Picket Tory Minister to Defend Postal Services! All out Sept. 20!
2014Barry Weisleder 2014-08Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 10 →
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Momentum is growing towards a monster mass picket and rally to defend Canada’s postal services. The pro test, set for Saturday, Sept. 20, is against Canada Post Corporation plans to terminate home mail delivery. It will be held outside the Toronto constituency office of Conservative Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver at 511 Lawrence Avenue West.
Organizations endorsing the Sept. 20 mass picket now include the Canadian Labour Congress, Ontario Federa tion of Labour, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, On tario Public Service Employees’ Union, Public Service Alliance of Canada-Ontario, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Brampton and Mississauga District Labour Council, CUPE Local 3903, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, NDP Socialist Caucus, Communist Party of Canada, International Socialists, and Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste.
Socialist Action/LAS initiated this effort, on the heels of a successful picket it convened on a very cold March Thousands demanded “Israel Out of Gaza,” “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” against the Zionist state, and cried “Free, Free Palestine” on the streets of downtown Toronto on July 30.
A boisterous rally at Dundas Square heard Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan and other speak ers denounce the Conservative federal government for complicity with the Israeli military onslaught in Gaza that has seen over 1800 Palestinians killed, chiefly by the bombardment of resi dential areas, including schools and health clinics.
Spokespersons for Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, and some of the 40 other sponsors of the event, also sharply criticized Thomas Mulcair, New Democratic Party head and Leader of the Official Opposition in Ot tawa, for his strident and uncritical support of the Zionist state.
The rally fed a massive march of about 4000 to the Israeli Consulate, across from the Royal Ontario Museum at Bloor and Avenue Road.
En route, protesters staged a “die-in” at the Bed Bath and Beyond store at Yonge and Gerrard, chanting: ‘1, 2, 3, 4, SodaS and other Israeli wines. tream Out the Door!’ Soda Stream sup plies products to make carbonated drinks. Its main production facility is on an illegal 15 at the same site. The Sept. 20 speakers list now in cludes CUPW National President Denis Leme lin, CLC V.P. Marie Clarke Walker, OFL President Sid Ryan, OPSEU President Smokey Thomas, a leader of PSACOntario (t.b.a.), and representatives of other endorsing organizations.
The aim of the protest is to compel the Conservative federal government and Canada Post Corporation to reverse plans to end home mail delivery, to eliminate thousands of jobs in the postal service, and to raise the price of postage. The scheme to degrade postal services, to alienate the public towards them, serves the goal of gutting the federal public sector. Within that framework, the rulers strive to trash good jobs, slash postal workers’ pensions, and break a progressive, democratic union. It is a road that leads to selling the most profitable parts of Canada Post to private sector vultures.
This brazenly broad assault must be stopped. It is a wa tershed moment for public services and for the workers’ movement across the Canadian state. The need for public resistance is urgent. Protest activity is developing across Julius Arscott / Socialist Action Joe Oliver voted in Parliament against the New Demo cratic Party motion to maintain door-to-door mail deliv ery. Seniors and people with mobility problems strongly oppose being forced to collect their mail at a so-called “community mail box,” blocks from home, under all kinds of weather conditions.
The resulting elimination of up to 8000 letter carrier jobs would be a serious blow to young people and to many others seeking decent-paying employment in a time of great economic stress.
Canada Post is not in debt. It made a profit in 18 of the past 19 years—the exception being 2011, when CPC locked out its employees. And it could be even more profitable as a public asset if it provided banking servic es at postal outlets across the country. Canada Post and the Tory government suppressed a study that shows how providing banking and other services is the way forward. To the consternation of the vast majority of Canadians, the Tories are stealing workers’ pensions, while cutting vital jobs and services.
If this is the best that the Harper Conservatives have to offer, then they must go. If this is the best that capitalism has to offer, then it too must go. If Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra and Prime Minister Stephen Harper cannot run a postal service to meet human needs, they should step aside. Let postal workers show how to run the service—under workers’ control.
Take notice Deepak Chopra, Joe Oliver, and Stephen Harper: This fight has just begun. Across the country you are facing a rising torrent of opposition to the placement of mega-mail boxes in every city and town. We will not stop fighting your cuts until we reverse them. We will not stop until we remove you. n Despite the huge crowd, many of whom came by bus from Mis sissauga, north-west of the city,