Here is another clause from a collective agreement concerning management rights, this time from the private sector--and in a province in Canada where French is predominant officially. Undoubtedly for the social-democratic left, it expresses a situation where there is decent work--a cliché among the left, who refuse to investigate its meaning in a democratic fashion. It … Continue reading Management Rights, Part Eight: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Quebec
Tag: Unions
The Contradictions of Unions: Reformist and Radical Assessments
Steven Tufts, in an article first published on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, on The Star website, and republished on the Socialist Project website on September 25 (Pension Plans Should Not Invest in Companies That Harm Working People), tries to show that, despite unions consciously disassociating themselves from investments that harm workers, their own pension fund managers may … Continue reading The Contradictions of Unions: Reformist and Radical Assessments
The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces
Professor Noonan, an academic leftist, argues that the Nemak return to work provides lessons for the left. Indeed, it does--but unfortunately he fails to draw further lessons from the situation. He says the following: As regards work, the structural dependence on paid employment is what makes people working class. This structural dependence is what, above … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces
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?
The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Three: Collective Bargaining and the Interests of the Working Class
This is a continuation of a critique of an academic leftist (aka academic historical materialist), the philosopher Jeff Noonan. Another example of the limitations of Professor Noonan's analysis is the following (from Thinkings 4: Collected Interventions, Readings, Evocations, 2014-2015,page 10): And sometimes it is necessary to struggle to protect or extend our rights as workers to … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Three: Collective Bargaining and the Interests of the Working Class
Employers as Dictators, Part Two
Union reps typically refer to fair compensation in order to justify their short-term actions. Of course, there is nothing wrong with short-term goals as such, but when they are presented as the same as what should be a long-term goal (fairness and freedom), then such goals become an ideology that justifies the power of employers … Continue reading Employers as Dictators, Part Two
The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part One
Before I obtained a so-called permanent teaching position (I will explain in a much later post why I use the word "so-called"), I worked for a number of years as a substitute teacher (with short periods of term teaching positions). I became an executive member of the Winnipeg Teachers' Association (WTA) (in the province of … Continue reading The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part One
Management Rights, Part Seven: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Quebec
It is fascinating how the social-democratic or reformist left, with their talk of "good contracts," "decent work," a "fair deal," and "economic justice" and so forth do not feel that they have the need to justify themselves. They assume what they must prove to workers--that a collective agreement expresses "good contracts," and so forth. Do … Continue reading Management Rights, Part Seven: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Quebec
Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part Two
In my last post, I referred to the self-righteous attitude of many of the social-democratic left, who consider anyone who tries to broaden the discussion to include wider considerations to be "delusional." Their methodology, I argued, can be considered mechanistic since they try to isolate incidents from the wider social context and treat them as … Continue reading Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part Two
Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part One
This will be a two-part post, with the second part being a brief focus on the inadequate methodology of social democrats and trade unionists. The radical left need to take measures against such inadequate methodology. I demonstrate briefly their inadequate methodology by referring to John Dewey's philosophy of human nature and contrast it with one … Continue reading Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part One
The Abolitionary 