Education Crisis
CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 22nd MAY 2013
EVENTS
ROXANA NG MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM
May 28, 2013
12:30—7:30pm
OISE Library (main floor, 252 Bloor St. West).
Join us to celebrate the academic and activist contributions of Professor Roxana Ng, who taught at OISE/UT for 25 years and passed away earlier this year.
Keynote Address: Himani Bannerji
Panel Discussion: Alison Griffith, Tania Das Gupta, Renita Wong
Performance: Pantayo
Schedule
12:30-1:00: Light Refreshments
1:00-3:00: Opening Remarks, Video Essay, Panel Discussion
3:00-3:30: Break
3:30-5:30: Circle Discussion
5:00-6:30: Reception and Performance
6:30-7:30: Keynote and Closing Remarks
Sponsored by the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education and the OISE Dean’s Office
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FILM – MOUNTAINS THAT TAKE WING: ANGELA DAVIS & YURI KOCHIYAMA
Directed by C.A. Griffith and H.L.T. Quan
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Doors open at 7:30 pm (film at 8:00 pm)
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham St.
Toronto, ON
TTC: Bathurst subway stop on Bloor line (exit Markham St.)
Admission: – PWYC
Mountains That Take Wing (2009) puts iconic African American scholar-activist Angela Davis in conversation with Yuri Kochiyama, revered grassroots community activist, confidant of Malcolm X and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Filmed in 1996 and 2008, when Kochiyama was 88 years old, these longtime friends discuss their shared experience as political prisoners and their enduring passion for social justice. They reflect upon topics ranging from Jim Crow laws, Japanese American internment camps, Civil Rights, anti-war, women’s and gay liberation movements to campaigns for political prisons and prison reform.
Winner of St. Clair Bourne Award for Best Feature Documentary, San Francisco Black Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Some Prefer Cake Lesbian Film Festival, Bologna, Italy
Presented by the Yuri Kochiyama 92nd Birthday Celebration Committee
Co-sponsored by the Canadian Auto Workers union and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
Tasty refreshments (non-alcoholic) with Zatoun olive oil+za’atar dipping.
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu3sHunAmt8
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LABOR AND WORKING-CLASS HISTORY ASSOCIATION (LAWCHA) NATIONAL CONFERENCE
June 6-8, 2013
New York City
Meeting in a year in which surging corporate power has threatened both unions and democracy as we know it, the 2013 LAWCHA conference in New York City focuses on how varied groups of working people have built the solidarity needed to challenge their employers, each other, their communities, and the state to seek justice and improve their lives. Historically and today women, immigrants and people of color have often been at the forefront of these struggles. Many have seen the revitalization of their organizations—unions, cooperatives, mutual aid societies, and political movements—as critical to their struggles for equality and democracy in and beyond the workplace. In the present moment, faced with obstacles to organizing that evoke earlier centuries, workers and their allies are creating innovative organizational forms and strategies in the U.S. and around the world.
For more information: http://lawcha.org/wordpress/annualmeeting/nyc2013/
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BOOK LAUNCH: RETHINKING THE POLITICS OF LABOUR IN CANADA
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Octopus Books
116 Third Avenue
Ottawa, ON
In the face of relentless attacks on organized labour, there is a clear need and desire for both union renewal and for unions to fight back against the anti-worker austerity agenda.
Within this context, a confrontation looms on the horizon as the Conservative government is poised to eliminate the automatic dues check-off (the “Rand Formula”), which has been a cornerstone of union security for decades. As unions gear up in defence of automatic dues-checkoff, some labour activists are questioning their efforts.
They believe that the Rand formula has created bureaucratic unions that are disconnected from their memberships. Losing Rand could in fact contribute to the process of union renewal, they argue.
Join us on May 28 for the Ottawa Launch of Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada and to discuss the Rand Formula, and the larger question of union renewal in a time of austerity.
Panelists:
-Stephanie Ross (York University) – Editor of Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada
-Donald Swartz and Rosemary Warskett (Carleton University) – contributors to Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada
-John Hollingsworth – member/activist with COPE Local 225 and the Ottawa-Outaouais Industrial Workers of the World
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RAINBOW OF DESIRE WORKSHOP SERIES
Tuesdays, May 28-June 11, 2013
6:30pm-9:00pm
CSI Annex, 2nd floor, Meeting Room 1
720 Bathurst St.
Cost: $120, Students: $95 Drop in rate: $45 per workshop, $35 for students per workshop. Some sliding scale spots available
Join us for this self-reflexive and participatory workshop series and experience Augusto Boal’s Rainbow of Desire techniques. These dramatic games and exercises are creative tools for self empowerment and personal growth.
During this workshop series you will be supported in learning to identify and transform the internal voices-the ‘cops in the head’ and fears that block you from being true to yourself, achieving your goals and standing up to internalized and socio-political oppression. Join us in uncovering your Rainbow of Desire in a supportive and inclusive environment.
For more Information: branchouttheatre@gmail.com or 416-910-4972, http://www.branchouttheatre.com
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CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION: CONGRESS 2013
June 26-28
Edmonton, Alberta
Five great reasons to come to Congress!
1 – Explore the issue of sustainability, government relations or capitalization with NEW co-op learning labs – mobile workshops showcasing innovative projects from Edmonton-based co-operatives.
2 – An Alberta-flavoured welcome reception will give you the opportunity to unwind and mingle with co-operators from across the country.
3 – The chance to hear from MP Mauril Bélanger – driving force behind the creation of the House of Commons Special Committee on Co-operatives – with thoughts from other great co-op leaders.
4 – An interactive discussion panel will help Canadian co-operators build a strategy around the global Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade.
5 – Annual general meetings of CCA, CCCM and the Alberta Community and Co-operative Association, featuring key topics from within the co-op sector.
For more information: http://coopscanada.coop/en/orphan/congress2013
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40 DAYS OF BRIARPATCH! WE’RE GIVING AWAY DAILY PRIZES AND A BIKE!
Briarpatch has never been like other magazines. We don’t rely on government grants, wealthy benefactors, or corporate advertisers. We’re sustained by our readers, who know we don’t just report on social movements: we help build them. When you give to Briarpatch you build a platform for independent journalists, activists, and above all, social movements. Briarpatch is a forum where the vexed and the visionary come together as we build our shared capacities to understand and transform the world.
Briarpatch Magazine is celebrating 40 years of radical publishing with a 40-day campaign to step things up. From May 15 to June 23 we’re giving away daily prizes culminating in a grand prize draw. We’re looking for 40 new Sustainers who will donate $10 or more a month to keep Briarpatch thriving.
Every new Sustainer gets the goods:
– a self-renewing subscription to Briarpatch
– a printed thank you in every issue of the magazine
– entry in the day’s prize draw for new CDs, books, artwork, and more.
And it gets even better. Every new Sustainer is entered in the grand prize draw for an Electra Ticino 7-speed bicycle (retail value $800). The winner will be drawn on June 24th.
Read more: http://bit.ly/12U8HvM
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NEWS & VIEWS
VIDEO: YOU’RE A SOCIALIST!
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLgEnDGkG4
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ONTARIO SACRIFICING NURSES’ HEALTH IN QUEST FOR BALANCED BUDGETS
(Ontario Nurses’ Association) TORONTO – In the quest to cut costs and balance hospital budgets, Ontario hospitals are sacrificing the health of registered nurses, according to new research.
Registered nurses (RNs) are the most injured workers in Ontario, facing more dangerous workplace conditions than even construction or manufacturing workers. RNs filed more Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims in 2012 than all other hospital occupations, three times more claims than made by construction trades workers and 12 times more than all chemistry industry occupations.
“These statistics show exactly the effects of understaffing and workloads that are far too heavy to be safe for nurses or consistent with the provision of the quality patient care Ontarians need and deserve,” says Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. “As much as we love our profession, we sacrifice our health each and every day.”
Haslam-Stroud says that RNs are working short-staffed regularly in Ontario’s health care system, including in hospitals, community care, public health and long-term care.
The full research paper can be found here: http://www.ona.org/documents/File/politicalaction/ONA_NursesHealth_20130509.pdf
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AUSTERITY AGENDA TARGETS THE DISABLED
By John Clarke, The Bullet
The recent Ontario provincial budget did not do very much to uphold Kathleen Wynne’s claim to the title of ‘Social Justice Premier.’ Most of those on social assistance received an increase in their benefits that was below the rate of inflation while no increase whatsoever was provided to those subsisting on the minimum wage. Modest improvements in the amount of part time earnings and assets that can be kept without having them clawed back will not come close to preventing those on Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) from falling even deeper into poverty this year.
The utter absurdity of the Liberal assertion that they have shown any commitment to ‘poverty reduction’ can be seen in the fact that single people on OW are living on benefits that have lost 56 per cent of their spending power since 1993. Even those on ODSP, who were not subject to the Mike Harris 21.6 per cent benefit cut in 1995, are at an income level that is 22 per cent below where it was twenty years ago.
Read more: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/821.php
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: “BROWN BAG LECTURES” IN HONOUR OF ROXANA NG
The Brown Bag series at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education is a semi-formal space to present complete research or work-in-progress for discussion and feedback. Brown Bag seminars are held on weekday afternoons in the CWSE’s seminar room 2-227, at OISE, 252 Bloor St W. For examples of CWSE Brown Bags and other events, go to: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/cwse/Events/index.html
We are looking for submissions for presentations in a series of Brown Bag events related to the work of Roxana Ng, Head of the CWSE, who passed away January 2013. Her work focused on:
• Qi Gong and alternative and holistic health and healing;
• Globalization, migration, and labour relations;
• Immigrant women and Canadian institutions;
• Institutional Ethnography;
• Critical Feminist Pedagogy;
• Anti-Racism;
• Embodied Learning.
If your work falls under these topics or was influenced by Roxana, we encourage you to submit to present in this series.
Guidelines
Please submit
• a one-page overview of the work you wish to present, including relevant websites
• a one-paragraph summary of your intended presentation structure (lecture? screening? etc.)
• a one-paragraph biography of yourself as related to your work
• your preferred time frame for presentation (possibilities are September to early December 2013, and January to early March 2014).
Submit your materials to cwse@utoronto.ca by July 8, 2013. The series will commence September 2013 and run through March 2014.
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VIDEO: MANITOBA GOVERNMENT PRAISES UFCW CANADA FOR “SOLIDARITY” IN MIGRANT FARM WORKER VICTORY
A United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada Human Rights Department Release
May 21, 2013 – Watch Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Christine Melnick thanking UFCW Canada for its “working on behalf of seasonal agricultural workers” in helping migrant farm workers to gain access to public healthcare.
On May 16, the Manitoba NDP government announced that effective this summer seasonal agricultural workers – who work in some of the most dangerous jobs in the country – will be eligible for public health coverage while they work in the province. You can watch the Minister’s full comments courtesy of YouTube.
To read UFCW Canada’s full statement about this victory for Canada’s farm workers and migrant worker rights, visit: http://bit.ly/13GzEBW
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o3J72Uo4D_w
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MILWAUKEE MAKES FIVE (CITIES SO FAR): FAST FOOD WORKERS STRIKE FOR HIGHER PAY AND UNION RIGHTS
By Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor
Fast food workers in yet another city have walked out for a one-day strike, seeking better wages and the right to form unions. Milwaukee is the fifth city hit by such a strike in the past six weeks; there as in Chicago, retail workers are also joining the strike. The strategy is the same as in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit: A one-day strike by as many workers in any given store are ready to walk out, with community support not just at the time of the strike but the next day as workers return to their jobs.
Read more: http://bit.ly/19tUFTA
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PUBLIC ACTION NEEDED TO PROTECT WORKERS IN THE GARMENT INDUSTRY
Your action can help make a difference for garment workers everywhere.
In the aftermath of the devastating building collapse in Bangladesh in which 400 people died and many more were injured, people around the world are looking for ways to take action or show their support to ensure a tragedy like this is never repeated.
Everyone has a role to play in creating safer environments for workers: governments, retailers, apparel brands, consumers and investors.
Labour rights are human rights
The Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights has been working with Canadians and the international community to recognize that labour rights are human rights. The right to legally organize to have a voice in the workplace is a fundamental right that many around the world still do not have. By speaking out, you can make a difference: http://labourrights.ca/
International campaigns
IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, through LabourStart campaign, are demanding that the government of Bangladesh reform its labour laws to remove roadblocks to freedom of association and collective bargaining in the garment industry. Add your support to this important campaign: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1813
The International Labor Rights Forum is also calling on Walmart, H&M, and Gap to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement before the next factory fire or building collapse takes the lives of more garment workers. Please send a message to three of the largest buyers of apparel from Bangladesh: http://action.laborrights.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6280
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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):
Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin
The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.
Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca
For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca
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Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)
‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8
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