Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 30th September 2013

Educating from Marx

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 30th SEPTEMBER 2013

EVENTS

MAYWORKS FESTIVAL OF WORKING PEOPLE AND THE ARTS PRESENTS THE 2ND ANNUAL MIN SOOK LEE LABOUR ARTS AWARDS GALA

Saturday, November 23, 2013
Steelworkers Hall
25 Cecil Street, Toronto

6 pm:  Cocktails
7 pm: Dinner
8 pm: Awards

Silent Auction
Four Course Dinner – East African Community Association (Veggie, Vegan, Gluten Free Options)
Entertainment by Friends of Mayworks

Award Winners will be announced the first week of November! Deadline for nominations is October 25. See http://www.mayworks.ca for details.

Tickets: $50 each; $25 students, unemployed/underemployed
There are a limited number of subsidized tickets available
Don’t miss out!! Book your tickets today!!

To pay for tickets online please visit http://www.mayworks.ca to find the “Donate” button on the bottom left hand corner of the page. You will receive an email confirmation of your donation of $50 or $25 as well as your ticket information. To book your tickets or to request a ticket order form, please call 416.561.3163 or email minsookleeawards@gmail.com

+++++

THE GREG PAVELICH MEMORIAL PUBLIC FORUM ON EDUCATION

Tuesday, Oct. 1
7 p.m.
519 Community Centre Ballroom
519 Church St., Toronto

This special event commemorates 10 years since the passing of Greg Pavelich, an out proud gay activist, labour rights supporter and teacher among many other community development roles. To recognize his numerous contributions to the LGBTQ communities, Queer Ontario hosts this Public Forum on Education, a topic Greg was so passionate about.

Topics to be discussed:
– Updating Sex Ed. Curriculum
– Post-Secondary Education of Professionals (Teachers) on Queer Issues
– One School System for Ontario
– Implementation of Bills 13 and 33

Panelists:
Michelle Bourgeois (Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf), Mark Daye (Toronto Centre Candidate, Green Party of Ontario), Gary Kinsman (Queer Liberation and Anti-Capitalist Activist, Academic and Author), J Wallace (Gender Based Violence Prevention Program – TDSB) Moderator: Nick Mulé (Chairperson, Queer Ontario)

+++++

REBEL FILMS PRESENTS: THE SPIRIT OF ’45

94 minutes, 2013
Ken Loach, director

Friday, October 4
7 p.m.
OISE, 252 Bloor St. West, Room 2-214
(St. George Subway Station)

Everyone welcome. $4 donation requested.

1945 was a pivotal year in British history. The unity that carried Britain through the war allied to the bitter memories of the inter-war years led to a vision of a better society. The spirit of the age was to be our brother’s and our sister’s keeper. Director Ken Loach has used film from Britain’s regional and national archives, alongside sound recordings and contemporary interviews, to create a rich political and social narrative.

“The achievements of the ‘45 Labour government have largely been written out of our history. From near economic collapse we took leading industries into public ownership and established the Welfare State. Generosity, mutual support and co-operation were the watch words of the age. It is time to remember the determination of those who were intent on building a better world.” – Ken Loach, director

Leading off the discussion will be Toronto SA member Valerie Lamb, who grew up in England in the 1940s and 50s, and Barry Weisleder, Canada editor of SA newspaper.

Presented by Toronto Socialist Action, http://www.socialistaction.ca or call 416-461-6942 or 647-986-1917

+++++

3RD ANNUAL RYERSON SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK

Rebuilding the “We” – This is What Solidarity Looks Like

October 7 – 11, 2012
Ryerson University, Toronto

For a complete list of events, click here:
http://www.ryerson.ca/socialjustice/events/index.html

+++++

SOCIALISM THEORY AND PRACTICE SERIES: UNDERSTANDING GLOBALIZATION

Saturday, Oct 19
7:00 pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham St. (Bathurst & Bloor), Toronto

Talks by Sam Gindin and David McNally. First of a 3-part series organized by the Education Committee of the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly (GTWA).

+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

NEW BOOK – NEW FORMS OF WORKER ORGANIZATION: THE SYNDICALIST AND AUTONOMIST RESTORATION OF CLASS STRUGGLE UNIONISM

Edited by Manny Ness, with a foreword by Staughton Lynd

“This remarkable international collection shows working-class power being built from the ground up by rank-and-file workers self-organizing to create new forms of autonomous, democratic organizations. Grounded in a reclamation of histories from earlier struggles, a strong critique of bureaucratic unionism, and an unapologetically anti-capitalist framework, it offers fresh, compelling analyses, vital conceptual tools – and hope – for the local and global fight for freedom from exploitation, today and tomorrow.” – Aziz Choudry, Assistant Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University

For more info: http://www.workerorganization.org/

+++++

REPORT – DEGREES OF UNCERTAINTY: HOW AFFORDABLE IS TUITION IN YOUR PROVINCE

A new CCPA (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) report tracks the affordability of university education across Canadian provinces. The study looks at trends in tuition and compulsory fees in Canada since 1990, projects fees for each province for the next four years, and ranks the provinces on affordability for median- and low-income families using a Cost of Learning Index.

Average tuition and compulsory fees in Canada have tripled since 1990, and according to the study, Ontario is the province with the highest fees and will see its tuition and other fees climb from $8,403 this fall to an estimated $9,517 in 2016-17. Newfoundland and Labrador remains the province with the lowest compulsory fees of $2,872 this fall, rising to an estimated $2,886 in 2016-17.

Read the full report, Degrees of Uncertainty: Navigating the changing terrain of university finance, to find out more: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/degrees-uncertainty

+++++

PODCAST – UNIFOR INTERVIEW SERIES: ROXANNE DUBOIS ON COMMUNITY CHAPTERS

In our third installment of the Unifor Interview Series with union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members, we speak with Roxanne Dubois about Unifor’s Community Chapters. Roxanne is a staff member of the CEP and now Unifor, and is a former chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. She presented a discussion paper on community chapters at the Unifor convention.

Read the discussion paper: http://rankandfile.ca/2013/09/14/unifor-interview-series-roxanne-dubois-on-community-chapters/

Listen to the podcast: http://www.newunionconvention.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/676-Union-Citizenship-web-ENG.pdf

+++++

CALL FOR PAPERS – THE LABOUR MOVEMENT AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: THE ALBERTA LABOUR HISTORY CONFERENCE, 2014

The labour movement has a long history of working alongside or against a wide variety of other social and political movements: from the anti-Fascist popular front to the Latin American solidarity campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s, from the women’s movement to LGBTQ movement today, from anti-nukes to environmental movements, from human rights campaigns in the 1940s and 1950s to Idle No More today. The Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI) conference of 18-21 June, 2014, wants to investigate this past, present and future of labour’s interaction with other social movements in Canada and beyond.

We are looking for people or groups interested in taking part in one of four categories on the theme of labour’s interaction with other social movements, past, present and future. We encourage papers and presentations from any perspective, including those that may be critical of labour in the past or present. We also encourage potential presenters to take a broad view of social movements, defining them as you like.

The categories are:
– Academic presentations of 15-20 minutes of length by students, established academics or others.
–  Oral history participants who want to tell their own story on the theme in 10 minutes.
– Films up to 20 minutes in length.
– Museum-style displays that can be shipped to Edmonton and put up for public display during the length of the conference.

Interested presenters should send a statement of interest or abstract and brief bio or c.v. to ALHI@labourhistory.ca by 15 November, 2013 for inclusion in the program. All proposals will be peer-reviewed by a panel of academics and labour activists, and selected presenters will be informed by the end of November.

+++++

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL MIN SOOK LEE LABOUR ARTS AWARDS

Sponsored by the Mayworks Festival for Working People and the Arts

Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is inviting nominations for the 2013 Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Awards. The awards are given by Mayworks to recognize significant contributions to the arts and labour movement in three categories:

– Labour Activists who have used the arts to promote the values of the labour and social justice movements;
– Artists who have captured the values of labour and social justice in their art;
– Labour unions who have used the arts to engage their membership in different ways, for example in strike prep, or for picket lines or campaigns.

Deadline to submit nominations: October 25, 2013

Download the Nomination Form at: http://mayworks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2013NominationApplicationMinSookLeeAwards.doc and submit by the above deadline. Please email minsookleeawards@gmail.com for more information.

+++++

JOB POSTINGS

TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITION IN ADULT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Responsibilities include teaching graduate level courses in the ALD Program, advising graduate students, and supervising student internships, portfolio projects and doctoral dissertations. The ALD faculty seeks an individual who will expand and/or add strength to our existing competencies. 

Minimum Qualifications:
– Earned Doctorate in Adult Education and/or related field by August 2014, with research interests in one or more of the following areas: adult learning and development, critical/participatory pedagogy, training and instructional design, technology and adult learners, adult literacy, medical education, online learning, and/or other related areas.
– Experience in teaching and/or working with adult learners
– Evidence of capacity for scholarly activity
– Experience teaching and/or developing online instruction

November 15, 2013 is the closing date for applications. For more info, visit:
https://hrjobs.csuohio.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1380505914162

+++++

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR – ADULT AND LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

The Adult and Lifelong Learning faculty are seeking candidates to fill a 100% Assistant Professor, 9-month tenure-track position in our program. We welcome candidates who embrace the scholar-practitioner approach to integrating theory, research, and practice with teaching and professional service. The ideal candidate will demonstrate significant experience working with diverse adult populations and agencies that administer adult and lifelong learning programs, possess highly developed research and teaching skills, and be able to partner with individuals and organizations to provide outreach and applied research opportunities for students and faculty.

Minimum Requirements:
– An earned doctorate in adult and lifelong learning or related discipline.
– Demonstrated record of peer reviewed publication.
– Ability to teach graduate students using online technologies.
– Demonstrated proficiency in research methodology and the ability to supervise dissertation research.
– An explicit and comprehensive research agenda related to adult and lifelong learning.

For more info: http://hr.uark.edu/jobdetails.asp?ListingID=7027

+++++

TWO ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITIONS AT ERIUM, UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL

The School of Industrial Relations at University of Montreal (École de relations industrielles de l’Université de Montréal – ERIUM) invites applications for two tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant Professor level with tenure to begin June 2014. One position with a specialisation in Human Resource Management and the other with a specialisation in Labor Relations.

For more information: http://eri.umontreal.ca/departement/nouvelles-evenements/deux-postes-de-professeurs-a-pourvoir-a-leri-en-g-7141/

ERIUM is one of the major centres for the study of work and employment in North America, bringing together specialists in the areas of human resource management, labour relations, labour law, labour economics, public policies on work and employment, health and safety at work, and comparative employment relations. The teaching staff is made of 24 full-time professors and 20 sessional or part-time adjunct staff. ERIUM offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs all specialised in Industrial Relations to more than a thousand students (675 undergraduate; 375 graduate).

To learn more about ERIUM:
http://eri.umontreal.ca/departement/more-information-about-us/

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

ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):
Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

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

 

**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 September 2013

Global Economic Crisis

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

EVENTS

TORONTO SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE LAUNCH PARTY
Monday, September 2
8pm
The 460, 460 Spadina Ave, Toronto

Join the Toronto IWW in celebrating the launch of our Solidarity Committee, which will be supporting workers fighting back against bad bosses, stolen wages and other workplace issues that affect precarious workers.

The event will feature music, a brief discussion of the Solidarity Committee and its organizing model, and guest speakers.

For more info: http://torontoiww.org/

+++++

BOOK LAUNCH – THE NEW COMMUNE-IST MANIFESTO: WORKERS OF THE WORLD, IT REALLY IS TIME TO UNITE

Monday Sept. 2 — 7 pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St., Toronto

By Ernesto (Ernie) Raj Peshkov-Chow; Published by RED/Fernwood, September 2013

The union movement and the Left have lost their vision of the way forward. Some key questions are asked, but no answers are forthcoming that resonate with the billions of people who comprise today’s working class. What is the alternative to capitalism? How do we get there, wherever there is?

For more info: http://www.newcommuneist.com
Or http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

Sponsored by: Beit Zatoun, International Socialists, Socialist Action and Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly

+++++

DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS: SOLIDARITY ACTION IN TORONTO WITH DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS (DPAC) WEEK OF ACTION IN THE UK

Tuesday, September 3
12pm
777 Bay Street, Toronto

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is holding a week of action to challenge austerity and brutal attacks on disabled people being carried out by the Cameron Government. We are rallying outside the British Consulate to show our support and build for our own struggles in Ontario as ODSP comes under attack.

For more info: http://update.ocap.ca/node/1093

+++++

OCCUPY ECONOMICS TORONTO WORKSHOP: THE CORPORATE SYSTEM OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Tuesday, Sep. 3
6:00 – 9:00 pm.
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St., Toronto
Event is free

At the height of the Colonial Period, the Western powers  in a number of trading enclaves around the world enjoyed what was called ‘extraterritorial power’: their citizens and commercial enterprises were governed by the colonial powers own legal systems and not the host nations.

At the moment the sisterhood of multinational corporations (today including state-owned Chinese multinationals) are replicating such a system, established under the guise of a set of international trade agreements with so-called ‘investor protection’ clauses. Modelled on NAFTA’s chapter 11, they will triumph corporate profit over environment protection, human rights, fight for gender equality, for labour rights, etc. National and local legislation will be superseded by board of arbitrators.

We must wake up the Canadian people up to the implications of this sacrifice on the altar of corporate profit maximization.

For more info: http://occupyeconomics.ca/

+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

THE RADICAL TRADITION OF AUTOWORKERS: AN INTERVIEW WITH GREG SHOTWELL

By Andy Piascik, Z Magazine

The sit-down strike by General Motors workers in the winter of 1936-37 was one of the galvanizing events in U.S. labor history. Similarly, the efforts of the primarily African-American autoworkers of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) sparked the resurgence of rank and file militancy in the late 1960s and 1970s. In more recent years, the New Directions caucus and Soldiers of Solidarity carried on the radical tradition in the United Automobile Workers.

Gregg Shotwell was active in both New Directions and SOS for much of his 30 years working at General Motors, during which time the UAW’s rolls fell from 1.5 million members to 382,513. He published “Live Bait and Ammo,” a boisterous newsletter that regularly skewered management as well as official union passivity.

In this interview, Shotwell talks about the onslaught of auto management, the decline of the UAW, and the efforts of autoworkers to resist both.

Read more: http://www.zcommunications.org/the-radical-tradition-of-autoworkers-by-andy-piascik.html

+++++

UNION WAGE ADVANTAGE GROWS BY $1.71 PER HOUR

By Doug Allan, Leftwords

The gap between union and non-union wages in Ontario has grown significantly since the start of the recession in 2008, increasing by $1.71 per hour, Statistics Canada data indicates.

The hourly union advantage grew by 34 cents per hour each year on average. For a full time worker, that means the advantage for having union coverage in your workplace is growing by about $663 per year.

Compared to five years ago, that means the union wage advantage for an employee working full time hours has grown by $3,334 per year.

Read more: http://ochuleftwords.blogspot.ca/2013/08/union-wage-advantage-grows-by-171-per.html

+++++

SCHOOL4CIVICS – PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN ON POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

By Alejandra Bravo, The Maytree Foundation

When we put out a call in April to be part of our upcoming series of School4Civics boot camps, workshops and networking events, we were pleased to see the broad interest in getting involved in political life. People who get involved in politics are some of our most engaged, committed and civic-minded neighbours. Most of them have already been active in their communities, volunteering, sitting on boards, and contributing in other ways. When they get involved in politics, they are really putting themselves and their families out there in a way that most people can’t imagine.

Read more: http://diversecitytoronto.ca/blog/school4civics-pulling-back-the-curtain-on-political-engagement/

+++++

CALL FOR PAPERS/PROPOSALS – IDEA JOURNAL 2014

Design Activism: Developing Models, Modes and Methodologies of Practice

Academics, research students and practitioners are invited to submit design research papers and critical project works that engage interior design/interior architecture theory and practice with the topic of Design Activism: Developing Models, Modes and Methodologies of Practice for the Idea Journal 2014.

The living conditions of First Nations communities, food-security concerns, access to clean safe water, domestic violence – seemingly disparate subjects can be, and are being, connected to interior design teaching and practice. Such issues are particularly linked to the ongoing discussions of designers working within the new global design paradigm. There is evidence that a range of worthwhile initiatives have been undertaken by design professionals who choose to pursue socially responsible practices, and by educators and practitioners who are intentionally shifting away from a focus on pure
aesthetics and market-driven practices.

Dissatisfied with what they perceive as an over-emphasis by the design community on aesthetics, and its failure to meaningfully address the design needs of at-risk and low-income communities, several academics and practitioners have started to incorporate social-justice issues into their design research and teaching – while a number of independent design practitioners are involving themselves in activism.

The Idea Journal accepts: design research papers, refereed studios, project reviews, visual essays, book & exhibition reviews.

Authors are invited to register their interest in submitting a paper on the form following and forward by email to the Executive Editor, Suzie Attiwill by 21 October 2013. Registration of interest is not refereed. The acknowledgement of registration facilitates development of a proposal to full research paper, refereed studio, visual essay or project review by providing formatting guidelines and publication standards to registrants.

Email: IDEAJournal2014@gmail.com
Website: http://idea-edu.com/journal/2014-idea-journal/

+++++

CALL FOR PAPERS: 2014 CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR WORK AND LABOUR STUDIES (CAWLS) INAUGURAL CONFERENCE

Hosted at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, during the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. May 2014.

The conference organizing committee invites submissions for participation in the inaugural conference of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies. The committee welcomes proposals for single papers, multiple paper panels, roundtables and/or workshops. In keeping with the Congress theme, “Borders without Boundaries”, the participation of researchers in academic, union and community settings is encouraged.

Please send electronic copies of 250-word proposals to the conference organizing committee c/o Dr. Larry Savage, Conference Chair and Director, Centre for Labour Studies, Brock University Labour.Studies@brocku.ca. All proposals are due by December 1, 2013.

+++++

THOUSANDS STRIKE FAST FOOD, PICKETING AND OCCUPYING

By Jenny Brown, Labor Notes

Thousands of fast food workers walked off their jobs in 58 U.S. cities [on Thursday], an indictment of an economy that’s producing little more than McJobs. Some picket lines turned into temporary occupations, and several stores closed.

From a McDonald’s in Peoria, Illinois, to a Burger King in Durham, North Carolina, the one-day strikes hit businesses in dozens of new cities and towns. Organizers estimated a thousand restaurants were affected.

Read more: http://www.labornotes.org/2013/08/thousands-strike-fast-food-picketing-and-occupying

+++++

THE MOVEMENT AND THE MESSAGE: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE BETWEEN UNIONS AND THE PUBLIC

By Sima Sahar Zerehi, Our Times

We’ve typecast ourselves. The defenders of labour rights, the champions of working people, have become a relic of the past. At times we’re almost a parody of ourselves, a walking/talking vintage edition of class struggle: same t-shirts, same placards, same songs and chants.

Read more: http://ourtimes.ca/Featured_Story/article_286.php

+++++

JOB POSTINGS

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS (CLC)

The Canadian Labour Congress is seeking a National Representative responsible for online, hybrid and/or blended education and learning. The Representative will also contribute to the development and delivery of in-class learning.  This position is based in Ottawa.

The successful candidate will report to the National Director, Education.

Responsibilities include:
– develop course material on a range of issues related to labour education;
– oversee and create a range of media for online learning initiatives, in order to engage learners online and foster learning and social change;
– develop educational strategies using social media;
– plan, develop and deliver train-the-trainer courses;
– evaluate the success of individual learning and media techniques;
– provide technical support to affiliated unions, federations of labour and labour councils with respect to their education development and delivery needs;
– maintain a strong working knowledge of current and emerging online and in-class learning techniques and best practices;
– work closely with staff in other CLC departments in the development of educational materials;
– assist in piloting new course material.

For more details and to apply: https://charityvillage.com/jobs/search-results/job-detail.aspx?id=279417&l=2

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

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

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

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

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

 

**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 26th August 2013

Education Crisis

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

EVENTS

THINK BIG AND LET’S GET GOING: APPLYING THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH TO OUR DAILY WORK

26th Annual Health Promotion Ontario Conference

Thursday September 26, 2013
Oakham House, Ryerson University
63 Gould Street, Toronto

Speakers:
Keynote Address:  Dr Ryan Meili, MD – Upstream – Reviving Politics through a Focus on Health
Code Red Panel Discussion:
– Neil Johnston, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, McMaster University
– Suzanne Brown, MSW, Manager of Neighbourhood Development Strategies, City of Hamilton
– Steve Buist, Investigations Editor, The Hamilton Spectator
– Tom Cooper, Director, Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction
Closing Keynote: Paul Berton, Editor-in-Chief, The Hamilton Spectator – The Role of Media in Addressing the SDOH

Register now:  http://www.hpontario.com

+++++

FREE PUBLIC CONCERT TO CELEBRATE CANADA’S NEWEST UNION – UNIFOR

Sunday, September 1
6:30pm until 11:30pm
Nathan Phillips Square
100 Queen St. West, Toronto

This year, Labour Day marks the formation of a new union – Unifor – with the coming together of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers’ union and the Canadian Auto Workers.

To celebrate we are hosting a free public concert at Nathan Phillips Square with diverse acts from all across Canada. Come see some of Canada’s greatest bands: Stars, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Les Colocs, Sister Says

19+ drink tent with beer, wine and food available for purchase. All-age food vendors in square.

For more information on Unifor visit:  http://www.newunionconvention.ca

+++++

WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH & STUDENTS TORONTO INFO MEETING

Tuesday, August 27
6pm
OISE, 252 Bloor St. West, Room 8-170
St. George Subway station, Toronto

The WFYS is the largest gathering of progressive and anti-imperialist youth and students in the world, taking place this December in Quito, Ecuador. Over 15,000 young people will unite for a week-long experience of culture, music, conferences, workshops, discussions and other meetings about peace, environmentalism, anti-imperialism, and the struggle for social progress.

This year from December 7-13th, the youth festival will be held in Quito, Ecuador with the support of the PAIX alliance as well as student, environmental, indigenous and other leftist youth, under the banner of “Youth unite against imperialism, for a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation!

You can find out more at http://www.18wfys.tumblr.com

+++++

WORKSHOP SERIES: PENSION FUNDS, UNIONS, AND WORKING CLASS STRATEGIES

September 27-December 13
3:30pm – 6:00pm
Centre for Social Innovation, ING Room, ground level
720 Bathurst Street (one block south of Bloor), Toronto

One of the key features of the continuing deep economic crisis facing Canadian workers is the attack on long established pension and retirement benefits, which are now dismissed as a costly frill that only benefits a shrinking minority of the workforce. The defence of these benefits by trade unions is becoming more difficult and divisive – it risks appearing self-serving in a context where the older notion that private, employer-based plans might serve as a positive step toward a universal system of full coverage for all workers is no longer credible.

Workshop Coordinators:
• Convenor: Kevin Skerrett (Canadian Union of Public Employees), kevin.skerrett@gmail.com
• Greg Albo (Centre for Social Justice), albo@yorku.ca

Each of the six workshops will be held on Friday afternoons from 3:30pm – 6:00pm, every other week. (We will skip November 8th, and use November 15^th in its place)

*** We ask that those interested in attending please register and RSVP their interest to Kevin Skerrett, at kevin.skerrett@gmail.com ***

For more info: http://www.socialjustice.org/community/Pensions.pdf

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Centre for Social Justice, Global Labour Research Centre (York University), Canada Research Chair in Political Economy (York University) and Socialist Project

+++++

EXHIBITION – THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN PEACE: 40 YEAR COMMEMORATION OF CHILE’S LOST DEMOCRACY

Friday, Sep 6 to Wednesday, Sep 11
Closing reception: Wednesday, Sep 11 @ 7 pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St., Toronto
(Bloor & Bathurst)

A multimedia exhibition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the CIA-sponsored military coup in Chile which deposed the democratic government of Salvador Allende.  The exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on this period in history which for many marked the beginning of the slide to neoliberal economy and politics and to hear voices calling for equity and justice.

Collective Alas rescues and salvages artifacts that at one point were designated subversive, and as a consequence dangerous to the military regime of Agusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Alas gathers magazines, film, newspaper articles, books, audio cassettes, vinyl, and posters that were destroyed by the military. During this period, people risked their lives to preserve these items. Poetry, music and articles were considered subversive because they denounced a dictatorial regime.  Alas’ mission is to reflect on our collective memory and work towards greater understanding, justice and human rights for all. The closing reception on September 11 will feature live musical performances.

To learn more: http://beitzatoun.org/event/exhibition-the-right-to-live-in-peace/

+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT: HELP FREE TAREK AND JOHN

On Friday August 16th, Tarek Loubani, a Canadian emergency physician and John Greyson, a Canadian filmmaker and professor were arrested by Egyptian authorities. Tarek and John were on their way to Gaza — where Tarek was to work at Al Shifa Hospital, and John to explore the possibility of making a film about the work.

Days later, Tarek and John are still being held in Cairo’s Tora prison. Egyptian officials have given no clear reason for their arrest.  In fact, a recent press release by a Cairo district prosecution states that 9 foreigners, including John and Tarek, will be detained for 15 days, pending investigations.  Egypt is going through a turbulent time, and after hundreds were killed in violent clashes last week, foreigners, particularly journalists are being targeted. We need to get our friends out of there.

Family and friends are worried sick about their safety. Pressure from the Canadian government is our best hope. We must pressure our government to demand their freedom and pressure the Egyptian authorities to let them go. Thank you for your action on this urgent matter!

To find out how to help: http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/canadian-government-help-free-tarek-and-john

+++++

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT: ONLINE INFO

The Ottawa Network for Education (ONE) has created an excellent online resource relating to assistive technology support to enhance academic access. The website includes a number of captioned videos which are excellent. The English and French ONE Assistive Technology Support websites are highlighted below:
http://www.onfe-rope.ca/programs/assistive-technology-support
http://www.onfe-rope.ca/fr/programs/l%E2%80%99initiative-d%E2%80%99appui-aux-technologies-d%E2%80%99aide

+++++

RANK AND FILE PODCAST WITH KYLE BUOTT

Dave Bush speaks with Kyle Buott, President of the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council, about trade unionism and worker activism. Kyle addresses the political importance of local labour councils in regional labour movement struggles and building solidarity between workplace issues and social movements.
http://rankandfile.ca/2013/08/21/rank-and-file-podcast-with-kyle-buott/

+++++

DECENT JOBS, HOUSING, AND EDUCATION: MLK’S STILL ELUSIVE DREAM

By Michael K. Honey, History News Network

A quarter of a million people rallied “For Jobs and Freedom” at the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963, and tens if not hundreds of thousands will do so again at this year’s fifty-year commemorations of the event.

See: http://hnn.us/articles/decent-jobs-housing-and-education-mlks-still-elusive-dream

+++++

CLC ENDORSES CONSUMER BOYCOTT OF LABATT IMPORTS: ST. JOHN’S BREWERY WORKERS ON STRIKE SINCE APRIL

OTTAWA ― The Canadian Labour Congress has endorsed a national consumer boycott against a number of imported brands of Labatt beer and is calling on the company to return to the bargaining table.

“This is a David and Goliath struggle between about 50 local workers and the world’s largest multi-national brewing corporation trying to force its employees into a race to the bottom,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti. “Canadian workers and their unions are not going to stand idly by and allow
this to happen.”

The workers in St. John’s have been on strike since April 10. They are members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public Employees (NAPE/NUPGE). Their employer is the Canadian division of the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewing corporation, which has after-tax profits of more than $9 billion.

The Labatt imports being targeted for boycott include Stella Artois, Becks, and Lowenbrau. The focus is on imported products in order to prevent other unionized Labatt employees in Canada from experiencing a loss of work.

In Newfoundland and Labrador people are also being urged to boycott a number of other Labatt beers, including Budweiser, Labatt Blue, Alexander Keith’s and Kokanee.

For more info: http://www.canadianlabour.ca/national/news/clc-endorses-consumer-boycott-labatt-imports-st-john-s-brewery-workers-strike-april

For a list of union-made beers: http://www.alternet.org/labor/union-beer-you-are-drinking?page=0%2C0

+++++

TORONTO PLAZA HOTEL WORKERS’ STRIKE INTO ITS 14TH WEEK

On strike for 14 long weeks, the USW members at the Toronto Plaza Hotel know exactly what their employer thinks of them.  They know because he tells the world he thinks they are “animals”.  And apparently “animals” shouldn’t receive any benefits and aren’t entitled to union representation in the workplace.  Tell him and his financial backers he’s wrong and tell the workers you’re standing with them HERE: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1938&src=canadamail

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

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

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

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

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

 

**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

Working USA: Call for Articles

Work

WORKING USA: CALL FOR ARTICLES

From: Kim Scipes: kimscipes@earthlink.net

Working USA:  The Journal of Labor and Society
Call for Papers: “Building International Labor Solidarity”

Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society will devote a thematic issue to Building International Labor Solidarity, which will be published in early 2014.  The thematic editor is Kim Scipes of Purdue University North Central who will work closely with Working USA editor, Immanuel Ness.

As new labor movements emerge in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, we seek essays that focus on research that is designed to build international labor solidarity with these and other workers.  The editors seek in-depth, critical description and analyses of efforts motivated by the rise of workers movements that engage in transnational solidarity, as well as articles that examine imperial and global power efforts to control, guide, and circumscribe them. Historical examples must retain focus that refract on today’s problems and concerns. Paper proposals are encouraged that address labor unions and workers’ movements in the United States and beyond, but priority will be given to research across the developed-developing country divide, or among developing countries of the Global South.

Proposals for papers in the journal should be submitted by August 15, 2013, with a length of 250-500 words.  Final papers will be peer-reviewed by referees appointed by the editorial board, and should not exceed 7,500 words.  For author guidelines, go to the following website:

See: http://working-usa.org

Papers must be received by October 15, 2013.  E-mail for questions or submissions: kscipes@pnc.edu and iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Book Project
Concurrently, the editors of the special issue are separately publishing a collection on Building International Labor Solidarity, for which they are seeking submissions.  Contributors can submit papers to both the journal issue and the book, but they must be separate essays.  This will supplement issues addressed in the journal and go beyond them.  Each chapter can reach 10,000 words, and focus on practical, on-the-ground experiences and critical reflections on the subject.  This collection is planned as an activist-oriented project, and we are looking for accounts that address
specific issues raised in the practice of or literature about building international labor solidarity that examine the history and unfolding of events.  Again, priority will be given to work across the developed-developing country divide, or among developing countries/Global South.

Proposals for chapters in the collection should be submitted by September 15, 2013, with a length of 250-500 words.  Chapters are due by June 1, 2014, and authors should check with either editor about their proposed papers.

Immanuel Ness, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, USA, Email: iness@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Kim Scipes, Purdue University North Central in Westville, Indiana, USA,
Email   kscipes@pnc.edu

 

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/call-for-articles-for-working-usa-building-international-labor-solidarity

**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 12th May 2013

Education Crisis

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK: UPDATE 12th MAY 2013

EVENTS

BRIEFING ON P3S AND AUSTERITY
Thursday, May 9
10:30am
OFL Building, Toronto
15 Gervais Drive, 8th floor boardroom

You are invited to join a briefing by health policy expert Dr. John Lister on the P3 disasters in England, the austerity agenda and the response of the unions and civil society organizations.

Dr. Lister will provide a briefing on the latest news as six large hospital trusts face bankruptcy due to their P3 payment obligations, the British government has moved to underwrite the P3 schemes to keep them afloat and the fight-back against austerity continues.

Dr. Lister is a professor of health policy and health journalism at Coventry University in the U.K. He is also the executive director of London Health Emergency — the British equivalent to the Health Coalitions — and one of the founders of Save Our NHS. Dr. Lister is the author of two books on international health reform. He is an expert on P3s and health policy reform. He has written a number of reports and analyses on British health reform for media, unions and civil society organizations.

Please let us know if you intend to attend this briefing at ohc@sympatico.ca
Ontario Health Coalition – http://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

+++++

GREATER TORONTO WORKERS’ ASSEMBLY GENERAL MEETING

Saturday May 11
10am
Steelworkers’ Hall
25 Cecil Street, Toronto

The goals of the Assembly are:
* To bring together activists within the broad working class movement, to explore the experiences and approaches to struggle that both unite and divide us as a starting point for overcoming divisions and building greater collaboration, exchange, strategic discussion and action amongst us.
* To share our understanding of the problems created by capitalism and the current economic crisis and the need to develop alternative visions that challenge the logic and power of private corporations, and the states that back them, over our lives.
* To identify and develop concrete strategies and organizational forms of struggle which defend working-class people’s immediate needs and lay the groundwork for an equitable and democratic alternative to our present economic and political system.

http://www.workersassembly.ca/node/219

+++++

FILM: BUTTERFLIES ON THE SCAFFOLD / MARIPOSAS EN EL ANDAMIO (DRAG CULTURE IN CUBA)

1995, 75 min. film on transgender life in Cuba

Wednesday, May 22
8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
The 519 Church Community Centre, Room 301
Toronto

Discussion to follow screening of film.
All welcome, free of charge, light refreshments served, donations welcome, TTC tokens available.

Sponsored by LGBTI/Allies Rainbow Sea of Red Open Collective and endorsed by CUPE and CAW locals in Toronto, Canada-Cuba Friendship Association and other social justice groups in the GTA.

You are welcome to attend our meetings every 4th Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. at The 519 Community Centre.

For more information: seaofredopencollective@gmail.com

+++++

CONCERT: SONGS OF LOVE, HOPE, AND OPTIMISM WITH COMMON THREAD CHORUS

Saturday, May 25
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Al Green Theatre
750 Spadina Avenue (Spadina subway)
Toronto

Local social justice choir Common Thread Community Chorus celebrates late NDP leader Jack Layton’s parting message of love, hope and optimism in its annual fundraiser concert.

The choir will be commemorating its 14th year by selecting songs that strongly reflect Layton’s letter to the Canadian public two days before he passed away on August 22, 2011.

Ticket Info:
In advance: $18 Adults, $13 Seniors/Students, Kids 8 and under FREE
At door: $20 Adults, $15 Seniors/Students
Pay What You Can
Group rates available

Advanced tickets through PayPal at info@commonthreadchorus.ca

PH: 416-410-5022   http://commonthreadchorus.ca/

+++++

URBAN WORKER CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

Thursday, May 23
7:00 pm
The Common
1080 Bloor Street West, Toronto

Join MP Andrew Cash and MPP Jonah Schein at the launch of the Urban Worker campaign.

There will be music from great local musicians and refreshments.

It used to be that when you started your working career you could work the same job until you retired, usually with a workplace pension. Today’s reality of work has fundamentally changed yet our policies, especially Employment Insurance and pensions, remain stuck in the past.

Nearly 50% of Torontonians can’t find permanent, full-time jobs that provide benefits and job-security. I hear about this all the time in our community because so many of us work part time, on contract, freelance or are self-employed. We are a city of web designers and roofers, musicians and consultants, office cleaners and waiters, service sector workers and contract professors. We all face the same issues.

I’m proud to announce that this spring I will introduce a bill in the House of Commons that lays out measures to protect, among others, those who have no pension, those who have never been able to qualify for EI, and those who are working unpaid internships. On May 23rd, I’ll be launching this bill at the Common on Bloor. I hope you can stop by to show your support, hear more about the bill and share your experience as an Urban Worker.

+++++
+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

VIDEO: MEXICAN WORKER-RUN TIRE FACTORY A SUCCESS

By Oscar León, The Real News

Union wins years long struggle against vulture capitalists and now helms one of Mexico’s most successful tire factories

Watch the video: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10179

+++++

PRIVATE MONEY, PUBLIC PROGRAMS? THERE WILL ALWAYS BE STRINGS

By Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute

In response to the perpetual shortage of funding for a wide range of social needs, Ottawa just announced its commitment to the use of social impact bonds.  The emerging sphere of social finance throughout the world opens many new fiscal doors. Social finance is a term that refers to a range of instruments, including social impact bonds, which blend public and private money to tackle tough social problems.

The potential problem with social impact bonds is not the fact that they bring private capital into the social equation.  The primary concern with this instrument is the obsession with quantifiable performance outcomes. These expectations can lead to perverse outcomes, such as selecting the
participants most likely to succeed in a program rather than the ones who need most help.  The question of whose benefits are being measured must also be considered.  Finally, patient capital is required in order to achieve real social change.

Read more: http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/1010ENG.pdf

+++++

POVERTY FREE ONTARIO ON THE 2013 ONTARIO BUDGET

Budget provisions inadequate but . . . community gets government attention on single adults

After several years of community advocacy, the Ontario Government finally acknowledged in its 2013 Budget that single adults on social assistance are living in especially severe conditions of hardship and hunger. Once again, the Government adjusted social assistance rates by 1%, the current rate of inflation, but added a $14 top-up for single adults without children on Ontario Works.

Community advocates for a poverty-free Ontario have been campaigning since 2009 for benefit increases that would begin to relieve the tremendous deprivation of single adults living in deep poverty at less than 40% of the official Ontario poverty line. They can finally claim a clear breakthrough with the Government on the plight of single adults, even if the actual rate increases this year are not at the level needed.

Contending that the Government was taking a “balanced approach” to achieving “prosperity” and “fairness,” Finance Minister Charles Sousa actually tips the balance in the direction of continuing austerity.

Read more: http://www.spno.ca/latest/poverty-free-ontario-on-the-2013-ontario-budget

+++++

CHICAGO WORKERS OPEN NEW COOPERATIVELY OWNED FACTORY FIVE YEARS AFTER REPUBLIC WINDOWS OCCUPATION

By Democracy Now!
Almost a year to the day after their window factory closed, a group of former workers have launched their own window business without bosses. They successfully raised money to buy the factory collectively and run it democratically. In 2008, some of the workers were involved in a famous six-day sit-in after Republic Windows and Doors gave workers just three days’ notice before closing the factory. The sit-in drew national attention and union workers reached a settlement where they each received $6,000. About 65 workers occupied the factory after their jobs came under threat
again in 2012, refusing to give up their jobs.

Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/9/chicago_workers_open_new_cooperatively_owned

+++++

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING SPRING OVERVIEW

Happy spring everyone! And of course, Happy May Day! Things have been incredibly busy here at Fernwood, and we’ve even added some new staff members to our family. Aside from making new personnel feel at home, we’ve been working hard at getting our Spring 2013 books out on the shelves (most of which are available now), organizing author speaking tours, attending conferences and, of course, getting prepared for our Fall 2013 line-up.

And oh, while we’ve got you, our Spring and Fall 2013 Catalogues are available to download right here, or if you’d like physical copies, get in touch with us at info@fernpub.ca and we’ll get them out to you right away.

Visit the website: http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/
Download the catalogues: http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/page/Catalogues

+++++

JUST PUBLISHED – THE GLOBAL LABOUR MOVEMENT: AN INTRODUCTION

A short guide to the Global Union Federations, the ITUC, and other international bodies

Authored by Edd Mustill, introduction by Eric Lee

Tens of millions of workers around the world are affiliated, through their union membership, to one of the global union federations (GUFs). These international unions cover every industry, from transport to finance to public services. They work to support their affiliates throughout the world, providing support during industrial disputes, training union members, and bringing pressure to bear on multinationals and governments.

This book serves as a short introduction to the GUFs, as well as the International Trade Union Confederation, and a starting point for union members who want to learn more about the international dimension of our movement.

Publication Date: Apr 25 2013
ISBN/EAN13: 1484165764 / 9781484165768
$5.99

Order from the publisher: https://www.createspace.com/4252731

+++++

800 DEAD IN BANGLADESH: FIGHT GLOBAL CAPITALISM WITH INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS UNITY

By Richard Mellor, Facts for Working People

I’m having a hard time figuring out where to start this morning.  I need to control my anger after reading the introductory paragraph to this article in Bloomberg Businessweek, a major journal of the US capitalist class.

“Bangladesh’s billion dollar garment industry provides opportunities for millions of poor, illiterate women,” BW writes.  Indeed it does.  The death toll from last month’s catastrophe when a building housing several factories collapsed has topped 800. When opportunity knocks it knocks hard in Bangladesh. It also has its dangers the article confesses.  The nation is a “paradox” BW argues. Is that what you call it?

Read more: http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.ca/2013/05/800-dead-in-bangladesh-fight-global.html

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

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

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

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

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

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

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

 

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

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

 

Centre for the Study of Education and Work: Update 11th February 2013

No Future

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK – UPDATE 11th FEBRUARY 2013

EVENTS

NEW MEDIA BOOTCAMP FOR UNION ACTIVISTS

Beginning February 18

Are you interested in learning how to master new media tools for union activism?

The New Media Bootcamp for Union Activists is a free online course that teaches union activists how to better use online tools to put forward the message of the labor movement.

You can learn more about the course at http://www.NewMediaForUnions.com

You will learn things such as:
– How to make your union’s content go viral online
– How to grow your Facebook Pages
– How to create effective petition pages
– How to best use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
– How to get your issue to the top of Google

The first module comes out on February 18th and you can complete the course at your own pace.

Register at http://www.NewMediaForUnions.com

+++++

“RIGHT-TO-WORK” IS WRONG: DEFEAT THE HARPER/HUDAK ATTACK ON WORKERS’ RIGHTS CAMPAIGN LAUNCH AND TRAINING

Saturday March 2, 2013
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Allstream Centre, Exhibition Place
Registration – $50.00

Passage of so-called “right-to-work” legislation in Michigan, the birthplace of industrial unionism, has sent shockwaves across both sides of our border. Conservative MPs are planning the same here, and Ontario Tory leader Tim Hudak has made it part of his election platform. Canadians are about to experience an unprecedented level of aggression against the very foundations of collective bargaining. The entire labour movement is poised to take on this immediate threat.

The Toronto and York District Labour Council will be launching a massive internal union organizing campaign on Saturday March 2nd – registration form is at http://www.labourcouncil.ca

To see a copy of the campaign flyer: http://www.labourcouncil.ca/uploads/8/8/6/1/8861416/right_to_work_flyer.pdf

+++++

SOCIAL ECONOMY CENTRE: SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AND THE NEW WAVE OF FOOD AND FARMING CO-OPERATIVES

Wednesday, Feb 13th, 2013
Noon – 1:30 pm.
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (U of T)
252 Bloor St. West, (St. George Subway Station)
Room 3-104
*No registration required

Presenters: Hannah Renglich, Local Organic Food Co-ops Network; Glenn Valliere, Ontario Co-op Association Board of Directors; and Randy Whitteker, Ontario Natural Food Co-op

Join us to explore:
-The story of the Ontario Natural Food Co-op, a 37-year-old social enterprise that proactively brings to market natural, organic and local foods within a co-operative network
– The new wave of food and farming co-operatives sprouting up across Ontario, and the corresponding emergence and development of the Local Organic Food Co-ops Network
– The sustainability and resilience of the co-operative model in the current economy, as it contributes to strong local economies, environmental stewardship, and community-sufficiency

Bring your lunch and a mug. Water, coffee, tea, and fresh-baked snacks from Lemon & Allspice will be provided.

For more information, please contact us at secspeakerseries@gmail.com

Webcast: This event will be webcast live. To view the webcast, click here: http://socialeconomycentre.ca/webcast-instructions

+++++

FILM: TSAR TO LENIN

Saturday February 16
6 pm Dinner
7 pm Film screening
Oak Street Co-op Community Room, Toronto

(Directions: take River Street north from Dundas or south from Gerrard St. E., walk east on Oak St. and look for stairs and a ramp on the right side, just past the convenience store. Community Room at bottom of stairs.)

Film screening and fundraising dinner. The definitive film record of the 1917 Russian Revolution. This film premiered on March 6, 1937, at the Filmarte Theatre in New York City, after nine years in the making. At that time, the New York Times praised Tsar to Lenin as “an important work – a complete, impartial and intelligent film history of the Russian revolution.” The critic of the New York Post described the film as the “most important moving picture I ever saw in my life…the most vital and absorbing film, to my mind, in the history of the movies.” With the onset of the Cold War this film was denied the audience it should have received.  But as the 100^th anniversary of the Russian Revolution approaches, it is being rediscovered.
Come to this special film screening and fundraising dinner for http://www.socialist.ca

Suggested donation $7-15 (sliding scale)
Organized by Coxwell International Socialists. Info: 647.393.3096

+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

ATTACK ON FREE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING POLITICAL, NOT FISCAL

from Leftwords

In December, it was predicted that outgoing finance minister Dwight Duncan would   reduce his deficit forecast just before his departure (for Bay Street).  Duncan had somehow estimated in his fall economic statement that the 2012-3 deficit would be $14.4 billion, i.e. higher than the 2011-12 deficit — and even higher than the 2010-11 deficit!

Sure enough, Duncan lopped another $2.5 billion off the deficit in January.

Read more: http://ochuleftwords.blogspot.ca/2013/02/attack-on-free-collective-bargaining.html

+++++

OUR TIMES WOMEN’S ISSUE SNEAK PREVIEW

Our Times’ ever-popular annual women’s issue is heading to press soon, cutting through the noise and spin of the powers that be with the sharp, wise and sincere voices of women standing strong and making change.

We’ll be launching our three-part series, Leadership, Feminism and Equality in Canadian Unions, in which we’ll share the collective wisdom of 50 women from across Canada.

You’ll also hear from Halifax Idle No More organizer Marina Young, a Mi’kmaq activist speaking out about Indigenous and Canadian issues and efforts to shape the future of First Nations communities and the country as a whole.

We’ll also hear a parent’s point of view on the teachers’ fight against Bill 115, and though it may have been repealed, its impacts in Ontario and the fight for collective bargaining continue.

We’ll also check in with K-12 education support staff in Edmonton. And because children “shouldn’t just be for rich families,” Sharon Gregson, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., as well as unionists in B.C. and across Canada fills us in on their steadfast campaign for universal child care.

This is just a sampling of the stories in this issue. It’s going to be a great one. Please join us in celebrating and supporting women workers!

If you would like to order extra copies of this issue (more than 20) as an education resource for your workshops, conferences or schools, please place your order with our business manager by February 19.

Telephone: 416-703-7661 Toll free: 1-800-648-6131 Email: office@ourtimes.ca Special bulk order prices are available.

I hope you enjoy the issue and find it of use.

In Solidarity,
Lorraine Endicott
Editor, Our Times (http://www.ourtimes.ca)

+++++

TELL YOUR STORY – “OUR LIFE AT WORK”

by Iles Minoff, creator and editor of OurLifeAtWork.com

I’ve posted a new website, http://www.OurLifeAtWork.com, where working people can tell their story. On the site now are fifteen stories written by electricians, roofers, rail workers, a flight attendant, a nursing home organizer, and workers at factory bakeries and a meatpacking plant among others. They were written in the 1990s by mostly labor leaders for a class in the Anthropology of Work I taught for five years in the college degree program of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland. Take a look.

What makes these stories so compelling is that the descriptions of occupations and workplaces are from their own point of view, having sometimes spent some twenty years or more on the job. They write about starting out on the job, a day at work, how the work really gets done, gaining respect on the job, the informal rules, the job pecking order, friendships, teamwork, conflicts, accidents, the emerging role of women, race, and organizing as they and their fellow workers experienced it all.

I hope you will make use of the site and encourage people to write their own stories. If you are involved in this area, or know of others who are, please let me know.  OurLifeAtWork.com is a work-in-progress. How can I make it better? Thanks.

Iles Minoff,  Email: ilesminoff@gmail.com

+++++

AMNESTY FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED, THEY’VE EARNED IT

by Richard Mellor, Facts for Working People

Immigrants are hard workers; they have to be. They are usually economic refugees, victims of wars, both physical wars and trade wars. The Irish came to England and to the US in droves to escape poverty in their homeland, a poverty that was a product of occupation and the theft of their land. As a person of English origin living in California, I have often compared the Irish immigrants to Britain to our Mexican and other Latino immigrants who are also economic migrants, forced to leave their homes and families to stave off starvation. NAFTA drove more than a million Mexican farmers from their subsistence farms; many came up here. It’s hard to compete with Con Agra or Monsanto when it comes to agricultural production, the US small farmer can testify to that.

Read more: http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.ca/2013/02/amnesty-for-undocumented-theve-earned-it.html

+++++

FACTORY IN GREECE STARTS PRODUCTION UNDER WORKERS’ CONTROL

from libcomm.org

Striking workers at the Vio.Me factory in Thessaloniki, Greece who have not been paid since May 2011 have decided to restart production under workers’ control on 12 February 2013.

With unemployment climbing to 30%, workers’ income reaching zero, sick and tired of big words, promises and more taxes, unpaid since May 2011 and currently withholding their labour, with the factory abandoned by the employers, the workers of Vio.Me, by decision of their general assembly declare their determination not to fall prey to a condition of perpetual unemployment, but instead to struggle to take the factory in their own hands and operate it themselves.

Read more: http://libcom.org/news/factory-greece-starts-production-under-workers-control-11022013

+++++

WHY I DON’T FEEL SAFE OR RIGHT FLYING PORTER AND YOU SHOULDN’T EITHER

by Trish Qualtrough – COPE Organizer

Several months ago I was approached by a group of young workers at Porter Fixed Based Operations (FBO) looking for a union to represent them as they had serious concerns around health and safety. The stories they recounted of flagrant health and safety violations and unsafe working conditions were appalling.

Read more: http://copeontario.ca/why-i-dont-feel-safe-or-right-flying-porter-and-you-shouldnt-either/

+++++

JOBS

PROFESSIONAL TELEPHONE FUNDRAISERS FOR PROGRESSIVE CAUSES (ENGLISH AND BI-LINGUAL FRENCH-ENGLISH) – TORONTO

Progressive Metrics is a fundraising, communications and political consulting agency. We specialize in assisting trade unions, worker organizations, grassroots campaigns, political advocacy organizations and progressive candidates to work for social change.

Progressive Metrics is currently seeking telephone representatives for its Toronto-based call centre.

Primary responsibilities are fundraising for various political advocacy organizations, NGO’s, and progressive political parties and candidates.

Application deadline: 12 PM (Noon) Tuesday, February 19, 2013.

For more information and to apply: http://progressivemetrics.ca/careers/

+++++

UNION REPRESENTATIVE- COPE LOCAL 397 (SASKATCHEWAN)

Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union (COPE), Local 397 requires an experienced person to be responsible for all aspects of Labour Relations with various employers throughout the Local’s jurisdiction.

Qualifications:
– Ability to promote and support the principles of Trade Unionism.
– Relevant post secondary education and/or extensive labour relations work-related experience (graduate of a Labour Studies program would be an asset).
– Demonstrated extensive experience in the administration, negotiation, and interpretation of Collective Bargaining Agreements.
– Working knowledge of relevant Labour Legislation.
– Strong oral and written communication skills.
– Demonstrated ability to work independently, to set priorities and to balance a demanding workload.
– Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships.
– Demonstrated ability to use the Microsoft Office Suite.
– Possession of valid driver’s licence and a reliable vehicle.

For more info and to apply: http://www.cope397.ca/sk/employment_opportunity

+++++

UNION ORGANIZER – COPE LOCAL 397 (SASKATCHEWAN/MANITOBA/ALBERTA)

The Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE), Local 397 is a progressive and professional Union with Members who work at Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), Service Employees International Union (SEIU-West) in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Swift Current, Saskatchewan NDP Provincial and Caucus Offices, Saskatchewan NDP Constituency Assistants, the RM of Alexander, the U of R Faculty Association and our Calgary Unit. We have over 1,600 members in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.

We are currently seeking a talented and motivated individual for the term position of Union Organizer. This position will be extended as funding is available. This person will be based in Regina.

For more info and to apply: http://www.cope397.ca/sk/employment_opportunity

+++++
+++++

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

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

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education. For more information about this project, visit http://www.apcol.ca

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

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

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

 

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

Variant – Issue 41

 

John Holloway

VARIANT – ISSUE 41

Variant, Issue 41, Spring 2011

… the free, independent, arts magazine. Variant provides in-depth coverage in the context of broader social, political & cultural issues.

Variant: http://www.variant.org.uk

Complete issue:
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/variant41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/Varint41.pdf

Front Cover :
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/cover41.pdf

Letters :
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/letters41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/letters41.pdf

Investing, Advocating, Promoting… strategically
Daniel Jewesbury interviews Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland
A revealing exchange outlining proposals in Creative Scotland’s Corporate Plan:
“We are getting rid of all the art form silos… There will be no art form budgets…we will have generic budgets that are more strategic, much more planned and on a larger scale”.
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/adixon41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/adixon.pdf

Marching for Whose Alternative?
Escalate
“We are not storming heaven, but being marched precariously close to the precipice. The Trade Union Congress is not our tool for emancipation – and neither can it be. Why are we being so skilfully pacified by ‘our’ institutions?” Escalate is a collective of writers and activists from around the University of London, brought together through protest… http://escalatecollective.net
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/escalate41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/escalate41.pdf

…The Hindrance of Assembly: Notes for a Tralfamadorian ‘book’
Robert (Bobby) Doohihan
“Ian Brotherhood is a cantankerous middle-aged unemployed father of two with no respect for pedants, sophists, and language-mangling panhandlers. Bobby (Robert) Doohihan is/was, a fairer, saner, more humane and optimistic incarnation of the same man. So Ian asked Bobby to write this, and supervised him throughout…”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/ibrotherhood41.html, PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/ibrotherhood41.pdf

Glasgow Life or Death
Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt
“In summer 2008, Variant published an analysis of Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG), based on an examination of its key personnel and the consequences for the city’s culture their ethos implies. This research pointed to the subordination of Glasgow’s culture and leisure services to business interests, particularly tourism and regeneration, which was perceived to have a detrimental impact on those working in the arts and on the long-term welfare of the city’s culture and leisure facilities. It built on concerns, already expressed in Variant, that having a private company running the city’s culture and leisure services may prove disastrous as democratic accountability was lost and speculative funding sources failed to materialise. Against a backdrop of public sector cuts and deep-seated discontent among CSG’s workforce, it seems appropriate to assess whether this has proven to be the case….”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/rgn41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/rgn41.pdf

Academic Capture
Kasim Agpak
Affirming that the continuing attack on academic freedom in the UK, at several levels, has not yet brought about an adequate defence of the public interest in the autonomy of university research, Kasim Agpak elucidates Desmond Fernandes’ study which brings together numerous accounts of the unfolding battles which are taking place, providing a powerful account of the way the commercialisation, militarisation and securitisation of the UK academy has developed into a state discourse, not only in the UK but also internationally.
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/kagpak41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/kagpak41.pdf

Comic & Zine reviews
Mark Pawson
This Comix Reader goes from Signs of Change to self-censorship having always been an issue in autobiographical comics, to The Summer of Boundless Optimism and Car Boot Sale that May Fade in Direct Sunlight… but It All Makes Sense.
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/mpawson41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/mpawson41.pdf

In, Against and Beyond Labour
Gordon Asher, Leigh French, Neil Gray in exchange with John Holloway “This exchange with John Holloway follows on from our engagement with his most recent work, Crack Capitalism (2010). Holloway’s work has become well known in and beyond activist circles since Change the World Without Taking Power (2002) was published and widely read. This intentional popularisation has, arguably, tended to obscure Holloway’s previous work while drawing strength from it. … While Holloway’s recent work draws strongly on his interests in the Zapitistas and other movements and struggles in the Global South, where he is presently based, it should also be noted that he was, for some time, based in Edinburgh and wrote regularly for Common Sense: Journal of the Edinburgh Conference of Socialist Economists… The ideas presented in Common Sense deserve a wide readership, particularly at a time when left liberalism in the UK, as Holloway challenges below, seems determined to ‘lock us firmly into capital and close down all alternatives’ through regressive campaigns such as ‘Right to Work’ or the recent ‘March for the Alternative’.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/jholloway41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/jholloway41.pdf

 

Re-Thinking Creative Economy as Radical Social Enterprise
Angela McRobbie
“We will soon begin to see the ‘creative industry’ phenomenon as something specifically linked with the Blair and post-Blair years, starting 1997 and in effect lasting for just more than a decade. Such a positioning allows us both to focus on its character and function and to acknowledge that the politics of arts and culture for the present government will be something very different. … It is also likely that a new discussion will arise about how to theorise the position of the universities struggling to survive by themselves entrepreneurialising. … Neither defeatism nor old fashioned militancy will suffice in circumstances such as these. I would like to propose a renewal of radical social enterprise and co-operatives.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/amcrobbie41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/amcrobbie41.pdf

‘A very complicated version of freedom’: Conditions and experiences of creative labour in three cultural industries
David Hesmondhalgh, Sarah Baker
“This article investigates the experiences and emotional responses of interviewees to their working conditions in three cultural industries (the television industry, the recording industry and the magazine industry). Via semi-structured interviews with a range of workers, it explores working conditions and experiences in the following areas: pay, working hours and unions; insecurity and uncertainty; socialising, networking and isolation. Our research suggests that experiences are at best highly ambivalent, across all three of the industries we studied. We found evidence of feelings of victimisation and anxiety. Building on previous research, especially that carried out on IT workers, we also discerned complicated responses on the part of workers to the freedom and autonomy characteristic of much cultural work. Pleasure and obligation become blurred in a challenging way. Expectations of sociability and networking in these industries were also the object of some ambivalence, and some workers reported feelings of isolation. These findings suggest that creative industries policy has paid insufficient attention to the experiences of creative workers.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/complicated41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/complicated41.pdf

The Presence of Precarity: Self-employment as Contemporary Form
Gesa Helms
Aligning artistic and academic labour in their shared belief in creative and autonomous practices and work identity formation – the valorisation of one’s self in such relational labour practices – this study, drawing on Maurizio Lazaratto and Sergio Bologna, takes us some way towards unravelling some of the myths around creativity and autonomy in immaterial labour (be it as artists or academics). In doing so it calls into question assumed understandings of class divisions between a culture of (UK) middle classes and working classes: “These, unfortunately, too often remain anything but new in the studies of working class lives and firmly rely on the examination of cultural preference if not socio-economic class indices. Instead, going back to a Marxist understanding of class in relation to the means of production and ownership of these allows us to consider that drinking latte, flat whites, or similar, may not determine one’s class belonging. Consequently, a dismissal of self-employment, or rather freelancing, as the territories of the middle-classes (i.e. not working classes) does not take us very far if we fail to consider how such ‘autonomy’ of self-employment is indeed firmly woven into a  process of subsumed labour.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/ghelms41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/ghelms41.pdf

The Intangibilities of Form
John Roberts
“In The Intangibilities of Form. Skill and Deskilling in Art After the Readymade, John Roberts proposes a challenging model for everyone dealing with contemporary art, both theoreticians and artists. In his rereading of twentieth century art and avant-garde art more in particular, he takes an overtly left-wing, not to say Marxist stand, contributing in a spectacular way to what, he says, is needed in scholarship today: a labour theory of culture. As the title of the book suggests, Roberts finds this model in Marcel Duchamp’s readymade, not so much in its form – which has become commonplace in the art world from the early ’70s on, as in its function as a site of reflection and conflict. Hence the first part of The Intangibilities of Form [the Preface and Introduction is reproduced here] is devoted to the readymade and provides the reader an insight into the key principles of the book.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/jroberts41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/jroberts41.pdf

‘Through A Glass Darkly’: Performative Practice… Without Border, Without Name
Katarzyna Kosmala
A reflection on Central and Eastern European, diaspora-infused art practice, one which coalesces around a feminist critique of dominant neo-liberal globalisation; a politically charged network-based movement raising social justice issues; a “feminism without borders”. Revealing a cultural tactics that points to alternative modes of instituting and relating to society, individuals and institutions: “These practices appear to afford illusionary hopes to those areas that are disempowered locally by the inertia effects of global capitalism, and yet also allow for distance to be maintained from such ‘utopian’ pursuits. Accordingly, the questions emerge as to whether feminist-infused critiques can become part of broader histories and social and political struggles, and whether feminist histories transgress the market game concerns and celebrity art-lite of international biennials?”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/kkosmala41.html
pdf  http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/kkosmala41.pdf

Make Whichever You Find Work
Antony Iles & Marina Vishmidt
“The recent uptake of the post-autonomist immaterial labour thesis draws cultural practitioners closer to the critical self-recognition of their own labour (waged and otherwise) as alienated, as well its formal commonality with other kinds of affective labour at large. Art finds itself in a new relation with abstract value, whether it’s the typical forms of contemporary work or financial mechanisms. This applies both to the structural re-composition of work by ‘creative’ and self-propelled forms of exploitation as well as the inscription of art in social policy agendas tending to enhance market values. In an unprecedented way, art not only reflects but revises the productive forces, shading into forces of ‘non-production’ and devalorisation in an era of debt-financed austerity. However, as art expands to include more and more fields of social action within its imaginative and institutional remit (political activity, work, education), the paradox remains that the social effectiveness of art is guaranteed by its separation from capitalist work. Thus, art’s estrangement from labour continues apace, but, at this historical juncture, coincides with labour’s estrangement from labour: labouring subjects who do not identify with themselves as labour. …”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/ilesvishmidt41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/ilesvishmidt41.pdf

The State of Poetic License
Owen Logan
“What is striking about the books [The Social Impact of the Arts, An Intellectual History, by Eleonora Belfiore and Oliver Bennett; No Room to Move, Radical Art and the Regenerate City, by Josephine Berry Slater and Anthony Iles;Global Culture Industry: The Mediation of Things, by Scott Lash and Celia Lury] is how class has been abstracted by critical discussions of arts and culture, in much the same way Detroit’s car industry jobs are outsourced. A largely unexamined antagonism, class, now seems to exist as an old fashioned, and sometimes sentimental refrain in cultural theory. This attitude might change as ‘economics’ and academia meet on increasingly unfriendly terms. Nevertheless, the difference in attitude between books written in the past twenty-five years, compared to the outlook of writers before the era of ‘globalisation’ will be obvious in this article. What this difference means is less obvious, and is the subject of what follows.”
Text: http://www.variant.org.uk/41texts/ologan41.html
PDF: http://www.variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue41/ologan41.pdf

—————————–

* VARIANT NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

– Subscribe to receive the newsprint magazine in the post. http://www.variant.org.uk/subs.html

– Donate financial support towards the continuance of Variant. http://www.variant.org.uk/donate.html

– Advertise in Variant, issue 41, Autumn / Winter 2011: 10,000 free copies per issue distributed throughout the UK & Ireland at over 400 locations
To advertise contact Owen Logan
Advertising & Marketing on: +44 (0)141 333 9522
or email: variantads@btinternet.com
For full details of advertising in the magazine please see: http://www.variant.org.uk/ads.html

—————————–
* A fully accessible archive of back issues is freely available at the Variant web site: http://www.variant.org.uk

* Please contact us if you wish to distribute newspaper copies of Variant magazine.

Variant
1/2, 189b Maryhill Road
Glasgow, G20 7XJ
Scotland, UK
t/f: +44(0)141 3339522
variantmag@btinternet.com
http://www.variant.org.uk

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

International Conference on Researching Work and Learning

No Future

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCHING WORK AND LEARNING

Special Conference Announcement
International Conference on Researching Work and Learning (RWL)

The Seventh RWL Conference will be taking place in Shanghai, China (December 4-7, 2011)

All conference information can be found at http://www.rwlecnu.org/

Deadline for proposals (papers, symposia, workshops, poster sessions) is March 1st, 2011.

Conference Streams include:
a) Learning, Organizational Change and Organizational Development
b) Professional Work and Learning
c) Leadership Studies in Work and Learning
d) Labour Studies in Work and Learning
e) Trade Unions’ Education and Learning
f) Quality of Work/Learning Life
g) Trans-nationalism, Migration, Work and Learning
h) Work, Learning and Community
i) Learning Theory, Skills and Work
j) Identity, Work and Learning
k) Gender, Ethnicity, Spirituality, Diversity in Workplace and Learning
l) Vocational Education, Labour Markets and Learning
m) Policy Studies, Work and Learning
n) Unpaid Work and Learning
o) Historical Approaches to Work, Learning and Social Change
p) Best practice studies, work and learning

About the RWL Series:
The RWL international conference series was established in 1999 and has run continuously since on a bi-annual basis. Successful conferences have been held in the UK, Canada, Finland, Australia, South Africa, Denmark. In close association with the Journal of Workplace Learning and Emerald Publishing, the RWL series is the longest, continuously running international conference series in the field of work and learning studies currently in operation.

——————————————————————-

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

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

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education.

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

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism

Anarchism

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON ANARCHISM, LABOUR AND SYNDICALISM

Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP):

New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism: The Individual, the National and the Transnational

Editors: David Berry and Constance Bantman
Date Of Publication: Oct 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2393-7
Isbn: 1-4438-2393-7

This collection presents exciting new research on the history of anarchist movements and their relation to organised labour, notably revolutionary syndicalism. Bringing together internationally acknowledged authorities as well as younger researchers, all specialists in their field, it ranges across Europe and from the late nineteenth century to the beginnings of the Cold War. National histories are revisited through transnational perspectives—on Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland or Europe as a whole—evidencing a great wealth of cross-border interactions and reciprocal influences between regions and countries. Emphasis is also placed on individual activist itineraries—whether of renowned figures such as Errico Malatesta or of lesser-known yet equally fascinating characters, whose trajectories offer fresh perspectives on the complex interplay of regional and national political cultures, evolving political ideologies, activist networks and the individual.

The volume will be of interest to specialists working on the history of anarchism and/or trade unionism as well as the political or social history of the countries concerned; but it will also be useful to students and the general reader looking for discussion of the most recent thinking on the historiography of labour and anarchist movements or those wanting a comprehensive overview of the history of syndicalism. 

“This promises to become a very significant contribution to the ongoing debate. The book clearly breaks new ground by considering revolutionary syndicalism as a group of different movements (indeed, a “family”) and by discussing not only West European, but also East European experiences. All in all, this is an excellent collection.” —Marcel van der Linden, IISH, Amsterdam.

“This book is both a timely and authoritative reappraisal of anarchism and syndicalism in Europe, breaking new ground in its analysis of these movements from a transnational and comparative perspective. Through its focus on international networks and personal connections, it represents a major contribution to our understanding of labour history. New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the history of working-class internationalism.” —Jeremy Jennings, Professor of Political Theory, Queen Mary, University of London

See: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/New-Perspectives-on-Anarchism–Labour-and-Syndicalism–The-Individual–the-National-and-the-Transnat1-4438-2393-7.htm
CONTENTS

Introduction: New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism: The Individual, the National and the Transnational
Constance Bantman and David Berry

Part I. The Syndicalist Family

Chapter One
Uneasy Family: Revolutionary Syndicalism in Europe from the Charte d’Amiens to World War I
Wayne Thorpe

Part II. Militants

Chapter Two 
From Gustav Schmidt to Gus Smith: A Tale of Labour Integration (Hull, 1878-1913)
Yann Béliard

Chapter Three:  The Rooted Cosmopolitan: Errico Malatesta, Syndicalism, Transnationalism and the International Labour Movement
Carl Levy

Chapter Four 
Internationalism in the Border Triangle: Alfons Pilarski and Upper Silesian Anarcho-syndicalism during the Interwar Years
Dieter Nelles

Chapter Five 
Mission Impossible: Ángel Pestaña’s Encounter as CNT Delegate with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1920
Reiner Tosstorff

Part III. Movements

Chapter Six The 1896 London Congress: Epilogue or Prologue?
Davide Turcato

Chapter Seven
From Trade Unionism to Syndicalisme Révolutionnaire to Syndicalism: The British Origins of French Syndicalism
Constance Bantman

Chapter Eight
Polish Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism in the Twentieth Century
Rafał Chwedoruk

Chapter Nine
How and Why the French Anarchists Rallied to the CGT-FO (1947–1950)
Guillaume Davranche

Part IV. Interpretations
Chapter Ten 
Analysing Revolutionary Syndicalism: The Importance of Community
Bert Altena

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Wavering on Ether: http://blog.myspace.com/glennrikowski

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

Centre for the Study of Education and Work – Update 25th October 2010

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK – UPDATE 25th OCTOBER 2010

 EVENTS

NO MORE DEATHS: PEOPLE’S RESISTANCE TO UNDOCUMENTED AND PRECARIOUS WORK

Thursday, November 4
6:00pm – 8:00pm
OPSEU Union Hall
31 Wellesley St. East, Toronto

As migrant workers continue to die, labour activists and community groups must gather together, to reignite a new fight. This is a fight that creates far-reaching changes and challenges the very root of people’s inability to access real safety – immigration status and racism.

Join community groups and labour activists to discuss and demand:

– Moratorium on deportations for all workers with WSIB claims and MOL complaints
– Access to Health and Safety without Fear
– Status for injured workers and their families
– Status for All!

For more info: nooneisillegal@riseup.net

+++++

BUILDING LABOUR RESISTANCE: WINNING STRATEGIES IN DIFFICULT TIMES

Tuesday October 26, 2010
7 to 9 pm
Ryerson Student Centre, Room A/B (Second floor)
63 Gould St. Toronto
One block north of Dundas on the corner of Church St.

Join us for a panel discussion with labour activists from the private and public sector sharing successful strategies to fight back against the challenges working people, communities and labour are facing due to corporate greed, cutbacks and the crisis of capitalism. There will be time for questions and discussions for those in attendance.

Speakers:
– Don Guest, First Vice President Brantford District Labour Council & Organizer for 3 Days of Solidarity Picket for USW 1-500 Striking Workers in Brantford.
– Michael Hurley, President Ontario Council of Hospital Unions & CUPE Ontario 1st Vice-President.
– Representative from Unite Here Local 75.
– Moderator: Ilian Burbano, Co-President CUPE 3393 & Organizer with Latin American Solidarity Network.

This forum is organized by the Labour Caucus of the Greater Toronto Workers Assembly (http://www.workersassembly.ca)

+++++

PREMIERE OF OLIVER STONE’S FILM, “SOUTH OF THE BORDER”
(co-written with Tariq Ali)

Oct 27, 2010
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Bloor Cinema
506 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Toronto, ON

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know about it. Oliver Stone undertakes a road trip across South America exploring the myths behind the movements leading the cultural, social and political transformation that is sweeping across the continent. As well he delves into the American corporate media’s intentional misrepresentation of South America while interviewing many of its democratically elected presidents.

Watch the trailer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/03/oliver-stone-south-of-the-border-hugo-chavez

For more info: jsharkey@sympatico.ca

+++++

VIDEO: HOW LABOUR IS (PART OF) THE PROBLEM IN BUILDING THE LEFT

Lecture by: Professor Frances Fox Piven, CUNY Graduate Center.

A leading scholar and political activist, Frances Fox Piven was recently president of the American Sociological Association and is former Vice-President of the American Political Science Association. Her most recent book is Keeping Down the Black Vote (2009).

Moderated by John Myles, Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto

Watch the video: http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls71.php

+++++

11TH ANNUAL CESAR CHAVEZ BLACK EAGLE AWARDS DINNER

November 3, 2010
Ontario Federation of Labour Building
15 Gervais Drive, Toronto
Reception 5:30 pm, Dinner 6:00 pm
Cash Bar

Hosted by: United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Agricultural Workers Alliance and the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation

Award recipients: Paul Cavalluzzo, Olivia Chow, Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Kerry Preibisch, Leonel Godoy and Gil McGowan

The award dinner is held in memory of Cesar E. Chavez, who died in 1993, following a lifelong struggle to secure basic human rights and social justice for migrant farm workers. This event continues to be an important fundraiser in support of the AWA, an organization which is dedicated to supporting and providing information and resources to the agriculture and migrant farm workers who toil on Canadian soil.

More info: info@awa-ata.ca or (416) 675-1104 ext. 2244

+++++

NEWS & VIEWS

TEN POINTS IN CANADA’S REAL ECONOMIC UPDATE

by Duncan Cameron, rabble.ca

The minister of finance has made his Fall Economic Update. We wanted to hear what he had to say about government spending — but we didn’t. Why? Because the real story is one of austerity.

The federal finance minister promised Canadians a look at what is happening with the economy. On the surface, the job is fairly straightforward. James Flaherty has to say whether the economy is growing, or not; and he has to say what he intends to do about it.

Read more: http://rabble.ca/columnists/2010/10/ten-points-canadas-real-economic-update

+++++

THE EVIDENCE FROM THE U.K. IS CLEAR: PRIVATIZATION IS MORE COSTLY

Former British health minister could not be clearer: increased privatization has meant increased costs. Frank Dobson, British MP, was keynote speaker at the CUPE health care sector meeting in Victoria, British Columbia, on Thursday, October 21.

Read more: http://cupe.ca/health-care/evidence-uk-clear-privatization-costly

+++++

THE PERFECT STORM

by Robert Reich, CommonDreams.org

It’s a perfect storm. And I’m not talking about the impending dangers facing Democrats. I’m talking about the dangers facing our democracy.

First, income in America is now more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years. Almost a quarter of total income generated in the United States is going to the top 1 percent of Americans.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/19-1

+++++

MICHIGAN BLUES

by Michael Moore

I have a rule of thumb that’s served me well my whole life: whenever corporate executives begin talking about how they support “free markets” and “competition,” check to see if you still have your wallet.

Read more: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/michigan-blues

+++++

THE LOST SOUL OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Author discusses new book on “corporatization, the assault on academic freedom, and the end of the American university.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/10/20/schrecker

+++++

ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLES

NOT ONLY WIDE OPEN SPACES: URBAN HISTORY AND THE AMERICAN WEST
Anne M. Butler
Journal of Urban History published 21 October 2010, 10.1177/0096144210384251
http://juh.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/0096144210384251v1

+++++

THE PRACTICE OF DIALOGUE IN CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
Jodi Jan Kaufmann
Adult Education Quarterly 2010;60 456-476
http://aeq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/60/5/456

+++++

THE COSMOS OF THE PARIS APARTMENT: WORKING-CLASS FAMILY LIFE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Eliza Ferguson
Journal of Urban History published 18 October 2010, 10.1177/0096144210384247
http://juh.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/0096144210384247v1

+++++

MIND THE GAP: SCHOOL LEAVER ASPIRATIONS AND DELAYED PATHWAYS TO FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Tom Stehlika
Journal of Education and Work, Volume 23 Issue 4 2010
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a926503481~frm=titlelink
+++++

JOB POSTINGS

LABOUR/COMMUNITY CONFERENCE ORGANIZER, TEMPORARY FULL-TIME

The Labour Caucus of the Greater Toronto Worker’s Assembly is planning a conference at the end of January 2011 to bring together and create a space for working class people to explore strategies and build capacity for resistance and mobilizing to win within our unions, workplaces and our communities. To assist in the planning and coordination we are hiring an organizer for 10 weeks to prepare for the conference and to take on tasks assigned by the Free and Accessible Transit Campaign.

The person will need to have the following skills, experience and abilities:

– demonstrated experience in organizing in labour and/or in the community
– strong communication skills
– experience organizing events, workshops and/or forums
– commitment to the principals of the Worker’s Assembly which include an anti-capitalist perspective and radical anti-oppression politics
– understanding that class expands beyond the organized labour movement
– able to work independently

The organizer will attend Labour Caucus meetings and meetings with the Free and Accessible Transit campaign. The organizer’s daily work will be the responsibility of a subcommittee that includes members of the Labour Caucus and the Transit Campaign and there will be a designated member to support and work with the organizer. The successful individual will be selected through committee in a democratic process. 

Start Date: Flexible with start date from early November to mid November 2010 with an end date in January 2011

Rate of Compensation: $6,000 for 10 weeks – Full Time.

Please submit your interest for this opportunity no later than Saturday October 30, 2010 at 9 am. Please include experience, skills and reasons for wanting to take on this work – resumes, cover letters or other letters of interest are acceptable. 

Email: gtwalabour@gmail.com; Fax: 647-350-4049

For more information about the Workers’ Assembly: http://www.workersassembly.ca

(END)
——————————————————————-

ABOUT CSEW (CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION & WORK, OISE/UT):
Head: Peter Sawchuk
Co-ordinator: D’Arcy Martin

The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

Our major project is APCOL: Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning. This five-year project (2009-2013), funded by SSHRC-CURA, brings academics and activists together in a collaborative effort to evaluate how organizations approach issues and campaigns and use popular education.

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

END

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com
Wavering on Ether: http://blog.myspace.com/glennrikowski

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

Centre for the Study of Education and Work – Update 26th August 2009

Learning at Work

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION AND WORK – UPDATE 26th AUGUST 2009

 

OUR MANDATE: The Centre for the Study of Education and Work (CSEW) brings together educators from university, union, and community settings to understand and enrich the often-undervalued informal and formal learning of working people. We develop research and teaching programs at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT) that strengthen feminist, anti-racist, labour movement, and working-class perspectives on learning and work.

To change your subscriptions settings, visit: http://listserv.oise.utoronto.ca/mailman/listinfo/csewbroadcast

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

+++++

RESOURCE AVAILABLE FROM CSEW – THE EDUCATION-JOBS GAP: UNDEREMPLOYMENT OR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY

by D.W. Livingstone

“In a scorching and informative critique of the growing discrepancy between knowledge and human capacity and the available opportunities for decent work, D.W. Livingstone has written one of the most important books of the decade. This is a book that breathes new life into the much over-looked relationship between education and economic reform.”
(Henry A. Giroux)

Garamond Press or-Percheron Press, 2004 (2nd edition with New Introduction)

Available online from publisher, UTP http://www.utppublishing.com/pubstore, or by phone 416.978.2239 or from http://www.amazon.ca

+++++

VOLUNTEER WITH CLIFF – CANADA ’S ONLY NATIONAL FILM FEST!

The Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF) is now accepting volunteer applicants to help out with our inaugural festival. Our not-for-profit festival celebrates films about workers, for workers and by workers.

Volunteers can be involved in many aspects of the festival from suggesting recent films for inclusion to helping throw media-related events like the one we are planning for Labour Day! As our festival launch draws closer we will also need people to help distribute leaflets, assemble media kits, as well as helping manage other volunteers. During the festival itself we’ll also need help taking tickets and individuals to act us ushers. There’s a place for everyone.

Upon request, volunteers will receive a letter reflecting their commitment and involvement in the festival.  Don’t pass up this unique opportunity to see the inner workings of a festival in its first year!

All volunteers should be:

* 18 years of age or older
* willing to attend a mandatory volunteer orientation session
* committed, friendly, team players

The festival launches November 22nd in Toronto and runs until November 29th.  It launches country-wide November 28th. We will be holding volunteer orientations sessions in August through the start of November.

Please e-mail us at festival@labourfilms.ca and with the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.

+++++

THIRD CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL ENTERPRISE – REGISTRATION OPEN!
November 18-20, 2009

Living Our Values: Social Enterprise in Action 

Join hundreds of existing and prospective social enterprise operators from every region in Canada at the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise taking place in Toronto, November 18-20, 2009.

The conference will consist of three days of training and work sessions toward a national policy agenda and action plan.

Register now at http://www.secouncil.ca

Hosting the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise is the Social Enterprise Council of Canada (http://www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/resources/secouncil).

+++++

“UNION STRATEGIES FOR HARD TIMES” PUBLISHED

A new book outlining how unions can help their laid off members, protect those still working, and prevent the gutting of their hard-won contracts – and their very unions themselves – has been published by Union Communication Services, Inc. (UCS).

Union Strategies for Hard Times: Helping Your Members and Building Your Union in the Great Recession, offers how-to counsel for unions as the continuing economic crisis ravages workers and threatens to destroy decades of collective bargaining gains. Urging leaders to avoid falling into a strictly defensive posture, it outlines how unions can seize the time and turn crisis into opportunity.

The author is Bill Barry, director of labor studies at the Community College of Baltimore County and a 40-year veteran of the movement. Barry calls on his long history of activism and years of “what works, what doesn’t” discussions with other leaders to come up with strategies to survive these terrible times and even use the crisis to build a better future.

Union Strategies for Hard Times outlines a frank and systematic program for union leaders, stewards and activists who want to respond aggressively to those employers and financial interests that would have working people and their institutions just shut up, be nice and accept what’s given them.

Topics in the book include:

* Hanging Tough at the Table
* New Tactics on Grievances
* Aiding and Mobilizing Members on Layoff
* Confronting Financial Strains
* Effective Communications for a New Day
* Where We are and How We Got Here

The book describes today’s challenges to unions representing workers in every sector of the economy and offers concrete, Organizing Model tactics to deal with them. No union activists who want to help their members — working or laid off — while defending and even growing their unions should be without this important book.

Barry is the author of I Just Got Elected – Now What: A New Union Officer’s Handbook. Both books are offered by Union Communication Services, Inc., publishers of The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, Steward Update newsletter and other tools for union activists. Union Strategies for Hard Times is available for $15 plus $3 shipping and handling from http://www.unionist.com, 800-321-2545, or UCS Inc., 165 Conduit St., Annapolis MD 21401.

+++++

IFWEA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE – WORKERS’ EDUCATION AS A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

Thursday 8 –Friday 9 October 2009

* What are the values and traditions of workers’ education and how did they evolve?
* Why is internationalism so important for workers’ education?
* What are the similarities and differences between various models of workers’ education as practised by IFWEA affiliates in different countries?
* Are any of these workers’ education models appropriate for dealing with rising social exclusion and extremism that characterises 21st century societies?
* How do these models address political education and the building of social organisation and mobilisation?
* Should workers’ education focus on individual or systemic change? Can it do both, and if so, how?

These are some of the questions that will be discussed at the Workers’ Education as a Global Challenge international conference, which will be run in partnership with the School of Management and Labour Relations at Rutgers State University of New Jersey, and the Workers’ Education Association (ABF) of Sweden.

For further details, click here: http://www.ifwea.org/conference/register.html

+++++

CALL FOR PAPERS ON “LABOR AND THE ENVIRONMENT”

For The Labor Studies Journal Conference Issue and Presentation at the United Association for Labor Education Conference
San Diego, CA
March 24-27, 2010

The Labor Studies Journal invites submission of papers on the theme of labor and environment. Best papers will be selected for presentation at the 2010 UALE Conference and afterwards will undergo the peer-review process for possible publication in the Labor Studies Journal Special Issue.

We welcome papers address issues including but not limited to the following:

* Coalition building between labor, environmental group, and other organizations in reversing climate change
* Organized labor’s effort in protecting workers or/and community from environmental harms
* Unions and workforce development for green jobs
* Unions’ role in creating a sustainable economy
* Unions’ political action in protecting the environment
* Labor and the environment in other countries
* International comparison on labor and the environment

Please send electronic copies of manuscript draft of 5 to 8 pages by December 10, 2009 to one of the guest editors, listed below. Full-length manuscripts are expected at the time of presentation at the conference in March.

Julie Martinez Ortega   
American Rights at Work
JMartinez@americanrightsatwork.org   

Tracy Chang
University of Alabama at Birmingham
tracyc@uab.edu

The Labor Studies Journal is the official journal of the United Association for Labor Education (http://www.uale.org) and is a peer-reviewed journal. It publishes multidisciplinary research on work, workers, labor organizations, and labor studies and worker education in the United States and internationally.

+++++

PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE OF CANADA (PSAC) – REGIONAL NEGOTIATOR

Position Number 5610-0015
Closing Date: August 28, 2009 at 3:30 p.m

Job Description: Under the direction of the Coordinator of Negotiations, the Negotiator acts as chief spokesperson and chair of PSAC negotiating teams for bargaining units in the federal public and private sectors, and in provincial and territorial jurisdictions and represents the PSAC in third party dispute resolution processes such as conciliation, arbitration and mediation, in the context of federal and provincial labour legislation and the PSAC Constitution, regulations and policies. The Negotiator also provides advice and guidance to PSAC collective bargaining committees, elected officers and members on issues related to collective bargaining, including strike strategy and collective agreement interpretation.

A detailed job description is available on our website: http://www.psac.com/careers/selectjob-e.cfm or upon request. Closing Date: August 28, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Please submit your résumé stating how your knowledge, skills and abilities relate to the qualifications of the position by mail to: Human Resources Section, PSAC, 233 Gilmour Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0P1. By fax: (613) 248-4885, by e-mail: HRACTION@psac.com  If you apply by e-mail, do not send a duplicate by fax or regular mail.

+++++

CONFERENCE – INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY:  SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LABOUR IN NEW BRUNSWICK

1-2 September 2009

Understanding New Brunswick’s present by knowing about its past is the theme of a two-day bilingual conference on public policy and labour history to be held 1-2 September 2009 at the Wu Centre on UNB’s Fredericton campus.
The conference, Informing Public Policy:  Socio-economic and Historical Perspectives on Labour in New Brunswick, brings together researchers and community leaders from all parts of the province and also features keynote speakers from Laval, Harvard and Concordia universities.

Sessions include “ The Crisis in the Forest Industry”, “The Making of Labour Law and Public Policy”, “The Ongoing Crisis in Nursing”, “What Workers Need to Know: A Labour Education” and “L’Acadie at Work: The Survival and Development of Acadian Communities”.

Other highlights of the conference include the official launch of the New Brunswick Museum Nursing History Exhibition, a labour and business documents display by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, and multimedia and research poster displays by graduate students. 

The conference is a major event associated with “Re-Connecting with the History of Labour in New Brunswick:  Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues,” a Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and led by researchers at the University of New Brunswick and the Université de Moncton. To learn more about the CURA visit http://www.lhtnb.ca

Speakers will present in both English and French, and simultaneous translation is provided.
Register at http://www.informingpublicpolicy.ca

For more information contact 453-4599 or email lkealey@unb.ca or dave.steele@unb.ca

+++++

“TELLING STORIES; CREATING CHANGE”: REGISTER NOW FOR 2009 MAYTREE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Registration is now open for the 2009 Maytree Leadership Conference on Thursday, October 1, 2009, 12 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at 89 Chestnut Street, Toronto.

Join Toronto’s leaders and explore the universal power of storytelling, the art of creating compelling stories and how to use individual and organizational narratives as powerful tools for change. This year’s theme is Telling Stories; Creating Change. Keynote speaker is John Cruickshank, publisher of the Toronto Star. He’s followed by former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Tim Murphy, in conversation with Deena Ladd of the Workers’ Action Centre, moderated by CBC Radio’s Mary Wiens.

Workshops will include Online Communities and Offline Action, Building Your Public Narrative, Pitching Your Story to the Media and The New Front Page: Telling Your Organization’s Stories Online.

The day will end with a tenth-year celebration of Maytree’s scholarship program along with the release of an anniversary publication telling the students’ stories. The publication will also include policy insights on Canada’s refugee policies and programs.

Click here for full conference program and registration: http://www.maytree.com/training/2009-maytree-leadership-conference

+++++
***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

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