Bill Longstaff: Undoing democracy democratically
As the Egyptian military brutally dismantles democracy in their country, other losses of democracy tend to pale in comparison. Yet when they involve people electing to disband their own democracy, they...
View ArticleDead Wild Roses: There is always a Class War going On – Noam Chomsky
From an article at Counterpunch, I suggest you go there and read the whole interview with Noam Chomsky: “Well, there’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a...
View ArticleBill Longstaff: Rebuilding the American middle class
When you consider that the United States is the richest country in the world, the state of its working class is shocking. The country now has the highest proportion of low-wage workers in the developed...
View ArticleDead Wild Roses: The 500 – A Cautionary Tale for North American Workers
The rights we enjoy today in Canada as workers and professionals were not given to us. It was through determined, bloody at times, never-say-die, collective struggle that our rights as workers were...
View ArticleDead Wild Roses: The 500 – A cautionary tale for North American Workers
The rights we enjoy today in Canada as workers and professionals were not given to us. It was through bloody at times, collective struggle that our rights as workers were imposed on the capitalist...
View ArticleTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Started Enjoying Our New Community Mail Box Last Week
I know as a progressive I am supposed to oppose the transition to community mailboxes (CMBs) for all urban and suburban residents but logic prevents me from doing so. Indeed this only seems to have...
View ArticleBill Longstaff: Prentice makes nice to labour
When governments find themselves in a financial bind they tend to make the civil service their first budget target. Overpaid public servants is a popular cliche. Alberta Premier Jim Prentice, his...
View ArticleLeft Over: Corporate Micro-shilling for Dollars…
The microfinance delusion: who really wins?
View ArticleTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Started Enjoying Our New Community Mail Box Last Week
I know as a progressive I am supposed to oppose the transition to community mailboxes (CMBs) for all urban and suburban residents but logic prevents me from doing so. Indeed this only seems to have...
View ArticleTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Started Enjoying Our New Community Mail Box Last Week
I know as a progressive I am supposed to oppose the transition to community mailboxes (CMBs) for all urban and suburban residents but logic prevents me from doing so. Indeed this only seems to have...
View ArticleNotes on Democracy: Trump is no Substitute for Unions
The major reason Donald Trump was elected to the job he is manifestly unfit for was his appeal to electors in the Rust Belt states. These states had seen a collapse of manufacturing jobs, i.e. union...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Promise of a Collective Voice for the Precariat
Along with much else, the workplace has seen a transformation. Fifty years ago, workers looked forward to full-time, secure jobs with good wages and benefits. Often, the quality of their work was...
View ArticleTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Being a “Boomer”
Generations When I was growing up in the 1950s and onward there was not all this talk about generations that seems to have become a fascination of the last twenty years. Although I became aware of the...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Conservatives and the working class
During the 2019 provincial election UCP leader Jason Kenney rambled about Alberta in a big blue pickup truck for all the world like a toiler in the oil fields. The new premier likes to present himself...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Joe Biden—union man
During Joe Biden’s election campaign, he promised he would be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” This may be the most important promise he made, at least on the economic front. Income...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Billionaires 1, Unions 0
The richest man in the world wins again. Earlier this week, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, voted overwhelmingly against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union....
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Smalls vs. Amazon as David vs. Goliath
The recent success of employees at Amazons’s New York fulfillment centre in forming a union might be the best example of David defeating Goliath since the biblical incident. The union, spearheaded by...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Unionizing Apple
I have long been a fan of Apple products. In fact, I have never bought another desktop. I am also a great believer in labour unions. So reading about an Apple store in Maryland unionizing made my day....
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Congratulations to Ms. Payne
In the first contested election in a decade, the members of Unifor elected Lana Payne their new president last week. Representing over 300,000 workers, Unifor is the largest private-sector union in the...
View ArticleViews from the Beltline: Generative AI—threat or opportunity?
“No contract! No content!” and “Here’s a pitch: Pay us, Bitch!” Thus the Hollywood members of the Writers Guild of America colourfully voice their views during their strike against the studios,...
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