In some previous posts, the title was "Working for an Employer May Be Dangerous to Your Health." I have changed the title since this post is not just directly about working for an employer. As has been implied in the previous post on this topic, the shift to legislative measures to address health and safety … Continue reading Working and Living in a Society Dominated by a Class of Employers May Be Dangerous to Your Health
Tag: Social-reformist left
The Pearson Survey of the 50,000 Employees at the Toronto International Airport: A Document Expressing the Ideology of Employers
The following is based on the report Understanding the Pearson workforce: Canada’s first airport workforce survey: Summary report, October 2019. The survey consists of a sample of 3,582 employees at the Toronto Pearson airport from a variety of positions, with the statistical expectation that these employees would be representative of the 50,000 workers who work at … Continue reading The Pearson Survey of the 50,000 Employees at the Toronto International Airport: A Document Expressing the Ideology of Employers
Reform Versus Abolition of the Police, Part Five: More Philosophical Considerations
This is the fifth and perhaps the last post in a five-part series on the issue of the reform of the police versus its abolition. (I came across an article on unions and the police (not police unions) and may write a post on that still). It is more theoretical than the first four posts … Continue reading Reform Versus Abolition of the Police, Part Five: More Philosophical Considerations
Unions and the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Critique of a Social-Democratic View, Part One
Professor Tuft (geography professor, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), in an article published on the Socialist Project's website (Covid-19 and 'Actually Existing' Unions), argues that unions will be in crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Unions exist financially because of union dues, and with the increased level of unemployment among unionized workers, unions … Continue reading Unions and the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Critique of a Social-Democratic View, Part One
Reform or Abolition of the Police, Part One
In at least two posts, I will explore the issue of reforming the police versus its abolition. Conveniently, there are a couple of articles that address the issue. Mr. Rosenfeld, a self-declared radical and Marxist living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in an article published in the social-democratic magazine Canadian Dimension on April 20, 2020, Reform and … Continue reading Reform or Abolition of the Police, Part One
The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Eight: Class Harmony
This is an elaboration of a critique of an academic leftist (aka academic historical materialist), the philosopher Jeff Noonan. Professor Noonan's neglect of the relatively privileged status of university professors in relation to other workers leads him to assert the following (from Thinkings 4: Collected Interventions, Readings, Evocations, 2014-2015, page 13): Whether or not it was … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Eight: Class Harmony
The Canadian Labour Congress’s Idealization of the Collective-Bargaining Process
Relatively recently, Hassan Yussuff, the president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), wrote an article praising collective bargaining: Collective bargaining is good for everyone December 23, 2019 By Hassan Yussuff, as published in the Globe and Mail. The holidays aren’t solely about gift-giving and spreading good cheer. Many workers find themselves having to walk a … Continue reading The Canadian Labour Congress’s Idealization of the Collective-Bargaining Process
The Silences of the Social-Democratic Left on the Standards They Use in Relation to Health and Safety
I had a debate on the Facebook page of the Toronto Airport Workers Council (TAWC), an organization designed to facilitate communication and common actions among unions at the Toronto International Pearson Airport. The issue was health and safety and workers' compensation. In Canada, most workers who work for an employer are covered by workers' compensation--a … Continue reading The Silences of the Social-Democratic Left on the Standards They Use in Relation to Health and Safety
Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part One
Mr. Gindin, in his article We Need to Say What Socialism Will Look Like argues the following: The expectations of full or near-full abundance, added to perfect or near-perfect social consciousness, have a further consequence: they imply a dramatic waning, if not end, of substantive social conflicts and so do away with any need for an “external” … Continue reading Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part One
Working for an Employer May Be Dangerous to Your Health, Part Three
The attitude of much of the left in Toronto (and I suspect elsewhere in Canada and the world) is that working for an employer is not all that bad. Why else would the left not object to references to "decent work," "fair contracts," "economic justice," and so forth by union reps, or the coupling of … Continue reading Working for an Employer May Be Dangerous to Your Health, Part Three
The Abolitionary 