Thanks to Joe Curnow for the interview just now about the University of Manitoba Faculty Association strike late last year, what it managed to accomplish despite tough circumstances, and what other public sector unions can learn from it. Listen for it on Talking Radical Radio in the coming weeks!
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 …
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 …
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 …
Justin Kong is the executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, and the lead organizer in their Chinese Grocery Store Worker Project. Scott Neigh interviews him about organizing with workers in Chinese grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses in the community. In particular, given the upsurge in anti-Chinese racism and the importance …
Despite the difficult and unsettling state of the world at the moment, I’ve managed to do two interviews this week. On Monday, I talked with Joan Kuyek. She is a long-time activist and organizer, and much of her work has been connected to struggles related to the mining sector. She spoke with me about her …