancies than
unemployed workers. But this situation is clearly not the result of a
shortage of skilled workers but the result of a shortage of employers
willing to pay the going wage. The Harper government has rushed in to
solve the employers' problem by providing indentured hotel and
restaurant workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program who
have no choice but to accept the wages offered by the employers who
bring them to Canada. TFW programs are also used in Alberta to solve
the shortage of employers willing to pay the going wage for other
retailing jobs and for some manufacturing jobs, such as meat processing.
The anti-worker stand of the Harperites is thoroughly
exposed by their use of the hoax of labour shortages to expand the TFW
program, which has been increased to a standing force of 338,000
workers last year compared to 141,000 in 2005. The largest single group
of workers under the TFW program were 47,445 workers brought in by
employers to serve as indentured workers in the restaurant and
accommodation sector. The province where the largest numbers of TFWs
were employed was in Ontario, where there are 500,000 unemployed
workers and where 9.3 per cent of all workers are employed at minimum
wage jobs. In construction occupations, the number of TFWs exactly
matched the number of job openings in 2012 nationally (18,815 TFWs;
18,400 job vacancies), an obvious attempt to keep downward pressure on
construction workers' wages by stabilizing the construction labour
force at the current levels of oversupply.
The spin of the Harper Conservatives about "jobs without
workers" and their failure to make workers without jobs the national
priority exposes them as being attached to the private interests of the
dominant monopolies and totally detached from the problems of the
working people. Any political party that has such upside down
priorities, that does not make ensuring livelihoods the first duty of
government, is unfit to govern.
The Crown in Parliament Generates More Disequilibrium
in Canada, Part Three
- K.C. Adams -
Part Three of the series, "The Crown in Parliament
Generates Disequilibrium in Canada" -- parliamentary discussion on
implementation of anti-social Omnibus Budget Bill C-60 follows. For
Part One see TML Daily, May 28, 2013 -
No. 65; and for Part Two, TML Daily, June 4, 2013 - No. 68.
Part Three
The Harper Government Attacks on Public Sector Workers
Are an Affront to the Entire Working Class
The Harper dictatorship through Omnibus Bill C-60 has
declared that it will use its legal authority to dictate public sector
wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions. This throws legal
contempt on the right of workers to bargain their terms of employment.
Harper's aim is to put downward pressure on the standard of living and
working conditions of not only public sector workers but also the
entire working class.
The Harper dictatorship has unleashed both a legal
assault in Parliament with changes to laws affecting trade union rights
and a propaganda war to undermine public sector workers and their
decades-long battle to win union recognition in law and defend their
rights within binding collective agreements.
An important aspect of union recognition is the
codification of terms of employment in a collective agreement, which
has the status of a legal contract that should not be violated.
When the organized working class defends its collective
agreement through actions with analysis, and the owners of capital and
their representatives recognize the rights of their workers, a
collective agreement brings a certain equilibrium into the workplace.
The collective agreement stands against arbitrariness at the workplace.
With active enforcement, the rules and standards within the agreement
are meant to control and restrict the behaviour of those
representatives of owners of capital and managers who disregard the
rights of workers.
The experience of front line trade union activists has
been that the equilibrium of a collective agreement is constantly under
pressure and needs to be defended on a daily basis. This defence of the
codified rules of a collective agreement requires not only active
resistance during its lifespan but also upon its renewal.
Equilibrium and Disequilibrium
Equilibrium can exist within the class struggle between
employees and employers, between the working class and owners of
capital and their representatives, but only based on the recognition of
the rights of the working class. Disequilibrium arises when owners of
capital and their representatives refuse to recognize the rights of the
working class. Equilibrium begins with opposition to disequilibrium,
when both sides in the social relation agree to rules of conduct and
terms of employment within an arrangement that recognizes the rights of
the working class.
As owners of capital and employers possess rights of
ownership and authority at the workplace codified by the capitalist
legal system, the working class in both the private and public sectors
is in a dominated antithetical position within the social relation. As
a dominated antithesis within the contradiction at the workplace,
history compels the working class to organize itself as a conscious
collective to fight for the recognition of its rights, security and
equilibrium. Equilibrium cannot be achieved without recognition of the
rights of the working class. Owners of capital will not recognize the
rights of the working class without being forced to do so and held
accountable by the organized conscious actions of the working class.
The ebb and flow of equilibrium
and disequilibrium reflect both the particular class struggle at a
workplace and sector, and the general conditions of the period. The
current period of the retreat of revolution has emboldened
representatives of owners of capital, including those within the
political authority to consider disequilibrium in relations of
production to be to their advantage in the class struggle. Seizing
opportunities within the period of retreat of revolution, owners of
capital, in particular the powerful global monopolies, refuse to
recognize the rights of the working class and are imposing
retrogression, concessions and disequilibrium. History calls on the
working class to defend its class interests and the rights of all
through a determined struggle against retrogression, concessions and
disequilibrium through actions with analysis. Retrogression,
concessions and disequilibrium are not inevitable with the period of
retreat of revolution and should be fought with courage, unity and
determination not only in their own right as necessary to defeat but to
prepare the working class to go on the offensive when this period ends
as it surely will and the flow of revolution begins once again.
The Harper dictatorship represents owners of capital who
want to take advantage of the period and impose retrogression,
concessions and disequilibrium to force down the wages, benefits,
pensions and working conditions of not only public sector workers but
also the entire working class. If not vigorously resisted with actions
for renewal, this retrogression will not only result in a general
transfer of added-value from the working class to owners of capital but
also will leave the class demoralized, disorganized and unprepared when
revolution goes into flow on a world scale, as it must. The transfer or
siphoning of wealth away from the working class will be in terms of
lower individual wages, benefits and pensions, and the degrading and
wrecking of existing social programs such as public health care, public
education, injured workers' compensation etc. and general public
services. Retrogression can be stopped! It must be stopped with battles
for pro-social alternatives for democratic renewal, a new direction for
the economy and constant struggles in defence of the rights of all.
Direct Attacks on the Working Class from the Crown in
Parliament
Harper's Parliamentary Secretary Pierre Poilievre and
others in his government express the dictatorship's contempt for
equilibrium and the rights of the working class when they attack not
only specific items within public sector collective agreements but
collective agreements in general. The dictatorship speaks of collective
agreements and workers' rights with derision implying they are
impediments to productivity, and an unnecessary and even criminal
restriction of economic affairs and trade. This anti-working class
sentiment and bias and distortion of the socialized economy lead owners
of capital to use not only their economic power to destroy unions and
existing collective agreements but also to use the legal authority and
the full power of the state machine in Canada, Quebec and the provinces
to outlaw and criminalize trade unions and their freely negotiated
collective agreements. In addition to Bill C-60 and C-377, for the
Harper government and governments in many other jurisdictions the
issuing of back-to-work orders criminalizing and ending strikes has
become commonplace.
The use of economic and
state-organized political might and extortion to destroy collective
agreements and deprive the working class of its rights can also be seen
in the continuous lockouts imposed on Canadian steelworkers by U.S.
Steel and other retrogressive attacks. Global monopolies are shutting
down their operations in Canada or partially wrecking them, some which
they have only recently seized, while concentrating operations
elsewhere within their global empires.
The use of state-organized legal authority to destroy
freely negotiated collective agreements and deprive workers of their
rights can be seen in the attacks of the Ontario, Alberta and BC
governments against teachers and other education workers and in
numerous other incidents.
In Parliament, Poilievre routinely expresses his
contempt for the working class, trade unions, freely negotiated
collective agreements, workers' rights and equilibrium at the
workplace. For example, he is quoted in the Hansard
describing the Canada Post collective agreement with postal workers and
its trade union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, as "a 500-page
monstrosity."
From general contempt of public sector workers and their
right to legal codified conditions of employment and a certain
equilibrium within the contradiction between employer and employees,
Poilievre goes further and uses Parliament as a bully pulpit to attack
public sector workers and even denounce specific terms within their
collective agreements. He uses his position as a political
representative of owners of capital within Parliament to announce with
unseemly bluster that the Harper dictatorship refuses to recognize the
rights of the working class and wants retrogression, concessions from
public sector workers and disequilibrium at the workplace.
For example, the Hansard quotes Poilievre
saying with utter disregard for the rights of postal workers and
economic science, "After bankable sick days, pre-retirement leave,
seven weeks of vacation and more, the amount of time the carriers spend
delivering mail is only a portion of the time for which they are paid
to do so."
Poilievre's diatribe is completely backwards and
unscientific. In a modern economy of industrial mass production such as
in Canada, workers are paid for only a portion of the time they spend
working. Owners of capital and governments claim the rest of their
working time and its value as profit, interest, rent, executive
salaries and taxes. The claim workers make on the value they create
represents only a fraction of the time they work and value they create.
If this were not the case, where would the value come from for profit,
interest, rent, executive salaries and other claims of the owners of
capital and claims of governments as taxes? Contrary to what Poilievre
may believe, money does not grow on trees and it does not arise from
the bluster of charlatans and parasites. Value and its equivalent
representation as money come from the work-time of the working class
producing goods and delivering services.
Poilievre should apologize for his slur and say
correctly according to economic science: The amount of time the
carriers spend delivering mail is far more than the work-time and its
equivalent added-value from which they claim their wages, benefits and
pensions. The rest of their work-time and its equivalent added-value is
claimed by owners of capital and governments.
Poilievre's bias against the
working class reflects his class allegiance to owners of capital. He
cannot accept the reality that workers are the human factor in the
production of the value on which the people and society depend.
Work-time of the working class using modern means of production
transforms the bounty of Mother Earth into use-value. Postal workers
moving mail and parcels from point A to point B are an integral part of
the collective effort of the working class in producing the value on
which the people and society depend.
Without the present and past work-time of the Canadian
working people, no modern Canada would exist. The work of Canadians has
built and continues to sustain modern Canada. Poilievre rages against
that scientific truth and repeatedly spits out his capital-centred
bile: Postal workers and other public sector workers produce nothing;
they consume taxpayers' money, he screams in Parliament! They are a
drain on the public purse, he rants, along with other anti-worker
nonsense.
In a speech in Parliament, Poilievre rages against
postal workers as parasites sapping the public purse. Instead of
praising postal workers and the immense contribution they make to the
collective wealth of the country, disgusting nonsense turning truth on
its head dribbles from his lips as reported in the Hansard:
"Taxpayers pay" for postal workers' benefits. "The union requires
taxpayers to fund" postal workers wages, benefits and pensions. "Who
will pay for that [postal workers' pension benefits]? It will be
taxpayers, of course." "They [Crown corporations] are dependent on the
same taxpayers; the [omnibus] bill amends the Financial Administration Act to
empower the democratically elected government to reject labour
agreements that abuse taxpayers."
It would seem Poilievre has a guilty conscious as a
parasite who has seized a cushy position within the capitalist state
machine with a fat pension to boot. He feels compelled to denounce
those who actually do the work of the country and produce the value
that becomes wages, profits and taxes rather than have the working
class pointing fingers at the parasitism and corruption that appears
rampant amongst the very rich and their capital-centred politicians,
and coming to a collective conclusion of the necessity for a pro-social
alternative.
The Canadian working class with one voice denounces
Poilievre's hateful drivel. This Harper minion spits on the dignity of
the working class, which is unacceptable. This backward thinking and
the anti-working class legislation from the Crown in Parliament cause
disequilibrium and must be bravely met with actions with analysis to
defend the rights of workers and uphold their dignity as the producers
of all value and providers of all services. The working class has
rights and legitimate claims on the value it produces and services it
provides and those rights and claims must be respectfully recognized by
owners of capital and their representatives.
(To be continued -- to confront monopoly and
state-organized retrogression, the organized and conscious working
class movement breaks new ground in this period of retreat of revolution)
Read The Marxist-Leninist Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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