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Absender : ursa@INTERLOG.COM (Rhonda S.) Org.-Empf. : LABOR-L@YORKU.CA Weiterleiter owner-labor-l@YORKU.CA Antwort an : LABOR-L@YORKU.CA Betreff : Anti-Workfare Struggle Datum : Mo 30.03.98, 16:31 (erhalten: 31.03.98) Groesse : 5321 Bytes ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Workfare Struggle
At an anti-workfare demonstration held in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 27,
1998, by Hamilton Against Poverty, the local newspaper interviewed
demonstrators and proceeded to print half the story with a photo in the
Hamilton Spectator on A3 the next day. I am the one on the left, as the
caption states. I am a sole-support parent receiving Family Benefits,
unemployed for 4.5 years. From the right the others are Jim Jasewski, a
General Welfare recipient, Wendell Fields, also on General Welfare, Robert
Flemming, also on General Welfare, and Robert Ellis, also on General
Welfare. Can you guess which one is defending workfare?
NONE OF US!!!
The Spec reporter, Joanna Frape, refused to interview organizers present
at the demo, choosing instead not to print what was said in its entirety.
The message was not that we object to employment, but that we object to
the use of unpaid, forced labor in replacing paid positions on the
workforce.
Our research indicates that at least one such placement has occurred at
the Hamilton-Wentworth Dentention Center, where the position of
groundskeeper is no longer available to unemployed people looking for
gainfull employment. We can not be certain of any other instances because
the Regional Government has refused to provide us with information since
January, 1998. In 1997 they saw fit to give us lists of placements but our
recent rounds of demonstrations where workfare has been implemented have
got them on the run.
The man quoted as saying he likes Workfare is the same man who, 1 hour
before the picture, told me personally that he condems involuntary
workfare and that he volunteered for his placement in order to control
where he was sent. He chose Living Rock Ministries because of the work
they do assisting institutionalized people re-integrate in society. I
think he chose well, considering that he could end as a groundskeeper
before his experience with Ontario Works is finished.
On May 1st workfare in Ontario expands to include sole-support parents on
an INVOLUNTARY basis, meaning that I can be assigned to work free for any
employer in this Region, regardless of my career experience or training.
This more than an attack on the rights of the poor.
Also at risk is any Local that can be locked out during a dispute while
forced labor provided by the Region is used to fill previously protected
Labor shops. This forced labor will be bussed in under Police Guard.
Organized Labor is meant to see us as the threat, while we must comply or
see our children starved and homeless. I DON'T WANT TO BE A SCAB, I just
want a decent chance to work and feed my son.
We can pressure the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Government to rescind
their acceptance of Workfare, as they should have done in the first place.
Regional Chair Terry Cooke is one of the most vocal supporters of workfare
in the Region, which is no surprise as he is the local Tory hachet-man.
Alf Spencer of Hamilton-Wentworth Social Services is the president of the
Ontario Municipal Social Services Association and he sent a letter to the
Minister's Standing Committee on Social Development on November 4, 1997
declaring the Association's support of Bill 142 based on a poll of its
members. The published summary of this poll even states that many of the
members had not seen Bill 142 except what was shown them for the purpose
of the poll.
Clearly events are unfolding without the scrutiny of public interest, a
condition which has not been corrected by Organized Labor.
To this end we are conducting a Public Rally on April 1st in Gore Park,
downtown, from 3-4:30, and then march to City Hall for 5pm, when various
Labor leaders and community activists will speak on the vagaries of Bill
142.
We have financial support from the Hamilton Labor Council and the local
Coalition for Social Justice, for which we are grateful. However, we are
deemed a joke by many because we are poor and few in numbers. Why do the
r&f not join us? In many ways they have more to lose than we do.
The demonstrations do not end on April 1st. Our schedule of three
demonstrations per week has been maintained by a faithful few since March
11, and continues till the end of April when we will prepare to join you
in St. Catherines on May 1st.
Please come out to support us and deliver the truth the media will not
print. Workfare is not about welfare bums. It is about the Tory need to
satisfy corporate greed and break Organized Labor in Ontario.
Don't take my word for it. Look at the workfare failures in Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and Michigan, to name a few, and find out for yourself what
the impact was on your people in those and other places.
We have been looking for alliances with r&f activists. Join us before the
horrible scenario planned for us all by the Tories plays itself out.
Jim Savage
pages@hwcn.org
http://www.hwcn.org/~ag764/welcome.html
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/7731/calendar.html
Index of Welfare-Workfare-State Archives
Last Modified: April 20, 1998