Laura McCoy and Leela Acharya are teachers in Toronto and members of Ontario Education Workers United, a grassroots group of education workers from across Ontario committed to fighting for a strong, equitable, public, safe K-to-12 education system. Scott Neigh interviews them about the impacts of the pandemic on education in Ontario, about the group, and …
Stephanie Fung is the communications organizer for UNITE HERE Local 40, which represents workers in the hospitality industry in British Columbia. Rajani Tadaka is a hotel worker in Vancouver and a member of Local 40. In the wake of the extensive pandemic-related layoffs in hotels in BC, many employers chose to fire laid off workers …
Barbara Byers, Lori Johb, and Donna Smith are long-time feminists and trade unionists in Saskatchewan. They are also organizers of the Prairie School for Union Women, happening this year as an online event between June 22 and 25. Scott Neigh interviews them about the 25-year history of the school, and about its current incarnation in …
Thanks to Barb, Donna, and Lori for the great interview just now about the Prairie School for Union Women, an annual feminist labour education event held in Saskatchewan for the past 25 years. Listen for it on Talking Radical Radio in a couple of weeks!
Tara Ehrcke is a teacher in Victoria, BC, and throughout her career she has been active in her union, the British Columbia Teachers Federation. Since 2018, her energies have been largely focused on the climate crisis, and she is part of an informal network of climate-focused trade unionists who organized the recent Labour Climate Forum. …
Jonny Sopotiuk is a visual artist, a curator, and a community and labour organizer. Zandi Dandizette is a new media installation artist and an arts and culture worker. Both are founding members of the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Co-operative (VALU CO-OP), a workplace owned and run democratically by its workers, and of the Arts and …
Nick Driedger lives in northern Alberta and has been involved in organizing workers for almost 20 years. He has been part of a number of different unions, including the Candian Union of Postal Workers and the Industrial Workers of the World, and he currently works for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. He is also …
Thanks to long-time labour organizer Nick Driedger for the conversation just now about the nuts and bolts of worker organizing and about his recent article “Common Organizing Mistakes” (https://organizing.work/2020/11/common-organizing-mistakes/). Listen for it on Talking Radical Radio in the new year!
Christine Bro is the lead organizer with Local 2 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and she is based in Vancouver. Quentin Rowe-Codner is a sales associated at a private liquor store in Maple Ridge, BC. Scott Neigh interviews them about SEIU Local 2’s Unions Are Essential campaign, launched to support the unionization of essential and frontline workers during the …
Derek Blackadder went to his first union meeting in the 1970s, and since the 1980s has been involved in multiple ways in shaping how the labour movement has made use of digital communication techology. Scott Neigh interviews him about that long history of experimentation, debate, and action with online tools, and about what social movements can learn from …