It has been nearly a year since the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) began negotiations with the university administration for a new contract.  By November 2011, MUNACA workers will have been on strike for two months, and the only movement from McGill so far has been to increasingly restrict the freedoms of its own employees as they attempt to get their voices heard and negotiate a fair contract.  Most recently, MUNACA and McGill broke off talks as the union's key demands received no recognition from the university.  The situation is rapidly coming to a head.

Fightback, the Marxists in Canada, wholeheartedly support the #occupy movement, and will do whatever we can to promote and spread it. Our comrades in the United States, organized in the Workers International League, are already active participants in New York and other major cities where the movement has spread. In Canada, we are doing our part in Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, and especially Toronto -- the heart of Canadian finance capital. The key step for this movement is to take it from the street to the wider working class and labour movement. Not a light shines, not a wheel turns, without the permission of the working class; if we can mobilize working people we will win the power to overcome the corporations.

The recent labour dispute between flight attendants and Air Canada management, ending under threat of “back-to-work” legislation, highlights that the democratic right to strike is under serious threat. The right to withdraw one’s labour is an essential component of the right of freedom of association for workers; without this right, workers and their unions have little ability to negotiate decent working conditions. The use of back-to-work legislation effectively means that no workers have the right to strike without government approval. Especially with a Harper majority government, this tool can be pulled out haphazardly as the Conservatives fight to protect the interests of big business in Canada at the expense of workers.

For decades, the workers of Couche-Tard had been a raw material for exploitation because they did not have a union. Minimum wage, non-existent job security, belligerent management, very little benefits and vacation time - these are the conditions faced by Couche-Tard workers, the majority of whom depend on this job as their sole income. But enough is enough. Couche-Tard workers are now taking a bold decision to organize, and because of this they are being punished by their employer.

The austerity has begun, and workers are the main target. The new Conservative majority government is showing us that all democratic rights and freedoms will be trampled if corporate profits are threatened. Conservative Labour minister Lisa Raitt has stated that she is prepared to put an end to workers’ democratic right to negotiate a new contract and better working conditions by legislating Air Canada and Canada Post workers back to work.

As of Tuesday morning, nearly 4,000 customer service workers at Air Canada went on strike.  Unionized under the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW), the Air Canada workers are one of four unions currently fighting for better wages and to defend their pension rights from the company.  Since 2004, workers at Air Canada have had their wages frozen (an effective 10% wage cut) while the airline and its executive collect massive profits.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is set to strike as of 11:59pm on Thursday.  CUPW workers are the first in line to have to fight back against Stephen Harper's austerity agenda.  Fightback offers our complete support to the Canada Post workers in their fight for better living conditions.  At our recent national conference, Fightback supporters unanimously adopted the following message of solidarity.

The election of a Conservative majority government in Canada is a turning point for the Canadian labour movement. Until now, Canada has mostly avoided the kind of austerity program being forced upon the rest of the world. This is certain to change now that Stephen Harper has gained a majority. The first attack will be against members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). The militant traditions of CUPW make us a prime target for Harper’s first battle.

As this article is being written, workers at Moosehead Breweries in Saint John have been locked out since 20th February. The central issue in this dispute are the workers’ retirement, health, and dental benefits plan. Under the previous, expired collective agreement signed with Local 362 of the New Brunswick Union (NBU), the company paid 100% of the costs of the benefits programs. Moosehead workers fought hard for this gain and have enjoyed it for 30 years. Now, the company is demanding that workers pay 30 percent of these costs after retirement.

Across the country, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) are preparing to hit the picket line. Strike committees are being assembled; picket signs are being printed; picket captains are being recruited and trained; activists are holding shop-floor meetings; demonstrations are being held — and we haven’t even taken a strike-vote, yet! Canada Post has been preparing for this fight for years. They have presented the most regressive package of demands we have seen in a generation and they’re counting on Stephen Harper to ram them through.