CONTENTS

1. CALLS TO ACTION
2. EVENTS
3. ARTICLES
4. EMPLOYMENT

Support Striking TVO-CMG workers

For the first time in its history, management and unionized workers at TVO could not reach a new collective agreement, despite months of bargaining.

On August 21, 2023, that impasse resulted in a strike by employees represented by the Canadian Media Guild.

Sign the petition, attend picket lines…

linktr.ee/tvo_cmg

Art Exhibit: Rocky Dobey

When: October 13 to November 5th, 6-9pm
Where: Gagné Contemporary, 136 Brooklyn Ave

For over 40 years, outsider artist Rocky Dobey has been producing intaglio prints, etched metal plaques, engraved copper sheets and site-specific public sculptures. Working anonymously for the first two decades, his work has drawn attention to social and political issues like prison and justice reform, neighborhood gentrification, globalization, indigenous sovereignty, drug rehabilitation and homelessness.

Facebook poster | Nov 5th, 11am

Climate Change and Wildfires in Canada

When: November 2nd, 12pm

National media have a great influence over policymakers and the general public, significantly shaping discussions and perceptions around climate change and what we can do about it. Join us for our webinar as we share our latest research report, titled “Climate Change and Wildfires in Canada’s National Media, 2023.”

zoom.us

Public Mourner’s Kaddish

When: Thursday Nov 2nd, 6:30- 8:30pm
Where: Christie Pits

We are grieving for the lives of Palestinians and Israelis who have been killed, and we are demanding that our government stop fuelling violence. Join IfNotNow – Toronto to channel our grief towards a future where all Palestinians, Israelis, and Jews are safe.

Please wear all black.

#PowerUp

When: Saturday, November 4th, 12pm
Where: Nathan Phillips Square

The Climate Emergency Unit, 350 Toronto, CUPE-Ontario, and the Seniors for Climate Action Network invite you to take action for Good Green Jobs for All! Join us at Nathan Phillips Square on November 4th, 2023 at 12 PM as part of a global day of action to #PowerUp a just, affordable, renewable world! The event will offer you the chance to imagine, act out, and demand your green job of the future, with interactive photo booths, digital actions, and speakers from the Canadian labour movement and the campaign for a Canadian Youth Climate Corps!

act.350.org | globalpowerup.org

National Day of Action for Gaza

When: November 4th, 2pm
Where: US Consulate, 360 University Ave

March and rally at the US consulate on Saturday, November 4th!

Ceasefire Now! Lift the Siege on Gaza Now! Poster

Celebrate the life of John S. Saul

When: November 4th, 2pm
Where: Alumni Hall, Victoria University, 91 Charles St W.

John S. Saul (1938 – 2023) led a truly remarkable life. Jazz aficionado, mystery and thriller lover, film buff, opera goer, baseball fan, hoopster, Marxist, teacher, author, scholar, activist, revolutionary, comrade, friend, clipper of articles, teller of stories, beloved husband, devoted father, doting grampa, John died peacefully at home on September 23, 2023.

Facebook poster

Mayworks Labour Arts Awards Gala

When: November 4th, 6pm
Where: United Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.
Tickets: $50 each and $20 for the unemployed, underemployed and retirees

Join this celebration of the 2023 Mayworks Awards recipients at our annual Gala Awards Evening event! Get your tickets today for this occasion to come together with labour activists and artists and enjoy dinner, entertainment, a silent auction and more. Bring your friends, local members and family.

We are pleased to announce the 2023 award recipients:

– Lorraine Endicott – Longtime Editor/Publisher of Our Times magazine
– Ruben “Beny” Esguerra – multi-instrumentalist/producer, spoken-word poet, arts educator and community worker
– Gabriel Allahdua – author of Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker in Canada
– Kairos Blanket Exercise Program
– The Drag Queen Community and CUPE Toronto Public Library Workers – for Drag Queen Story Hour Performances
– Justice 4 Workers and Migrant Rights Network

Facebook event | eventbrite.ca

Split Screens: Israeli Filmmakers Confront Colonialism

When: November 5th and 12th, 2:00 pm (matinee screenings)
Where: OCAD University, Auditorium (room 190), 100 McCaul St
Register for free here.

United Jewish People’s Order, in collaboration with OCAD Art and Social Change and Cinema Politica, proudly presents this first-of-its-kind mini-festival. This series features award-winning, provocative works by Israeli filmmakers, exploring multiple aspects of group denial and inaction in the face of chronic colonialism.

Each screening will include discussions and panels with activists and experts, exploring issues from the films.

Solidarity with Quebec Workers

When: November 6th, 8am
Where: 400 University Ave

On Monday, November 6, a common front of more than 420,000 public sector workers in Quebec are poised to hold a one-day strike, just one of many steps towards what could be an unlimited general strike in the province.

Like Ontario workers, they’re fighting for pay that keeps up with inflation–after years of stagnant or frozen wages–and better working conditions and good public services.

The workers represent all parts of the public sector: health care, education, social services, municipalities, colleges and universities, and more. ofl.ca

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler

When: Mondays at 6pm

Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada’s role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession, and the exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada’s foreign policy. Questions, comments, and criticisms are all welcome.

zoom.us

Fern Reads Making a Home

When: November 7th, 6pm

Join Fernwood Publishing for a roundtable discussion and remembrance of Jen Powley and her book, Making a Home (Roseway Publishing, 2022).

Serious and relaxed, intimate and thoughtful, Fern Reads is Fernwood’s latest series for all your book-clubbing needs. Fern Reads hopes to create an unintimidating intellectual space. We hope to have fun and challenge ourselves while still maintaining a grounded and generative space. All you need to do is show up!

eventbrite.ca

Generation Organize: Young Workers and the Future of Unions

When: November 7th, 7pm

This year’s “hot labour” summer seems to be stretching into the autumn season. In the midst of rising inflation, a severe cost-of-living crisis, increasing precarity, and growing inequality, workers in both the public and private sectors are fighting back. While strikes by education workers, federal civil servants, and dockworkers have dominated the media spotlight, workers have also continued the difficult work of unionizing their workplaces.

Brock University’s Department of Labor Studies and the Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies are pleased to jointly sponsor a free, virtual discussion focusing on youth, work, and the future of the labour movement. The event will feature organizers from union campaigns at Starbucks, Amazon, and cannabis retailers. eventbrite.ca

Poor Communities Gala

When: November 8th, 5pm
Where: In front of Royal York Hotel

230 Fightback is struggling to prevent KingSett Capital from building a luxury condo tower at Dundas and Sherbourne, in the heart of the Downtown East. This is a hard-pressed poor working-class community that desperately needs real housing solutions. The condo would drive up rents, displace tenants and lead to the removal of vital services that people in the area rely on.

On November 8, Jon Love, founder and CEO of KingSett Capital, will be receiving the Ivey Business Leader Award at an ‘in-person gala,’ being held at the lavish Royal York Hotel (partly owned by KingSett).

230fightback.com | Dinner $25k | Livestream on YouTube

Booklaunch with Sindicalista

When: November 8th, 7pm
Where: Castro’s Lounge, 2116 Queen St E

Compassion Fatigue …and Other Stories of the Indecent Past, Weird Present, and Feared Future by Humberto da Silva.

Compassion Fatigue | Facebook poster

Psychological Complexities of Violence and Revenge

By Judith Deutsch

Preventing recurrent, predictable catastrophes must come with eliminating its causes, including complex, unequivalent psychological motives for revenge and violence. Unlike the Holocaust defense of “not knowing,” people in Israel and defenders of Israel cannot claim ignorance about Israel’s scorched earth wars on a captive civilian population. Almost all Jewish Israelis serve in the military, and upwards of 90% repeatedly support these wars. There is plenty of public knowledge about Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians.

Source: The Bullet No. 2893

Hamilton Labour Condemns NDP for Removal of Sarah Jama from Caucus

By Statement from HDLC

It was with sadness and frustration that the Hamilton and District Labour Council (HDLC) read that our Hamilton Centre Member of Provincial Parliament, Sarah Jama, has been removed from the Ontario NDP Caucus. The Hamilton and District Labour Council has been a long-time member of the party, holding seats at the party’s Provincial Council and conventions. We will soon have the opportunity to decide on the future of our relationship with the party.

Source: The Bullet No. 2894

Palestinian Students: Stop the Genocide and End Complicity with Israeli Apartheid

We, the undersigned Palestinian student groups and unions in occupied Palestine, call on students, student associations, and councils around the globe to take action to protect life and stop Israel’s unfolding genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza open-air prison. Since October 7th, the Palestinians in Gaza have been under the most intense and indiscriminate Israeli bombing ever, devastating entire neighborhoods, markets, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, healthcare services, and journalists, among others. Entire families have, again, been wiped off the face of the earth. More than 5,087 Palestinians have been killed, over 2,055 of them children, and close to one million have been displaced.

Source: The Bullet No. 2895

Bidenomics and the Left

By Sam Gindin

The go-to crises of the socialist left have been “American declinism” and “inter-imperial rivalry.” These crises have not only been predicted by the left but often wished for, the left seeing them as doing much of the heavy lifting it cannot do on its own. This is both bad analysis and worse politics. It overstates declinism, wrongly projects the (very real) tensions between the US and China into a contest over who will lead global capitalism, and assumes that things getting worse inherently advances progressive politics.

Source: The Bullet No. 2896

Dispatch: Gaza and the Palestinian People

By Palestinian Youth Movement

Gaza is the story of the Palestinian people. It is a story of displacement and refugeehood, of imprisonment at the hands of a foreign occupier. But, most importantly, it is a story of sumud (steadfastness) and resistance: resistance that is driven by a love for one’s people, a love for one’s homeland, and a love for life and freedom. Now and onwards, you must not allow your friends and comrades to turn their backs on the Palestinian liberation struggle. You must not allow them to falter in the face of the events of this week, or to devolve into insipid both-sideism or pragmatic armchair generalismo, or to publish cowardly denunciations that do nothing more than provide a left cover for an impending genocide on the people of Gaza.

Source: The Bullet No. 2897

Hiring Digital Organizer

The Digital Organizing and Communications staff person will support province-wide digital organizing strategies, including campaigns to improve labour laws like the Justice for Workers (J4W) Campaign. They will also work with WAC organizers to develop effective digital strategies for engaging new people to get them involved in the decent work movement.

Start date: January 2024, or as determined with the successful candidate
Salary range: $55,917 to $67,911
Benefits: Employer-paid benefits package and RRSP contribution
Deadline: November 22

workersactioncentre.org