The Ontario
Network of Injured Workers' Groups organized two
well-attended online events on Ontario Injured
Workers' Day to celebrate their work and
collective strength in fighting for justice for
injured workers. This year marks 37 years since
the first injured workers' day, June 1, 1983,
when 3,000 injured workers' and their allies
gathered at Queen's Park to make their demands
known to a public inquiry into the compensation
system.
The Injured Workers' Day online rally, June 1,
was attended by more than 200 registered
participants, while others joined on Facebook
and YouTube. The current COVID-19 pandemic has
brought to the fore the importance to the entire
society of the fight for safe working conditions
for all workers, and for full and timely
compensation for all who are injured or become
ill due to their work.
Following an introduction by Maryam Nazemi, who
brought greetings from the Women of Inspiration
vigil, the President of the Ontario Network of
Injured Workers' Groups Janet Paterson spoke.
Under the conditions of the current pandemic she
pointed out, it is all the more important that
the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
take up its responsibility to injured workers
who agreed to give up the right to sue the
employers for workplace injuries and illness in
return for just compensation for as long as the
injury or illness lasts. Instead, employer
premiums have been reduced while fewer and fewer
injured workers receive the compensation they
are due. In the case of COVID-19, instead of
presuming that essential workers have contracted
the illness at work the WSIB is adjudicating
each case separately which currently leaves more
than 4,000 Ontario workers who have filed claims
in limbo as they wait for WSIB decisions. This
situation must end, Janet stated.
A private member's Bill 191 to address this
issue has passed first reading in the Ontario
Legislature. If passed, should a frontline
worker contract COVID-19, it will be presumed to
be an occupational disease occurring due to the
nature of the their work, unless the contrary is
shown.
Patty Coates, President of the Ontario
Federation of Labour, highlighted the situation
of frontline workers during the pandemic. While
governments have taken to speaking of frontline
workers as heroes, many of them are not
receiving the protection they require from their
employers she said. It is the responsibility of
the Minister of Labour, Coates pointed out, to
protect all workers and this is not taking
place, leaving workers to fend for themselves.
During the rally
a number of injured workers spoke out on their
experiences. Many more participated in putting
together a video for the occasion of Injured
Workers' Day 2020 (see below). One activist with
Injured Workers Action for Justice pointed out
that long before COVID-19 essential workers were
working long hours in unsafe conditions and
facing long waits to get claims for compensation
processed, if they were not outrightly denied,
leaving injured workers with no means of
support. Gabriel, a former migrant farm worker
and now an organizer, spoke to their situation,
which has become all the more dangerous during
this pandemic. Migrant farmworkers do not have
access to EI, or to comprehensive health care,
and if they are injured or become ill they are
repatriated to their home countries, he pointed
out.
The rally also received a video message of
greetings from Paul Healey, Secretary of the
Australian Health and Community Services Union
in Victoria, which this year celebrated its
first June 1 Injured Workers' Day.
Janice Martell, from the McIntyre Powder
Project, spoke to the need to change this
workers' compensation system which is designed
to fail injured workers, a system that is
designed to wear them down until they give up or
die (video presentation below). For frontline
workers who contract the disease at work
COVID-19 is an occupational disease, she pointed
out, but to call frontline workers "heroes"
masks the failure of the government and
employers to adequately protect the workers from
toxic exposure.
The final speaker was Fred Hahn, President of
the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Ontario. His union represents many frontline
workers, in particular in health and seniors
care, and has been active in fighting for their
safety and that of those they care for during
the pandemic. He pointed out that while the
pandemic did not cause the problems in the
public services, it has exposed them and created
public opinion to address workplace health and
safety. We need to be able to fully enact our
right to refuse unsafe work, he stated.
The Women of Inspiration vigil, held yearly at
Queen's Park on the eve of Injured Workers' Day,
also moved online. This year marked the 15th
anniversary of the event and it was opened by
one of the vigil's founders, Maryam Nazemi, who
honoured all those, including the many frontline
workers, who have lost their lives during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exposed many
social problems that activists have spoken out
about for decades, she said. Our message to
government, she stated, is that a strong economy
can only be built by making the health and
safety of everyone the priority. This means No! to
privatization and the cuts to the safeguards to
the health and safety of workers -- essential
workers must not be forced to work in unsafe and
undignified conditions.
The program included a spirited song by Heather
Cherron Von-Atzigen calling on injured workers
to speak out because their voices matter and
poems and interventions by injured workers and
their allies. Among these, Sharnette, from
Injured Workers Action for Justice, spoke to the
increased hardships faced by injured workers
during the pandemic. No additional assistance
has been provided by the Workplace Safety and
Insurance Board (WSIB) for injured workers to
cover extra financial burdens they are facing to
stay safe during this pandemic such as
transportation to medical appointments and the
cost of grocery delivery. Sharon, also an
injured worker spoke on the need to end the
practice of cutting injured workers' benefits
based on deeming them to be working at jobs they
do not have.
Leila Paugh a paramedic and a health and safety
representative for the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) Local 911, spoke to the
challenges they faced on the ground as frontline
workers to protect the safety of their members
and the public during the pandemic. What came
out in her presentation was that it is the
workers, organized in their collective, that
lead in ensuring both their own health and
safety and that of everyone.
Sultana Jahangir, from the South Asian Women's
Rights Organization, spoke to the effects of the
pandemic in their Scarborough community. Many
have lost their jobs, some 70 per cent of women,
and many of those who were employed as temporary
and on-call workers do not qualify for
government relief programs. Many who are working
do so in unsafe workplaces which did not comply
with health and safety standards before the
pandemic let alone now. They work as frontline
workers in retail, food processing, factory and
warehouse jobs and bring COVID-19 infections
into the community from the workplaces. The
safety of the community depends on ensuring
workplace safety, she pointed out.
Cynthia Ireland from CUPE Local 1750,
representing WSIB employees, spoke about the
Cover Me campaign to expand workers'
compensation to cover all workers and
workplaces. Presently in Ontario only 76 per
cent of workers are covered, the lowest of all
the provinces. The campaign's petition is
available here.
"Reopening" of the Economy and
Workers' Right to Safety at Work
Across Canada, after more than two months of
lockdown, stay-at-home, closure of all
non-essential business and other measures
intended to stem the transmission of COVID-19
infection, we are entering round two --
reopening while still under conditions of a
pandemic.
There are
appropriate warnings to practice social
distancing, rigorous hand washing and so forth,
which obviously need to be stated and
continuously reinforced, because the politicians
making these pronouncements are seen to
flagrantly disregard the rules which they
themselves set, such as restricting even family
members from visiting one's home and strictly
enforcing no more than five people beyond a
family household grouping getting together.
We are continually assured by the various
levels of government that "reopening" is being
guided by the best advice of science and public
health as the priority. But it is simply not so.
Nor are the measures called for by frontline
workers and their organizations as to what is
required now, and going forward taken seriously.
They are marginalized, sidelined, talked over
and dismissed.
Ontario for example officially launched
"reopening" measures on May 19. The Ontario
government says its "Framework for Reopening our
Province" lays out its approach to restarting
the economy, which it says incorporates public
health recommendations.
Fact is the decision to begin to "reopen"
Ontario was not in compliance with the minimum
criteria the Premier had set only a matter of
weeks prior, i.e. a consistent trend of
"flattening the curve" of new COVID-19
infections. It was not so when the Premier made
his "reopening" announcement and a full ten days
later, Ontario was still reporting 300-400 new
cases a day! Ontario is still far from testing
up to its capacity for COVID-19 infection and by
decision does not even test asymptomatic people.
One infectious disease specialist, Zain Chagla,
at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton and an
associate professor at McMaster University said
recently that for Ontario to be on par with
South Korea, would require additional investment
"in the orders of tens of millions of dollars to
get that testing capacity up and running."
The same is true on the national level. The
president of the Canadian Medical Association,
Dr. Sandy Buchman, recently said the country
isn't prepared for a possible second wave of
COVID-19. He said the public health system is
"breaking down" because of personal protective
equipment (PPE) shortages and physician fatigue
-- and the consequences could be catastrophic if
the COVID-19 caseload surges in the fall.
Buchman said there's an "urgent need" to
strengthen the public health system's capacity
to conduct more testing and contact tracing.
Nurses' organizations had been warning
provincial authorities since January that the
public health system was severely unprepared for
a surge in demand that a COVID-19 pandemic would
create. They pointed to staffing shortages in
long-term care facilities and the need for
personal protective equipment in hospitals and
long-term care homes. These frontline workers
still don't have the protective equipment they
need.
Round Two is no different. At the "reopening"
press conference, Ontario's Minister of
Transport Caroline Mulroney talked claptrap
about public transit being "critical to
supporting the economy ... as the province
begins to reopen" and how "the health and
well-being of all transit workers and passengers
is a top priority." But these are empty phrases
without concrete measures to protect the public
health and safety when using transit.
Carlos Santos,
President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
Local 113 representing transit workers in
Toronto and York Region, for example, expressed
regret that the provincial government did not
address the need for social investments to keep
public transit safe during round two. He asked
"how will municipalities pay for additional
measures to protect public transit workers and
riders? Without emergency funding from the
province and federal government, it will be next
to impossible to maintain proper service levels
on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to
handle increased ridership and ensure physical
distancing." In Toronto some 1,200 transit
workers have been laid off and service reduced
during the lockdown. "Toronto needs the province
and the federal government to step up and
provide the TTC with emergency funding," Santos
said.
So like it or not Round Two of the fight
against the COVID-19 pandemic is underway.
Science is not the guide to action for the
decision makers. Working people are marginalized
from being the decision makers. Creating
conditions for the activation of the human
factor social consciousness, putting working
people front and centre in working out how the
problems such as coming out of lockdown pose
themselves, working out and implementing
measures to enable society to move forward,
protecting the health and well-being of the
people, their economy, their society, is the
order of the day to enable us to move beyond the
"old normal" which has been revealed by the
pandemic as a complete disaster.
The first order of business for the Kenney
government when the Alberta legislation resumed
on May 27 was Bill 1, the Critical
Infrastructure Defence Act. The
legislation was passed the following day.
The Act gives the government and police
arbitrary powers to attack workers, women,
youth, seniors, Indigenous peoples and everyone
who is affirming their rights and the laying
their claims. Bill 1 makes it an offence to
"without lawful right, justification or excuse,
wilfully obstruct, interrupt or interfere with
the construction, maintenance, use or operation
of any essential infrastructure in a manner that
renders the essential infrastructure dangerous,
useless, inoperative or ineffective."
It also creates an offence to aid, counsel, or
direct another person to commit an offence under
the Act, irrespective of whether the other
person actually commits the offence. It is also
an offence to enter essential infrastructure
having obtained permission by false pretenses.
All of this creates an offence so broad that it
could mean almost anything, which is clearly the
intention.
In addition to a
long list of "essential infrastructure" which
includes pipelines, oil and gas production and
refinery sites, mines, utilities, highways,
railways, telecommunications, agricultural
sites, and the land on which infrastructure is
located, the Bill also defines "essential
infrastructure" as "a building, structure,
device or other thing prescribed by the
regulations." Regulations are enacted under the
prerogative or police powers of the executive
and can be changed at any time by executive
decision. In short -- "essential infrastructure"
is anything the government declares it to be,
including public space. Under this law police
can make arrests without obtaining a warrant or
injunction.
Bill 1 provides penalties of up to $10,000 for
a first offence, up to $25,000 for subsequent
offences, plus possible prison time of up to six
months, and up to $200,000 for "corporations
that help or direct trespassers." Each day that
a "contravention" exists constitutes a new
offence.
The bill has evoked a storm of criticism from
the Indigenous peoples, workers and their
organizations, human rights organizations, legal
experts and many others, and the government's
claim that it is "upholding law and order" has
been met with the contempt it deserves.
Bill 1 was first introduced on February 25
immediately following the Speech from the
Throne, with the government attacking all those
standing with the Wet'suwet'en people, and
blaming them for all the problems facing the
economy in Alberta. Premier Jason Kenney and
others referred to the land defenders as "thugs"
and "ecoterrorists" at one time and "spoiled
kids" and "professional protesters" at another.
Introducing the bill in February, Alberta
Minister of Justice Doug Schweitzer said, "Over
the last number of weeks, we've seen growing
lawlessness across the country, pushing our
railway lines to grind to a halt," This is
simply unacceptable. This is a mockery of our
democratically founded country. So we're now
taking decisive action to respond to this."
No such declarations have been made about the
negligence of CN and CP and the growing number
of rail accidents in Canada, with 1,170 rail
accidents in 2018 alone, leading not just to
temporary disruption of the rail system but to
the deaths of railway workers. Law and order
does not apply to the energy oligarchs when it
comes to mitigating the damage they cause to the
environment. The pandemic even became a pretext
to suspend the entire regulatory system
governing the operation of oil and gas
companies. There is no rule of law when
governments act as though Indigenous law has
been extinguished, violate treaties in which
Indigenous peoples agreed to share the land on a
nation-to-nation basis, and refuse to uphold
Canada's obligations under international law.
Alberta public sector workers rally, November
20, 2019, against government's neo-liberal
wrecking of public services.
Bill 1 is also directed against workers who
defend their rights through strike action, and
against the resistance to the anti-social
offensive and the united stand and No! of the
public sector workers who the government calls
heroes today and plans to throw out onto the
street later. It is intended to target workers
defending their picket lines, which are already
confined by injunctions and other means intended
to make them ineffective. Bill 1 adds to the
arsenal used to impose huge fines on unions
which uphold the right of workers to decide the
wages and working conditions acceptable to them.
Resources at the
disposal of the state come from the wealth
created by the working people. But instead of
being used to benefit the people, they are used
to impose the rule of the rich. The Beaver Lake
Cree Nation (BLCN) are in court once again, as
the federal and Alberta governments appeal the
lower court decision to award advance costs to
the BLCN to advance their legal case that
regulatory bodies must consider cumulative
effects of development on their traditional
territories. For 12 years, since the BLCN
launched the legal challenge, governments have
tried to block them and drain their financial
resources every step of the way. Fines of
hundreds of thousands of dollars are levied
against unions who defend the right of their
members to decide what wages and working
conditions are acceptable to them using unjust
laws which criminalize their collective actions.
Bill 1 shows just what Kenney means when he says
he will do "whatever is necessary" to defend the
interests of the energy oligarchs, and that the
government has lost all claims to legitimacy.
What remains of the public authority is the use
of police powers to enforce the rule of the
rich, no matter what.
This may be called "rule of law" but it does
not make it so. There is already a line-up to
challenge Bill 1 as illegal and a violation of
the Charter
or civil right to freedom of expression and
freedom of assembly. It will also certainly be
challenged by the people in action to defend
their human rights as well as their civil
rights. When laws do not recognize the rights
which belong to people by virtue of their being,
including the sovereign rights of Indigenous
peoples and the rights of workers as the
producers of all social value, a serious problem
arises. This refusal creates a conflict between
the authority and the modern conditions. That is
a big problem facing the people and society,
which needs to be addressed and resolved. It is
not a problem which can be sorted out by using
force and violence in the name of "law and
order."
Whether or not Bill 1 is found to be
unconstitutional, which is quite possible, it is
certainly in contempt of a modern understanding
of the purpose of law to serve the cause of
justice. When the law is not seen to be just,
and when it is imposed through arbitrary powers
in an attempt to threaten, intimidate, bully,
and criminalize those who are defending their
rights and the rights of all, it cannot be
called rule of law.
The need for democratic renewal to provide the
working people with a say in governance and for
nation-to-nation relations between Canada and
the Indigenous peoples has never been more
urgent. Bill 1 must be repealed!
Our Security Lies in the Fight
for the Rights of All!
I think the
government and employers are using the COVID-19
crisis as an opportunity to try to weaken the
labour movement. This can be seen with the
nurses and all health care workers. It's
distressing how the government is giving itself
the right to cancel their collective agreements
and unilaterally change their working
conditions. I have a lot of sympathy for them.
The situation the nurses are facing is very
difficult. In spite of the fact that they are
working very hard, protecting us and doing a
remarkable job, the government refuses to take
their situation seriously. Mandatory overtime in
2020 is unthinkable. It's also unthinkable that
those doing the work have no say with regard to
working conditions they require and that they
end up with a disciplinary warning when they
expose dangerous situations. There are cases
where advance planning took place and agreements
were made with nurses upholding their rights and
conditions while fighting the pandemic. So it is
possible. The government calls them guardian
angels, as if they were blessed and protected
from disease and the tragedies that may occur,
however this is not the case. They are real
flesh and blood workers who must be respected.
When the government gives its daily press
conferences on the pandemic, it says that things
are going well, that the situation is under
control, that everyone is being provided the
necessary personal protective equipment, but the
reality is quite different on the ground and
this is not only the case in the area of health.
The government is out of touch with what the
actual working conditions are. Working
conditions have been won by the sweat of the
workers' brows, with some of them sacrificing
their lives for the conditions we now have. It
was our parents and grandparents before them who
gave us these conditions. We have not forgotten
that during the lockout of the ABI workers,
rather than minding his own business, Premier
Legault supported the attacks on their working
conditions by publicly accusing them of being
spoiled brats.
The situation doesn't only exist in the health
sector. Presently, the government and
construction employers are trying to postpone
the vacations of construction workers. There has
been an outcry on that from construction workers
and as far as I am aware, the situation has not
yet been resolved. All workers need to keep
their vigilance up, otherwise even more
unacceptable things are going to be done to us.
In closing, I want to say that your articles in
defence of workers' rights are very useful
because they provide credible information. We're
not shy about sharing these articles with
others, as they are based on what is happening
on the ground and on what workers on the front
lines are experiencing. It's on the front line
that the truth is found.
(Translated from original
French by Workers' Forum.)
FIQ organizes a camp in front of Montreal
Geriatrics University Institute, June 2, 2020.
Health and social services workers continue to
demonstrate against ministerial orders issued by
the executive of the Quebec government that
gives the minister and health administrations
the power to cancel negotiated collective
agreements and unilaterally modify working
conditions in the sector. The outrage of calling
health care workers "guardian angels" while
denying their rights and viewing them as a kind
of cannon fodder who must simply obey and
perhaps even die due to orders over which they
have no say, is a matter of great concern to all
workers.
As summer
approaches, the protests are very much focused
on the issue of vacations, as workers in the
sector face exhaustion, the possibility of
second wave of COVID-19 in the coming months,
and great pressure from health administrations
to cancel or postpone vacations and leaves.
On June 2, the Interprofessional Health Care
Federation of Quebec (FIQ) launched a two-day
camp in front of the University Institute of
Geriatrics of Montreal to protest against health
care employers who are relying on the
government's ministerial order to deny the
vacation rights of health care professionals as
provided for in their collective agreement. The
theme of the action is "Forced camping: this is
where we spend the summer."
FIQ members are asking employers to reach an
agreement with their local union on vacation
terms and conditions. In an interview on June 2,
FIQ President Nancy Bédard said that a total of
seven Integrated Health and Social Services
Centres (CISSS) and Integrated University Health
and Social Services Centres (CIUSSS) have still
not reached an agreement with their respective
FIQ union on vacation time.
"Health care professionals throughout Quebec
must have rest. It is a priority in order to
care for our patients and to continue to fight
the COVID-19 pandemic. It is high time that
these recalcitrant employers took action! When
we take the time to sit down, we find solutions
without resorting to ministerial orders. Health
care professionals, who have been in combat for
almost three months, must have this moment of
respite because their physical and mental health
is at stake. This rest will be beneficial for
them as well as for all patients," said Bédard
in the June 2 FIQ press release.
On May 28, the more than 6,200 workers of the
Laurentides CISSS, who are organized in the
Health and Social Services' Workers' Union in
Laurentides-CSN, began daily demonstrations in
front of the CISSS' various establishments to
demand confirmation that their vacations be
respected.
In its May 28
press release, the union indicates that CISSS
management is using the ministerial orders,
imposed by the Legault government on March 21,
to restrict access to leaves and vacations. It
warns the CISSS against this practice and asks
the CEO to send a signal that vacations will be
upheld.
"While staff were already exhausted before the
pandemic arrived, every effort must be made to
prevent workers from falling in battle. We call
upon the people of the region to support the
guardian angels and to show their support in the
coming days by honking their horns. Your support
can make a difference," writes union president
Dominic Presseault.
Also, on May 28, the four unions of the Mont r
gie-Ouest CISSS (CISSSMO) organized a
demonstration to demand respite and standardized
working conditions. In a press release the
unions write that for CISSSMO workers, the
COVID-19 crisis "dangerously undermines a system
that is already seriously weakened by years of
cuts and restructuring." The four unions are the
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local
3247, the local executive of the Alliance of the
Professional and Technical Health and Social
Services Staff (APTS), the FIQ-Union of Health
Care Professionals of Montérégie-Ouest, and the
Workers' Union of CISSSMO-Estrie-CSN.
The event took the form of a convoy of cars
that traveled along several major arteries in
the area covered by the CISSS.
"Since March, the ministerial orders and
managers have, among other things, disrupted
schedules and assignments, lengthened working
hours and travel to work, moved staff to
completely disorganized private residences and
long-term care facilities, canceled vacations
and leaves, and so on," the press release
states. "These difficulties were combined with
major challenges such as the issue of child care
and the implementation of health protection
measures. In order to be able to cope with the
next wave of contamination, workers are calling
for a break."
The press release points out that the CISSSMO
workers are demanding that managers work with
them to assess real staffing needs, to find
solutions and lighten the burden, and that they
listen to them instead of being the instrument
of ministerial dictate.
(Translated from original
French by Workers' Forum.)
Concrete Measures Required
to Defend the Rights of the Most Vulnerable
- Interview, Jennie-Laure Sully,
Convergence of Struggles
Against Sexual Exploitation (CLES) -
Community
organizations working with disadvantaged and
abused women face many obstacles in having
their needs met during this pandemic. They
want to break with the position the government
places them in of begging and want recurring
funding, not only now but at all times.
For several weeks now the government has
been regularly running television ads
affirming that women must not accept violence
and that help is available. When one looks at
the difficulties support groups lacking in
resources are experiencing, this amounts to
nothing other than doubletalk. Workers'
Forum interviewed Jennie-Laure
Sully, working with the Convergence of
Struggles Against Sexual Exploitation (CLES),
to smash the silence on their working
conditions so that the needs of the women it
serves, are met.
Workers'
Forum:Can you tell us about
your organization and the challenges posed by
the pandemic?
Jennie-Laure
Sully: The work of the Convergence has
three main components: services for women who
have been involved in the sex trade and their
families, awareness and training, and political
action.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we wrote to
the Ministry of Health and Social Services to
have our organization recognized as an essential
service. That recognition was important to us
because the needs of women involved in
prostitution and the necessity of responding to
them have increased. In fact, sexually exploited
women were already having difficulty finding
safe housing, food assistance, mental and
physical health care before the pandemic, and
the situation has worsened.
In terms of the work to be done, a link is
often made between women and government services
such as social assistance. Women are helped in
obtaining financial assistance or compensation
to which they are entitled as victims of crime.
CLES is based in Montreal, and we have member
organizations, the majority of which are the
Centres for Assistance in Fighting Aggression of
a Sexual Nature (CALACS), that exist
Quebec-wide. We are therefore recognized as a
national organization. These are groups that
intervene in matters of violence against women:
sexual assault, incest, sexual exploitation,
domestic violence. This is part of the continuum
of violence. For example, a young girl who
experienced incest as a child is more likely to
fall prey to sexual exploitation as a teenager.
In speaking with the CALACS in Quebec, we
learned that groups should be receiving between
$30,000 and $45,000 in emergency funding. There
was concern on the government's part that these
women would end up on the street and that, as a
result, confinement would not be respected. So,
for example, if there's no place in women's
shelters, at the YWCA or in other shelters, then
the money received can be used to pay for a
hotel room for someone. We look at all the
options to make sure they don't end up on the
street.
Women without status will be particularly
affected by all forms of exploitation, including
sexual exploitation. One recent example we had
to deal with at CLES was a woman without status
who found herself in a trafficking situation.
Such cases are usually not brought to light. We
have people fleeing their countries of origin
because of our international policies who end up
here without status and at risk of being
exploited. It must be acknowledged that amongst
those who have made refugee claims, the needs
are far greater in times of a pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, support groups were
organized and women came to our offices. We
could accommodate 8-10 women at a time. And that
was very important to break with their
isolation. One of the main needs they express is
the need to break with their isolation, to
overcome stigmatization, to no longer feel alone
in the world. At the moment, we are not in a
position to receive them, and that's a major
problem. We have organized virtual support
groups through video Facebook Messenger,
FaceTime, Zoom, Skype. We've tried everything to
keep that eye contact, to let them know they're
not alone, that other women are going through
difficulties and that together we're going to
get through this. But what we are told by the
women with whom we are in contact, either by
phone or through Skype, is that they are living
in even more precarious situations.
WF: Can you
tell us about funding and the difficulties
you're currently facing?
JLS: Actually
we, just like other community organizations,
were already underfunded. There's something
called the Community Organization Support
Program (COSP), which already falls short of
what we need to operate to be able to really
help women get out of their situation. What they
generally do is spread the grants out over all
the community organizations without taking into
account each organization's mission. Often, this
puts us in a situation where we have to respond
to a project proposal call to get the grant, and
practically speaking, this puts us in
competition with other organizations.
The demand of all community organizations is
for recurring mission-based funding. Every year,
we're placed under the pressure of asking that
our COSP funding be increased, because when we
prepare the budget we find that the amount
received only pays our rent. You're always
placed in a position of begging, of having to
justify one's raison d'être.
WF: Through
all your efforts, you've succeeded in getting
certain funds from the government during the
pandemic. Can you tell us about that?
JLS: As a means
of exerting pressure on them, we began sending
emails, making calls to insist in particular on
the importance of a program to get people out of
prostitution. We spoke with the Status of Women
Quebec Secretariat, with Status of Women Canada,
we contacted Centraide, our various levels of
government, which resulted in an expression of
willingness and then all of the sudden the money
was there! At the beginning of April, money was
released for emergency assistance for women.
With that we buy grocery cards, pharmacy cards,
prepaid Visa and Mastercard cards to give to
women. This allows them to pay for groceries and
all kinds of expenses.
Many women who are still in the sex trade have
less money coming in or expose themselves to
greater risk by keeping the same amount of money
coming in; many who were in the process of
getting out and had found jobs in small
businesses, such as restaurants or shops, have
lost their job; many do not qualify for social
assistance and other measures of last resort.
The government has said it is going to
release thousands of dollars for women's
shelters because of situations of increased
domestic violence.
The money received really has to be put towards
emergency assistance for women but it's not
enough. We had to make an appeal for donations.
But what we are saying is that -- and this is
not just related to the period of the pandemic
-- we want women to have alternatives, for the
short, medium and long term. Therefore there
must be programs for the women who want to get
out of prostitution. That's the most important
thing, and this must be at all times, not just
because of the pandemic. We are calling for
prostitution exit programs, housing assistance
for women, help to go back to school, and
support for physical and mental health. It's all
that.
WF: What other
problems do you face?
JLS: The
situation is that there is not enough space and
resources to combat this problem of violence.
The demands are the same everywhere: access to
health care, housing and so on. Another thing
they do is neglect the whole mental health
aspect. It's very problematic. We learned that
there's a group of psychologists who have banded
together to offer help during the pandemic and
that the government has refused it. It's a
fragmented view of health care and it's
ineffective.
Money will be given to businesses. But on what
basis? Is it acceptable that vast sums of
taxpayers' money will be given to all businesses
without exception? Do taxpayers agree that they
should bail out the financial sector, the arms
industry and other non-essential or downright
harmful industries? For example, the Business
Development Bank of Canada does not normally
lend to the sex trade or the gambling and
alcohol industry. But here, during the pandemic,
the sex trade can receive interest-free loans.
This includes escort agencies, sites where
there's trafficking going on, all such
businesses are considered eligible right now,
while community organization grants to assist
sexually exploited women get out the sex trade
are being cut. Is that the kind of society we
want? Prostitution is not a social safety net!
As a society, we must stop endorsing the right
of men to buy access to women's bodies and
sexuality. We must resolutely affirm that
everyone has the right not to be forced to
prostitute themselves to live.
(Translated from original
French by Workers' Forum.)
People on social assistance are among the most
vulnerable in society and in Quebec they have
been fighting relentlessly for close to 50 years
for the full recognition of their rights. More
than 272,680 Quebec households receive social
assistance and are forced to deal with the
brutality of the anti-social offensive.
The situation has
worsened as a result of the pandemic and social
containment measures recommended by public
authorities. Social isolation is just a pipe
dream for those living on low incomes, who must
make their way to the remaining food banks and
to various grocery stores in search of lower
prices so they can feed themselves. Increased
trips are necessary when people do not have a
way to store food. Already part of an at-risk
population, people with low-incomes are forced
into harm's way and a greater risk of catching
and spreading COVID-19, as their circumstances
require that they move around, often taking the
bus. That is the main reality of those living on
social assistance.
Eighty civil society groups have joined voices
in the Common Front of Quebec Social Assistance
Recipients (FCPASQ) to demand sufficient support
to assist the unemployed in coping with the
crisis they face, especially within this bleak
and critical period of the pandemic. From May 4
to 8, the 47th Week of Dignity for Quebec Social
Assistance Recipients, these demands were
reiterated. Many activities were organized
online, such as the launch of a video denouncing
the situation, testimonial thumbnails, and
discussion panels.
People on social assistance receive $690 per
month, although the federal government has set
the monthly amount needed to adequately protect
oneself at $2,000. While the government has
provided funds for food banks, this does nothing
to address the extreme poverty in which those on
social assistance are living. According to the
Market Basket Measure, the amount required to
cover the minimum basic needs of a single person
living in Montreal in 2019 was set at $18,424
annually ($1,535 per month). The monthly $690
received by those on social assistance falls far
below that.
According to
figures provided by the City of Montreal in
2019, 29 per cent of residents live below the
poverty line. That rate is higher than in other
Canadian cities -- for example, Vancouver, 27
per cent; Toronto; 25 per cent; and Calgary; 14
per cent.
In Montreal, 16.2 per cent of the population
over 12 years of age are experiencing food
insecurity. Those 12 to 39 years of age are most
affected, in particular those between the ages
of 30 and 39. As a result, an ever-increasing
number of people are turning to food banks.
The latest attack on social assistance
recipients was launched by the Philippe
Couillard Liberal government through the JobLink
program, on April 1, 2018, which encourages new
social assistance recipients to take measures to
find a job. Those who agree to participate are
rewarded with an increase in their benefits of
$240 per month, while penalties of up to $224
are applied to those who refuse to commit. The
controversial program was denounced from the
outset by recipients, community groups and
officials.
To date, the François Legault CAQ government
has not announced any support for those on
social assistance, which is unacceptable. With
an end to confinement now on the horizon, far
from being overwhelmed by this state of affairs,
people on social assistance, collectively,
continue to fight for the full recognition of
their rights.
A Decent Income for All!
(Translated from original
French by Workers' Forum.)
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
The Ontario
Network of Injured Workers' Groups organized two
well-attended online events on Ontario Injured
Workers' Day to celebrate their work and
collective strength in fighting for justice for
injured workers. This year marks 37 years since
the first injured workers' day, June 1, 1983,
when 3,000 injured workers' and their allies
gathered at Queen's Park to make their demands
known to a public inquiry into the compensation
system.
During the rally
a number of injured workers spoke out on their
experiences. Many more participated in putting
together a video for the occasion of Injured
Workers' Day 2020 (see below). One activist with
Injured Workers Action for Justice pointed out
that long before COVID-19 essential workers were
working long hours in unsafe conditions and
facing long waits to get claims for compensation
processed, if they were not outrightly denied,
leaving injured workers with no means of
support. Gabriel, a former migrant farm worker
and now an organizer, spoke to their situation,
which has become all the more dangerous during
this pandemic. Migrant farmworkers do not have
access to EI, or to comprehensive health care,
and if they are injured or become ill they are
repatriated to their home countries, he pointed
out.
There are
appropriate warnings to practice social
distancing, rigorous hand washing and so forth,
which obviously need to be stated and
continuously reinforced, because the politicians
making these pronouncements are seen to
flagrantly disregard the rules which they
themselves set, such as restricting even family
members from visiting one's home and strictly
enforcing no more than five people beyond a
family household grouping getting together.
Carlos Santos,
President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
Local 113 representing transit workers in
Toronto and York Region, for example, expressed
regret that the provincial government did not
address the need for social investments to keep
public transit safe during round two. He asked
"how will municipalities pay for additional
measures to protect public transit workers and
riders? Without emergency funding from the
province and federal government, it will be next
to impossible to maintain proper service levels
on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to
handle increased ridership and ensure physical
distancing." In Toronto some 1,200 transit
workers have been laid off and service reduced
during the lockdown. "Toronto needs the province
and the federal government to step up and
provide the TTC with emergency funding," Santos
said.
In addition to a
long list of "essential infrastructure" which
includes pipelines, oil and gas production and
refinery sites, mines, utilities, highways,
railways, telecommunications, agricultural
sites, and the land on which infrastructure is
located, the Bill also defines "essential
infrastructure" as "a building, structure,
device or other thing prescribed by the
regulations." Regulations are enacted under the
prerogative or police powers of the executive
and can be changed at any time by executive
decision. In short -- "essential infrastructure"
is anything the government declares it to be,
including public space. Under this law police
can make arrests without obtaining a warrant or
injunction.
Resources at the
disposal of the state come from the wealth
created by the working people. But instead of
being used to benefit the people, they are used
to impose the rule of the rich. The Beaver Lake
Cree Nation (BLCN) are in court once again, as
the federal and Alberta governments appeal the
lower court decision to award advance costs to
the BLCN to advance their legal case that
regulatory bodies must consider cumulative
effects of development on their traditional
territories. For 12 years, since the BLCN
launched the legal challenge, governments have
tried to block them and drain their financial
resources every step of the way. Fines of
hundreds of thousands of dollars are levied
against unions who defend the right of their
members to decide what wages and working
conditions are acceptable to them using unjust
laws which criminalize their collective actions.
Bill 1 shows just what Kenney means when he says
he will do "whatever is necessary" to defend the
interests of the energy oligarchs, and that the
government has lost all claims to legitimacy.
What remains of the public authority is the use
of police powers to enforce the rule of the
rich, no matter what. 
I think the
government and employers are using the COVID-19
crisis as an opportunity to try to weaken the
labour movement. This can be seen with the
nurses and all health care workers. It's
distressing how the government is giving itself
the right to cancel their collective agreements
and unilaterally change their working
conditions. I have a lot of sympathy for them.
The situation the nurses are facing is very
difficult. In spite of the fact that they are
working very hard, protecting us and doing a
remarkable job, the government refuses to take
their situation seriously. Mandatory overtime in
2020 is unthinkable. It's also unthinkable that
those doing the work have no say with regard to
working conditions they require and that they
end up with a disciplinary warning when they
expose dangerous situations. There are cases
where advance planning took place and agreements
were made with nurses upholding their rights and
conditions while fighting the pandemic. So it is
possible. The government calls them guardian
angels, as if they were blessed and protected
from disease and the tragedies that may occur,
however this is not the case. They are real
flesh and blood workers who must be respected.
As summer
approaches, the protests are very much focused
on the issue of vacations, as workers in the
sector face exhaustion, the possibility of
second wave of COVID-19 in the coming months,
and great pressure from health administrations
to cancel or postpone vacations and leaves.
In its May 28
press release, the union indicates that CISSS
management is using the ministerial orders,
imposed by the Legault government on March 21,
to restrict access to leaves and vacations. It
warns the CISSS against this practice and asks
the CEO to send a signal that vacations will be
upheld.
Community
organizations working with disadvantaged and
abused women face many obstacles in having
their needs met during this pandemic. They
want to break with the position the government
places them in of begging and want recurring
funding, not only now but at all times.
The situation has
worsened as a result of the pandemic and social
containment measures recommended by public
authorities. Social isolation is just a pipe
dream for those living on low incomes, who must
make their way to the remaining food banks and
to various grocery stores in search of lower
prices so they can feed themselves. Increased
trips are necessary when people do not have a
way to store food. Already part of an at-risk
population, people with low-incomes are forced
into harm's way and a greater risk of catching
and spreading COVID-19, as their circumstances
require that they move around, often taking the
bus. That is the main reality of those living on
social assistance.
According to
figures provided by the City of Montreal in
2019, 29 per cent of residents live below the
poverty line. That rate is higher than in other
Canadian cities -- for example, Vancouver, 27
per cent; Toronto; 25 per cent; and Calgary; 14
per cent.