All In: Worker Organizing Beyond The Mainstream Labour Movement part 1
Channel: Punch Up Collective
Date: 2015-05-29

The Punch Up Collective hosted this panel discussion as our contribution to the 2015 May Day events in Ottawa. Workers of all kinds are under increasing attack, but the mainstream labour movement frequently seems unable to defend even its own previous victories, let alone expand worker struggles into new and necessary areas. Yet workers continue to come together collectively to demand justice and dignity in the workplace and wider society. Indeed, some of the most vital contemporary workplace struggles are taking place outside the boundaries of the mainstream labour movement, which is often handcuffed by a strict adherence to labour law, a lack of real internal democracy, and an inability to adapt to the changing realities of work.

We were proud to have speakers from four vibrant organizations doing important work: 

(0:00 - 12:00) Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a grassroots advocacy group based in Toronto, Vancouver and Mexico City. Composed of migrant workers and allies, they fight for the interests of workers in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program, including workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and the NOC C and D Agricultural Stream.

(12:00-23:00) Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union (THRWU) is an an affiliate of the Industrial Workers of the World. They are an organization of Harm Reduction Workers who are united together in solidarity, to improve their working conditions and to strengthen equality in the workplace for the betterment of the workers and those who access the services. They are a union of employed and unemployed workers committed to harm reduction with a range of skills, education and lived experience. They have come together in their common concerns to form a non-hierarchical democratic labour union with a commitment to mutual aid, social justice and the principles of harm reduction.

(24:00-32:00) TDUU (Toronto Drug Users Union), formed in November 2008 is a group of current and former drug users living in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their work addresses stigma, discrimination, and criminalization; the impact of trauma, well-being and self-medication; poverty, gentrification and services; and harm reduction.

(33:00-42:00) POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist) is a non-profit, voluntary organization founded on February 17th, 2008. Membership is open to individuals of all genders who self-identify as former or current sex workers, regardless of the industry sector in which they work(ed) (i.e. dancers, street level workers, in and out call workers, phone sex, etc.) and to allies who share their vision. They envision a society in which sex workers are able to practice their professions free of legal and social discrimination, victimization, harassment and violence and in which sex work is valued as legitimate and fulfilling work making an important contribution to society.

42:00 on = Questions, comments, and discussion