CONTENTS
CALLS TO ACTION
Toronto needs new subway trains and service
Without new trains, subway service in Toronto will become more crowded and less reliable. Call on your MP now to invest in more reliable, frequent transit service by speeding up the Permanent Public Transit Fund to 2024 and allowing the TTC to use the funding for more bus, streetcar, and subway service.
Why does the TTC need new subway trains?
The subway trains on Line 2 are reaching the end of their life. Without federal funding for new trains, service will become more crowded and less reliable: more malfunctions, more unreliable service and more shuttle buses. The oldest trains on Line 2 will reach the end of their design life in 2026, and the TTC does not have enough funding to order new trains.
www.ttcriders.ca
EVENTS
Strike Support for OPSEU Members
Where: Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas St W (8am to 5pm every day)Where: Regent Park Community Healthcare, 465 Dundas St. E (8:30am to 4:30pm every day)
It’s been a busy week for OPSEU in Toronto as two downtown locations have gone on strike this week.
AGO workers took to the picket lines, while on Friday Regent Park Healthcare workers began their first week on strike.Workers are demanding fair wages and benefits, and an end to contracting out, among others.
opseu.org
Raw Taiko X CUPE 3903
When: March 28th, 6:30pmIf you are a CUPE 3903 member, join us for a FREE taiko workshop! We’ll do some gentle body movement; go over the basics of stance, grip and hit; learn some taiko rhythms; and release rage and find joy in playing together! All levels are welcome. Bachi (taiko drumsticks) will be provided.
RAW Taiko, founded in 1998 as Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers, is an artist-run Toronto-based performing arts organisation made up of East and Southeast Asian women and gender non-conforming drummers. They carry on the diasporic taiko tradition that grew out of Asian American and Asian Canadian participation in racial and gender justice movements of the 60s and 70s. One of the few taiko drumming groups of its kind in the world, RAW Taiko exists as a critical response and challenge to both systemic and internalized oppressions. RAW Taiko plays large drums as creative resistance for social change, carving space for self-expression, education and community building.
3903.cupe.ca
WHM Symposium Keynote Address
When: March 28th, 6:30pmCollective hope is a radical practice. Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, the authors of “Let This Radicalize You”, will deliver a keynote talk for women’s history month. This could be a good talk to check out if you’re looking for something that’ll be grounding and helpful around hope, organizing, community, and reciprocal care.
zoom.us
[Hamilton] Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy
When: March 28th, 7pmWhere: Hamilton Artists Inc, 155 James St N.
Yves Engler will discuss his new book, Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy. It is an important overview of Canadian-backed coups since 1950 from Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran to Patrice Lumumba in Congo, Salvador Allende in Chile and Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. While Canadian officials and the mainstream media regularly frame conflicts with geopolitical competitors as motivated by a belief in “democracy,” Yves debunks the notion and reveals the corporate and military interests that drive Canadian foreign policy.
hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca | Facebook poster
Struggles of Farmworkers
When: March 19-31Where: The People’s Forum in New York City
Grassroots farmworker organizations from the United States and Canada will convene a People’s Tribunal on the Struggles of Farmworkers in North America from March 29-31, 2024. The Tribunal is being hosted by the Food Chain Workers Alliance at The People’s Forum in New York City.
The Tribunal will be open to the public for our opening session on Friday March 29th from 2:30-3:30pm and for our hearings taking place between 10:00am to 7:30 on Saturday March 30th.
docs.google.com
Land Day
When: March 30th, 2pmWhere: Yonge and Dundas Square
As we enter the sixth month of the Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza, we invite everyone to march with us this Saturday, March 30th at Yonge and Dundas Square at 2PM to commemorate Land Day.
On this day, we remember and honour the six Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces on March 30, 1976, after uniting in protest against the theft of their lands. A day which has since become known as Land Day and is now commemorated each year to mobilize against further theft of Palestinian land and to reassert the unequivocal right of return for Palestinians to their lands.
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Canadian Foreign Policy Hour with Yves Engler
When: Mondays at 6pmJoin 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
Solidarity: CUPE 1490 Municipal Workers
When: April 2nd, 11:30amWhere: 181 Bay St. Suite 4260
14 full-time municipal workers in Black River-Matheson, members of CUPE Local 1490, have been on strike since October 15. The striking workers and allies are holding a solidarity rally outside a mining company that’s currently looking for workers in the Township.
ofl.ca
Time to Speak Up and Speak Out
When: Tuesday April 2nd, 4pmWhere: TDSB 5050 Yonge St
Join the rally against Conservative education cuts.
Damage caused by years of under-funding has been compounded by the COVID pandemic. The classroom situation is deteriorating. Short staffing is taking a toll in all job classifications. Violence in our schools is increasing. Stress levels are soaring. Parents are increasingly concerned. Entire communities are impacted. Many of us are exhausted from just coping.
Together we must ramp up our efforts to pressure the Provincial government to take effective action to address the problems in our schools. We have done it before, we can do it again!
fundourschools.ca
CUPE Solidarity BBQ
When: April 3rd, 12pmWhere: York Univ, main gates
Join the picket line for “Fueling the Fight – Solidarity BBQ!” With the generous support of CUPE 416, we’re serving up thanks to all those who have supported our picket lines! Halal and vegan options.
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Book launch: A Queer History of Newfoundland
When: April 3rd, 7pmWhere: Another Story, 315 Roncesvalles Ave
With guest speakers RM Kennedy and Gary Kinsman.
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How to Abolish Prisons
When: April 4th, 6pmJoin Rachel Herzing, Justin Piché, and special guests for a discussion of lessons from the movement against imprisonment.
Critics of abolition sometimes castigate the movement for its utopianism, but in How to Abolish Prisons, long-time organizers Rachel Herzing and Justin Piché reveal a movement that has made the struggle for abolition as real as the institutions they are fighting against.
tickettailor.com
ARTICLES
Civil Society Demands the Suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement
Respect for human rights is an essential element of the EU’s association agreements with partner countries. Article 2 states that “relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.” Violation of the so-called “essential elements” clauses allows the EU to denounce or suspend the agreements in whole or in part under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.Source: The Bullet No. 2964
Women’s Wages and the Attack on Public Sector Workers
Doug AllanSince the Ford government came to power in 2018, there has been an attack on the wages of workers in the broader public sector. This is also an attack on women’s wages. The result is that women’s wages have been eroded in the leading sector of women’s work. This has led to both an erosion in real wages and an erosion in wages in these female-dominated sectors relative to other industrial sectors. Women comprise 74% of the Ontario education, healthcare, and social assistance workforce.
Source: The Bullet No. 2965