June is a month to celebrate Aboriginal contributions and press for improved conditions
 In honour of National Aboriginal Day, the CMG has arranged for the screening of two documentaries by Aboriginal filmmakers at the CBC’s Graham Spry Theatre at the Toronto Broadcasting Centre. The films are running continuously until June 19. Laugh, cry and learn as seven Aboriginal filmmakers share their insight and humour in First Stories and Atisookan.
National Aboriginal Day – June 21 – was designated by the federal government in 1996 to celebrate the heritage, cultures and contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Canada. Click here to read about the achievements of ten Aboriginal journalists, broadcasters and filmmakers in Canada.
The Assembly of First Nations also marked the National Day of Reconciliation on June 11, the first anniversary of the government’s apology to First Nations people for the attitudes and policies that led to the Indian residential schools. The AFN called on the federal government to improve funding for education and child protection, support new infrastructure – including housing and drinking water facilities, work to resolve land claims and sign on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Parliament issues report on temporary foreign workers as raids intensify
The parliamentary committee on Citizenship and Immigration published the results of its study of the country’s temporary foreign worker program in May, just as the government was stepping up raids targeting migrant workers. One hundred workers were detained and many deported following a series of raids in April in Ontario. Another nine women were detained in a May 28 raid in Leamington, Ontario, some of whom were refugee claimants awaiting acceptance who feared for their safety if they were deported.
The Canadian Labour Congress has been organizing with unions and worker support groups to change the Canadian government’s approach to workers who come from outside Canada. Under Conservative government policy, the “temporary foreign worker” program mushroomed as it became much easier for employers to get permission to bring in workers on temporary employment permits, workers who end up with no citizenship rights and few workplace protections. The CLC is calling for an approach that includes social and political inclusion for the workers and enforcement to make sure employers adhere to labour standards.
The Parliamentary report made 36 recommendations, including improved monitoring of employers and better protections for workers in the program. The Conservative Party’s minority report dissented from ten of the 36 recommendations in the Parliamentary report.
NBC workers call for boycott of four big-city stations
 With talks still stalled more than two months after their contract expired, NABET-CWA members at NBC-Universal are asking viewers in four major cities to turn off NBC local stations where their members work.
“NBC-U and GE are still posting profits. Nonetheless, the company seems determined to remove job security, reduce compensation and subcontract work," the union said. NBC is pushing to create a non-union job title for work that union members have been doing for decades. It also plans to close some operations in New York City and Burbank and transfer the work to a non-union facility in New Jersey.
The union is asking New Yorkers and viewers in Washington, D.C, Chicago and Burbank, Calif., to "Turn off NBC" and local stations.
Chapters being formed for Guild retirees
When we retire, we don’t leave our union and social justice principles behind. CWA Canada, the Guild’s parent union, is establishing chapters to give retirees the opportunity to continue to support the principles that were important to them in their workplaces. Chapters are being set up in cities across Canada and will work with CWA Canada and its locals (including CMG), other union retiree organizations and community groups on projects of common interest. Union retirees can provide a strong voice in the struggle for better pensions, improved health care benefits, a strong public broadcaster and better communities - for themselves and all other workers and their families.
For more information and to get involved in your local chapter, please contact Gerry Jones at gerry.jones@sympatico.ca or by phone at 613-730-2272 |
