The Third Wave Strikes! And Strikes, And Strikes…
The Thorn on Thursdays | May 6th
Local
Pacific Gateway hotel workers on strike; Hilton Metrotown hotel workers locked out
Hotel workers at two Metro Vancouver hotels are under attack by their respective management. Hotel workers at the Pacific Gateway at the Vancouver Airport have been on strike since May 3 as management has laid off 103 workers -- 42 of them this past weekend -- and refuses to commit to returning these long-term staff to their jobs when business recovers. The layoffs began when the federal government took over the hotel last year under a quarantine order and brought in the Red Cross to perform their duties.
Meanwhile, Hilton Metrotown workers are in the third week of a lockout by their hotel’s management. 97 workers have been laid off by the Hilton Metrotown during the COVID pandemic, and Hilton management recently cut off almost 50 of it’s laid off employees’ Employment Insurance.
UNITE HERE Local 40 also has launched an online petition calling on Employment Minister and Delta MP Carla Qualtrough to intervene and protect laid off Hilton Metrotown workers Employment Insurance. They’ve also launched a Hilton Metrotown Workers Hardship Fund to ensure that worker’s basic needs are met during the crisis.
The popular imagination of a strike or lockout is often white, masculine & industrial. But hotel employees are often neither of these. Many of the workers at Pacific Gateway and Hilton Metrotown are women from the South Asian and Chinese communities.
Despite Prime Minister Trudeau’s promises of a “Feminist Recovery”, the federal government continues to look the other way as Pacific Gateway hotel management uses COVID-19 to force these workers to accept permanent changes, including a 7-year contract that would reduce many workers’ hourly pay to minimum wage. This would undermine job security and make the work more precarious.
“Prime Minister Trudeau, I was fired this past weekend after 27 years of service. Is this what you call a feminist recovery? I have 3 girls – one in Grade 5, one in high school, and another in college. I raised them on this job. Pacific Gateway is outright attacking women and our federal government is doing nothing to stop it. You said you would prioritize women in Canada’s economic recovery — but you’ve failed us. That’s why I’m on the picket line today with women like me. We’re not going to give up on everything we worked so hard for,” said Pardeep Thandi, a room attendant who served the hotel for 27 years until she was permanently laid-off this weekend.
What You Can Do:
The organization Unequal Women BC has put out a list of businesses using the pandemic to destabilize women’s economic security. They are asking supporters not to patronize these establishments, and have already received support from a number of union customers. They also have a pledge you can sign.
UNITE HERE Local 40 has been supporting workers at both hotels, and they ask that supporters also come out to help with everything from canvassing customers of organizations still crossing picket lines to standing on a picket line with workers while banging on pots and pans, drive by & honk your horns, bring the striking workers food or treats while they stand on the picket lines. Contact your MLAs, and Contact your MPs and relevant government ministers to demand that the federal government stop using the Pacific Gateway as a quarantine hotel while it is behind a picket line! Any and all support is appreciated!
Watch: Staff at quarantine hotel strike for laid off co-workers -- CityNews
Vancouver School Board votes cops out of schools
On Monday, April 26, the Vancouver School Board voted to end the School Liaison Officer Program that put VPD officers in Vancouver schools. Unfortunately, they added a bunch of watered down language including some alarming points, such as writing a letter of appreciation to the VPD.
Extinction Rebellion Vancouver's Spring Rebellion: Tell the Truth and Pretend that it's Real.
PHOTO REEL: View Yvonne Hanson's photo reel of this event
Extinction Rebellion Vancouver's 4-day Mayday action started with a bang. At noon on Saturday, May 1st, a crowd of around 100 demonstrators gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Meanwhile, “undercover” activists stealthily moved into their positions in the nearby intersection of Granville and Georgia. Just a few minutes after noon, a large SUV towing a giant covered trailer came to a stop in the middle of the intersection. As it did, undercover activists on each street corner pulled on bright yellow safety vests, ran out into the road, and began unfastening the cover of the trailer to reveal a bright pink boat emblazoned with bold black letters reading “TELL THE TRUTH”. As the boat was revealed and the trailer tires deflated, the crowd of demonstrators who had gathered at the art gallery marched towards the intersection along Georgia street, led by four blue-clad “water rebels” and carrying the now-signature “Rebel for Life” banner.
The demonstrators made short work of decorating the surrounding area with colourful flags, banners, and signs. Four activists sat in the pink boat, which presented a puzzle for police once an injunction against those still in the street was read. During the February 27th action at Hornby and Nelson, police had used chainsaws to slowly reduce the height of two wooden tripod structures that activists had erected and occupied in the roadway, but the same tactic was not possible given the metal frame that supported the boat.
Eventually, the fire department was called in and a large dump truck arrived. The truck backed up slowly until it reached the boat, and officers climbed into the back of the truck. Protesters were pulled from the boat into the truck, strapped onto stretchers, and then lowered down from the truck into a cluster of officers and fire rescuers below. In total, the intersection was blocked for nearly seven hours by this creative disruption effort on the part of Extinction Rebellion.
Extinction Rebellion is a global nonviolent network of civil disobedience and rebellion against the Government and institutions that threaten the planet and our future.
People's Budget 604 Survey
The People’s Budget 604 (a project of the Defund 604 Network) has launched! Please take a few moments to fill out our People's Budget survey.
Around the world, communities are calling for public money to be divested from police and policing, and re-invested in building safe, healthy, and sustainable communities for everyone. The People’s Budget 604 survey is asking you to identify your priorities for spending public money in the City of Vancouver.
Why a People’s Budget? The City of Vancouver budget process does not reflect or respond to the needs of the community, particularly communities who have been purposefully marginalized and over-policed. The People’s Budget 604 survey is an opportunity for the people to say how current police funding could instead be used to invest in community-centered services, programs, and interventions that are life-affirming and community-led. The survey is anonymous, and your responses will remain confidential.
Provincial
Understanding the suckinesss behind Squamish’s new camping ban bylaw
This bylaw reinforces the environments of social exclusion which assist the cultural narratives (i.e., homeless people are dangerous, unworthy, tax evading) that result in increased stress, sleep deprivation, surveillance and displacement within the homeless and vehicle resident population. ~ Thomo Pijon
Last night (May 4, 2021) the District of Squamish allowed a proposed camping bylaw to pass its third reading. The bylaw will allow a homeless person (defined as a “person who has neither a fixed address nor a predictable residence to return to on a daily basis”) to erect a tent on a city park overnight, within a designated blue zone. At first blush this sounds like a generous bylaw but a closer look paints a different story. The camper is not allowed to set up anywhere near public trails, buildings or facilities including water or toilets. And the camper must dismantle their home every morning by 9 am. At the same time, the proposal also comprised changes to the DOS Traffic bylaw. As detailed in a recent article in the Squamish Reporter:
The new changes to traffic bylaw will prohibit a vehicle or trailer to park for more than an hour between 10 pm and 7 am on highway or district parking lots between May 15 and September 30. This would be an additional restriction to the camping bylaw passed in 2019, which prohibits camping in environmentally sensitive areas of the district marked as red zones in the camping bylaw.
A spokesperson for the Vehicle Residents of Squamish Advocacy Group (VRS), Thomo Pijon, has this to say on their blog:
The ideology of exclusion is reflected in Squamish’s new camping bylaw which is branded as part of the “tourism management scheme.” While this bylaw is intended to target irresponsible campers and tourists, in fact, it targets people who live in vehicles and tents, many of whom consider these material possessions their home ... This bylaw explicitly discriminates against vehicle residents who work, own businesses, pay taxes, and belong in this community just as much as the more affluent residents. For the last two years, Squamish vehicle residents have been battling the District over the basic right to access public land and live in the type of housing they deem necessary. As it stands, in order for vehicle residents to have a “legally protected sleep” in Squamish, they must ditch the vehicle and move into tents.
Leanne Roderick, a director with VRS, is noted in an article in The Squamish Chief as claiming the new camping and traffic bylaws were indiscriminate in their breadth in that they don't distinguish between vehicle residents and tourists. In response, Mayor Karen Elliott insists, “This is our effort focused on visitor management. Unfortunately, bylaws cannot be written with subtlety.”
For years the VRS has been attempting to work with the District of Squamish on a permit system for local vehicle residents which would easily separate residents from tourists while at the same time allow vehicle residents to contribute to DOS services.
Find out more about the Vehicle Residents of Squamish.
And in the Tyee: Squamish Ponders a Ban on Vanlife. And its future.
Remembering Tom Berger
Indigenous rights advocate, former BC NDP leader, and one of the most brilliant legal minds in B.C. and Canadian history, Tom Berger died on Saturday April, 28, 2021, at the age of 88.
Tom Berger began his political career as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Burrard from 1962 to 1963. In 1966, Berger was elected to the BC Legislature, also for Vancouver-Burrard. Berger briefly led the BC NDP in 1969. After the BC NDP lost the 1969 election, and Berger lost his own seat in the legislature, he resigned as leader, and was succeeded by Dave Barrett, who went on to form the first BC NDP government in 1972.
Tom Berger’s legal career is best summed up by the writeup on his 2004 Order of BC Award page:
“For more than 40 years, Thomas Berger was one of the pre-eminent legal figures in the history of this province. He was counsel for the Nisga’a nation of B.C. in a case in which the Supreme Court recognized the place of aboriginal rights in Canadian law. He was the youngest judge appointed to the Supreme Court in the 20th Century, and served for 12 years.
During that time, Mr. Berger headed many inquiries, including the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, to determine the social, environmental and economic impact of the proposed Arctic Gas pipeline to be built from Alaska through the Mackenzie Valley to metropolitan centres in Canada and the U.S. Upon his recommendation, the Government of Canada rejected the proposal and approved an alternate route. Canada also adopted his recommendation to establish a wilderness park in the Northern Yukon to protect one of the last great caribou herds of North America, and to impose a moratorium on major development in the Mackenzie Valley to enable aboriginal land claims to be settled. His commission report, Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland, is the best-selling document ever published by the government.
Mr. Berger’s public intervention in 1981 was instrumental in the inclusion of aboriginal rights in the new Canadian Constitution. He wrote Fragile Freedoms, a study of human rights and dissent in Canada, which was published in English and French.
After he resigned from the bench in 1983, he led the Alaska Native Review Commission, sponsored by two international organizations of aboriginal peoples. The report was published as Village Journey. For three years, he taught at UBC, then returned to practicing law in Vancouver. In 1991 he wrote A Long and Terrible Shadow, examining European values and native rights in North and South America from 1492-1992, published in English, French, Japanese and Spanish. In 1991 to 1992 he served as vice-chairman of the World Banks’ Sardar Sarovar Inquiry in India. In 2003, he wrote One Man’s Justice, an account of his work as a lawyer.
Mr. Berger held honorary degrees from 13 universities, and received the Order of Canada in 1990. In 1992 he was made a Freeman of the City of Vancouver.”
Further Reading:
What Does Real Consultation Look Like? The Berger Inquiry -- The Narwhal
National
Liberals push strike-breaking legislation in response to Port of Montreal strike
Longshoremen at the Port of Montreal have ended their strike, agreeing to a seven-month period to continue contract talks while port operations carry on without a labour stoppage. If an agreement isn’t reached by March 20th, the workers can again exercise their right to strike.
But the Trudeau government had back-to-work legislation on the table before the strike even started. The legislation would have ended the strike and imposed a settlement on the employer’s terms. The legislation passed the house.
Some say the legislation may be unconstitutional, but that could be a long, drawn-out legal battle that still favors employers. The Liberal Government previously used Back-To-Work Legislation on the Postal Service in 2018.
Whether or not the legislation was constitutional, one thing is certain: the Liberal Government has shown it will often side with employers over workers in labour disputes. This means that future strikes or workplace organizing will face tougher conditions. If further gains for workers can be achieved, it will only be through greater solidarity between unions, and widespread support for it from working people.
International
Where are the op-eds about Vietnam’s heroic success against COVID?
- A short contribution from Geoff Berner, East Van’s legendary accordion virtuoso!
For 50 years, the Vietnamese fought to have their own country, where people sort of take care of people, just, you know, because they’re people.
First they kicked out the bloody Japanese Empire. Then they kicked out the ridiculous French. Then they took on the Big Boss Bad Guy. The Most Powerful Empire in History. The Americans. And they would not quit. And they fucking won. They beat them. They freed themselves. From what? From Us. From us, white people.
You know the old Star Wars movies? Forget the prequels and sequels. The good old ones us old white grown ups grew up with? Remember the Rebels? Remember Luke Skywalker? Remember the Rebel Base Command Center, built underground to withstand bombardment? That’s the fucking Viet Cong. The Empire? Grand Moff Tarkin? All that? That’s US, white people. We’re the ones with the power to destroy an entire people in a single moment of history. And the heroic Viet Cong beat us. Thank fucking God.
That’s why Vietnam had only 35 deaths. Because they are not a client state of the White American Empire. If they were still a client state of the Americans, they’d be like Brazil. Or India.
White people, we should be celebrating America’s defeat in Vietnam. Every May the 4th, say. We should watch the Star Wars movies and celebrate how the Viet Cong blew up the Death Star. Twice. And then celebrated. And then, for an encore, by the way, they went over to Cambodia and stopped the genocide there. They are the Good Guys, if there ever were such. Yeah, I know. They did some bad stuff too. So did the Rebels. So what? Whatever they did, it got them 35 deaths last year, instead of 500,000.
Vietnam is right there. As a shining example of Real Human Decency. Not just blowhard words. They’re a shining example, as a people, who, flawed like anybody else, managed to throw off the shackles of three giant Empires, and make a place where people mostly took care of people. All the people.
So where are all the giant articles and reports from Vietnam? Where are all the thoughtful Op Eds saying “We Have So Much To Learn From Vietnam”? Where indeed? What, do you suppose would explain that eerie absence? That absence, so similar in its eeriness to another absence, the eerie absence of a sense of smell that comes first with COVID, like the sudden eerie absence of bird song before a platoon descends upon an unsuspecting village.
#FreeTheVaccine gains a foothold in The US; Canada has yet to find the courage
The United States government announced on Wednesday that it is now backing waiving patent protections on the COVID-19 Vaccines, reversing its previous position on the waiver. Although, it is important to note that on the campaign trail, President Biden claimed he would waive patents:
The pressure picked up steam after India reported over 20 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Pharmaceutical stocks dropped along with the news. If you’d like a clearer indication that for-profit healthcare is incompatible with robust public health responses, we don’t know what that would be.
Despite this promising case of pharmaceutical companies suffering, this is only a first step. Those same companies will try to intervene and make the waiver as narrow & limited as possible.
Late Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau told CTV Power Play’s Evan Solomon that the Canadian government is still weighing whether to support a temporary waiver of patent protections on COVID vaccines. This is a cowardly position that for now places the Canadian government to the right of the US on this crucial global health issue.
Hamilton Centre NDP MP Matthew Green, a fierce critic of the Liberal government’s stance on vaccine patents, blasted the government’s response to the Biden administration’s announcement:
We strongly urge the Canadian government to support a waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents so that poorer nations in the global south can get sufficient vaccines to drive down the COVID pandemic, and we strongly urge all Canadians to speak out about this - to their elected officials, to their union reps, and to their neighbours, family and friends.
Further Reading/Listening:
Jacobin Magazine: Capitalism Is Driving COVID Disaster in the Global South
Upcoming Events
Socialist Unity Assembly
Saturday, May 8, 2021
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Host: Socialist Action
Join members of socialist and climate action groups from across the Lower Mainland at the Socialist Unity Assembly. These monthly meetings are a place to share projects, events, and to ask for help. Become a member of our FB Group to learn more and keep updated on events and news.
People Before Profits
Sunday, May 16, 2021
7:00 pm / Zoom link on FB Event Page
Hosted by the Socialist Unity Assembly including the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver, Socialist Action, the Vancouver Ecosocialist Group, and independent activists.
A panel of speakers on three current crises caused by capitalism and made worse by capitalism:
HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
Speaker: Karina Castro, a member of Red Braid Alliance for Decolonial Socialism, speaking about the struggle for housing justice and the struggle to stop all evictions and create universal housing for all.
COVID AND CAPITALIST PROFITEERING
Speaker: Robbie Mahood, a semi-retired family doctor working in Montreal and a member of Ligue pour l'action socialiste.
DEFUND THE POLICE
Speaker: Taz Khandwani, speaking on behalf of the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver Defund the VPD Campaign.
Vancouver Ecosocialist Group Events Page
Media Roundup
B.C. ranchers, loggers unite in fight against plan to log rare inland old-growth rainforest -- The Narwhal
Colombians Are In The Streets Against a Violent Neoliberal Order -- Jacobin Magazine
India Is in a Horrendous COVID Crisis. It’s Modi’s Fault -- Jacobin Magazine