Monday, September 02, 2013

Memory Serves



A generation has passed since Sally Field won an Oscar for her performance in Norma Rae. Most people have forgotten the film. They have forgotten the battles auto workers waged against Henry Ford. The have forgotten the Asbestos Strike of 1949, and the battles miners waged against the Quebec Provincial Police and Maurice Duplessis.

They have forgotten the forty hour work week, vacation pay, child labour laws and -- if Tim Hudak gets his way -- they will forget  the Rand Formula.

In Stephen Harper's Canada, strikes are outlawed before they begin.

Our economy collapsed because we ignored the service of working men and women. Today memory should serve them.


6 comments:

CK said...

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/31/new_superunion_unifor_elects_first_president.html#mystars/users/registrations/new


Unifor, I hope, will merge with others eventually and actually beat Harper at his game.

I do remember Norma Rae -- the towel folder in a factory who organized and the struggle she went through. The predictability of scared workers not going along with her and actually impeding her.

I get a sense of deja-vu today.

Owen Gray said...

You're right, CK. We've seen this movie before -- except it's no movie. History is repeating itself.

gingersnap said...

Harper signed a deal with, the Communist China Army. Read about the Mugabe blood diamonds and the Communist China Army.

Harper gave the key of the tar sands to China, as well as China bringing over their own cheap labor. Harper has already given Nexen to China. China sued in BC, to take 200 BC mining jobs, away from BC miners. Communist China wants the timber on Vancouver Island, as well as the mines. Harper is selling our Canadian farmland to Communist China.

As soon as Harper ratifies his FIPA deal with China? We can kiss Canada good-bye. However, Canadians are known for slumbering through, absolutely everything.

The sellout of Canada to China began, way back in BC, during Gordon Campbell's reign of terror. The Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, work for Harper. Harper rewarded Campbell, the post of High Commissioner to the U.K. for doing his dirty work for him.

Owen Gray said...

The interests of working men and women were never a priority for either Harper or Campbell, gingersnap.

It's capital that calls the tune -- not labour.

The Mound of Sound said...

In North America, the rise of organized labour during WWII ushered in the middle class of the postwar era. At its peak, union membership exceeded 30 per cent of the labour force. Now, in the U.S., organized labour has fallen back where it was prior to the Great Depression - just 11 per cent overall, 6 per cent in the private sector. The decline of labour was accompanied by the gutting of the middle class and the rise of oligarchy.

Owen Gray said...

And the rise of oligarchy led to the collapse of the economy, Mound.