Sexual harassment: Why I manifest May 1

Women and feminists, why do not fail us to demonstrate on May 1 : depletion and exploitation of workers over-represented in the community or care, privatization in health and education, free work we do at home or the minimum wage continues to keep us in poverty and insecurity. Fortunately, the minimum wage will increase to 12$ next Tuesday. #Not. At this rate, we will have the viable minimum wage from 2018 in 10 years! Today, I want to talk about sexual harassment that undergoes daily, at work or elsewhere.

 

The tip of the iceberg

Could not pass over in silence the wave of denunciations against the #MeToo SGBV last fall. In the USA, women working in prestigious film and television industries have shaken male impunity by publicly denouncing their abusers and stalkers. In Quebec, the former boss of Just for Laughs Gilbert Rozon eventually collapse under the revelations of sexual violence he has perpetrated several women for over thirty years. It should be emphasized the strength of these courageous that eventually could, the collective determination, come forward and denounce.

 

There are also all these other women, these workers, who are still forced to let their boss stalker. All those who end up leaving their jobs when they are subjected to sexual harassment because this form of workplace violence is still not taken seriously! Because we said that it will pass. Because we said there's nothing we can do. Because formal complaints channels are long and winding. This is most, or all, individuals who report such harassment unleash their jobs in the meantime.

 

Weinstein to the boss of the restaurant next door

Stalkers are there, they are "ordinary" or popular : Weinstein at the restaurant boss of next. There's the boss who you "touches" the breasts through, the colleague who found that rape is funny, the customer who wants that you Mouse Skill him after that you have slammed the butt. Nevertheless, Women are there to resist. Through their direct actions, they are quietly changing the camp fear. The macho become defensive when they speak of gender violence we live. Petticoat their misogyny beyond and continue to draw.

 

This Tuesday, I manifest for all women, those that have been publicly denounce, those who suffer in silence, those who resist daily, those who manage to organize against this scourge at work and elsewhere!

 

We are not alone! See you on Tuesday!

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One wall to witness harassment at work : Campaign Launch “Demands your respect!”

The 8 March, during the international day of struggle for women's rights, Industrial Union of Workers and Workers (SITT-IWW) was the demonstration against capitalism and patriarchy, organized by Women of Diverse Origins. Several hundred people gathered to protest against the impoverishment of women, against war and against sexual violence. On this occasion, the campaign "Reclaim your respect!"SITT-the IWW was launched!

 

Numerous testimonies

During the event “Women standing against capitalism and patriarchy!” the 8 mars 2018. Photo credit : Cedric Martin

To make visible everyday sexism and report harassment at work, women were asked to share their experience on plates that formed a collective fleeting wall. The testimonies of abuse and sexism were many, to the point where a rope had to be added. We should not have to endure comments like " You smile not? You have your period or what? "In our workplaces or" I hope you're not planning to have children, I want me to have to dealer with maternity leave ' in job interview. The difficulty in denouncing abuses and violence experienced at work is even greater for women without status of their extremely precarious and invisible status, as evidenced by the one of the suspended plates.

 

Harassment in the Workplace, it is racist, sexist, homophobic or a combination of oppression, should not be tolerated whatever its form : degrading comments, abuse of power, blackmail, termination, touching, etc. The campaign "Reclaim your respect!"Is there to counter all these forms of direct action and organization in the workplace. In the wake of the wave of recent months #MoiAussi, this campaign is more than necessary!

 

The feminist struggle will or will not!

 

The campaign Reclaim your respect : http://bit.ly/2oWRF3n

And Reclaim your campaign pays! : http://bit.ly/2txJ8c0

To join us : 438-345-5046 and [email protected]

musical suggestion : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjSCN8S50Dc

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Solidarity explosion for the former employee of Antidote

After two years to get involved in volunteer IWW Communication Committee, I had never seen it. Little Sarah history, dismissed the counter vegan Antidote to days of Christmas, and that after experiencing bullying and abuse of power, went viral.

In less than 24 hours, words of hope and gestures of solidarity poured in from all sides. Ten of thousands of views on our blog, I almost feel like work for Your Small or vice Look, with the difference that in the comment section, it was a love breathtaking Sarah received instead of the traditional look forward mails.

There is a modern version of Christmas Carol. In 2017, just days before the Eve, a young dynamic entrepreneur that imbued itself, owner of a trendy restaurant in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification process, dismisses his employee.

Mention it before going further : dismiss an employee e-restoration in the middle of December, Also as to wish him a Christmas without gifts or to offer small dishes to be made to Eve, is wish him a happy three or four months of unemployment, no unemployment, the time the basins of the industry to reopen the arrival of spring.

Through a friend, Sarah came into contact with the ghost of Combat Unionism who agreed to share her story. You know the rest, the story became viral and social media were inflamed. If we were in a Christmas story, at the end of the third act, the owner would have repented, but the reality of the bosses-employee-s relationships being what it is, she published earlier tearful text to explain that from the depths of his success, it's a little she actually suffered.

Everything was, she is young and has so much to learn, she did not know that you could not fire someone morally-e by text. She was forced to fire her now, cheap shot par on text, because the warning two weeks in advance and allow time for the employee to prepare (as bosses ask us), fitait it not in its priorities. It looked like a caricature all output module right on employer responses in the Organization of Training 101 IWW.

In parallel crocodile tears of the patron who, to believe what we see on Facebook, have not touched anyone other than two or three owners in similar situations or close friends, Those are former-born employees who have contacted us to tell us of similar experiences, the story of a small producer in the Gaspé had trouble getting paid rebounded, and many and many other workers restoring explaining recognize themselves in this situation so too frequent. But perhaps more importantly, People from all over Montreal have written to express their sympathy and offer their solidarity to Sarah.

Between the words of encouragement, such a free room, this one has a sofa available if needed, this one is food for the dog, another heard about a job and those on temporary contracts, see offer permanent jobs to offer. Class consciousness, ras-le-bol hellish working conditions of the restaurant industry or simply the spirit of Christmas? No matter for now, solidarity beyond all our expectations and for that, by Sarah, but all and all members of the IWW, we offer our sincere thanks and wish you a great holiday season.

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Photo credit: Katerine-Lune Rollet, February 2015.
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The hippies were right about one thing

A cry of agony.

The child's crying.

The heavy silence.

The comrades of the guerrillas watch successively, seven others who fight in the climax of an armed conflict, the genocide against the Maya in Guatemala. After Spanish colonialism, acculturation and ethnocide against indigenous peoples, a culture that is already taught as extinct, breathe proudly. Human rights do not apply to rebels ; the military government placed in power by the US during the Cold War does not even consider the Mayans as human beings, anyway. In 1981, this is the 27th year war between the forehead of the people, compound 15% of educated people and 85% campaigns rebels, mostly indigenous, against racist and capitalist authoritarianism.

Another deafening cillement, tinnitus.

The military tank having drawn is behind the cloud of dust in suspension.

The battle continues.

It is real.

All over, the fear, the blood, the bodies, fire, bombs, The balls, screams, pain, suffering, the comrades who fall, relatives who collapse, the family, the love of their life, a look that loses his life light, rape, the torture, the carnal envelopes stripped of their members, their dignity, any breach hole, massacre, open bellies, the head of a living parent was diving in the still warm viscera, concrete that erupts. "The gurgling blood resonate to the beat of my own heart beat. I'm in the guerrilla. My name is Maria. My husband has been missing for a few months now, but my subconscious knows that I would never see him again. My eyes burn, because dust, tears, some blood, shrapnel, no time to learn, I have to fight and in my head, one sentence, one idea ; the struggle for the people, the freedom struggle, for equality. A stronger idea that the horror of war, that requires me to advance again and again, past values ​​and understood through education and training that I received in the mountains, I am suffering, with the other comrades, because I believe in humanism, I love humanity. »

Maria is a woman who participated in the war against the Mayan genocide. Being herself Maya, its mission is to raise awareness of the hidden horrors in Guatemala. Despite his advanced age, it still militates in a group of awareness against sexual violence, cultivates a coffee ground with her second husband and acts as spokesperson with other people in his community to denounce the crimes against humanity committed between 1960 and 1996.

When one part of a militant middle, one is faced with ideas, values, methods that must include, then assimilate, advance or reject. What drives us to join, is mostly, I believe, because it is recognizable in the basic foundations of a group and we have a desire to have an impact on our world, or on the world. On the other hand, What drives us to stay ? At the left active, one of the first shock we are facing, is violence against us, both in terms of judgments in attitudes or the way we approach. Second choc, is violence against people who do not have our privileges strikes. As for me, even having made several interventions in situations of harassment against the oppressed people, I never could conceptualize violence in its entirety, even when the police hit me pleasure to make me suffer, had it not been for the testimony that I heard in Guatemala, all the more horrifying than the other, painting a gloomy picture straight out of Sade cellars ... Despite all this, my moment of the strongest shock was when I walked in the capital with comrades, one of the people pointed me an old building made of concrete bricks and said : "Look, These are impacts that date back to the war ", then, to see the dozens of bullet holes, which had targeted and killed or there 20 years, imagining all these stories in a flash.

It all goes back to the reasons to become and remain active in the militancy : the common point of all heard stories was about how to address violence, which was based on the acceptance of the situation and a desire, since then, to change, the cost of his security and his life. The love of humanity, solidarity and empathy of the people suffering were what the comrades clung to continue fighting, to get over the fear, cold, hunger, the agony. Gavino, a rebel community, said moreover, towards the end of my stay, it has lost the military organization, is that their struggle was based on hatred, which greatly undermined the solidarity between units, thus making them vulnerable. Finally, Gavino summoned me to fight, not by hatred, but philanthropy, communitarianism, desire for equality and understanding, and this is where the hippies are right, but also to never cease in favor of a personal emancipation, because the real danger and the fundamental point of our struggle is to educate and take actions before the situation escalates to the point where we are at a critical point, So to make the revolution and not the insurgency.

Emma Parsons

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Wobbly Lifes: From Toronto to Montreal

statistically, women adopt the interests and hobbies of their male partners. So when I started dating a new male-identifying, human, I was determined not to allow his interests to become my interests. Sure, it was cute how excited he was when first signed his Red Card, And I appreciated how he would come back from meetings filled with energy and new ideas.. I was determined not to join the IWW, just because of my new relationship. Beside, it was good for us to maintain our autonomy and have separate interests..

 

But my tough exterior, impenetrable to his anarchist ways, was destroyed when I was invited to a party, and was introduced a passionate (not to mention incredibly cool!). young female organizer. She was full of excitement about how the branch had just helped an immigrant worker win a wage theft campaign.. The worker had been fired without cause from his job, and the worker was owed two weeks of wages that the employer was refusing to pay. Several members of the Solidarity Committee accompanied the worker to his (now former) workplace to support his demands that the employer pay the lost wages., .. When the employer called the cops to ask them to remove the group from the premises,, the cops asked him “why are they there? what are they asking you to do?When the employer explained the situation,, the cops simply replied that he should pay the worker. A short time later, the worker and the Solidarity Committee left the workplace with cash in the pocket of the worker..

 

Now, that, was cool. In fact, it was totaly fucking cool. And I could no longer deny to myself that the IWW was a radical group who performed (and yet accomplishes!) concrete changes in the lives of working people.. I’ll admit that it still took me a few months to tell to my partner that he was right, and a few more weeks for us to agree that we would like to share this organizing space. and, and a few more weeks, for us to agree that we would like to share this organizing space. but in August 2014 I officially signed my card. Since that time, I have organized in several committees including with the Toronto Branch in the Fundraising and Education Committee,, and the Women's Committee, as Toronto branch Secretary, and with the Montreal Branch, on the Events and Merchandise Committee, and the Women’s Committee.. I am currently a Branch delegate, and am organizing with the Organizing and Solidarity Committees.. For me, organizing with the IWW, is a rewarding space to make tangible changes in our communities,, to support workers in their class struggle against their employers, and to work towards achieving a more radical and just world.. Together, we can make changes!

 

 

For the One Big Union,

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Near a thousand protesters for the International Workers Day

 

For May Day 2017, while the unions sent their permanent es-es and employee distribute leaflets, the IWW as well as numerous groups mobilized for a day of struggle, of working class solidarity and combative unionism. In the program; office occupancy placement agencies, popular meals and demonstration Southern center to Downtown o? ù the police waiting at a halt!

Occupancy of Thompson Tremblay's offices and ManPower Recruitment Solutions

This year the start of the International day of workers has been given at noon for members of the Industrial Workers Union and Workers (SITT-IWW) Montreal and the Workers Association of Temporary Workers of Employment Agencies (ATTAP) who went occupy Thompson Tremblay offices and ManPower Recruitment Solutions, two placement agencies.

Temporary employment agencies specialize in ofoffering a flexible workforce to companies. Essentially, it transforms the boss-employee relationship in a triangular relationship of employer-employee-agency. The agencies allow companies to reduce their production costs by reducing the accounting staff and evasion of payment of benefits and protections of minimum labor standards such as cotisations with EI, insurance in case of work accidents, parental leave, as well as for caregivers, pensions, holidays, etc. They also limit the right to unionize, the right to direct negotiations with the boss to have a collective agreement and the right to strike as a defense mechanism. Victims workers of this process do not accumulate seniority, have no minimum hours of guaranteed work or job security and receive no annual salary increase. Since the disruption of the conference of the ACSESS 5 april 2017, our working conditions have not improved. Our demands remain the same so:

The immediate increase of the minimum wage to $ 15 / hour, obligation to hire the workers by the client company after three months of service, joint responsibility of employment agencies and client companies regarding labor standards and health and safety, the same wage for agency workers and those who are hired by the client company.

popular meal in the Center-Sud neighborhood
Despite the rain, near 200 people who are grouped Médéric Martin Park in the early afternoon. Housed-e-s by the tents of SOS Roaming and warmed-e-s by the food provided by the Coop Café Touski, the members of our dedicated union, but also those of the Mouvement Action Unemployment, Plateau Mont-Royal Housing Committee, the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, the Association for Student Solidarity Trade Union (ASSÉ), Student Union of Workers of UQÀM, Solidarity Without Borders, Faculty Student Association Sciences Humaines of UQÀM, and various Antifascist group present in the area such as RASH, the Montreal Sisterhood and the Young Guard benefited from this community gathering.

The theme of the day? Enough is enough! While the cost of living is rising constantly, utilities are cutting. Welfare recipients suffer savage attacks. There is the threat of a reform of labor standards who would benefit the employers that awaits us, and to add insult to injury, while unions and community groups are calling for a minimum wage 15$ /h, the bosses and the state answer us : you're onlyUERE more than $ 11.25 / hour.

As if that was not enough, the social climate deteriorates. Racist discourse have vast grandstands. They mistreat the difference. Hate crimes against women, the muslims and LGBTQIA community * multiply. We do not tolerate the spread of hate speech in the medias, workplaces and communities.

Frontenac Metro Protest in Downtown

Eventually joined by pink bloc and anti-gentrification groups of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, is the theme of anti-fascism and the opening of borders rather than inward-be that the event is finally set in motion at 17:40. Fanfare, flags, smoke and fireworks brightened Ontario Street subway Frontenac to the Great Library at Berri-UQAM metro or demonstrators took the streets of downtown in order to join the great event organized by the Convergence anticapitalist struggles (CLAC). If the participants of the latter already had to defend themselves from a first police charge at Place Ville Marie, the arrival of the fascist contingent and syndicalist gave new life to the demonstration continued until past 20 hours in the evening in the streets of downtown.

At the time of publication, there was only one arrest. Our thanks to lawyer's team Desmarais & Desvignes and Ouellet Nadon and associates that united for the legal monitoring of our members.

 

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Agreement at Frite Alors! Rachel

Friday 15 December 2016, the employees of Frite Alors! Rachel finally venu.es an agreement with the employer. A major shift for the Wobblies who take openly storefront in Montreal and a first for the labor movement that saw the birth of new ways to operate outside of the legal framework limitations.

We remember that the Press release send it 27 August to announce their affiliation to the Industrial Union of Workers and Workers - Industrial Workers of the World (SITT-IWW), included a list of items they wanted to see and they change their workplace. It talked among other kitchen salary increases and service, annual increases, standardization of training, a priority internally when opening new positions, a guaranteed floor of hours, of compensation for shifts in stand-by and sick leave.

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Business owners in I.W.W. ?!?

Further reflection to the article "be syndicated IWW and self-employed" .

It is true that the I.W.W. syndicates everyone except the representatives of state authority (police, judges etc.) and those in authoritarian situations on other workers out hereinafter called the boss ...! Employers as a business owner and their lackeys that are the managers and other executives who are ,according to my understanding, under the category of "boss".

But what is a "self-employed" ? Is not a business owner ? N.. Yes : If we stick only to the definition that gives us the liberal economy. This would be the case judging by the definition given on the site educa-Law :

" In fact, the self-employed and individual enterprise are one, that is to say the self-employed worker carries on a business and that business is the result of his own work. Since we can not say that the self-employed is itself a "business form", rather they say he operates a "single undertaking" of which he is the sole owner. »

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IWW be unionized and be self-employed ...

I heard repeatedly questioning about the recruitment of workers or self-employed within the IWW and I would like to respond in part here.

From 1, the syndicates IWW everyone (except bosses among others), as the traveling-e-s, the prisoner-workers are or sex that are student or unemployed workers or does art gen social welfare or even anyone working in a particular industry. So why not also self. Those are, finally, the employee-s system also.
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It's not easy being a woman organizer

During the last year, I became politically active. I went from complete ignorance of radical politics to an involvement in the organization of work in Miami, as an anarchist perspective. It was both a challenging and rewarding career, but my kind seems constantly haunt me. I'm probably not the first woman who lived this experience, but I think I ought to demonstrate the fact that this is a real problem, while offering my personal point of view so that other women can have a reference point in their own struggles.

Having been raised by Nicaraguan parents in the Latino community in Miami, I lived close sexism inherent in southern culture of Florida. Many families with immigrants from South America, Central America and the Caribbean arrived in the United States by importing traditions from years 70 and 80. Girls are so high in women who grew up being told that their goal in life was to become obedient wives, devoting himself heart and soul to the education of their children and the happiness of their husbands. Latin women are thus supposed to be modest, reserved and copyrighted, and be measures to play a purely domestic role. Although some Hispanic families do not fully submit to this social construction, the fact remains that it still plays a leading role in a very large share of the Latino community. For exemple, this social construction is found in the last three generations of the family of my father and my mother. My great-grandmothers and grandmothers, and my mother and my aunts, have not completed their education and have all devoted their entire lives to serving their husbands and their children. Meanwhile, many men in my extended family were able to complete their education, some even received a university degree, and were able to become the dominant figures in their communities. Family men could do what they wanted because they relegated all domestic and family responsibilities to their wives. Continuing this cycle, my grandmother and my mother did try to raise me in the same way. I was told not to engage in so-called "masculine" activities, whether sport, the academic field, politics, or any other field dominated by men. Unfortunately for them, I always refused to submit to their femininity standards. I play sports since the age of ten, I developed a deep interest in history, sociology and political science, and I am currently involved in three projects of a political nature. This attitude is so frustrating for my parents I find myself to be insulted on a daily basis. My mother calls me a 'tomboy', says I'm selfish because I devoted much time to the political organization, and deplores my so-called "promiscuity", the fact that the political groups which I agree are trained mostly men. My father, on the other hand, told me that I act foolishly by devoting as much time to politics instead of prepare myself for my future role of mother and wife.

Throughout my two decades of living in Miami, I met many women from diverse backgrounds. At school, as part of my work as an assistant nurse, as well as political, I rubbed shoulders with women from Nicaragua, to Honduras, from Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Porto international-womens-day-posterRico, of Haiti, Jamaica, Nepal and the Philippines, and they all have similar stories to share. Each showed me the oppression they lived at home. They are forced to conform to gender roles and follow the traditional standards of what defines a woman. Some tried to break free of these roles, but the pressure of their entourages and their families usually finished by overcoming their will. While some were able to fight against the current, they are systematically insulted and stigmatized, develop poor self-esteem and sometimes sink into anxiety and depression. I myself lived, and still alive, emotional distress episodes. I left myself a depression 2013 after six months of therapy, and I am still against low social anxiety and low self myself. Nevertheless, I managed to keep my integrity and I will continue to do so in order to continue the fight.

Hear the stories and witness the pain of all women victims of patriarchy inspired me to continue my journey as organizer. See the passivity of my mother in front of my father, see my sisters be forced to adopt undesirable traits, and witness the tears of those women who shared with me their life stories under the oppressive male domination allowed me to transform my anger into positive energy and to devote myself to creating a society in which women will no longer be oppressed. I do not want to have to deal with gender inequality and having to look many women fall into its workings. We can not continue to ignore this problem and have to face it alone. As revolutionary women, we must take these problems seriously and find strategies and solutions to overcome.

One way to engage in this struggle is to share experiences between us to identify the problems we face today. We must not deny and repress our frustration with gender inequality. This must be expressed. How can we claim to build a social revolution as we only rarely dare to talk about our own personal torment ? I know it is sometimes difficult to share the challenges we face at home, at work or in our political circles. It is even difficult for me to write this text, but we must stop 1546449_10152142519671361_8569163409494853563_nlet these obstacles stand in our way. I remember being petrified me the first time I have expressed about my personal problems with a classmate. I thought she would not understand me and I trouble you, but after telling him my story, I soon found that she was facing the same problems and was facing empathetic to my situation. It has completely transformed my life as I had previously thought that I had ever expected to talk about these issues to my therapist, but I was wrong. There are plenty of people around us ready to listen and support us; it's up to us to go to them. I have come to understand that the problems of gender still exist and that the obstacles I face are real. Through simple actions like talking about them and build relationships, I think we will come to create a group of people determined to create tactics to abolish these oppressions. Thus was formed Mujeres Libres, who managed to create a trend within the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Federación Ibérica Anarquista to face the problem of gender inequality. By magnifying their ranks, They eventually carve out a special place in front during the Spanish Revolution. We can do the same today if we put our hearts and souls. Many of us would say that our capabilities and today's social climate make such a thing possible, but how would we know without even trying? This is why I encourage all revolutionary women stop doubting themselves and to engage in combat. Let's break the silence now and create solidarity we need.

-Sierra Luz

Published in original English version in April 2014 in the industrial worker, Article Being A Women Organizer isn’t Easy Fellow worker of Sierra Luz get first place in the category Contribution to the industrial worker of the year at the Working Writers Contest and will be reissued 2015 pour le pamphlet Radical Works for Rebel Workers