On Tuesday 12th June, 5 days after right-populist Doug Ford won the Ontario election, over 100 packed into a University of Toronto classroom to discuss why Ford won and how to fight him. The mood was one of anger as people looked for ways to stop the coming attacks from the Ford Conservatives.
We, Socialist Fightback Students, have stood shoulder to shoulder with our lecturers since the beginning of the strike at York University. Many of our profs have endured hardships and sacrifices fighting for retirement benefits, a first-of-its-kind sexual violence survivors’ fund, living wages, and many more things to improve our campus life. It was despicable to hear that two members of the Bargaining Team (from Unit 2) defected to the side of the administration by holding a secret meeting where it was decided to initiate a ratification vote on a concessionary agreement.
Donald Trump decided to transform the G7 meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec into a fiasco. Less than 24 hours after stating that relations between the United States and Canada “have never been better” and after the seven major powers signed a joint communiqué to bring the G7 to an end, the American president did an about-face.
Expectations for the G7 were not high, but the outcome was even worse than expected. For the first time ever, the G7 ended without a joint statement, and with Trump lashing out at Canada and the EU. The summit in North Korea, on the other hand, ended with all smiles and a joint statement promising peace, denuclearisation and security.
CUPE 3903 at a crossroads: surrender or fight and defy!
- Details
- Farshad Azadian and Alex Moldovan, member of Unit 1 of CUPE 3903
More than 100 days into the longest-ever strike in the university sector in English-speaking Canada, lecturers and graduate students at York University are facing a crossroads. Exhaustion and division in the union are undermining the struggle. While an important layer of the union rank and file want to continue the struggle and refuse to accept concessions, there is another layer that has become more and more demoralized.
