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Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 26th October 2013

October 27, 2013 – 9:23 pm
Posted in Activism, Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Economic History, Education, Education Activism, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, News and Politics, Politics, Seminars / Workshops, Trade unions, Work, Youth
Tagged Class, Class War, College, Education, Film, Higher Education, Labor, OISE, Precarity, Sam Gindin, social class, Tax, Taxes, Toronto, University, Work, Young People, Youth, Youth Labour Market
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 26th OCTOBER 2013

EVENTS

FILMS FROM THE CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2013
November 29
7 pm
PSAC Headquarters
233 Gilmour Street
Ottawa, ON

The Workers’ History Museum is proud to host Ottawa’s first-ever Canadian Labour International Film Festival. CLIFF gives a stage to those who seek justice on the job and dignity in their workplaces, so it is a perfect fit for our museum. This successful festival, now in its fifth year, has brought independent films about working people to cities throughout Canada. On November 29th, we’re bringing them to Ottawa.

Please join us for five films — and five perspectives — that you won’t see anywhere else. Information about the films can be found at: http://workershistorymuseum.ca/cliff2013/

Admission is $5.00. For more information or for advance tickets, please contact: treasurer@workershistorymuseum.ca

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PEOPLE UNITED – CREATING A NEW SPACE FOR COMMUNITY DIALOGUE

November 28
6 p.m.
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham St., Toronto (2 blocks west of Bathurst St., south side of Bloor St. W.)

Join other activists, advocates, and organizers:
– Weaving connections between community groups, city-wide organizations, social justice networks, and progressive movements
– Sharing stories from our struggles
– Finding common ground on issues, goals, values
– Developing the groundwork for a solidarity strategy and creating the conditions for an active solidarity alliance

Sponsored by the Toronto Community Development Institute (TCDI)
For more information about the TCDI, visit: http://www.torontocdi.ca/

We invite you to join us or work with us on our projects. For more information about how you can be a part of TCDI, email: organizing.tcdi@gmail.com or call (416) 231-5499.

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TORONTO BOOK LAUNCH: TAX IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD

Tuesday, November 5, 2013
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Sears Atrium, George Vari Engineering Building
245 Church Street, 3rd Floor
Toronto, ON

Join the CCPA (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) Ontario for a special book launch: Tax is Not a Four-Letter Word.

It’s time to start talking about the value of taxes in Canada. Join us for the launch of Canada’s newest book on the subject: Tax is Not a Four Letter Word.

Featuring the book’s co-editors:
– Alex Himelfarb, Glendon College Director and former Clerk of the Privy Council
– Jordan Himelfarb, Toronto Star Opinion Editor
and three of the book’s CCPA contributors:
– Jim Stanford, Ontario Advisory Board Chair
– Hugh Mackenzie, Research Associate
– Trish Hennessy, Ontario Director

We hope you can join us! Space is limited so sign up here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/8368792283

– See more at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/offices/ontario/events/toronto-book-launch-tax-not-four-letter-word#sthash.HJZc3oSc.dpuf

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GETTING IN & STAYING IN: LABOUR MARKET CHALLENGES FACING YOUTH

Mon. Nov. 4
9:00am- 4:00pm
Toronto

Co-hosted by Social Planning Toronto (SPT), Toronto Workforce Innovation Group and McMaster University’s School of Labour Studies, this full day event will explore overall trends in youth unemployment in Canada and Ontario, including public policy options.

To register: Contact Mary Micallef, mmicallef@socialplanningtoronto.org, or 416-351-0095 ext. 251

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SEMINAR – COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Saturday, November 23, 2013
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 7th October 2013

Peter Hudis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 7th OCTOBER 2013

EVENTS

RYERSON SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK (OCTOBER 7 – 11)
A week of events, speakers, exhibit and cultural events to transform Ryerson into a hub of social justice and solidarity.

Monday October 7th

Rally: Decent Work For All!
Time: 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Location: Gould Street & Victoria
-Drumming
-Student and Worker Speakers

Social Justice ‘Walking Tour’
Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: Meet at Ryerson statue

Opening Lecture – Idle No More: Reframing the Nation To Nation Relationship
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: TRS1067 (TRSM Building – 55 Dundas St. West)

For more info on the week’s events: http://www.ryerson.ca/socialjustice/events/index.html

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REBELS WITH A CAUSE FILM FESTIVAL AT YORK UNIVERSITY

Tuesday, October 22- Friday, October 25, 2013
York University
4700 Keele St., Toronto

The Rebels with a Cause Film Festival is brought to the York U community by artists and activists who seek the delicate balance between both creative and political work. We believe that film should not pacify or be escapist, but politicize and give us the courage to transform ourselves and our communities. The films selected are artistic reflections on social justice issues and critical documentations of unsung community work. Located within a university context, Rebels engages in dialogue outside the classroom through conversations after screenings. We hope that the communal act of viewing and sharing our ideas about films will strengthen our community and empower our work on York campus and beyond.

For more info: http://rebelsfilmfest.wordpress.com/

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FROM INDUSTRIAL FOOD TO WORLD FOOD: A BOOK LAUNCH AND PANEL DISCUSSION ON WORLD FOOD DAY

Wednesday, Oct 16
6pm – 8pm
FoodShare Toronto
90 Croatia Street, Toronto

Contact: Robyn Shyllit – 416.363.6441 x282 – robyn@foodshare.net

The event is FREE and snacks will be provided. Books will be available for sale and signing. Wheelchair accessible.

Celebrate World Food Day on October 16, with a special book launch and panel discussion featuring author of The Industrial Diet Anthony Winson, No Nonsense Guide to World Food, Second Edition author Wayne Roberts, FoodShare Executive Director Debbie Field, and Executive Director of Marin Organic in California Jeffrey Westman.

Plus, meet the author’s of FoodShare’s first cookbook, Marion Kane and Adrienne De Francesco, and purchase your own signed copy of share: Delicious Dishes from FoodShare and Friends.

For more info: http://www.foodshare.net/events/from-industrial-food-to-world-food-a-book-launch-and-panel-discussion/

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GETTING IN & STAYING IN: LABOUR MARKET CHALLENGES FACING YOUTH

Monday, 4 November 2013
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Toronto Central YMCA Centre
20 Grosvenor Street, Toronto

Youth are experiencing unprecedented barriers to entering the workforce and are resorting to creative, and sometimes unpaid, outlets to gain meaningful experiences, network and secure stable employment. Join Social Planning Toronto, Toronto Workforce Innovation Group and McMaster University’s School of Labour Studies as we explore overall trends in youth unemployment in Canada and Ontario; the rise in unpaid internships; the debate around skills mismatch; youth & unions; youth in self-employment; and the public policy options and promising practices available to support youth in these difficult times.

For more info: http://bit.ly/17elObc

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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH – OCTOBER 2013

In 1992, October was proclaimed Women’s History Month to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of women throughout Canadian history. October was chosen to coincide with anniversary of the Persons Case, which on October 18, 1929 – through the courage and determination of the Famous Five, the five Canadian women who launched the case – established once and for all that women were “persons” when the Privy Council overturned a Supreme Court of Canada decision and ruled that women were indeed persons, and could become Senators. The ruling not only opened the political doors for Canadian women. It also clearly asserted that women’s equality rights in Canada were fundamental.

What the law allows is one thing, but what opportunity allows is another. For millions of Canadian women, their opportunity to fully use their talents and vision continues to be limited by access to affordable and accessible quality child care. In Canada, women’s share of unpaid work, including childcare, remains double to that of men; so the lack of quality, affordable child care falls particularly hard on women and their access to work outside the home.

Women’s History in Canada deserves to be celebrated and acknowledged. It is a time to look back, but also to commit to a future where a lack of quality, affordable child care is a historical footnote — and where no woman is limited by an uncaring government. Add your voice to make that future happen. UFCW Canada members, activist and allies are also encouraged to download and share a special poster to commemorate Women’s History Month.

Take action on child care: http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3664&Itemid=358&lang=en

Download the poster: http://www.ufcw.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/media/posters/Women-History-Month/2013/WoHistyMo_oct2013_EN_8x11_email.pdf

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FEAST FOR FAIRNESS

Join us at a Feast for Fairness at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market! Help us win a minimum wage increase for all workers!

Saturday October 12
10:30am to 12pm
St. Lawrence Market
Meet at the corner of Front St. E and Jarvis.
(1 block south of King St. E) Toronto

This Thanksgiving weekend, many low-wage workers are resorting to food banks in order to get by and restaurant workers continue to see their wages stagnate. Many migrant workers are excluded from minimum wage laws altogether.

Join the Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage and Migrant Workers Alliance for Change as we demand an immediate increase to the minimum wage to $14 and ending minimum wage exemptions for all workers!

Under the banner of “Poverty Wages? NO THANKS!” this event will be just one of many province-wide actions taking place around the Thanksgiving weekend calling for a $14 minimum wage, and in alliance with the Raise the Rates Week of Action from Oct. 14-20.

Find out more here: http://raisetheminimumwage.ca/updates/look-whos-putting-food-on-your-table/

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NEWS & VIEWS

VIDEO – “MADE IN THE USA” DOCUMENTARY CRITIQUES HUDAK’S PLANS FOR A LOW-WAGE ONTARIO

In June 2012, Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak published a “white paper” outlining the changes his party would like to make to the province’s labour laws. Hudak and the Tories say employees in unionized workplaces should be allowed to receive the benefits of union representation without paying the dues that make those benefits possible. While this proposal would violate current Ontario law and an historic legal ruling by Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand, such “free rider” laws are used to suppress union activity in 24 U.S. states, where they are commonly referred to as “right to work” laws.

In June 2013, veteran journalist Bill Gillespie climbed in a van with a camera crew and headed south to get the real story about “right to work.” His documentary film, Made in the USA: Tim Hudak’s plan to cut your wages, is the result.

“There is a lot of great research out there about the dangers of ‘right to work’ laws,” says Gillespie. “Our goal in making this film was to present that research in a way that was accessible to a wide audience. By presenting the facts through the stories of people who have personal experience with right-to-work laws, I think we’ve succeeded in doing that.”

Made in the USA was financed by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Watch the video: http://www.madeinusamovie.ca/

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS! GENDER, WORK AND ORGANIZATION

Gender, Work and Organization
8th Biennial International Interdisciplinary Conference
24th – 26th June, 2014, Keele University, UK

As a central theme in social science research in the field of work and organisation, the study of gender has achieved contemporary significance beyond the confines of early discussions of women at work. Launched in 1994, Gender, Work and Organization was the first journal to provide an arena dedicated to debate and analysis of gender relations, the organisation of gender and the gendering of organisations. The Gender, Work and Organization conference provides an international forum for debate and analysis of a variety of issues in relation to gender studies. The 2012 conference at Keele University attracted approximately 380 international scholars from over 30 nations. The Conference will be held at Keele University, Staffordshire, in Central England, the UK’s largest integrated campus
university.

For more info: http://labouringfutures.com/network/stream-for-gender-work-and-organization-2014/

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SOCIAL PLANNING TORONTO (SPT) DEPUTATION TO ONTARIO MINIMUM WAGE PANEL

On Sept. 6, 2013, Social Planning Toronto presented its deputation to the Ontario Minimum Wage Advisory Panel. Part of SPT’s mission is to be actively involved in highlighting the impact of poverty and income inequality on Toronto residents. With nearly half of Canadian workers living paycheque to paycheque, SPT strongly believes the Ontario government has a key role and responsibility to ensure that its labour force is not working for poverty level wages.

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PROSPECTS FOR A CONTINENTAL WORKERS’ MOVEMENT: A FRIENDLY DEBATE

From The Bullet

The two articles that follow are part of a debate on the prospects and problems of building international working-class solidarity and struggle. They focus on these issues for the case of North America, a continent bound together through NAFTA, continental economic integration, overlapping labour markets, and U.S.-Canadian unions. Dan La Botz’ article presents a very positive but critical commentary on Richard Roman and Edur Velasco Arregui’s book, Continental Crucible: Big Business, Workers, and Unions in the Transformation of North America. La Botz questions what he sees as an overly optimistic analysis of prospects for the working class movement in North America. The reply by Roman and Velasco Arregui argues for a cautious optimism, an optimism based both on characteristics of the present moment of globalized capitalism and the historical ties between the working classes of North America. This debate seeks to contribute to both the rebuilding of the Left and the building of a class-wide, continent-wide and eventually international, fight against capitalism, two tasks that are inseparably intertwined.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – MAYWORKS FESTIVAL 2014

The Mayworks Festival – Toronto is pleased to invite submissions for its 29th festival season. Applications are accepted from groups and individuals in a range of disciplines, including: visual art, music/ poetry, film, video, interdisciplinary, and theatre. We also welcome unions and art organizations to propose panel presentations, forums, and screenings, and to sponsor or co-sponsor events.

Mayworks Festival is a multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates cultural production working class culture. We seek to showcase high calibre art by artists at all stages in their careers that are politically and socially engaged with labour realities. Mayworks Festival is especially committed to providing a platform to support the underrepresented labor of indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, migrants, women, queer-identified people, people of color, and youth.

Submissions will not be accepted after the deadline date: Nov. 1, 2013.
Proposals selected will be notified by email by December 2013. The festival dates (TBD) will be in early May 2014.

For more info: http://www.mayworks.ca

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JOB POSTINGS

CO-ORDINATOR, CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN (CERLAC), YORK UNIVERSITY

Please note: The Centre Coordinator is required to speak, read and write Spanish fluently.

The Centre Coordinator supports the Centre Director for the overall operation of Centre-related activities, including providing support to financial activities; program administration and secretarial support to the Centre Director and projects.

Education:
Completion of university degree in a related field such as Humanities, Development Studies and any related field in the Social or Environmental Sciences.

Experience:
2-3 years of related work experience in an academic or related research focused unit or NGO environment providing administrative support. Experience with, or demonstrable knowledge and awareness of, issues related to critical social science research, international development, and social justice and Latin American and Caribbean region and/or communities. Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean and/or with Latin American and Caribbean communities is an asset.

For more info: http://webapps.yorku.ca/nonacademicpostings/summary.jsp?postingnumber=8577

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HEAD OFFICE SECRETARY– BILINGUAL, CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS

The Canadian Labour Congress requires a bilingual Head Office Secretary. The primary role of the Head Office Secretary is to proofread and format French and English documents.

Duties:
– use word processing software to produce correspondence, memos, reports, briefs, bulletins, letters and documents;
– proofread and format existing documents including memos, reports, briefs and letters;
– use desktop publishing software to format and/or draft layout design for publications;
– enter information in databases;
– act as relief and assume responsibilities of other secretarial positions;
– ensure correct filing of electronic and physical documents;
– register participants for conferences;
– draft routine correspondence and reply to email enquiries;
– provide switchboard relief;
– post information on the intranet and CLC websites.

Qualifications:
– 2 years office experience performing similar tasks;
– oral and written fluency in English and French;
– excellent proofreading and formatting skills in French and English;
– ability to work as part of a team;
– completion of post-secondary office administration training is preferred.

For more info:
https://charityvillage.com/jobs/search-results/job-detail.aspx?id=281857&l=2

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PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE CANADA: REGIONAL EDUCATION OFFICER (BILINGUAL) – ATLANTIC

Under the direction of the Regional Coordinator and as part of a regional team that includes other regional office staff, the Regional Council, the Regional Education Committee, and other regional union bodies such as the Alliance Facilitators’ Network, the Regional Education Officer builds the union and fosters membership solidarity by coordinating the development and delivery of a quality program of membership education and empowerment in the region. The Regional Education Officer closely collaborates with other Regional Education Officers and with the staff of the Education Section in
Ottawa to maintain a core Program of PSAC Membership Education that is relevant, comprehensive, innovative and dynamic.

For more info: https://charityvillage.com/jobs/search-results/job-detail.aspx?id=281800&l=2

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Educating from Marx

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 23rd September 2013

September 25, 2013 – 10:02 am
Posted in Activism, Centre for Education and Work, Conferences, Crisis, Critical and Radical Pedagogy, Critical Education, Economic History, Education, Education Activism, Education Cuts, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, Jobs, Journals, Meetings, News and Politics, Political Economy, Politics, Trade unions, Youth
Tagged Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Colleges, Economic History, Education, Employment, Higher Education, History, Interns, Internships, Job Postings, Jobs, Labor History, OISE, Political Economy, Sam Gindin, Sean Smith, Toronto, University of Toronto, Work, Young Workers, Youth
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013

EVENTS

THE NORTH AMERICAN LABOR HISTORY CONFERENCE 2013
2013 Theme: Geographies of Labor
Oct. 24-26
Detroit, Michigan

Over the last several centuries, transformations in technology and in economic, social, political, and cultural practices have created new spatial regimes within and across geographic boundaries. Whether negotiating the changes around them or taking advantage of new possibilities to shape alternatives, workers have been central to remapping this emergent environment. Inspired by the “spatial turn” in the social sciences, this conference will explore the myriad ways in which workers have interacted with a variety of geographic categories.

More info: http://nalhc.wayne.edu/

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DAVID ROVICS IN CONCERT

Back by popular demand!

Friday October 11, 2013
8 pm
Winchevsky Centre
585 Cranbrooke Ave., Toronto

Tickets: $20.00 at the door
$15.00 in advance (by Oct 10)
Reserve today!

For more info: (416) 789-5502 or info@winchevskycentre.org

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THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF WORKPLACE RESISTANCE: U.S. AUTOWORKERS SPEAK OUT

Saturday October 26
1:00 pm
USW Hall, 25 Cecil St., Toronto

Three prominent UAW shop floor activists describe current life on American assembly lines and keeping resistance alive.

– At the height of the recent economic crisis auto companies were bailed out while workers’ concessions were accelerated and working conditions made even more brutal.
– Profits are now at record levels again but pressures on workers continue. What are the barriers to fighting back?

Intro: Sam Gindin, former Research Director of the (former) CAW

Speakers:
– Gregg Shotwell: 30 years at General Motors. Machine operator turned rebel. Generally recognized as one of the most articulate voices of the U.S. working class. Author of Autoworkers Under the Gun.
– Scott Holdieson: Electrician at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, writer and editor of the local union paper, long-time activist for union democracy and equality among workers.
– Sean Crawford: Great grandfather was Vice Chair of the Flint sit-down strike and great grandmother and great aunt were part of the Women’s Emergency Brigade. Hired on as lower-waged (‘second-tier’) worker at GM.

Sponsors: Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly at http://www.workersassembly.ca, Centre for Social Justice

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SEPTEMBER SALES AND EVENTS GALORE FOR GREAT TITLES!

Book lovers know that the fall is a time of new books, book events, and great deals. Our September book sale goes until the end of the month and you can get 50% off all of our labour/union titles and free shipping on ALL Between the Lines books. Click on our “labour and unions” category tab on our website to order your copies. We’ll have new books on sale and older books on deep sale.

Order here: http://btlbooks.com/categoryinfo.php?index=10

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GLOBAL LABOUR SPEAKER SERIES, FALL 2013: YOUNG WORKERS, UNPAID LABOUR AND THE INTERN ECONOMY

Thursday, October 3rd
12:00-2:00pm
Sociology Common Room / Vari Hall 2101
York University, Toronto

Speakers:
– Dr. Nicole Cohen: Assistant Professor, Institute of Communication Culture and Information Technology, University of Toronto Mississauga
– Andrew Langille: Lawyer, Andrew Langille Law Firm; founder, Youth and Work blog
– Katherine Lapointe: Canadian University Press Associate Member Program; Coordinator, Communication Workers of America Canada
– Sean Smith: Mobilizing Coordinator, Unifor Local 2002 (Airlines)

A collaboration of York University’s Global Labour Research Centre, Work & Labour Studies Program, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy, Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender & Work.

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NEWS & VIEWS

VIDEO – PRIME YOUR MIND FOR RESISTANCE TO THE “RIGHT TO WORK” LIE

Bankers get bailed out, corporations get incentives, workers get attacked… and ‘right to work’ laws threaten to take this much further.

Moderated by Tracy Macmaster, President of the OPSEU Greater Toronto Area Council.

Presentations by:
– John Cartwright, President of Toronto and York Region Labour Council
– Sonia Singh, Workers’ Action Centre
– Sam Gindin, Retired research director, CAW

Organized by the Labour Committee of the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly.

Watch the video: http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls186.php

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VIDEO – UNIFOR INTERVIEW SERIES: BRUCE ALLEN, LOCAL 199

Over the next week, Rankandfile.ca will be publishing a series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members.

We kick off our series with Bruce Allen, an outspoken member of the CAW/Unifor.

Bruce is Vice-President of the former CAW Local 199 (now Unifor) representing St. Catharines General Motors workers. He is also a Vice-President of the Niagara Regional Labour Council. On August 31, he nominated Lindsay Hinshelwood for Unifor president from the floor of the founding Unifor convention.

Watch the video: http://rankandfile.ca/2013/09/12/unifor-interview-series-bruce-allen-local-199/

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NEW BOOK – FROM DEMONIZED TO ORGANIZED: BUILDING THE NEW UNION MOVEMENT

Author(s): Nora Loreto

From the Introduction:

“This book seeks to explain unionization to my generation; to my friends who distrust civil society organizations as much as they distrust government; to my unemployed friends who are living from contract to contract and who would kill for a stable, unionized job; for the workers who have never had the benefit of being represented when facing injustice at work; for the workers who would rather not think of what would happen if they were injured on the job.

“It’s a reminder to unionized folks that many of the truths that they take for granted are not obvious to others and that the labour movement must change how it reaches out to its members, its communities and to non-unionized workers if it hopes to grow. It’s a call to action for activists to share their stories, debunk the existing right-wing, anti-union rhetoric, re-engage in their communities, and build a movement that can defeat neoliberal policies and their political proponents.”

See more at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/demonized-organized#sthash.qP9m71YL.dpuf

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BEYOND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: THE CRISIS IN TRADE UNIONISM

By Sam Gindin, The Bullet

Discussions on the left about the economy might be summarized as warning that things are going to get a lot worse before they get…worse. This is not just a matter of the sustained attacks on the labour movement but as much a reflection of the crisis within labour. For some three decades now, labour has been stumbling on, unable to organizationally or ideologically rebut the attacks summarized as ‘neoliberalism.’ Though the Great Financial Crisis held out the promise of finally exposing the right and its supporters and potentially opening the door to a union offensive and possible revival, the attacks on labour actually intensified and labour continues to have no coherent counter-response. As a prelude to directly addressing that impasse in labour, it is useful to begin with something that Greg Albo recently posed: What is the larger historical significance of this particular crisis?

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SEEKING BOARD MEMBERS – CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Are you passionate about film, workers’ struggles, activism or all three?

If you said yes please join us, the CLiFF Board of Directors. The Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF) is a publicly attended free film festival, which is national in scope. The first iteration of CLiFF was held in 2009 across Canada in nine provinces and all three territories. The Board of Directors is made up of volunteers from across Canada.

We are currently recruiting for people with any of the following experience:
– individuals from Atlantic Canada, Northern Canada, Quebec, Western provinces
– individuals with event planning experience
– individuals with fundraising experience.

Directors commit 3-5 hours per week and get to work with like-minded individuals who are passionate and committed to the success of CLiFF. Volunteers are also needed to promote and run the Toronto location of the film festival November 22 – November 24, 2014. Please forward all inquiries to: info@labourfilms.ca, 416-550-8694, or http://www.labourfilms.ca

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ADULT LEARNING JOURNAL CALL FOR PAPERS

Adult Learning is interested in publishing empirical research and conceptual papers and is actively soliciting manuscripts of 4,000-4,500 words.

Adult Learning is a practitioner-oriented journal sponsored by the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) and published by SAGE. The journal publishes empirical research and conceptual papers for researchers and practitioners that approach practice issues with a problem-solving emphasis. The audience includes those who design, manage, teach, and evaluate programs of adult and continuing education.

To learn more about the journal, go to http://alx.sagepub.com/

For information about submitting a manuscript, go to http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal202126/manuscriptSubmission

To submit a manuscript, go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/al

If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Cherrstrom, managing editor, at adultlearning@tamu.edu

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JOB POSTINGS

TWO POSITIONS AVAILABLE AT CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (CUNY) MURPHY INSTITUTE

1) Academic Program Manager for Labor Studies. The person in this position will oversee all labor programs at the Murphy Institute. These include a) graduate and undergraduate degree programs in Labor Studies, b) undergraduate and graduate certificates in Labor Relations (including the Institute’s joint Cornell/CUNY certificate), and c) New York Union Semester – a paid internship program for college credit. The Program Manager will supervise a Labor Studies team and will work closely with faculty, unionists, and university staff to the build labor programs. S/he will also be involved in other aspects of the Institute’s work, i.e., public programming, our journal (New Labor Forum), and non-credit training. The ideal candidate should have considerable experience in the labor movement and higher education administration. For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/1b6paUW

2) Coordinator, Union Semester Program. The individual in this position will supervise all aspects of Union Semester – the Murphy Institute’s internship program for visiting college students. S/he will work closely with faculty, union mentors, and Institute staff in such areas as admissions and registration, internship placement and mentor selection, student orientation, and academic progress. S/he will also be responsible for developing and implementing a recruitment plan to expand the program nationally and internationally. For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/19Ipky9

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ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR – ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING, DEPARTMENT OF LEADERSHIP, HIGHER AND ADULT EDUCATION, OISE/UT

Closing Date: October 15, 2013

The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, University of Toronto invites applications from outstanding scholars for a tenure-stream appointment in Organizational Learning in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor and commence on July 1, 2014. The position resides in the Adult Education and Community Development program which is internationally recognized. We seek applicants with a doctorate in adult education or a related field, a distinguished record of research and teaching excellence in the area of organizational learning that fosters sustainable social change, both locally and globally.

The ideal candidate will have expertise in the growing range of theories, policies, and practices which promote, define and regulate learning opportunities for adults through organizations in Canada and internationally. In particular, we seek a dynamic educator with critical research and practice in some or all of the following areas: organizational learning, workplace leadership, team-based and professional learning, organizational development and change, and sustainable, collaborative and equitable practices in organizational settings.

For more info: https://utoronto.taleo.net/careersection/10050/jobdetail.ftl?job=1300977

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JOB DEVELOPER, LABOUR EDUCATION CENTRE (LEC), TORONTO

LEC’s Employment Service Program is part of the Employment Ontario (EO) network and plays a vital role in assisting workers and employers to meet the needs of the labour market.

We are currently seeking a highly motivated and experienced job developer to work with the Employment Service team to ensure the Youth Employment Fund (YEF) and Job Matching Placements and Incentives services (JMPI) are provided to employers and job seekers in the GTA.

The position is for 14 hours per week (or 2 days) and will run from October, 2013 to March 31, 2014 with the possibility of extension. The deadline for receipt of applications is October 4, 2013. Please send your resume and covering letter to wtanner@laboureducation.org in a single file with the filename in this format: (YOUR NAME) JD POSTING

More info: http://www.laboureducation.org

++++++++++
++++++++++

ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ 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

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 2nd April 2013

April 6, 2013 – 3:25 pm
Posted in Activism, Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Education, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, Marxism, News and Politics, Radical Economics, Schools, Work
Tagged Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Conferences, CSEW, Education, Education Canada, Employment, Higher Education, Karl Marx, Marx' Revenge, Marxism, Michael Schuman, OISE, Peter Sawchuk, Schools, Toronto, University of Toronto, Writers Conference
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 2nd APRIL 2013

EVENTS

SOCIAL ECONOMY CENTRE WORKSHOP – STRATEGIC FUNDRAISING: SECURING THE RESOURCES YOU NEED

Friday, Apr 5, 2013
9:30 – 4:00
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto (St. George subway station).

This dynamic and interactive one-day session for staff and volunteers working in the non-profit sector focuses on “doing the right things right.”

Instructor: Suzanne Gibson, Suzanne Gibson & Associates

By the end of the workshop, you will:
– have a practical planning tool to determine the most successful and effective fundraising and resource development techniques for your organization
– understand key fundraising markets and techniques
– gain expertise in such key fund development techniques as grant seeking, individual giving, and special events
– secure practical, hands-on tips, tools and materials as well as a resource kit to help you achieve your goals
– be armed with ideas that you can implement quickly and cost efficiently!

Cost: $140 + HST; Each additional participant from the same organization will receive a $15 discount, as will those who register for more than one workshop. Student rate is $50 + HST. Refreshments, tea and coffee served, but lunch not included.

To register: complete the online registration form at: https://socialeconomy.wufoo.eu/forms/the-social-economy-centre-sec-workshop-option-2/ or contact Keita Demming at secworkshops@gmail.com or at 416-978-0022

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CALL FOR PROPOSALS: RAINBOW HEALTH ONTARIO 2014 CONFERENCE

The Rainbow Health Ontario 2014 Conference: Creating Change Together will take place at the Hilton Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 5-7, 2014. The biennial Rainbow Health Ontario Conference is the only conference in Canada focused on the health and wellness of LGBT communities.

The RHO 2014 Conference theme “Creating Change Together” recognizes the ground-breaking work that is taking place and also highlights the need for further system-wide change. The conference draws leaders from academic, practice and community sectors to share new scientific knowledge, evolving models of clinical service, relevant policy tools and grass-roots innovations.

All submissions must be received no later than May 31, 2013. For more information and to submit a proposal, please click here: http://www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/conference/callforproposals.cfm

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APRIL 2013 – LACSN SOLIDARITY MONTH

April is the Latin America & Caribbean Solidarity Month!! We intend to honour the life and achievements of President Hugo Chavez in reflecting on and building the themes for this year which are peace, justice and solidarity.

Through collective reflection, discussion, debate and critical engagement, events may explore creative alternatives to the dominant global economic and political paradigms. Together, we will create safe spaces to reflect on the nature of our relationships and our communities and re-work our notions of peace, justice and solidarity here on Turtle Island and in other parts of the Global South.

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WRITING ACROSS BORDERS – AN INTERNATIONAL WRITERS CONFERENCE

June 1, 2013
Empire State College, Harry Van Arsdale School of Labor Studies
325 Hudson Street (entrance on Van Dam Street), NYC

At a time of unprecedented migration, when families are divided and communities shattered, writers can provide a vital historical record, a public voice of protest at social injustice and a healing balm.

Writers are able to bridge the gaps among communities through depicting the experiences of diverse people that often prove to be more similar than different, while, at the same time, attempting to fight widespread injustices of forced deportation and economic migration.

Conference fee: $30.00

For more info and to register: http://www.nwuny.org/

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BOOK LAUNCH: ‘THE GREAT REVENUE ROBBERY: HOW TO STOP THE TAX CUT SCAM AND SAVE CANADA’

Thursday, April 4, 2013
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Octopus Books/Under One Roof
251 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON

“This is a welcome critique of conventional economic wisdom. If you thought tax cuts would solve all of your problems, read The Great Revenue Robbery and think again.”
-Thomas Walkom, political columnist, Toronto Star

Join authors and organizers for the launch of The Great Revenue Robbery: How to Stop the Tax Cut Scam and Save Canada (http://www.btlbooks.com/book/the-great-revenue-robbery)

Edited by Richard Swift for the Canadians for Tax Fairness (http://www.taxfairness.ca/)

Online media sponsor: rabble.ca

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NEWS & VIEWS

BUILD YOUR OWN FEDERAL BUDGET

From Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

What did you think of the government’s “Economic Action Plan?” If you were finance minister, what would your budget look like? Take our budget calculator for a spin and select the programs you think are important to building a better Canada. When you’ve built your budget, be sure to share it online.

Build a better budget here! http://www.policyalternatives.ca/BuildABetterBudget.htm

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CFLR (CANADIAN FOUNDATION FOR LABOUR RIGHTS) RELEASES NEW REPORT CONNECTING REGRESSIVE LABOUR LAWS TO RISING INCOME INEQUALITY

The Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights (CFLR) released a new research report today which shows that regressive labour laws in Canada have reduced unionization rates which in turn has led to increasing income inequality.

“There is a clear divergence over the years between Canadian union coverage and income inequality,” the paper argues.

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MAKING THE BEST OF A BAD SITUATION AT AIR CANADA

By Amanda Moravec, rankandfile.ca

Pension plan solvency deficiencies – the hole that opens up when there aren’t enough assets to cover liabilities if the plan winds up – are vexing public and private-sector pensions. That fraction of workers fortunate enough to have a defined-benefit (DB) pension plan is facing a toxic mix of volatile returns, extremely low interest rates (which raise the cost of pension benefits), and all too frequently, a legacy of employer contribution ‘holidays’ or underfunding when pension fund returns were high. Typically, when liabilities outweigh the assets in the plan, employers are expected to make up the difference. Increasingly, though, employers are using the difficult environment to force radical changes to pension plans. And governments aren’t helping.

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 23rd February 2013

February 24, 2013 – 6:39 pm
Posted in Activism, Anarchism, Call for Papers, Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Education, Education Activism, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, Politics, Trade unions, Work
Tagged Activism, Activist Burnout, Adult education, Anarchism, Burnout, Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Education, Emma Goldman, Employment, Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, OISE, Peter Sawchuk, Radical education, Toronto, Work
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 23rd FEBRUARY 2013

EVENTS

AVOIDING ACTIVIST BURNOUT

with Angela Bischoff, Greenspiration and Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Tuesday, March 5, 2013
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
OISE, University of Toronto
252 Bloor St. West

This workshop aims to break down the stigma surrounding activist burnout, offer some constructive solutions for how to get back from the brink of burnout, and tips how to prevent it in yourself and members of your group.

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SOCIAL ECONOMY CENTRE – CO-OP ENTERPRISE: A DIFFERENT WAY OF DOING BUSINESS

Friday, Mar 1, 2013
9:30 – 4:00
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto (St. George subway station).

Instructor: Peter Cameron – Co-Operative Development Manager, ON CO-OP

With 1,300 co-operatives operating across the province, the co-op sector represents $30 billion in assets and employs 15,500 people in 400 communities across Ontario. The co-operative business model has a proven track record for creating and retaining jobs nationally and internationally.

Join us to find out about:
– Different types of co-ops
– Differences between co-ops, private corporations and non-profits
– How to incorporate a co-operative
– Benefits and Challenges of co-ops forms
– Survival rate of co-ops compared to other business
– Sector opportunities for co-op development
– Raising capital using an Offering Statement

Cost: $140 + HST. Each additional participant from the same organization will receive a $15 discount, as will those who register for more than one workshop. Student rate available. Refreshments, tea and coffee served, but lunch not included.

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ADULT LEARNING JOURNAL – CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS & CALL FOR SPECIAL ISSUES

Refereed articles: The editors are very interested in publishing empirical research and conceptual papers and are actively soliciting manuscripts of 4,000-4,500 words. Submit manuscripts to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/al and inquiries to the Editor, Mary Alfred, at adultlearning@tamu.edu

Special issues: The editors welcome your suggestions for special issues.
Past special issues are varied and include workforce education, mentoring, older adult learners, adult literacy, staff development, adult learners with disabilities, instructional technology, intercultural education, learning to learn, and the philosophy of adult education. Special issue editors work with authors on the content and form of manuscripts. Submit special issue inquiries and proposals to the Editor, Mary Alfred, at adultlearning@tamu.edu

Questions? Contact us at adultlearning@tamu.edu

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TAKE ACTION ON BUDGET 2013! 25 IN 5 NETWORK FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

Urge our political leaders to allow low-income Ontarians to Earn More, Keep More and have benefits Restored!

Ontario is facing an historic opportunity to invest in poverty reduction efforts in the 2013 provincial budget.

The 25in5 Network for Poverty Reduction is urging all Ontario’s political parties to make minority government work for low-income Ontarians – by allowing people to earn more from employment, keep more assets and child support payments while simultaneously restoring the benefits that have been frozen or eliminated over time.

All political parties have made social assistance reform and poverty reduction efforts a priority in this year’s budget. Reducing and eliminating poverty requires government to remove the barriers that trap people in poverty in our province.

You can show your support by sending an e-postcard to Ontario’s political leaders, and by visiting 25in5’s information pages to learn more.

Find out more about the 25in5 recommendations for budget 2013: http://25in5.ca/earnmorekeepmorerestore/

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PRESENTATION: LOVE AND ANARCHISM
Leon Malmed, a Lover of Emma Goldman: His Letters and the Intimate Side of Anarchist Revolutionaries

Tuesday 26 February 2013
7-9 p.m.
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
Bathurst subway stop

$5 suggested donation

The lively political and personal worlds of early 20th century anarchists come to life by researcher Debbie Rose. She focuses on a fascinating collection of more than a thousand letters and postcards belonging to her great-great uncle Leon Malmed of Albany, New York who was one of the followers and lovers of the high profile activist, feminist pioneer and writer-lecturer Emma Goldman.

The presentation provides a glimpse into the development of a young man’s thoughts and feelings as he responds to the political climate of his time to become an outspoken proponent of anarchist philosophy. Later, as he travels with Emma Goldman on a speaking tour across North America, the letters reveal the tension between Malmed and his wife over his anarchist activities and his intimate relationship with Goldman who, banned from the U.S., spent her last years in Toronto. Debbie is working with translators to bring the correspondence in Yiddish into a larger public realm.

Sue Goldstein, a local activist and organizer, will introduce the talk.

Co-sponsored by The United Jewish People’s Order -Toronto and Beit Zatoun.
For more information: info@beitzatoun.org or info@winchevskycentre.org

The United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) is an independent, socialist-oriented, secular cultural and educational organization with branches in Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, and members in Montreal and other Canadian centres.

Beit Zatoun is a cultural centre, gallery and community meeting space that promotes the interplay of art, culture and politics to explore issues of social justice and human rights, both locally and internationally.

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ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR CALLOUT – SUPPORT STRIKING PORTER AIRPORT WORKERS

Thursday February 28, 2013
4:00 p.m
Billy Bishop Airport
Queens Quay and Bathurst Street, Toronto
.
These workers, members of COPE local 343, are fighting for their first contract.

Striking for safe working conditions & a living wage.

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DISPATCHES FROM THE GLOBAL LABOUR MOVEMENT WINTER 2013 SPEAKER SERIES – WORKERS IN A DISCRIMINATORY WORLD: BUILDING UNIONS IN INDIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Monday, February 25th
2:30-4:30pm
Ross Bldg. S674 (Verney Room)
York University, Toronto

with Gautam Mody, Secretary,New Trade Union Initiative, New Delhi

A collaboration of:
– Centre for Research on Work & Society
– Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy
– Work & Labour Studies Program, LAPS
– Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender & Work

Co-sponsors:
– Department of Political Science, LAPS
– Department of Social Science, LAPS
– Department of Sociology, LAPS

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NEWS & VIEWS

STRIKE SOLIDARITY IN TORONTO AND ANTIGONISH

From rankandfile.ca

Twenty-two Porter Airlines fuel technicians have been on strike in Toronto since January 10, while the St. Francis Xavier university teachers have been on strike since January 28. The Porter workers are represented by COPE local 343 and the teachers by the St.FX Association of University Teachers.

The striking workers at Porter have been getting picket line support. The fuel technicians are striking for better wages (average annual salaries are only $28,000) and, critically, improving health in safety in what is described as “atrocious working conditions.” They are also calling upon all supporters NOT to fly Porter Airlines.

Meanwhile, posts on Facebook and Twitter report inspiring acts of solidarity by other workers in Antigonish. The building trades unions have refused to cross picket lines, leaving a campus construction site idle. Postal workers also refused to cross one picket line to deliver the Globe and Mail and Chronicle Herald newspapers.

With these strikes and solidarity actions, as with any other, Rankandfile.ca welcomes readers to send in reports for publication.

You can contact us at admin@rankandfile.ca

For more info on the Porter strike: http://copeontario.ca/news/porter-strike/

For more info on the Antigonish strike: http://www.http://stfxaut.ca/

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FINANCING LONG-TERM CARE: MORE MONEY IN THE MIX

By Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute of Social Policy

This paper argues that new financing is required over and above existing sources of revenue to support home care and long-term care now and in

future. A robust system of home care and long-term care will necessarily involve improvements to and efficiencies within the existing health care system. But innovations to the acute care side of the equation will resolve only part of the financing challenge for long-term care. The community components of health care need more money if they are to meet current and future demands – in both quality and quantity of service.

The financing options proposed in this paper include public insurance, individual savings accounts and new fiscal arrangements, such as tax-assisted incentives or special loan arrangements. All the proposals require further study in order to determine their cost implications and administrative feasibility. The purpose of putting forward these options is to contribute to the financing conversation, which itself is in desperate need of enrichment.

Read the paper: http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/1006ENG.pdf

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CONTRARIAN COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY: A REVIEW OF RICHARD SEYMOUR’S “UNHITCHED: THE TRIAL OF CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS”

By Jordy Cummings, Basics News

Richard Seymour’s “Unhitched”, a slim and scathing denunciation of turncoat scoundrel Christopher Hitchens is a thoroughly satisfying and politically important book by one of the few remaining great radical left journalists. I have to hand it to Seymour – this book was a cathartic read. No one uses words like “yawp”, let alone carefully modulated jazz-like prose, end a subsection with a cacophony of righteous snark, veer over to an allegory, and then back to yawping. No one that is, but Richard “Lenin’s Tomb” (http://www.leninology.com) Seymour.

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HYATT HURTS! BULLYING LGBTQ CUSTOMERS MUST STOP!

Hyatt is at it again. Last week The Funders for LGBTQ Issues pulled their conference from a Hyatt hotel in New Mexico, but now Hyatt wants to charge them a $40,000 penalty, far more than the retreat was originally going to cost.

Tell Hyatt to stop intimidating LGBTQ customers who want to honor the boycott!

Hyatt is one of the biggest corporate bullies around, so this kind of behavior is nothing new. You’ve seen so time and

Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory

again as Hyatt workers across the country stand up for themselves and are challenged at every turn.

The only thing that’s different now is that Hyatt isn’t content to silence workers who speak out against its unfair practices, it’s targeting consumers. We need to come together now and show Hyatt that it can’t escape criticism by bullying people who speak out.

Click here to tell Hyatt to drop this ludicrous fine, today! : http://action.sumofus.org/a/hyatt-lgbt/?sub=uh

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CANADIANS GIVING UP ON THE WORLD OF WORK

By Jim Stanford, rabble.ca

The glaring contrast between employment numbers, and the unemployment rate, was highlighted by last week’s labour force numbers from Statistics Canada (capably dissected elsewhere on this blog by Angella MacEwan).

Paid employment (i.e. employees) declined by 46,000. Total employment (including self-employment) fell by 22,000. Yet the unemployment rate fell to 7 per cent — its lowest level since late 2008.

Fewer people were working, yet the unemployment rate declined. What gives?

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MAKING THE WHOLE CITY YOUR BARGAINING COMMITTEE

By Barb Kucera, Labor Notes

Union-led protests starting next Monday in the Twin Cities are aimed at powerful companies, Target, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, not just the union’s own employers.

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Education for Sale? – Times Higher Education report on a debate featuring Glenn Rikowski: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422702&c=1

Details of the ‘Education for Sale?’ debate: https://rikowski.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/education-for-sale/

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 5th February 2013

Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 5th FEBRUARY 2013

EVENTS

GLOBAL LABOUR SPEAKERS SERIES, WINTER 2013: NURSING LABOUR PROCESS AND THE DEMAND FOR TEMPORARY FOREIGN NURSES IN NORTH AMERICA

Tuesday, February 5th
York University, Toronto
Ross Bldg., S701
2:30-4:30pm

Speaker: Salimah Valiani, Economist and Policy Analyst, Ontario Nurses’ Association

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SOCIAL ECONOMY CENTRE WORKSHOP – LEGAL ISSUES FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Friday, Feb. 15
9:30-4:00
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto (St. George subway station)

Instructor: Brian Iler, Iler & Campbell

Cost: $140 + HST; each additional participant from the same organization will receive a $15 discount, as will those who register for more than one workshop. Student rate available.

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CONFERENCE – BRIDGING EAST WITH WEST: ENGAGING DIALOGUE IN ADULT EDUCATION RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

Call for Papers and Presentations

The Fifth Asian Diaspora Pre-Conference
University of Missouri-St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
May 30, 2013

The Fifth Asian Diaspora Adult Education Pre-conference, in conjunction with 2013 Annual Adult Education Research Conference, will be held at University of Missouri-St. Louis on May 30, 2013. This year’s theme is: Bridging East with West: Engaging Dialogue in Adult Education Research and Practice in the Global Context. The purpose of this pre-conference is to provide an opportunity in which individuals from both Asian ancestry and internationally can engage in dialogue about Eastern and Western perspectives on issues, concerns, and problems relevant to the adult education research and practice in the global context. This is an annual conference (now being restored from the 4th one held in 2008) that offers a forum for faculty and graduate students who are interested in researching, contributing to and learning about East and West to present their scholarship and research.

For more information:
Qi Sun, Associate Professor,
Adult and Postsecondary Education Program
Professional Studies Department
College of Education
University of Wyoming
Email: qsun@uwyo.edu
Tel: (307) 766-5517

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NEWS & VIEWS

THE RISE OF THE PERMANENT TEMP ECONOMY

by Erin Hatton, New York Times

Politicians across the political spectrum herald “job creation,” but frightfully few of them talk about what kinds of jobs are being created. Yet this clearly matters: According to the Census Bureau, one-third of adults who live in poverty are working but do not earn enough to support themselves and their families.

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IN WALMART AND FAST FOOD, UNIONS SCALING UP A STRIKE-FIRST STRATEGY

by Jenny Brown, The Bullet

Small but highly publicized strikes by Walmart retail and warehouse workers last fall set the labour movement abuzz and gained new respect for organizing methods once regarded skeptically.

What’s the strategy behind the latest surprising wave of activism? Like most new organizing in the private sector, decades of attempts to unionize Walmart stores in the U.S. and Canada have been met with firings, outsourcing, and even closings.

So retail workers who staff the stores, warehouse workers who move Walmart’s goods, and even guest workers who peel crawfish for a supplier are ignoring the path laid out by U.S. labour law, in which workers sign a petition asking to vote on a union. Instead, they’re exercising their rights to redress grievances together, whether a majority can be rallied to support the effort or not.

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ONTARIO ELEMENTARY TEACHERS CAN STRIKE WITH REPEAL OF BILL 115, THEIR LAWYER ARGUES

by Caroline Alphonso and Kate Hammer, Globe and Mail

There’s nothing stopping Ontario’s elementary teachers from going on strike now that a controversial piece of legislation has been repealed, according to lawyers for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

Speaking before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, ETFO lawyer Howard Goldblatt, said now that the provincial government repealed Bill 115 – the legislation that imposed the terms of teachers’ contracts – negotiations can resume and the union is in a legal strike position.

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UNION DENSITY: WHAT’S LITERATURE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

by Nick Coles, Working-Class Perspectives

So union density in United States has declined yet again. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11.3% of American workers now belong to unions…In times like these, it is useful to be reminded of what unions can be good for. A labor history like From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend (2001) explains in readable style what it took to establish unions in the first place, while New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse makes clear in The Big Squeeze: Hard Times for the American Worker (2008) why we need them now more than ever. Novels, too, can make the case for working people’s rights, through compelling fictional narratives that engage us with characters we care about.

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SENSE PUBLISHERS SERIES SPOTLIGHT – THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY AND EDUCATION

Series Editors:

– D.W. Livingstone, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada
– David Guile, Faculty of Policy and Society, Institute of Education, University of London

The aim of this series is to provide a focus for writers and readers interested in exploring the relation between the knowledge economy and education or an aspect of that relation, for example, vocational and professional education theorised critically.

The series includes the following books that were generated by the Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) completed WALL project (http://www.wallnetwork.ca).

– The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work: Critical Perspectives, Peter Sawchuk (University of Toronto, Canada), D.W. Livingstone (University of Toronto, Canada) and Kiran Mirchandani OISE/University of Toronto, Canada) (Eds.)

– Challenging Transitions in Learning and Work: Reflections on Policy and Practice, Peter Sawchuk (University of Toronto, Canada) and Alison Taylor (University of Alberta, Canada) (Eds.)

– The Learning Challenge of the Knowledge Economy David Guile (University of London, UK)

– The Knowledge Economy and Lifelong Learning: A Critical Reader, D.W. Livingstone (University of Toronto, Canada) and David Guile (University of London, UK) (Eds.)

– Teacher Learning and Power in the Knowledge Society, Rosemary Clark (Ontario Teachers’ Federation, Canada), D.W. Livingstone (University of Toronto, Canada) and Harry Smaller (York University, Canada) (Eds.)

For more information: https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/the-knowledge-economy-and-education/

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JOBS

JOB POSTING – EDITOR/PUBLISHER, BRIARPATCH MAGAZINE

Are you passionate about independent media and social change? Are you a talented communicator with an entrepreneurial spirit, ready to take the reins of a respected Canadian magazine?

Briarpatch seeks a crackerjack Editor/Publisher to jointly oversee all aspects of producing a bi-monthly magazine. As one of two full-time staff in a horizontal, unionized workplace, the successful candidate and the current Editor/Publisher will be jointly responsible for dividing core editorial, organizational, and administrative tasks, and will report directly to a volunteer board of directors. How these tasks are divided will depend on the skills, experience, and interests of the successful candidate.

Application deadline is February 25, 2013.

For more information: http://briarpatchmagazine.com/announcements/view/job-posting-editor-publisher1

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HEQCO (HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY COUNCIL OF ONTARIO) – SUMMER INTERN

HEQCO seeks skilled policy/education/social science students or graduates to join our small and dynamic research team. We are looking forward to the opportunity to help you enhance and develop knowledge and skills that will be useful for your career success; familiarize you with the opportunities that exist for careers in public policy research; and provide you with extensive knowledge in higher education and the post-secondary sector in Ontario. At the end of this opportunity you should be well placed to advance in your career.

As the Summer Research Intern, you will be involved in a number of research activities, in particular on a research project of your choice with a senior research member where you will be exposed to a variety of research techniques and problems in public policy research.

For more information: http://www.heqco.ca/en-CA/About%20Us/Career_Opportunities/Pages/Home.aspx

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 13th January 2013

January 16, 2013 – 4:38 pm
Posted in Activism, Call for Papers, Communism, Conferences, Crisis, Critical and Radical Pedagogy, Critical Education, Critical Education Policy Studies, Economic History, Economics, Education, Education Activism, Higher Education, Historical Materialism, Jobs, Marxism, Marxist Theory, News and Politics, Politics
Tagged Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Critical Education, Education, Employment, Greg Albo, Higher Education, Historical Materialism, Jobs, Labor, Leo Panitch, OISE, Politics, Sam Gindin, Toronto, Toronto Jobs, Work
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 13th JANUARY 2013

EVENTS
HMNYC (HISTORICAL MATERIALISM NEW YORK CITY) 2013: CONFRONTING CAPITAL

April 26-28, 2013
New York University

HMNY 2013 is an intervention into the present to provide a theoretical space for debate and discussion, urgently needed on the left at this juncture. Moments like this are especially fertile for new looks at old debates, from the history of capitalism to new modes of resistance. HMNY 2013 will be a venue where figures representing the breadth of current leftist thought will convene to exchange ideas.

Historical Materialism (HM) is one the foremost journals of Marxian theory. HM’s conferences have long drawn hundreds of scholars from around the world. HMNY 2013 will begin with a reception on the evening of Friday April 26th, and will take place on April 27th-28th at the New York University in downtown Manhattan. All participants are encouraged to stay for the whole duration of the conference.

The themes for this year’s conference will include:
– politics of socialist planning and utopias
– history and future of social democracy
– political economy of capitalism
– history of international communism
– debt, austerity, and finance
– critical geographies
– ecology and climate change
– law, punishment, and incarceration
– queer studies and sexuality
– theories of the state and politics
– race and capital
– Empire and the third world
– history of capital and labor
– feminism and Marxism
– critical philosophy
– socialist strategy today
– education under capitalism
– aesthetic ideologies
– culture and the crisis

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is February 15, 2013.

To contact organizers, email organizers@hmny.org

For more info: http://hmny.org/about/

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CRISIS, RESISTANCE, AND PROSPECTS: THE ARAB REVOLUTIONS AND BEYOND

March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2013
York University
Toronto, ON

Call for Papers

The objective of this conference is to provide a critical intervention that seeks to challenge the dominant neo-liberal interpretation of the Arab Spring and the concomitant reductionist tendency to explain this transformative process as one resulting from liberal democratic triumphalism, social media, and youth movements. Rather, this conference is designed to introduce a dialogue that highlights the multifaceted, complex, and contradictory dimensions of the significant historical transformation and social struggle that is ongoing in the Middle East and North Africa. The introduction of this dialogue will be achieved through providing an exploration and analysis of the following themes: Democracies, Social Movements, and Political Power; New Media and Cultures of Resistance; The Social Question; Capital, State, and Internationalization; and Imperialism & Anti-Imperialism.

Interested participants are invited to submit conference paper proposals.

January 21, 2013 – Abstract Submissions Due
February 21, 2013 – Submission of Final Papers/Presentation

More info: http://arabrevolutions2013.com/

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LAUNCH OF THE SOCIALIST REGISTER 2013: THE QUESTION OF STRATEGY

Thursday, January 31, 2013
6:30 pm
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas St. West, Toronto

There will be a panel discussion with Greg Albo, Sam Gindin, Meg Luxton and Joan Sangster as contributors and Leo Panitch as Chair.

The resurgence of social movements in recent years has put the question of strategy back on the left’s agenda. This volume of the Socialist Register surveys some of the most explosive mobilizations around the world. But it also asks, what are the challenges, both political and intellectual, for the anti-capitalist left today? Some of the issues it takes up:

– the crisis of vision in trade unions — can they still serve as a vehicle for working-class organization?;
– the place of gender struggles in left movements today;
– the emergence of Greece as the epicentre for anti-neoliberal movements in Europe;
– the condition of new anti-capitalist parties in Europe;
– a balance sheet for the Occupy Wall Street movement;
– the contradictions of progressive governments in South Africa and Bolivia;
– the promise and pitfalls of ‘horizontalism’ in the new movements;
– the mixed legacy of Leninism as a strategic vision.

Sponsored by York University Bookstore, Brunswick Books, Socialist Project, and the Socialist Register.

To order a copy: http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv#.UPJF43esOSp
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BOOK LAUNCH – TOWARD THE UNITED FRONT: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL, 1922

Sunday, February 3
4:00-6:00 PM
Room 5280
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
University of Toronto
252 Bloor St. W. (at St. George subway).

Editor and translator John Riddell will reflect on lessons of translating the rich conversations and debates that shaped a generation of revolutionaries and the implications for activists in current conditions of global capitalism. John has translated and edited seven volumes of documents of the Communist movement in the era of the Russian revolution. Two further volumes are now in preparation, which will complete this extraordinary project.

And hear comments from some of those who supported the work involved in this important publication: David McNally, Suzannne Weiss, Paul Kellogg and Greg Albo.

Moderated by Abbie Bakan. Followed by book signing and refreshments.

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REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR VALENTINE’S DAY: RADICAL LOVE AND THE SPIRIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

Saturday February 9, 2013
2 – 5 pm
PSAC Boardroom
90 Eglinton Ave East
Workshop fee: $30

Mayworks is pleased to invite you to an interactive workshop and fundraiser celebrating radical love and social justice on Saturday, February 9th. This workshop is an opportunity for us not only to raise funds for the upcoming 2013 festival, but also to celebrate the spirit of social justice.

This interactive workshop is for you if:
– Your vision of social justice is fueled by love and compassion.
– Your vision of social justice recognizes the inter-relatedness of all life.
– You are interested in drawing on emerging science and ancient wisdom to strengthen your political and artistic work.
– You want to support Mayworks and our communities.

The workshop will allow you to:
– Experience the mind/body/emotion/spirit connection.
– Explore the relationship between art, science, activism and spirituality.
– Be inspired by the sharing of knowledge and wisdom across cultures.
– Gain knowledge and practices that promote individual and collective wellbeing.
– Increase your capacity to sustainably contribute to social change movements.

Facilitator:
Zainab Amadahy is a singer-songwriter, author and community worker. Many of her recent writings can be found at http://www.zainaba.com/publications.html, rabble.ca and http://www.muskratmagazine.com Keep an eye out for Zainab’s forthcoming book: Wielding the Force: The Science of Social Justice.

To register and purchase tickets:
– Online: please visit: http://mayworks.ca/support You will receive an email confirmation of your donation of $30 as well as your registration information.
– Cheque or cash: please email registration@mayworks.ca with the subject line “REVOLUTIONIZE VALENTINE’S DAY”. You will receive an email with instructions.

* If you are unable to attend the workshop, but would like to contribute to Mayworks, please visit http://mayworks.ca/support/ for more information. Your support will be greatly appreciated!

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NEWS & VIEWS

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH ARE KILLING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

Sometimes it is eerie how things come together.

The other day I was working with several researchers with GHETS (Global Health through Education, Training and Services), a US-based non-profit head by a colleague Dr. David Egilman, to expand the emphasis on community organizing and community action as a critical tool in training health professionals around the world in developing countries. We were discussing what they call the “social determinants of health,” which in layman’s language concentrates on the huge numbers of poor people in many areas around the globe who are killed or cut down way to early in some ways by the very nature of their poverty, as manifested in inadequate sanitary conditions, unsafe water, poor housing, inadequate diet, blocked access to education, pollution, and the endless obstacles that no amount of praise for bootstrapping can ever overcome.

At the same time the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine released a report this week finding that life expectancy in the United States trails 16 other industrialized countries. The reason for Americans’ sorry prospects, according to the summary in the Wall Street Journal, was cited largely as the “high mortality for men under age 50…” though women were also “lagging.” Reading more closely, why do you reckon, damned if it wasn’t all about the “social determinants of health.”

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SECRETS AND LIES OF THE WALL STREET BAILOUT

It has been four long winters since the federal government, in the hulking, shaven-skulled, Alien Nation-esque form of then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, committed $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue Wall Street from its own chicanery and greed. To listen to the bankers and their allies in Washington tell it, you’d think the bailout was the best thing to hit the American economy since the invention of the assembly line. Not only did it prevent another Great Depression, we’ve been told, but the money has all been paid back, and the government even made a profit. No harm, no foul – right?

Wrong.

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OBITUARY: THE WELFARE STATE, 1942-2013

After decades of public illness, Beveridge’s most famous offspring has died.

For much of its short but celebrated life, the Welfare State was cherished by Britons. Instant public affection greeted its birth and even as it passed away peacefully yesterday morning, government ministers swore they would do all they could to keep it alive.

The Welfare State’s huge appeal lay in its combination of simplicity and assurance. A safety net to catch those fallen on hard times, come rain or shine, boom or bust, it would be there for all those who had paid in.

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WHY IDLE NO MORE HAS RESONATED WITH CANADIANS

Imagine a country where the national government introduces and passes legislation that detrimentally affects all of its First Nations communities but it doesn’t bother to consult with them. Then a chief of an impoverished northern First Nation community goes on a hunger strike to get a meeting between the First Nations leadership and the government several months after this legislation was passed. Does this have implications for all Canadians? You bet it does. This will not be the last time that individuals or groups will take such extreme measures in response to the federal government’s
public policy process or lack thereof.

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HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT FRIDAYS LABOR FOLKLORE!

Fridays Labor Folklore is a free newsletter featuring the stories and songs of the labor movement.

Invite a friend to join the mailing list. Ask them to send an email to fridaysfolklore@gmail.com and say “subscribe me.”

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SIX WAYS GOVERNMENT BOSS STEPHEN HARPER IS KILLING DEMOCRACY

If we look at actions taken by Harper, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that because of Harper and the Conservatives, democracy is dying in Canada.

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RE-DEFINING EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

Several key changes to Employment Insurance came into effect on Sunday. The EI program is about to get grinch-ier, especially for those who happen to have needed it more than once.

JOBS

PAID ORGANIZING APPRENTICE – FULL-TIME ORGANIZER, SEIU

The Service Employees International Union, Local 2 is now recruiting activists across Canada for the launch of its 2013 Organizing Apprenticeship Program. We’re hoping to hire up to four (4) full-time organizers at the conclusion of the program.

A union organizer is a union representative who helps non-union workers join a union in order to have a voice at work and improve working conditions. We run campaigns that focus on increasing market density in various sectors (i.e. our Justice for Janitors campaigns) in order to raise industry standards.

To Apply:
Send cover letter, resume and three professional references to asharma@seiulocal2.ca by January 15, 2013. No phone calls, please. Only complete applications submitted by email will be considered.

More info: http://justiceforjanitors.ca/community-resources/paid-organizing-apprentice-full-time-organizer/

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FOODSHARE – DESKTOP PUBLISHING, DESIGN, AND COMMUNICATIONS INTERN

FoodShare is looking for a passionate individual, who cares about Good, Healthy Food for All and would like to put their design experience to work in our vibrant work environment. The Desktop Publishing, Design and Communications Intern will be hired through the YMCA Digital Skills Youth Internship Program, and support FoodShare with the design and layout of program materials, educational resources, toolkits and reports.

Hours of work: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. Some evenings and weekend availability may be required.

Rate of pay: $16.00/hr

Main Job Components: The intern will shoot and edit video footage, assist with storytelling and blogging, conduct online research, and support the social media for the organization and well as direct support for a provincial campaign on increasing the consumption of Healthy, Local Foods in Schools. The intern will gain mentorship from FoodShare’s Field to Table Schools program and Fundraising and Communications Departments.

Qualifications: https://www.dyip.ca/dyip_admin/_dyip_apply/application/index.php?l=en&dyip_interest=y

Submit an application: https://www.dyip.ca/dyip_admin/_dyip_mentor/mola_appShow.php?arg=13352&arg_who=CAND&parm_Language=E

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GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS FOR LABOR-ORIENTED STUDENTS

Penn State University,Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations Master of Science (M.S.) Degree

The Master of Science degree in Human Resources and Employment Relations is a two-year program designed for students anticipating careers in some aspect of labor, labor management relations, or human resources. The Dept. of Labor Studies and Employment Relations has two full graduate assistantships available for students with an interest in unions and the American labor movement and are considering a career working for unions.

The two-year graduate assistantship includes a full tuition scholarship and a stipend paid in exchange for 20 hours of work per week assisting one of the Dept faculty with research or teaching. The Department also makes a commitment to assist students in finding union internships and full-time positions with unions upon graduation.

The Department is particularly interested in potential students with an interest in international labor issues (including sweatshops, labor standards, corporate responsibility, child labor, etc.). Such students would have an opportunity to work with the Department’s newly-created Center for Global Workers Rights (see http://lser.la.psu.edu/gwr/).

Penn State LSER program has a long tradition of preparing students to work in the American labor movement. Our alumni currently work for a wide variety of unions, including the United Steelworkers, AFSCME, SEIU, UFCW, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and the New York State United Teachers.

For more information contact Paul F. Clark, Professor and Head, at pfc2@psu.edu.
Deadline is Feb. 28, 2013. Additional information on the program, as well as application information, can be found at http://lser.la.psu.edu/.

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 5th January 2013

Educating from Marx

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK – UPDATE 5th JANUARY 2013

EVENTS

SPEED DATING FOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Monday, January 7, 2013
7:15pm – 10:00pm
417 Restaurant and Lounge
417 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON

Fundraiser for the Workers’ Action Centre.

Speed dating, men & women, ages 30 – 40. Meet 12 – 14 singles in one evening while raising money for a worthy cause

Cost: $25 – Please bring cheques made out to the Workers’ Action Centre.

To sign up: Send an email to justidateevents@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

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ONTARIO 2013: TOWARD A POST-AUSTERITY VISION

Wednesday, January 9, 2013
10:00am – 4:00pm (lunch included)
Thomas Lounge, Oakham House
Ryerson University Toronto, ON

Please join the CCPA [Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives] – Ontario for an update on the province’s economy and a strategy session focusing on how to move toward a post-austerity vision.

We’ll feature:
* Hugh Mackenzie, CCPA- Countering deficit hysteria: Ontario budget numbers post-Drummond
* Jim Stanford, CAW- Economic and jobs update
* Trish Hennessy, CCPA- Toward a post-austerity narrative
* Sectoral updates … and more!

Questions? Please contact Trish Hennessy: ccpaon@policyalternatives.ca
Register at http://ccpa-ontarioeconomicupdate-eac2.eventbrite.com

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ANTI-CAPITALISM AND FEMINISM

Saturday, January 12, 2013
7:00pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
Toronto, ON

Join the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly for a ‘coffee house’ discussion on Anti-capitalism and Feminism

– Socialist Feminism in Canada: A Brief History — Meg Luxton
– Marxist Feminism: Keywords and Key Concepts — Shahrzad Mojab

Followed by Q and A and informal discussion.

This is the first of a three-part monthly series on anti-capitalism and feminism. Watch for future listings.

More about the speakers:
Meg Luxton: Professor and Director of the Graduate Program of Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies at York University. Meg has been active in the women’s liberation movement, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and a range of campus and community groups. As a socialist feminist scholar she writes on feminist politics, women’s work (paid and unpaid), international effort to include women’s unpaid work in the UN and the history of the Canadian women’s movement, especially it’s left-wing currents.
Shahrzad Mojab: Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education and Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto. Scholar, teacher, and activist, Shahrzad is internationally known for her work on the impact of war, displacement and violence on women’s learning and education. Her recent co-edited book, Educating from Marx: Race, Gender and Learning (2011, with Sara Carpenter, Palgrave McMillan ‘Marxism and Education’ Series) is an anti-racist feminist analysis of Marxism for a revolutionary feminist praxis. For more on this book see: https://rikowski.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/educating-from-marx-race-gender-and-learning-by-sara-carpenter-and-shahrzad-mojab/

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WORKERS RISING FROM WALMART TO MARIKANA PUBLIC

Tuesday, January 15, 2013
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, room 8220
252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON

Speakers:
– Elizabeth Clinton, OUR Walmart campaigner from Texas
– Ritch Whyman, International Socialists

While governments around the world try and push austerity and force the working class to pay for the economic crisis, workers continue to resist.

Showing that workers in some of the lowest paid service-sector jobs can organize and fight back, workers from Walmart and McDonald’s have held protests, wildcat strikes and campaigned for better wages. In South Africa, miners have bravely faced down police bullets in their struggle against their employers and government. Workers across Ontario are preparing to protest a Liberal government that is trying to impose wage freezes and cut their benefits.

Join a discussion on working class resistance, where we have been and where we are going.

Organized by the U of T International Socialists
Info: reports@socialist.ca

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COMMUNITY HEALTH FORUM: NEWCOMERS TO CANADA: MIGRATION, IMMIGRATION CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES

Wednesday, January 9, 2013
7 to 9 p.m.
Ramada Plaza Hotel
300 Jarvis Street, Toronto and online

Topics to be discussed:
-Ethnoracial diversity
-Getting to healthcare
-Navigating the system

More information: http://www.actoronto.org/home.nsf/pages/act.docs.2302

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FORCED MARRIAGE PROJECT – WORKSHOPS

The Forced Marriage Project (FMP) invites you to participate in a four part series of FREE training workshops for service providers, youth-focused agencies/groups, community-based organizations/groups, and volunteers.

The Forced Marriage Project (FMP) is a project of Agincourt Community Services Association, funded by Status Women Canada. We raise awareness about forced marriage in Canada through our website, newsletter, youth engagement initiatives, and training service providers and community members
in understanding and responding to cases of forced marriage.

#1: An Introduction to Forced Marriage
#2: Working with Parents
#3: Engaging Youth
#4: Intervention in Cases of Forced Marriage

For more info and to register: http://fmp-acsa.eventbrite.ca/

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COURSE AT RYERSON

The first course was taught by Winnie Ng and Deena Ladd over six full time days in the spring, 2012. There were 18 participants — the majority were front-line community workers in a variety of settings. The majority were sponsored by their employers to attend which made it possible for them to take the course. We had a great class that supported each other in their learning and the evaluations were very positive!

We are hoping people who are working in community agencies, unions, immigrant settlement agencies and neighbourhood centres, health centres, etc will be supported by their organizations to attend this course. The course will be examining models of community engagement, strategies of best practices, working from an anti-oppression practice, strengthening leadership skills, developing critical analysis and reflection on our own practice and understanding how to do this work in the context of inequalities and unequal power dynamics.

Please consider the following:
* If you are an executive director or manager – would you financially support one of your staff to attend this course?
* if you are in a leadership position, could you consider arranging a scholarship donation from your organization and sponsor a community leader to attend?
* If you are a front-line worker – do you want the space to learn, share strategies and strengthen the work you do with the communities you work with?
* If you work in a trade union – do you want to learn, share strategies and understand how to build connections with communities and the work you are doing?
* If you are a community activist – do you want the space to share strategies, learn about best practices and get support for the work you are doing?

Course CSWP 936 – Logistics: the course is $524 and will be 39 hours of instruction and fully credited by Ryerson University. The course is part of a new certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership and Development.

The class is 6-9pm and runs from Monday January 14 until Monday April 15.
There is no class on Monday February 18, Family Day.

For more information about The Chang School, or to register for the Certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership and Development, visit http://www.ryerson.ca/ce/community or contact directly. Phone: 416.979.5035, Email: ce@ryerson.ca

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THE “C-WORD”, A PUBLIC CONVERSATION ABOUT CAPITALISM

By Building Common Ground – Guelph

Sunday, January 27, 2013
1:00pm until 3:00pm
Bookshelf Cinema
41 Quebec Street, Guelph, ON

Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, co-authors of a new new book entitled “The Making of Global Capitalism”, will initiate the next BCG public conversation on the relationship between capitalism, our economic and environmental crises and the implications for all those interested in building a better world.

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NEWS & VIEWS

ROBIN HOOD TAX WINS

Euro Parliament okays 11 nations’ plans to tax financial transactions.

Brussels (13 Dec. 2012) – The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT and commonly referred to as a Robin Hood Tax).

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THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HUGO CHÁVEZ

One of the main factors for the popularity of the Chávez Government and its landslide victory in this re-election results of October 2012, is the reduction of poverty, made possible because the government took back control of the national petroleum company PDVSA, and has used the abundant oil revenues, not for benefit of a small class of renters as previous governments had done, but to build needed infrastructure and invest in the social services that Venezuelans so sorely needed. During the last ten years, the government has increased social spending by 60.6%, a total of $772 billion.

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12 IDEAS TO STOP WAGE THEFT

Over the last 12 days of action, we [The Workers’ Action Centre] have profiled stories of workers fighting for unpaid wages. With your support, we have sent a powerful message to our government representatives that they need to stand up for stronger protections for workers in Ontario.

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LEADERSHIP, FEMINISM AND EQUALITY IN UNIONS IN CANADA

This project explores the current climate and attitudes to women, feminism, leadership and equality in Canadian unions through the insights, voices and experiences of women union leaders, activists and staff. Women from seven provinces and territories were involved, including retired and still active staff, leaders and activists, racialized and Aboriginal women, lesbians and young women, and women from public and private sector unions and central labour bodies. Our findings do not address the situation in Québec.

The discussions were wide-ranging, analytical and deeply-moving. What emerged was a widespread consensus that there is a serious problem within the labour movement in advancing women’s equality work and supporting feminist activists at all levels. Union women, however, still share the optimistic belief that organized labour has played and can continue to play a critical role in challenging inequality.

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ARTIST CREATES A VISION OF SOLIDARITY

Toronto – December 24, 2012 – There is a long history of mural art and the labour movement, and UFCW [United Food and Commercial Workers] Canada is helping that history continue.

This past July, more than a thousand agriculture workers gathered in Leamington, Ontario to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first-ever Agriculture Workers Alliance support centre in Leamington, Ontario. To mark the occasion, UFCW Canada and the AWA commissioned Chilean-born, Canadian-based social activist artist Gilda Monreal to create a mural to honour the tens of thousands of migrant workers who toil each season in Canada’s agriculture sector.

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THE FUTURE FOR LONG-TERM CARE LOOKS GRIM: MASS PRIVATIZATION

As with hospital beds, the government and other proponents of the near freeze in new long-term care beds suggest that home care can take up the slack.

Does this stand up? Well, let’s take even a very aggressive version of this theory. Say that 25% of all people in LTC could be dealt with through home care. (Currently, that would mean evicting 19,250 LTC residents.)

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CENTENNIAL OF 1912 “BREAD AND ROSES” STRIKE

The Bridge Review: Merrimack Valley Culture is an online journal about the culture of the Greater Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Founded in 1997, the journal explores the interwoven concepts of place, nature, culture and society. Based at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the journal includes writing, visual art, music, video clips, and other creative and scholarly works relevant to our region.

This special edition of the Bridge Review is dedicated to the centennial of the 1912 Bread and Roses strike.

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A PROPOSAL TO STRENGTHEN THE CANADA PENSION PLAN: THE 1.5 OPTION

Expanding the Canada Pension Plan is back on the table. The federal and provincial finance ministers have been exploring several proposals for expanding the CPP in a paper prepared by their officials.

When the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans were created in the mid-1960s, they were deliberately designed to pay relatively modest benefits. The reasoning was that the private tier of employer-sponsored pension plans and individual savings plans would play the lion’s share of the earnings replacement objective for middle- and upper-income Canadians. The Achilles heel of Canada’s retirement income system is that private pension and savings plans never grew sufficiently to properly serve the earnings replacement objective for many Canadians.

The Caledon Institute for several years has been proposing a ‘1.5’ solution for expanding the Canada Pension Plan in which the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings would increase by 50 percent and the earnings replacement rate would also rise by 50 percent. We would raise the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings level from its current $50,100 to $75,150 – an increase of one-half. The earnings replacement rate would go from 25 to 37.5 percent – also an increase of 50 percent. As a result, the maximum CPP benefit would more than double, from $11,840 to $28,181.

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MIGRANT WORKERS IN CANADA FACE DETERIORATING CONDITIONS

18 December 2012 – Today, International Migrants Day, the Canadian Council for Refugees expressed its concern about a series of changes over the past year that reduce migrant workers’ rights. As a result many migrant workers in Canada are worse off than they were a year ago.

‘Things are going from bad to worse for the over 100,000 “low-skilled” migrant workers in Canada’, said Loly Rico, CCR President. “The Canadian Council for Refugees has deep concerns over the government’s approach to migrant workers as disposable, short-term labour with fewer rights and protections than Canadian workers.”

Migrant workers in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program are vulnerable to exploitation because of their temporary status and restrictions on their work permits. While the transition to permanent residence for “high-skilled” temporary foreign workers is being made faster and more flexible, “low-skilled” migrant workers still don’t have access to permanent residence.

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ONTARIO NEXT RIGHT-TO-WORK TARGET?

When Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed right-to-work bills into law last month, he gladdened the hearts of anti-union politicians next door in Ontario. Could our province, a union stronghold, be next?

The more unions are beaten back in the United States, the worse it is for Canadian workers, whose jobs can easily be shipped south. One need only look at Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Diesel jobs being moved from London, Ontario, down to Indiana in 2012, after that state passed right-to-work legislation. Such laws outlaw contracts that require all those represented by a union to pay dues, thus breaking up solidarity.

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JOBS

SUMMER 2013 SESSIONAL TEACHING POSITIONS AT MCMASTER UNIVERSITY’S LABOUR STUDIES

The School of Labour Studies, McMaster University, invites applications for the following positions to be offered in the Summer 2013 session.

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PROGRAM DIRECTOR, METCALF CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, TORONTO

The goal of the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation is to enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society.

Across its 3 programs areas — sustaining the vibrancy of the professional performing arts, harnessing the benefits of living within the Earth’s environmental limits, and improving low-income peoples’ economic livelihoods and access to quality jobs — the Metcalf Foundation advances its mission through practice, policy, and collaboration.

Responsibilities

The Program Director holds primary responsibility for the vision, strategic development, and implementation of all aspects of the Inclusive Local Economies Program, and contributes to the Foundation’s broader mission and mandate including the Innovation Fellowship Program

See complete job posting at http://metcalffoundation.com

To apply or recommend candidates for the position please contact Ruth Richardson of Open Blue Consulting, in confidence, at ruth@openblue.ca Interested candidates should send their expression of interest by Monday 7 January 2013, 5:00 PM EST to ruth@openblue.ca

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ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE/FULL PROFESSOR IN CONTINUING AND COLLEGE EDUCATION

The Woodring College of Education invites dynamic and innovative educators to apply for a tenure-track position (open-rank) in the Master of Education Continuing and College Education (CCE) Program, beginning September 2013.

The successful candidate will be visionary and collaborative with other professional educators, students and alumni. She/he will maintain a strong record of scholarship and will be a leading educator. Additionally, she/he will support student professional development projects and assist students to be competitive in the market for teaching in higher education, directing training and staff development for business, industry, government and professional associations and as administrators of programs for adults, especially in colleges, technical schools and university settings.

For more information, please visit: https://jobs.wwu.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=3860

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

The Individuality Pr♥test: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transcontinental/the-individuality-prtest

I Love Transcontinental: http://ihearttranscontinental.blogspot.co.uk/

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 16th December 2012

December 17, 2012 – 3:49 pm
Posted in Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Economic History, Education, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, News and Politics, Work, Youth
Tagged Centre for the Study of Education and Work, David McNally, Democracy, Economy, Education, Employment, Labor, Labour, OISE, Peter Sawchuk, Policy, Policy Alternatives, Politics, Radical Film, Rights, Toronto, Wages, Work
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK – UPDATE 16th DECEMBER 2012

EVENTS

12 DAYS OF ACTION TO STOP WAGE THEFT!

This holiday season the Workers’ Action Centre needs you to take action to stop wage theft.

Starting this week, we will profile 12 stories highlighting wage theft.
Please join us every day – we only need a minute or two of your time.

To find out more: http://www.workersactioncentre.org/12-days-of-action/

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RALLY FOR RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY

Protest at the at the Ontario Liberal Convention
1:00 pm
Saturday, January 26, 2013

Rally at Allan Gardens in Toronto (Jarvis & Carlton), followed by march to the Ontario Liberal Convention at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Ontario government has been shut down while worker’s rights are under threat and cuts to jobs and services are hurting every community.

It’s time to defend everyone’s democratic and economic rights.

For details, visit: http://ofl.ca/index.php/campaigns/democraticrights

Rally hosted by the Ontario Federation of Labour.

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CLC WINTER SCHOOL 2013 – REGISTER ONLINE

The CLC Ontario Region’s 2013 Winter School will be held from March 3 to 8, 2013 at the CAW Family Education Centre in Port Elgin.

We are pleased to let you know that online registration is now available. In order to secure the space in your selected course, your payment must be received within 10 days of your online registration.

For further details and course descriptions, please read the Winter School 2013 brochure:
http://documents.clc-ctc.ca/ontario/2013-Winter-School-Brochure.pdf

If you need a hard copy of the brochure, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 416-441-3710 Ext. 222 or 221 or ontario@clc-ctc.ca

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SOCIAL ECONOMY WORKSHOP: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Presenter: Eric Plato, Director of Finance, Frontier College

Friday, Jan 11, 2012
9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West (St. George subway station).

– Do you find it difficult to put together a budget for a proposal?
– Do you ask yourself ‘what am I looking at?’ when someone gives you financial reports?
– Are you responsible for managing the finances for a project, but are not sure what that means?

If so, join us in this workshop to learn:
– How to put together a budget for an organization or project
– Methods to deal with overhead costs
– How to read financial reports
– How to monitor a budget

Cost: $140 + HST; each additional participant from the same organization will receive a $15 discount, as will those who register for more than one workshop. Student rate available.

To register: complete the online registration form here: https://socialeconomy.wufoo.eu/forms/the-social-economy-centre-sec-workshop-option-2/ or contact Keita Demming at secworkshops@gmail.com or at 416-978-0022

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HOLIDAY SALE AT PM PRESS – 50% OFF ALL BOOKS UNTIL DECEMBER 31

By using the coupon code below everyone gets a taste of being a Friend of PM (FOPM), isn’t it great? The other fantastic benefit, getting monthly shipments of every release while supporting radical writers, filmmakers, and artists, can be had by joining as a FOPM (which also makes a great gift).

From politics and the economy to prison abolition and parenting – we have books, CDs, and DVDs that span a wide assortment of topics and genres that we are offering to you at the phenomenal rate of 50% off list price through December.

To get your 50% discount at checkout, type in the coupon code: Holiday

This special offer does not have a minimum (or maximum) quantity required for getting the 50% discount, so strike while it’s hot!

Please also note: this special offer is not available for any further discount to resale customers or Friends of PM.

See more about the month long sale here: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=8s7txxcab&v=001BowwB-ubI_EvWD4wecYddZoDUVdiFALeIyA8MbCGsa0w83HvGUY9Xy3laa1YYZ5mTB3h7Y3GkuMY8kxyl5LPFdoMGod9LnWa6FoNvKmEtKQ%3D

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NEWS & VIEWS

BOOK REVIEW – PETE SEEGER: “YOU STICK TOGETHER ’TIL IT’S WON”

By Kim Ruehl, YES! Magazine

When a pair of writers expressed interest in publishing Pete Seeger: In His Own Words, one of Seeger’s first requests was “Don’t make me out to be a saint.”

Banjo in hand, Seeger has championed causes from labor to civil rights to the environment, revived our oldest folk songs, and co-authored new folk classics like “If I Had a Hammer,” so the impulse to portray him as saintly is understandable.

He has considered, at every turn, what it means to sing out in a world where the din of injustice is often deafening. But his songs assert that to sing is to recognize the power of one’s own voice, to declare and defend its worth.

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CORPORATE CANADA SHAPING INEQUALITY – CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES

The latest study from our Growing Gap project, “A Shrinking Universe: How concentrated corporate power is shaping income inequality in Canada”, links the rise of the richest Canadians with a shift toward more concentrated power within the country’s largest corporations. The study finds that effectively 60 Canadian-based firms are dominating the push for corporate profits, and are accelerating the trend toward inequality.

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THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE RAND FORMULA

By Evert Hoogers, Donald Swartz and Rosemary Warskett, The Bullet

It has been widely reported that Pierre Poilievre, the Federal Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton, has launched a campaign to change the rules regarding the payment of union dues [See his November 2012 letter to his constituents]. The object of Mr. Poilievre’s ire is the “Rand Formula” – the union security clause found in most collective agreements and labour relations legislation in Canada. Under this formula, no employee in a unionized workplace is required to be a union member, but all have to pay union dues, with the employer deducting the money from the pay checks of all
employees and transferring it to the union.

This dues paying formula was created by Supreme Court Justice Ivan Rand in 1946 when settling a strike between the Ford Motor Company and its workers. At its core is the principle that all those who benefit from the negotiated collective agreement should pay union dues and that there should be no free riders.

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SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS: OUR SUFFERING IS THEIR ABUNDANCE

By Jack Gerson, Facts for Working People

Even before Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp swallowed the Wall Street Journal, that newspaper was renowned for its free marketer editorials and opinion pieces. Not only has this policy remained intact under Murdoch, but also the coverage of news and features is now fully in line with the right-wing
editorial policy.

So I was quite surprised a week ago to find, tucked away on page A-11 of the November 30 edition, a piece by the WSJ’s Stephen Fidler that actually hinted at the identity of the real beneficiaries of the bailouts and debt crises:

“Despite the complications, this week’s deal on Greece’s debt points to an (almost) iron rule of sovereign-debt crises: Significant losses fall on taxpayers in creditor countries because debt originally extended by private creditors, one way or another, ends up on the balance sheet of the public sector.”

This sounds eerily like the searing indictment of the bailout in a recent book by York University professor David McNally:

“In short, the bad bank debt that triggered the crisis in 2008 never went away – it was simply shifted on to governments. Private debt became public debt. And as the dimensions of that metamorphosis became apparent in early 2010, the bank crisis morphed into a sovereign debt crisis. Put differently, the economic crisis of 2008-9 did not really end. It simply changed form. It mutated.”

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JOIN THE MAYWORKS BOARD OF DIRECTORS!

Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is currently inviting applications to be considered for new Board members. We are a multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates working class culture. Founded in 1986 by the Labour Arts Media Committee of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Mayworks is Canada’s largest and oldest labour arts festival. The Festival was built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle for decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture.

For more information on Mayworks Toronto, please visit our website: http://mayworks.ca/

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TEN THOUSAND AGHAST AS ‘RIGHT TO WORK’ PASSES IN MICHIGAN

By Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes

Union protesters in front of the Michigan Capitol today knocked down an enormous tent erected by Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers-funded group that helped bring right to work to the state. State troopers arriving on horseback were helpless, bringing to mind images of Humpty Dumpty and all the king’s men.

Several dozen protesters were sitting down in the Capitol Rotunda, risking arrest, and more were outside the governor’s office. Three school districts were forced to close schools because so many teachers called off for the day.

Four giant inflatable rats in the 10,000-person crowd were named for prominent Republican politicians and their richest backer.

But despite the anger and the chants, the legislature made it official.

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

*****END*****

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 24th November 2012

November 25, 2012 – 3:29 pm
Posted in Activism, Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Economic History, Education, Higher Education, Libraries and Information, Neoliberalism, News and Politics, Politics, Work
Tagged Animals, Archives, Bears, Briarpatch, Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Christmas, Christmas Gift Ideas, Christmas Gifts, Education, Forests, Higher Education, OISE, Toronto, Wildlife
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Higher Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 24th NOVEMBER 2012

EVENTS

BOOK LAUNCH – SPEAKING UP: A HISTORY OF LANGUAGE AND POLITICS IN CANADA AND QUEBEC
7:00pm
Wednesday, December 5th
Gladstone Hotel (upstairs gallery)
1214 Queen St. West, Toronto

Speaking Up presents a wide overview of the history of the relationship between language and politics in Canada and Quebec from 1539 to the present.

A fascinating history of sound and fury, debates and struggles, tensions, but also of appeasement, Speaking Up traces the long history of the language issue. Nuanced and unbiased yet empathetic, it shows that language has been at the heart of this country’s political life for centuries. Speaking Up offers a fresh look at one of the great issues of our time. Translated from the multiple-award-winning Langue et politique au Canada et au Québec (Boréal, 2010).

As part of the book launch Between the Lines will be formally awarded the $10,000 Wilson Prize for Publishing Canadian History “for [our] record of invigorating and broadening the field of Canadian History.”

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COMMON THREAD COMMUNITY CHORUS FUNDRAISER FOR U.S. WAR RESISTERS AND THEIR ONGOING STRUGGLE

7pm
December 7th
Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto (2 Sussex at St. George)

U.S. War Resisters in Their Own Words. With special reading by author Noah Richler, Common Thread Community Chorus, a sneak preview of the new film “Peace Has No Borders” by filmmakers Denis Mueller and Deb Ellis, and a panel of US War resisters.

The War Resisters Support Campaign was founded in 2004 to assist U.S. military personnel who refused to participate in the Iraq war and came to Canada seeking asylum.

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BOOK LAUNCH & ART SALE – WORKING WOMEN AND THE CITY: CELEBRATING THE SUCCESSES OF IMMIGRANT WOMEN ACROSS TORONTO

6-8pm
Monday, November 26, 2012
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St West (at Gladstone Ave)

Book Launch – Making the City: Women Who Made a Difference A beautiful collection of stories that celebrates the inspiring lives of immigrant women across our city.

Art Sale: Purchase from a beautiful selection of paintings produced by talented working women.

Complimentary hors d’oeuvres ~ Cash bar No cover charge ~ Donations welcome

A special thanks to the premier event sponsor, Scotiabank (Bloor and Salem branch).

Working Women Community Centre is the proud host of this community event. As a non-profit charitable organization, we have been providing services to immigrant women throughout the city for over 35 years. All proceeds from this event benefit the immigrant women and their families who depend on the Working Women Community Centre.

For more information about what we do please visit http://www.workingwomencc.org

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EXHIBITION: MEMORIES OF RESISTANCE

Friday, November 16, 2012 – 12:00pm – Tuesday, November 27, 2012 – 6:00pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street, Toronto

A display of social justice materials from the Connexions Archive.

Connexions is a documentation project founded in 1975, known for its extensive online library of social justice documents at http://www.connexions.org. Connexions also maintains the Connexions Archive, a working archive powered by a team of volunteers who work on cataloguing its extensive and growing collection of social-justice-related books, periodicals, documents, and other materials from grassroots activist groups.

Beit Zatoun will feature an exhibition of materials from the CONNEXIONS ARCHIVE November 16 – 27, 2012.

Beit Zatoun: http://www.beitzatoun.org, 647-726-9500
Connexions: http://www.connexions.org, 416-964-1511

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NEWS & VIEWS

MADE IN CANADA: HOW THE LAW CONSTRUCTS MIGRANT WORKERS’ INSECURITY

By Fay Faraday, Metcalf Foundation

Canada’s reliance on low-wage migrant workers with temporary immigration status is growing but our laws make them vulnerable to abuse, says a new report written by Fay Faraday, Metcalf Innovation Fellow. Made in Canada: How the Law Constructs Migrant Workers’ Insecurity, shows that low-wage migrant workers are brought into Canada on terms that leave them open to exploitation. The report generated significant media response.

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THE LEARNING EDGE – NEWSLETTER OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF ADULT EDUCATION – FALL ISSUE

Highlights:
– Strategizing Publications: Suggestions for Graduate Students
– A Passion for Learning, a Passion for Life. Special Tribute to Paul Belanger
– New Book: Politics of Indignation – Imperialism, Postcolonial Disruptions and Social Change

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THE REAL COST OF THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO CUT THE COMMUNITY START-UP AND MAINTENANCE BENEFIT

The Wellesley Institute and ISAC, along with ACTO, the AOHC, Street Health, and the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, have partnered to produce a new report, “The Real Cost of Cutting the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit: A Health Equity Impact Assessment.” The report calls on the provincial government to halt the planned elimination of CSUMB and reinstate the $67 million in funding.

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CONVENTIONS OF LABOUR: MOVEMENT OR PARALYSIS?

By Dave Bleakney, Briarpatch Magazine

The status quo is not working for working people. Unions need to seriously overhaul the way they operate if they are to remain relevant. One key example that reveals the directionlessness and impotence of contemporary unions is the perennial convention charade where the organized labour movement convenes with the professed aims of advancing the interests of workers and improving society as a whole. If only this were the case.

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HOLIDAY GIFTS WITH A CONSCIENCE

BRIARPATCH – ORDER YOUR GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS!

It’s that time of year again, when malls become clogged with garish holiday décor and frenzied shoppers. If you’re like us, you might wish you could just skip the mayhem entirely, but still manage to find thoughtful, practical gifts for friends and family.

This year, why not get all your shopping done without ever setting foot in a mall… and help instigate a media revolution while you’re at it? Here’s how the Briarpatch Holiday Gift Offer works:

– Give 1 gift for only $24.95
– Give 2 gifts & get a 3rd gift FREE!
– Give 5 gifts for the absurdly low price of $64.95!

Placing your order before Thursday, December 13 will help ensure that your gifts arrive before the holidays, so please respond soon! Just call 1-866-431-5777 or email publisher@briarpatchmagazine.com to place your order. Payment can be made by credit card or billed at a later date.

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INSTEAD OF MORE STUFF, GIVE HOLIDAY GIFTS THAT PROTECT CANADA’S WILDLIFE

The holiday season is quickly approaching – before you know it, we’ll be baking cookies, decking halls, and dreading the endless lines and exhausting crowds of the mall.

This year, you can skip the hassle and give your loved ones something more meaningful than another sweater that doesn’t fit or book they’ll never read.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Gifts of Canadian Nature symbolize what this amazing organization has accomplished over the last 50 years, coast to coast. From grizzly bear habitat in the west where mountain valleys are bisected by rushing rivers to the boreal forests of the east that house the elusive Canada lynx, these gifts celebrate all that we’ve achieved and all we still can do together.

There’s a price to fit every budget – from $40 to protect an acre of Canadian wilderness to $400 for a very special gift of caribou habitat. Each gift includes a certificate that can be personalized with the recipient’s name and include a full-colour calendar printed in Canada with vegetable-based ink on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper.

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GIFTS THAT MATTER – THE STOP COMMUNITY FOOD CENTRE

Looking for a meaningful holiday gift for your staff, clients, friends, teachers or anyone else on your list this year? We’ve got you covered.

By making a $25 donation to The Stop Community Food Centre, you can purchase a food hamper for a family in need on behalf of the special people on your list. We’ll send them a lovely card saying that you’ve done so. Imagine… stress free holiday shopping that makes a difference.

Give a gift that matters today. Contact danielle@thestop.org or 416-652-7867 ext. 225.

You’ll receive a tax receipt for your entire gift, and know that your gifts are helping to fight hunger and poverty in the city.

Please note: we must receive your list of names no later than December 10^th to ensure delivery of your card prior to December 25th.

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BRAVE NEW FILMS – 5TH ANNIVERSARY DVD BOX SET

Since 2005, we’ve been fighting for a more just America with such films as Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Have you seen them all? Do you know a passionate activist that would love our work? We have our first five years of videos compiled into one big box set including the ones mentioned above PLUS Iraq for Sale, Rethink Afghanistan and hundreds of shorts. And you get the full length doc Koch Brothers Exposed. This is the perfect gift for a like-minded friend or family member this holiday season!

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 17th November 2012

November 21, 2012 – 3:47 pm
Posted in Books, Centre for Education and Work, Critical and Radical Pedagogy, Critical Education, Economic History, Film, Higher Education, Marxism, News and Politics, Politics
Tagged Alain Badiou, Capitalist Crisis, Costas Lapavitsas, David Harvey, David McNally, Debtocracy, Die Linke, Education, Employment, Fil, Gerard Dumenil, Greek Crisis, Higher Education, Hugo Arias, Labour, Marketization, Markets, Marxism, Monsters of the Market, OISE, Race, Radical Cinema, Radical Fims, Selma James, Sex, social class, Toronto, Vampires, Work
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Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 17th NOVEMBER 2012

EVENTS

FREE SCREENING OF “DEBTOCRACY”

Friday, December 7, 2012
7:30pm until 10:00pm
Centre of Gravity Circus Training Studios
1300 Gerrard Street East, Toronto

Event organized by: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Cinema.Politica.Danforth

“Debtocracy” (Greek: hreokratía) seeks the causes of the debt crisis and proposes solutions sidelined by the government and the dominant media.

Aris Chatzistefanou and Katerina Kitidi discuss with economists, journalists and intellectuals from all over the world, who describe the steps that led Greece to the current debt trap – to debtocracy. The documentary follows the course of countries like Ecuador, which created Audit Commissions, and tracks the similar process in Greece.

Debtocracy features the academics David Harvey, Samir Amin, Costas Lapavitsas and Gerard Dumenil; the philosopher Alain Badiou; the head of Ecuador’s Audit Commission Hugo Arias; the president of CADTM Eric Toussaint; journalists like Canadian Avi Lewis (co-creator of the documentary “The Take”) and Jean Quatremer; as well as public figures like Manolis Glezos and Sahra Wagenknecht (from the German party Die Linke).

To be followed by a panel discussion!

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BOOK LAUNCH OF “MONSTERS OF THE MARKET: ZOMBIES, VAMPIRES AND GLOBAL CAPITALISM”

Tuesday, December 4, 2012
7:30pm
The Gladstone Hotel (in the Ballroom)
1214 Queen Street West, Toronto

A night to celebrate the launch (in paperback) of David McNally’s “Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism” and the book’s receipt of the 2012 Deutscher Prize. With MCs Faria Kamal and Alan Sears, remarks from Himani Bannerji and talk and short reading by David.

Drawing on folklore, literature and popular culture, this book links tales of monstrosity from England to recent vampire- and zombie-fables from sub-Saharan Africa, and it connects these to Marx’s persistent use of monster-metaphors in his descriptions of capitalism. Reading across these tales of the grotesque, McNally offers a novel account of the cultural economy of the global market-system.

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BOOK LAUNCH & PUBLIC LECTURE – “SEX, RACE AND CLASS: THE PERSPECTIVE OF WINNING (A SELECTION OF WRITINGS 1952-2011)”

Monday Nov. 26
7:00 p.m.
George Ignatieff Theatre
Trinity College, 15 Devonshire Place, Toronto

In 1972, Selma James set out a new political perspective. Her starting point was the millions of unwaged women who, working in the home and on the land, were not seen as “workers” and their struggles viewed as outside of the class struggle.

For James, the class struggle presents itself as the conflict between the reproduction and survival of the human race, and the domination of the market with its exploitation, wars, and ecological devastation. She sums up her strategy for change as “Invest in Caring not Killing.”

This selection, spanning almost six decades, traces the development of this perspective in the course of building an international campaigning network.

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CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: TORONTO

November 24-25, 2012
2:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Ave., Toronto

Take in a series of labour-related films at CLiFF-Toronto, a film festival that seeks to tell the stories of workers (unionised and non-unionised) and those who seek justice on the job and dignity in their workplace. The festival is platform for stories that have been made into films, but cannot find an audience beyond the film makers’ own circle of influence.

The film We Are Wisconsin (http://wearewisconsinthefilm.com/) will be playing on Saturday, November 24.

Additional films are also being shown on Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, 2012.

Download the program for a full list of films and for alternate locations: http://labourfilms.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TorontoProgram22OctB.pdf

Further details are available on the CLiFF website: http://labourfilms.ca/

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TALK: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE NEW ATTACK ON CANADIAN UNIONS

Monday, Dec. 3
2:30-4:30 p.m.
Ross Bldg., Room S674 (Verney Room)
York University, Toronto

With Andrew Jackson, Packer Chair for Social Justice, York University

Part of “Dispatches from the Global Labour Movement” series, sponsored by York University’s:
– The Centre for Research on Work and Society
– Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy
– Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender and Work
– Work and Labour Studies Program
– The Department of Political Science
– The Department of Social Science

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NEWS & VIEWS

CHORUS OF WARNINGS GROW: ‘SAY NO TO US AUSTERITY’

by Common Dreams staff

As President Obama and Washington lawmakers embarked on fiscal negotiations to address federal budget concerns and the impacts of a stubborn economic recovery, nearly 350 prominent economists, under the banner “Jobs, Not Austerity,” issued a statement warning that the “obsessive concern with cutting deficits that has infected both parties” is a serious threat to making sound economic policy decisions in Washington.

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TOP LABOUR STORIES THIS WEEK: FROM EUROPE’S GENERAL STRIKE TO MIGRANT WORKERS’ PLIGHT IN CANADA

by Lori Theresa Waller, rabble.ca

It’s been a significant week for the labour movement worldwide, with an unprecedented multi-national general strike yesterday in Europe. So we feel like it’s an appropriate time for us to launch a new weekly feature, recapping the top stories from the labour movement. Each week top labour
stories will be compiled and summarized by our new labour reporter, Lori Theresa Waller. If you have a suggestion for next week’s list, contact lori@rabble.ca

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VIDEO: LARRY ROUSSEAU AT OFL EQUITY CONFERENCE

by rabbleTV

Larry Rousseau speaks at Ontario Federation of Labour’s Equity Conference
9-11 November 2012.

Watch the video: http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2012/11/best-net/larry-rousseau-ofl-equity-conference

For more information, please visit http://ofl.ca/index.php/equity2012/ and http://psac-ncr.com

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HOW CHICAGO TEACHERS GOT ORGANIZED TO STRIKE

by Labor Notes

The seven-day Chicago Teachers Union strike in September beat back a mayor bent on imposing very bad “education reforms.” But how? The win was possible because of years of patient organizing, focused on getting members to step up.

INTERNS, UNITE! (YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE – LITERALLY)

by Greig de Peuter, Nicole Cohen, Enda Brophy, Briarpatch Magazine If decent, full-time work is getting harder to come by, the same can’t be said for internships, whether unpaid or barely paid.

Unpaid interns frequently perform work that used to be done by entry-level paid staff, and are also denied access to labour protections and benefits extended to traditional workers. More importantly, few people can afford to work for free. If doing an unpaid internship persists as an obligatory rung on today’s shaky career ladder, the professions drawing on this system will be transformed to favour those from wealthier backgrounds. Beyond parents (not all of whom can remortgage to support their 22-year-old’s cashless gig in an expensive city), subsidies come from personal loans or part-time jobs. “Paying your dues” is a lazy cliché rather than an ethical argument for why it’s acceptable for young people to donate their labour. From street protests to online campaigns, the emerging intern activism is one part of the wider effort by fresh actors to reformat labour politics for precarious times.

Read the full story here: http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/interns-unite-you-have-nothing-to-lose-literally

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

****END****

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

The Individuality Pr♥test: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transcontinental/the-individuality-prtest

I Love Transcontinental: http://ihearttranscontinental.blogspot.co.uk/

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 11th November 2012

November 11, 2012 – 8:02 pm
Posted in Art, Centre for Education and Work, Critical Education, Education, Education Activism, Employment and Unemployment, Higher Education, New Media, News and Politics, Work, Youth
Tagged Art, Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Cinema, College, Education, Film, Music, New Media, OISE, Online Teaching, Radical Art, Revolutionary Art, Social Work, Teaching, Toronto, Universities, Welfare, Welfare State
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 11th NOVEMBER 2012

EVENTS

PUBLIC LECTURE: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WELFARE STATE

Thursday, November 15, 2012
6:30pm
Ryerson University, Room 508
285 Victoria Street, Toronto

In an age of government imposed austerity, and after 30 years of neoliberal restructuring, the future of the welfare state looks increasingly uncertain. Asbjørn Wahl offers an accessible analysis of the situation across Europe, identifies the most important challenges and presents practical proposals for combating the assault on welfare.

Wahl argues that the welfare state should be seen as the result of a class compromise forged in the 20th century, which means that it cannot easily be exported internationally. He considers the enormous shifts in power relations and the profound internal changes to the welfare state which have occurred during the neoliberal era, pointing to the paradigm shift that the welfare state is going through. This is illustrated by the shift from welfare to workfare and increased top-down control.

Asbjørn Wahl is an adviser to the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees and director of the Campaign for the Welfare State in Norway. He serves as Vice President of the Road Transport Workers’ Section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Chair of the ITF Working Group on Climate Change. He is also a member of the coordinating committee of the European Social Forum. He has published a number of articles on politics, social and labor both in Norway and internationally.

His most recent publication is The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State (Pluto Press, London, November 2011 – http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745331409).

Sponsored by MA Program in Public Policy and Administration at Ryerson, Centre for Social Justice, Socialist Project. Contact: Bryan Evans, b1evans@politics.ryerson.ca or phone 416 979-5000 ext 4199.

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THE ART OF POLITICS AND THE PERSONAL: LOOKING AT THE PAINTINGS OF FRIDA KAHLO AND DIEGO RIVERA

Sunday, November 18, 2012
4:00pm – 6:00pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto,
Room 7192
252 Bloor St. West (at St. George subway)

Introduced by Brian Donnelly – Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design, Sheridan College

Revolutionaries and socialists often yearn for an authentic, political art that can resist and even stand outside a monstrous, mimetic, commodity culture. The Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are often called on to fill that need. Modern painters from the early 20th Century, they explored the new forms and imagery possible in painting, working in styles from surrealism to socialist realism, creating small autobiographical works for themselves and giant murals done for the wealthiest patrons in the world. Their work is rich, warm, and rewarding to look at, but it also suggests many contradictions and questions.

This talk will look at some of the methods by which art is discussed from a Marxist perspective, beginning with “Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art,” signed by Andre Breton and Diego Rivera (and involving considerable input from Leon Trotsky). By looking at the questions we ask about art and its objects, we can try to separate what is living from what is commodified and alienated in contemporary, visual culture.

AND….TOUR THE SHOW: People interested in the subject may also meet as a group at the Art Gallery of Ontario, at 1 pm on the Sunday before the talk, to tour the show, “Frida and Diego: Passion Politics and Painting.” It costs $25 (free to AGO members), and you should book a ticket online well in advance, to avoid disappointment.

If you RSVP BY THE 12th, we can book this as a group; we don’t have to pay in advance, and there is likely a discount. Indicate your interest to brian.donnelly@sheridanc.on.ca, and Brian will submit the official form and book spaces. http://www.ago.net/frida-diego-passion-politics-and-painting

From Brian Donnelly: People can tour the exhibition at their own speed; they recommend at least a half hour or more. The gallery does not permit non-employees to lead loud group tours on their own, and I won’t offer to do much more in the gallery than chat with people who approach me. We can arrange to meet for coffee between the tour and the talk, and begin the discussion then. I would enjoy focusing the talk based on what people have noticed and the questions they ask.

Organized by Ideas Left Out

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CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – SPECIAL SCREENING

Sunday, November 25, 2012
1:30pm – 4:30pm
PSAC Office
90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 608
Toronto, Ontario

CLiFF is a labour oriented Film Festival dedicated to telling the stories of working people in our own words and images. CLiFF and PSAC are partnering to show four short films along with the film “We Are Wisconsin” to raise awareness of the devastating social impact of the austerity agenda on working people and indigenous peoples.

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2ND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION (ISLC 2013): EXPLORING NOVELTIES

Izmir, Turkey
June 17-19, 2013

Timeline:
– Deadline for extensive abstracts – 20 February 2013
– Full paper submission deadline – 1 April 2013
– Revised draft submission deadline – 15 April 2013
– Anticipated publication date – June 2013
– The registration deadline is – May 30, 201
– Anticipated publication date for late submissions – September 2013

The Second International Symposium on Language and Communication: Exploring novelties (ISLC-2013) will be held on June 17-19, 2013 at Ege University Ataturk Culture Center, Izmir, Turkey. The ISLC-2013 provides an opportunity for exploring many different facets of interdisciplinary language and communication fields.

The aims of the Institute of Language and Communication Studies (ILCS) include the followings: a) fostering research in the area of interdisciplinary language and communication, and b) promoting cooperation among all parts within the field. The ISLC’13 offers a forum for those inside and outside academia to exchange pedagogical and research methods, as well as to explore greater cooperation among the many different constituencies of the field.

For more information: http://www.inlcs.org/

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NEWS & VIEWS

ONLINE TEACHING SURVEY ON WORKING CONDITIONS

The Online Teaching Working Group, and COCAL (Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor) request your help in surveying all faculty who teach online. We suspect that most people who teach on line do so as contingents (non-tenure-track). As higher education goes through rapid changes, this is likely to be the workforce and delivery system of the future.

The purpose of the survey is to collect information on wages and working conditions leading to possible organizing for improvements. We are not looking for a random sample in order to do anything quantitative. We are looking to find out what’s out there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to identify examples of “the good, the bad and the ugly” which will enable us to have an informed discussion of labor standards for online teaching. We will report back at the conference in Toronto.

Feel free to spread the link to any relevant lists or individuals.

If you do not want your name on your reply, just type in random letters in the “What is your name?” box. No individual names will appear in the final (or draft) report and no raw data will be circulated outside the committee that is working on this.

However, we DO need the name of your institution, the one through which you are teaching the class with the working conditions that you are describing.

Here’s the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6WWJL2JOnLineTeaching

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CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS – JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN SOCIAL WORK – DISTANCE LEARNING AND ONLINE EDUCATION

Special Issue on Distance Learning and Online Education
Submission deadline: January 31, 2012

The Journal of Teaching in Social Work plans to publish a Special Issue on Distance Learning and Online Education in 2013. In this regard, we invite manuscripts that address all aspects pertaining to professional social work online, distance, and virtual instruction leading to an accredited BSW, MSW, or DSW degree, and continuing education toward social work specialization certification or licensure renewal. Preferred manuscripts will be those that provide a systematic and rigorous formative or summative assessment of current initiatives or offer a detailed and conceptually focused description and rationale for prospective programs.

Topics might well include the following:
• Synchronous and asynchronous instruction
• Simulcast classes deploying ITV online
• Live, interactive web-based class and training sessions
• Interactive video technologies and programmed instruction
• Skype-based seminars, faculty advising, and video conferencing
• Hybrid courses using web-based platforms
• Alternative virtual academic degree-centered educational conceptualizations
• Assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the pursuit of online (versus) residential degrees
• Effectiveness of providing licensure-mandated courses and examinations via distance learning
• Outcome evaluation of graduates’ preparation for practice, including comparative performance on licensing exams

Submit Manuscripts Via Scholar One – It’s Easy

Journal of Teaching in Social Work receives all manuscript submissions electronically via their ScholarOne Manuscripts website located at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/WTSW. Questions regarding the requirements for manuscript submission for this Special Issue can be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief at: jtsw@hunter.cuny.edu.

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E. COLI IS SIGN OF A SICK SYSTEM: MY DAYS WORKING AT ALBERTA’S XL MEAT-PACKING PLANT

by Christopher Walke, rabble.ca

The major recall of E. coli contaminated meat from XL doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

There may be some substance to calls for greater regulation and the resignation of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. But there is a deeper problem that no one in the elite media seems capable of addressing: the sweatshop working conditions at XL. I know it from personal experience.

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POVERTY POCKETS GROWING IN SUBURBS

by Noor Javed, Toronto Star

Behind the sprawling subdivisions and glossy condo towers being built in the GTA are the people who go unnoticed: The homeowner working two jobs to pay his mortgage, the single mother living in a basement apartment or the newcomer sharing a home with another family — or two.

But policy makers and charitable organizations stress that because the problem is invisible, doesn’t mean it is non-existent.

In fact, it not only exists but in some cases — Markham-Unionville, Mississauga-Cooksville and Bramalea-Gore-Malton —poverty rates and child poverty rates are higher than the provincial average.

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WALMART WORKERS AND COMMUNITY ALLIES WIN ANOTHER FREE SPEECH BATTLE AGAINST WALMART

A UFCW Canada Human Rights Department Release

Despite Walmart’s best efforts, a new website called walmartat50.com (http://www.walmartat50.com) will continue rallying people online to urge Walmart to become a socially responsible employer. As Walmart celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the company is telling customers and communities a one-sided story about its business and values.

In response, walmartat50.com, launched by Making Change at Walmart, showcases the real stories of Walmart retail associates, customers, community members and those working in the company’s production and supply chains throughout the world, which offer a more complete story that Walmart
won’t tell.

The World Intellectual Property Organization recently ruled that the campaign can retain its domain names Walmartat50.com, walmartat50.com, walmartat50.net and walmartat50.org.

This latest freedom of speech win for Walmart workers, supporters and their communities follows a similar victory in 2010, when the company tried to force an injunction against the Walmart Workers Canada website.

To find out more about the Making Change at Walmart campaign, go to http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/

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ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):

Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

For more information about CSEW, visit: http://www.csew.ca

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski

Tag Archives: Toronto

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 23rd September 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 2nd April 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 23rd February 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 5th February 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 13th January 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 5th January 2013

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 16th December 2012

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 24th November 2012

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