04) TORONTO LABOUR HOLDS FIRST STEWARDS ASSEMBLY

(The following article is from the May 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Dave McKee

More than 1600 union stewards and leaders packed into Toronto's first-ever Stewards Assembly, organized on May 7 by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council in response to the economic crisis.

     The evening began with a presentation by CAW economist Jim Stanford, who pointed out that while the stock markets appear to be rallying, this is largely a paper-based rebound resulting from huge public bailouts to corporations. The Canadian government has provided the banks alone with $200 billion, but the real economy is still sinking. While the stock market is up 30% over the past 6 weeks, unemployment is also up by 30% over the past 6 months.

     "There's no recovery until there's jobs," Stanford said, to wild applause. He cautioned that workers and the labour movement will need to prepare for a coming process of structural adjustment, in which capital will seek to blame and extract concessions from workers in all industries, in both the private and public sectors.

     Following this overview were stories from workers whose workplaces and unions have already been hit hard by the crisis. Amidst the reports of layoffs, outsourcing and offshoring, were tales of resistance and victories: the Hotel Workers Rising campaign, which has seen large scale organizing drives and bargaining victories; the $10 minimum wage campaign in Ontario; and the strike by energy professionals in 2005.

     The lessons? The way out of the crisis is through struggle, and the best way to struggle is through unity, militancy, combining parliamentary and extra-parliamentary action, and solidarity campaigns that link unions, workers and communities.

     One example of these lessons applied over the long-term is the Good Jobs For All Campaign, which was also reported to the assembly. This campaign is the product of community-labour solidarity efforts that began with consultation and planning to prepare for the Good Jobs Summit, held in Toronto last November.

     Currently, the campaign is focused around three areas: Empowering Workers, which has included rallies for EI reform and the campaign for temporary workers' rights that culminated in Bill 139; Green Economy for All, which will include a conference in the fall; and Investing in Social Infrastructure, which links good jobs with accessible social infrastructure such as public education, social services, childcare and public health care.

     John Cartwright, President of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, introduced the "Solidarity Checklist" to the Stewards Assembly. This checklist is intended to be a roadmap for stewards to help their members understand the economic crisis and to stand together with their co-workers, with other unions, and with their community as part of the fight for progressive, working class alternatives.

     The six points in the checklist are: (1) Don't blame ourselves or other workers, (2) Remember how the rules were changed, (3) Ask tough questions about "the big picture," (4) Put fair rules in place, (5) Work hard to renew solidarity, and (6) Stand together for what we believe in!

     Stewards then discussed the checklist at their tables, with a view to how we could work in our workplaces and union locals to make it a reality. At the end of the assembly, each national and international union present pledged to stand together during this economic crisis.

     The Stewards Assembly represents a big step forward for the labour movement in the Toronto area because it brought together frontline union representatives (workers themselves) to determine how to organize locally for a broad and united movement to block the corporate attack and press for change. All of the key ingredients of a mass movement were identified - community-labour solidarity, unity of all forces for democratic change, the necessity for labour to lead the fight, and the importance of fighting in both the electoral and extra-parliamentary arenas. What is needed now is action.

     For more information on the Stewards Assembly and the Solidarity Checklist, visit http://www.labourcouncil.ca. For information on the Good Jobs For All Coalition, visit http://www.goodjobsforall.ca.