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Union action following a wave of unfair dismissal at Heritage Café

Wednesday 28 February, the Montreal section of the Industrial Workers Union and Workers (SITT-IWW) started a picketing the distribution center Café Heritage, located at 5715 chemin Saint-Francois in St. Laurent. This post follows the returns of two workers, membres you SIT-IWW, for union. Several members had already called on Monday to serve the employer their dissatisfaction with this decision which goes completely against the most basic rights of workers'.

 

Friday 23 February, towards the end of his shift, Tessa Mascia has been convened in the office of Chief Executive Officer or she was fired unceremoniously. "The CEO gave me a letter and said that I was sent. I thought he was joking. He said no. He said it "simply coudn't", as if he were a teenager breaking with a friend from high school. "explains Tessa. The worker was nevertheless a good employee. She had one of the highest productivity among his colleagues and had been certified forklift. It's Monday 26 February Kyle Shaw Müller, another member of the union, was sent home without even seeing deliver a letter. He was called into the principal's office after he tried to convince his colleagues to ask the employer to cancel the dismissal of Tessa. "I knew I was putting myself in danger, but to be dismissed without warning for talking to someone from another returns? Mind-boggling. "

 

After numerous calls Monday, a picket and a meeting with the negotiators of the Union, the employer still refuses to reverse its decision illegal and thoughtless. The Industrial Union of Workers and Workers therefore called on not only to legal remedies, but the strength of all its membership (Canadian and international) for the employer to listen to reason.

 

The Industrial Union of Workers and Workers has several branches around the world including one in Montreal. Its members work today to build a union model based on solidarity of the working class. The Solidarity trade union is characterized aujourd & rsquo; hui by the direct struggle in workplaces, for example at Starbucks in the United States or Frite Alors! in Quebec, where working conditions improvements occurred even in the absence of a union certification. The Union is also involved in setting up the flash mob on networks in solidarity workplaces with workers victims of wage theft.

 

media Contact: Sylvain Mousseau 438-345-5046

In english.

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And if the union does not move?

Although a union is theoretically a tool in the fight to improve working conditions for workers, it is not uncommon to see them turn into demobilization devices. Whether to preserve the "device" union avoiding taking risks involved in a great struggle, collaborate openly with the boss who grants favors to the central (ex : automatic unionization of new branches in exchange for a peaceful unionism) or want to maintain a policy of a bad image caused by a strike during elections, any union may disconnect interest on its base to preserve as an institution. Yet it is in these moments that matter most to be a trade unionist.

It is then necessary to remember that the union is all about us and our colleagues and leave on this basis. Since then, a wide range of tactics opens us : it is possible to form grassroots committees, who will work and will fight outside the union sets (ex : see COBAS in Italy), attempting to organize to take over and reform our union to refocus towards the base (see the CORE, the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators à Chicago) or to change union affiliation. As many see the arrival of an employers' association (also known as "yellow" union) as an opportunity to talk about working conditions and thus return the offensive of the bosses against them. Do not hesitate then to contact the branch of the nearest IWW for support and training for (re) start the battle to improve your working conditions and life.

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comic credit: Val-blue

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Panorama of past struggles and future Gaspésie

1909- Everywhere in Gaspésie, fishing is conducted by foreign companies of & rsquo; Jersey, with the head Charles Robin, Collas and Co. Charles Robin is by far, the worst employers ; Indeed it puts up the "Robin system" : it ensures loyalty forced the fisherman to the retailer. To do this , s & rsquo; he wants to pay his debt accumulated during the & rsquo; winter in the general store run by the same trader, the fisherman can not see a solution : increase the amount of cod caught the next season. However, as is Robin decides the price of products and sockets, repayment is, every season, far from complete.

September 1909, fishermen learn that merchants set the price of cod quintal 3,50$ so that & rsquo; they expected 5 piastres. The situation is clear : we must act collectively in & rsquo; interest of everyone. It is with in fear, but raised fist, fishermen begin their claims on the fourth day of September. Starting from small villages near Rivière-au-Renard, the population began a march that leads the up & rsquo; the place where traders located ,with the intention of ending more & rsquo; d & rsquo a century; operating.

Following the & rsquo; history is predictable, Merchant appeal to the armed forces to ensure their safety, Punishment is implemented, there will be death, wounded, imprisonment among fishermen and claims will be rejected. However, several years later, fishermen will be organized into cooperatives to break the monopoly in place and will become available as the direct influence of traders. The revolt of the fishermen was the first step towards their emancipation from unscrupulous employers. Through this collective movement, fishermen n & rsquo; not learned that & rsquo; to demand better terms from their bosses, but especially, they understood that & rsquo; they had s & rsquo; organize to be able to pass d & rsquo; them.

1957- Best known recently highlighted due to its 60th anniversary : the strike of miners in Gaspésie Murdochville . The main cause of the strike was the refusal of employers & rsquo; affiliation of workers and ourières a more combative union versus the company union and Catholic whom he was affiliated-the-art. The strike was also heavily repressed and no direct gain was obtained by strikers. Two d & rsquo; them died during the conflict, about 500 were dismissed and replaced by scabs. However, recognizes aujourd & rsquo; hui this uprising, in the reign of Duplessis, was the trigger many other social movements. He forced the implementation of some reforms towards the & rsquo; partial improvement of working conditions and above, to the right of workers to choose the union of their choice instead of & rsquo; a system of representation of men and women workers. This system of representation, often set up by employers, indeed favored a permanent peace between the two parties. Despite this victory, this union culture inherited from the Catholic unions still persists.

So, behind a holiday destination image, Gaspésie, through its history since colonization, is d & rsquo theater; major battles between productive forces vs. the owners of capital and means of production. Of course, this relationship of domination of the latter on the first is always d & rsquo; news.

Speaking holiday destination, seasonal work related to the & rsquo; tourism industry here is a prime economic sector. Small traders, in the field of food e.g., must enjoy the summer windfall to accumulate the necessary capital to keep afloat their business and their rate of consumption in the & rsquo; year, while the employee hopes to accumulate enough & rsquo; hours to collect his unemployment to his layoff once the season or, if he or she is a student-e, to try & rsquo; accumulate the necessary to survive a school year. So, the seasonal-eras employees must produce intensively during the summer and it, despite the weak received salary. The shopkeeper will say then have to offer small salaries during the & rsquo; was to garner sufficient economies and low wages remains the & rsquo; year, to take up & rsquo; in the next season.

This is what m & rsquo; leads to speak of & rsquo; first difficulty in the field of & rsquo; organization and claim. C & rsquo; is that & rsquo; it seems difficult, in this context, to demand better working conditions without being accused of s & rsquo; take "small businesses that sustain the & rsquo; local economy". The pretext of "economic insecurity" of small businesses seems to justify Gaspé, the eyes of many, precarious workers, workers and students with Gaspésie-nes. So, people working d & rsquo; hard in the kitchen, dining rooms, cafes, various shops for tourists to feel es received as king and queen, forever play the role of disposable economic support and cheap serving patrons and tourists.

Another difficulty d & rsquo; here in the same field towards the fact that in this environment where everyone knows, conflict situations seem to be avoided at all costs, for fear that & rsquo; they affect social relationships outside work and that the names of the persons concerned do not become synonymous with "trouble maker" and so they lead to some exclusion from the labor market, problem less present in the & rsquo; anonymity of large urban centers.

A third difficulty is the short-term nature of the season in which these jobs abound. Cultural change is long to perform and requires constant involvement of many people. Many of these workers n & rsquo; is that passage, they and they leave behind them and the same working conditions that & rsquo; they arrive, thinking that anyway it n & rsquo; is only temporary. The winter season would be a good time to s & rsquo; organize those who inherit this precarious situation in & rsquo; year.

Besides this, sing here often promise better days thanks to the & rsquo; arrival of big industry : Pulp (Gaspésia), cement (McInnis cement in Port-Daniel), oil (Pétrolia), the industry & rsquo; wind (LM windpower)etc. These industrial giants, in collaboration with the & rsquo; State finance, are as the safeguard for the region. "They would bring jobs and prosperity", so that & rsquo; many times, this type of economic model that generates unemployment and devitalized. Indeed, except in the case of LmWindpower that engages hundreds of workers and workers, these industries advocate the & rsquo; purchase & rsquo; automated equipment and n & rsquo; brings and some jobs that will disappear as soon as the & rsquo; business will suffer the jolts d & rsquo; any economic crisis on Wall Street or d & rsquo; administrative decisions taken far d & rsquo; here. So, they will leave behind people without income and polluting ruins. Short, it seems to me that & rsquo; work organization by and for workers in the & rsquo; optical d & rsquo; an improvement of all the quality of life and all would probably be greater than a distribution of work by d & rsquo leaders, businesses and d & rsquo; state, deciding to produce any and n & rsquo; anything, provided that & rsquo; there is a profit to be drawn for each other and for their campaign promises to create jobs seem to be held, the risk of & rsquo; d & rsquo add, other social and environmental scars in the region.

To conclude, throughout their history, people d & rsquo; here have endured d & rsquo; intolerable treatment by d & rsquo; economic and political elites, as the sea that & rsquo; at the bottom of the mine through the & rsquo; factory. On the other hand, l & rsquo; popular history also shows us that when it's time to stick together among peers to improve our conditions, passion, l & rsquo; organization and & rsquo; action are waiting for you. A long work remains to deconstruct the prejudices that divide the working population, especially for those without jobs, or between permanent es and seasonal workers (unemployed and seasonal es chômeuseuses). Also, with a new "chapter" of the d & rsquo group The Pack extreme right in Gaspésie, the issue of racism and fascism becomes a priority, without forgetting the struggles against sexism, l & rsquo; homophobia, Aboriginal struggles etc.. The SITT-IWW account here very few members currently, but its development in the area seems to me very relevant and even urgent. So, s & rsquo; there are people interested to come "salter" in the corner, embarrass you not!

 

Photo credit: Camping Québec.
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The origins of the Solidarity Unionism. First part: a Bibliography

 

The Solidarity trade union movement is a term that was mainly led by Alice Lynd Staughon, inspired by the organizational model of the first campaigns of the IWW happened to get gains without legal bargaining unit or even without being recognized by the employer (collective agreements are not legally binding in the United States since the signing of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, the Canadian equivalent could be the application of the Rand formula dating 1946). If the principle was also inspired by the work of Martin Glaberman, C.L.R. James et Stan Weird, the use of the Solidarity Unionism as understood today SITT-IWW appears for the first time in June 2002 in an article in The Nation magazine called Open Source Unionism: A proposal to American Labor, Joel Rogers and Richard B. Freeman.

The idea was then developed largely by the efforts of Alexis Buss, who served as General Secretary-Treasurer of the Industrial Union of Workers (SITT-IWW) from 2000 at 2005. It is in giving him the name of minority unionism, he explained the concept in a column published by the industrial worker called Minority Report.

Francophone literature is still thin on the subject, but for those of you with the chance to understand English, various books published, inter alia, by Charles H. Kerr Company and Labor Notes are still considered key works. The Headquarters of the ISTC-IWW listed in 9 among the most important:

  1. Punching Out & Other Writings – Martin Glaberman; edited by Staughton Lynd; Charles Kerr, 2002. 250 pages. 
  2. The New Rank & File -Édité par Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd, ilr Press, © 2000. 288 pages.
  3. Solidarity Unionism: Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below – Staughton Lynd; Charles Kerr, 1993. 128 pages.
  4. Democracy is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up – Mike Parker et Martha Gruelle, Labor Notes, © 1999. 262 pages.
  5. Class War Lessons; From Direct Action on the Job to the ’46 Oakland General Strike (Unions With Leaders Who Stay on the Job) – Stan Weir; Insane Dialectical Editions, 2006. 48 pages. 
  6. Singlejack Solidarity – Stan Weir; University of Minnesota, © 2004. 408 pages. 
  7. A Troublemaker’s Handbook, How to Fight Back Where You Work–And Win! – Edited by Dan LaBotz, Labor Notes, 1991. 262 pages. 
  8. A Troublemaker’s Handbook 2, How To Fight Back Where You Work and Win! — Edited by Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes, 2004. 372 pages. 
  9. The Politics of Nonviolent Action – Gene Sharp, by Gene Sharp, Porter Sarg. © 1973. 913 pages.
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Class struggle and protection of animals 

Note: Les views expressed in this article are those of the author-e and should not be considered as official statements of the IWW-SITT.

Recently, an article had reported the situation in which live horses pulling carriages of Montreal and had updated the abuse that lived them. To follow, a group for the protection of animals had therefore organized a demonstration against the carriages in Montreal. It was a peaceful demonstration that was intended in response to unhealthy conditions and establishments where these animals live.

Until there, it means that if the horses live in poor conditions, should not bear the fact that they are forced to work in these. On the other hand, the organizers had well have a nice message, people who were left in the window of the protester-e-s that day, these are not the owners of the teams that push drivers to leave the horses in the heatwave, is the boss of these workers, but the drivers and blankets and they themselves. Read more →

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Pay your claims : Victory in Station des Sports !

I worked at the Station of the September Sports 2014 June 2015. A big nine months not knowing what to think because there are so many guidelines issued by the Head Office and so that managers who spend no longer knows what is expected of us. There was the manager with a barmaid who had obstinately because he wanted to put the shoes of everyone in the garbage. He thought it was not clean clean 'our runnings be in a cabinet under the bar, then hop ! the garbage ! There was one that made animal noises passing behind the waitresses. Whoever was collecting contributions for porters and pocketed. One who made us dig through the trash to pick up the stuff he escaped there. And even the one who rained warnings and that ended up getting fired for sick callé. I'll spare you the classic : non-paid training, of paid shortened fifteen minutes here and then and bills to pay instead of the customers who fled. I think you have already entered the picture. Read more →

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Radicalization of the May 1st 2015 Strike

To read this article in French, click here.

A phantom haunts the province of Quebec. It is the phantom of the General Strike. Since 2012, our elites have known that the working class, the students, and all those who continue to decry injustice and repression have the power to take to the streets and impose their legitimacy in the face of the State. Despite this dread, the high-priests of capitalism, and especially those preaching its liberal vision, can not hold back from waging an open war against everything that isn’t merchandise, against everything that isn’t financially valuable. From budget cuts to over-arming police forces, and from underpaid jobs to public insults against the poor and the exploited, everything leads one to believe that Quebec is now the foreground of unbridled capitalism. This neo-liberal paradise, protected by the State and its minions, ruins our lives and those of our families and friends, quashes what little is left of our liberty, spits in the faces of those most hard on their luck and on the misery of its own creation.

We have long ceased to believe in the regulatory capacity of this system. By destroying itself, it will destroy us too. Each new day we are reminded of this programmed failure: environmental disasters, increased inequality, the deterioration of working conditions, institutional racism, systemic corruption of our political system, and harassment of women in their workplaces or at school. Generally speaking, it is all forms of domination that are dangerously increasing, pushing the most exploited and dominated to the breaking point, all in order to install our elites on a too-comfortable pedestal.

This is why we call the rebellious among us to insurrection. We hope that the spring will bring out the most angry, those who are disgusted at the system, in the streets and in actions. Because apathy just isn’t enough, we firmly believe in our common capacity to create a better world. More than a simple timely struggle against austerity, we see on the horizon the premises of a social war, of which the 2012 strike was only a beginning. Each government, left or right, has tried time and again to impose their rotten economic and societal concepts upon us. A single day of strikes is not enough to push back a government which dearly protects the financial assets of the most dominant in society. We believe that a global revolt of all society must emerge during the spring. This revolt must be planned on the long term: in Quebec as in Europe, there are too many recent examples that demonstrate the futility of punctual and singular actions against governments that are now used to and prepared for social discontent.

Against capitalism and liberalism, we reaffirm our right to manage our own lives, whether the people who rule us like it or not. Our daily lives belong to us, our cities too. We firmly believe that capitalism must be erased from Quebec. In this goal, we will always be in solidarity with those who struggle, and always at odds with those who remain resigned and prostrate. We will be alongside workers and students in their struggles, and we will oppose all police brutality with working class solidarity. In the streets, in our workplaces and schools, in our neighborhoods, we are here to struggle and help.

Let us not fear our utopias!

Let us dare to overthrow the established order!

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Radicalization of the strike on May 1 2015 !

To read this article in English, click here.

A specter is haunting Quebec. this spectrum, it is the general strike. Since that time 2012, our elites know that the working class, the students, and all those that injustice and repression are not indifferent yet, may take to the streets and impose their legitimacy facing the State. But despite this dread, the apostles of capitalism, and particularly his liberal vision, cannot help but wage an open war against everything that is not a commodity, against anything that is not financially valuable. From budget cuts to police over-arming, from our underpaid jobs to public insults against the poor and the exploited, everything leads us to believe that Quebec has been blighted by unbridled capitalism. This neo-liberal paradise, protected by the state and its henchmen, ruin our daily life and that of our loved ones, willfully tramples on the remnants of our freedom, spits in the faces of the most destitute and of a misery that he himself has engendered. We long ago stopped believing in the regulatory capacity of this system. By self-destructing, he will lead us all simultaneously in his wake. Every day we experience new reminders of this planned failure: environmental disasters, rising inequalities, deterioration of working conditions, institutional racism, systemic corruption of our political system, harassment of women in their workplaces or at university ... In general, these are all forms of dominations that are increasing dangerously, pushing the exploited and dominated of our society to their limits, to install our elites on a pedestal far too comfortable.

This is why we call the rebels to the insurgency. We hope this spring will see all the rabid ones, all those who dislike this system, in the streets and in action. Because apathy is not for us, we strongly believe in our common ability to create a better world. Beyond a simple one-off fight against austerity, we see in the distance the premises of a social war, including the strike of 2012 was just the beginning. Successive and repetitive governments, from right to left, have been trying for too long to impose on us their deadly conception of the economy, and more broadly from society. A single day of strike is not enough to roll back a government that protects the financial interests of the dominant. We believe that a global revolt of the whole of society must emerge this spring. This revolt must take place on the long term : in Quebec as in Europe, too many examples of recent social movements have proven the uselessness of ad hoc actions against governments now accustomed and prepared for social discontent.

Against capitalism and liberalism, we reaffirm our right to manage our own lives, whether or not it suits those who lead us. Our daily life is ours, our cities are ours. We firmly believe that capitalism must be banned from Quebec. For that, we will always show solidarity with those who fight, but forever unsympathetic in the eyes of the resigned and prostrate. We will be alongside workers and students in struggle, and we will oppose police brutality with proletarian solidarity. In the street, in the workplace and study, in our neighborhoods, we are here to support and help you.

Let’s not be afraid of our utopias!

Dare to fight to overthrow the established order!

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Montreal Police – Capitalism’s Milita

With the week against police brutality coming up fast, as well as an important social movement emerging, it is important to remind ourselves of what role the police plays. More precisely, we would like to enumerate several reasons for which we oppose the police, wherever it is, wherever it’s from, and in every and all situations.

1458432_476650485809226_4102247111885098979_nIn our rotten societies, not a single week or day goes by without lengthening the list of injustices committed by members of the police. They have never hesitated to humiliate us, hurt us, play with our lives and those of our families and friends, and even to assassinate us if need be.

Strangely, we find that the people most repeatedly affected by these police ‘errors’ belong vastly to the working class, whether employed or not. Bosses, bankers, traders, and other living blight are spared from these problems. If wage-work dispossesses us each moment of our lives, the police reminds us that even our own lives no longer belong to us, since they have the right to take them away forever.

Whoever has even slightly participated in a social movement during their lifetime has very likely been confronted with the repressive force of the police, at one time or another. Riot police, tactical intervention teams, provincial police, and other forces of repression have the sole purpose of breaking strikes, preventing protests against the status quo, and repressing more or less violently all political opposition. This violence – that of the State – by constantly arming the police, by equipping them with military technology and ‘non-lethal’ weaponry, has given them the full ability to ‘control crowds’ almost entirely independently. There are jobs, and entire teams, whose social utility consists only in ‘breaking protesters’ more efficiently, more rapidly, and always more inhumanely.

To ensure the reproduction and the maintenance of its own domination, the ruling class has two tools at its disposal: ideology and violence. If ideology is diffused throughout society, and demands that everybody stay in line, then the role of violence is to bring deviants and dissenters back in line. The State, guarantor of class reproduction, ensures the monopoly of violence by means of the police. In other words, the social function of the police in its entirety is to ensure the maintenance of a class’s domination over another, whether ‘softly’ by applying the law, or by direct repression. As a revolutionary union, we wish to overthrow the dominant class, and as such are fundamentally opposed to its dominant ideology, and to its police.

Let us build solidarity with one another against the police.

No Justice, No Peace!

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Call for strike on May 1 2015

A specter is haunting Quebec. this spectrum, it is the general strike. Since that time 2012, our elites know that the working class, the students, and all those that injustice and repression are not indifferent yet, may take to the streets and impose their legitimacy facing the State. But despite this dread, the apostles of capitalism, and particularly his liberal vision, cannot help but wage an open war against everything that is not a commodity, against anything that is not financially valuable. From budget cuts to police over-arming, from our underpaid jobs to public insults against the poor and the exploited, everything leads us to believe that Quebec has been blighted by unbridled capitalism. This neo-liberal paradise, protected by the state and its henchmen, ruin our daily life and that of our loved ones, willfully tramples on the remnants of our freedom, spits in the faces of the most destitute and of a misery that he himself has engendered. We long ago stopped believing in the regulatory capacity of this system. By self-destructing, he will lead us all simultaneously in his wake. Every day we experience new reminders of this planned failure: environmental disasters, rising inequalities, deterioration of working conditions, institutional racism, systemic corruption of our political system, harassment of women in their workplaces or at university ... In general, these are all forms of dominations that are increasing dangerously, pushing the exploited and dominated of our society to their limits, to install our elites on a pedestal far too comfortable.

This is why we call the rebels to the insurgency. We hope this spring will see all the rabid ones, all those who dislike this system, in the streets and in action. Because apathy is not for us, we strongly believe in our common ability to create a better world. Beyond a simple one-off fight against austerity, we see in the distance the premises of a social war, including the strike of 2012 was just the beginning. Successive and repetitive governments, from right to left, have been trying for too long to impose on us their deadly conception of the economy, and more broadly from society. A single day of strike is not enough to roll back a government that protects the financial interests of the dominant. We believe that a global revolt of the whole of society must emerge this spring. This revolt must take place on the long term : in Quebec as in Europe, too many examples of recent social movements have proven the uselessness of ad hoc actions against governments now accustomed and prepared for social discontent.

Against capitalism and liberalism, we reaffirm our right to manage our own lives, whether or not it suits those who lead us. Our daily life is ours, our cities are ours. We firmly believe that capitalism must be banned from Quebec. For that, we will always show solidarity with those who fight, but forever unsympathetic in the eyes of the resigned and prostrate. We will be alongside workers and students in struggle, and we will oppose police brutality with proletarian solidarity. In the street, in the workplace and study, in our neighborhoods, we are here to support and help you.

Let’s not be afraid of our utopias.

Dare to fight to overthrow the established order.

/0 Comments/by