Mixed Gains in Canada’s Summer of the Strike

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A strikes against concessions demanded by bosses trying to take advantage of the global economic crisis. cross Canada, resistance to the employers’ agenda is visible in a growing number of disputes. Most are An exception was the two-day strike by 340 Via rail engineers that stopped passenger train service across Canada, July 24-26. The dispute is now going to binding arbitration by agreement of the parties.

About 3600 employees of Vale Inco, most of them at the company’s flagship Sudbury nickel mines, walked off the job on July 13. According to United Steelworkers director Wayne Fraser, Vale Inco wants the elimination of bonuses to workers when the price of nickel is high, plus the imposition of an inferior pension plan for newly It is a battle over future profits for the Brazilian iron-ore giant Vale do Rio Doce, which bought Inco in 2006 for $19.4 billion. Nickel soared above $24 (U.S.) a pound in mid-2007, fell to $5 (U.S.) pound in late 2008, but is rising again, reaching $6.68 on July 13. The USWA’s Fraser said that around $7 a pound, the company is “going Meanwhile, a 93 per cent strike mandate, and a vigorous public (“Our Communities Need Good Jobs”) cam­ paign, achieved victory for 7000 Liquor Control Board of Ontario workers represented by the Ontario Pub­ lic Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) in mid-July. LCBO management proposed to take away job security (by ‘temporarily’ laying off full-time workers during slow periods) and to continue to ‘casualize’ jobs by creating a two-tier system of part-time workers with no benefits. Not only did the bosses back down, but they promised to create more full-time positions at the 610 LCBO outlets across Ontario, give benefits to part-timers, and provide the same 3 per cent annual wage increase won by Ontario Public Service workers last year.

But lack of struggle often produces the opposite results. Some 450 Globe and Mail newspaper employees, members of CEP Local 87-M, ratified a concessionary deal that averted a strike on July 2. The new contract imposes a two-year wage freeze, followed by increases of 2, 2.5, and 2.5 per cent through to June 2014. New em­ ployees will have to join a defined contribution retirement plan instead of the existing defined benefit pension plan. The union did stop the lengthening of the work week, restrictions on outside activities, and the weakening So the pattern in the Summer of the Strike tends to show that it pays to fight back. — BARRY WEISLEDER American soldier. A soldier opens the lid of one and tosses in Thompson’s personal effects.

His replacement is hot-shot Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), who pisses off his comrades with his so-what-ifI-get- killed attitude. James is so sure of himself that at one bomb site, he sheds his padded protective gear and helmet, saying, “If I’m gonna die, I wanna be comfortable.” Sanborn wants to kill Iraqis if they don’t obey orders. He sees Iraqis the way the military programs its soldiers to see them—they are all Hajis. He hates Iraq and the Hajis, evi­ dent in how Mackie delivers Sanborn’s lines. Eldridge is the story’s weakling, the scaredy-cat. He takes his troubles to Colonel John Cambridge (Christian Camargo), the com­ pany shrink. When Owen challenges his ability as a fel­ low soldier and Cambridge takes him up on it, you can see the outcome a mile away.

At one point, the three come up on employees from Blackwater (headed by Ralph Fiennes in a cameo role) whose truck has a flat. The scene takes place in the middle of nowhere. An ambush ensues. Director Bigelow takes her time here. We wait with the team as they try to spot snipers through telescopes. We see what the men see: un­ derwater images created by heat waves of parched land and a small, squat concrete bunker, until a red sun goes down. The scene is heart stopping.

Much of the major media has praised the “realism” of this film. Screen writer Mark Boal (who also wrote “The Valley of Elah,”) had gone to Iraq on a writing assignment and so claims he knows how to portray the life. Still, some ... Gaza convoy (continued from page 12: “Medical aid convoy breaks Gaza blockade despite Israeli, Egyptian harassment”)

free people, for every single human being. All of Israel is said to suffer so much from one prisoner [Gilad Sha­ lit, an armed soldier riding on a tank, in contrast to the 11,000 Palestinians jailed for alleged participation in civilian political activities]. What about us? This child whose hand I’m holding has never seen his father, but we are people of peace.”

Three little girls spoke about losing 29 immediate family members. Said a 10-year-old: “What is my fault?

They killed my parents, but what did I do to them? My life was beautiful and peaceful. But after what they did, I will never ever feel that passion again, to just seek a hug from my parents. And I will never forgive them, be­ cause they took the most precious thing in my life.”

Gazans welcomed the convoy not primarily for the aid brought, important as that was, but for the political statement of solidarity made by the attempt. As VPUS delegate Soozy Duncan reported in The Indypendent, “Bringing medical aid was only one of VP’s stated pur­ poses. The convoy also sought to learn and share the stories of the Gazans who have lived under 61 years of occupation and the severe assault from December to January.”

Despite verbal squabbles over settlement expansion, Washington is clearly backing Israeli Prime Minister hired workers (with defined contributions, instead of defined benefits).

to make huge money.”

of job-security language.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to continue the siege, the land thefts, and the denial of the right to return—using as a cover an IMF-style “development” of the economy of the West Bank, integrating isolated segments of it further, a la Egypt, into the world capitalist order, at the expense of Palestinian workers, peasants, and refu­ gees.

Resistance to these plans was evident not only in Gaza, but also among the people of Egypt, in contrast to the regime imposed on them. Wrote the Abi Saabs, “The people of Egypt remain a breath of fresh air with their support and positive attitude towards our mis­ sion and convoy to Gaza.

“Walking down the streets of Giza, with our Al-Awda ‘Falasteen’ shirts, we are constantly being stopped by pedestrians who want to greet us and tell us how much they love Palestine. People began screaming ‘We Love Palestine!’ One man stopped us and said every time he prays, the first thing he prays for is Palestine. Most of the people we have come across don’t support the ac­ tions of the Egyptian government, and are so apprecia­ tive and grateful for our mission.”

Ironically, this support of working-class Egyptians for the convoy was being expressed at the very same time at an event of potentially historic proportions occur­ ring in Cairo, an event displaying the strength of the social force that could re-galvanize the masses of Pal­ estine and the rest of the Arab world in their efforts to break imperialism and Zionism’s hold on the region.

Hundreds of workers on strike for 41 days against the Tanta Flax and Oil Company met in Cairo on July 10. They demanded the nationalization of their factory, privatized four years ago, threatening to take it over if the government didn’t intervene on behalf of the strik­ ers. Some speakers went even further and demanded an end to the government’s entire policy of privatiza­ tion.

Said one: “If we succeed in Tanta Flax, this will be the end of privatization in Egypt. All companies will fol­ low suit and strike. Our fight is for the workers of all Egypt”—and, we would add, given Egypt’s key role in supporting Israel, by extension for the Arab people as a whole.

Galloway has announced that he intends to lead cara­ vans this year from Venezuela (with the participation of Hugo Chavez), France, and Moscow, as well as a joint U.K.-U.S. convoy in December to commemorate the first anniversary of Israel’s attack. These convoys can be part of a broader effort to expand the growing move­ ment in solidarity with Palestine.

This movement in turn can provide support for a growing resistance by Palestinians themselves. As stated at the report-back forum mentioned above, that resistance will be built on the principles, in the words of Lamis Deek, a leader of Al-Awda-NY and the U.S. Pal­ estinian Community Network, that “Jerusalem must be the capital of Palestine; rejection of Zionism as racist colonialism; and return of all refugees to their original homes and lands.”

Dos, Tres, Muchos Convoys! Viva Palestina! n SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST 2009 11