Tag: toronto

Do Collective Agreements Convert Working for an Employer into Decent Work?

Tracy MacMaster is a union steward for Local 561 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU); she was also vice-president of the local union at one point. However, she prides herself most on her activity of organizing part-time college workers (she works at a college as a library technician). . On March 25, 2019, … Continue reading Do Collective Agreements Convert Working for an Employer into Decent Work? →

An Example of the Inadequacy of the Canadian Left, or How the Canadian Left Contributes to the Emergence of the Canadian Right

On Facebook, a social-reformist leftist posted the fact that the Ontario Conservative government, headed by the right-wing millionaire Doug Ford, had eliminated the position of Ontario Child Advocate Office, integrating it with the Ombudsman's Office.  The person had attached the comment "Shameful". A subsequent comment objected to the fact that the man who filled the … Continue reading An Example of the Inadequacy of the Canadian Left, or How the Canadian Left Contributes to the Emergence of the Canadian Right →

The Canadian Left’s Lack of a Vision of the Good Life Beyond a Class of Employers

Stanley Aronowitz, in his book The Death and Life of American Labor: Toward a New Workers’ Movement (New York: Verso, page 162) , points out how the left has in effect abandoned any real intention of developing a movement powerful enough to challenge a system dominated by the class of employers: Professional intellectuals need not … Continue reading The Canadian Left’s Lack of a Vision of the Good Life Beyond a Class of Employers →

Social-Reformist Leftist Activists Share Assumptions with the Right

In an earlier post (Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part Two), I argued that the social-reformist leftist activist Mr. Bush used Karl Marx's theory of surplus value for conservative (reformist purposes). This post will expand on this view by pointing out, in a more theoretical way, how Mr. Bush, … Continue reading Social-Reformist Leftist Activists Share Assumptions with the Right →

Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario, or: How the Social-Democratic Left Ignore Them

Management Rights The social-democratic left typically is incapable of dealing with the issue of the power of management. There is little or no discussion over such issues despite the existence of the power of the class of employers at various levels of society: economic, political, social and cultural. This silence expresses both the power of … Continue reading Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario, or: How the Social-Democratic Left Ignore Them →

The Educational Needs of the Labour Movement: A Radical Imagination

The radical left in Toronto (and probably elsewhere) has failed to engage in the radical imagination. When I participated as a facilitator in a few educational workshops for some workers and worker representatives at the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), two other leftists  and I created a program that included three sections on capitalism. The … Continue reading The Educational Needs of the Labour Movement: A Radical Imagination →

Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part Two

This is a continuation of my last post. In this post, I will address Mr. Bush's confused analysis of relations at work and in exchange in a situation dominated by a class of employers, which he confusedly analyzes in his April 26, 2017 article published on the Socialist Project website (Basic Income and the Left: … Continue reading Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part Two →