Pro-Worker, Anti-Racist: The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance By Scott Neigh http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/talking-radical-radio/2015/04/pro-worker-anti-racist-asian-canadian-labour-alliance On this week’s episode of Talking Radical Radio, I speak with Anna Liu and Patricia Chong. They are both long-time labour activists and members of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA), a network of Asian-Canadian labour and community activists with chapters in Ontario and…
What This UNB Professor Practices Is Intolerance, Not sociology By Avvy go, Dora Nipp and Winnie Ng Ricardo Duchesne’s intolerant statements will run the risk of inciting fear and resentment toward Canadians of Asian heritage by reinforcing stereotypes Avvy Go is clinic director of the Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic; Dora Nipp…
http://www.komagatamaruweek.com/ The Continuing Legacy of the Komagata Maru/May 23, 2014 A century ago on May 23rd in 1914, the Komagata Maru, a ship of migrants from India sailed into the western shores of what is now called British Columbia, Canada, in the traditional territories of the Coast Salish groups of First Nations Peoples. Upon the Komagata Maru’s…
The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA) stands in solidarity with Marie Clarke Walker and all trade unionists in our on-going struggle for a society free of all forms of oppression. Unfortunately, sometimes the organizations meant to affect positive social change, such as the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), instead replicate and reinforce the inequalities we stand…
April 2014 Sisters and brothers, The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA) strongly endorses the candidacy of Brother Hussan Husseini for president of the Canadian Labour Congress. ACLA is impressed by the vision that brother Husseini has outlined for transforming the labour movement away from today’s stays quo to an a activist oriented working class movement. …
Sisters and Brothers, The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance is urgently requesting financial support for the family of freelance journalist Ali Mustafa. Mustafa, the Canadian born freelance journalist was recently killed in Syria while reporting from Aleppo. The family has taken out a loan to cover the approximately $20,000 it will cost to have his body…
November 12, 2013 at 7pm School of Image Arts Ryerson University 122 Bond Street Toronto, ON M5B 1E9 **Winner of the LA Film Fest Audience Award & Best Documentary 2013 and Winner of the Best of the Fest at AFI Docs 2013 This is a free screening open to the public with admission on…
Immigrants come to Canada to secure a future for themselves and their families. Yet a recent study undertaken by Ryerson University has painted a gloomy picture of the long lasting impact that the 2008 recession has had on immigrant workers.
The study followed hundreds of former employees of Progressive Mould Products (PMP) over a five year period to determine whether or not they were able to achieve any semblance of a middle class life after their plant declared bankruptcy in 2008. Sadly those interviewed reported that they were much worse off now as compared to when they arrived in Canada. The reported entitled “An Immigrant All Over Again? Recession, Plant Closures, and Older racialized immigrant workers: A case study of the workers of Progressive Moulded Products” profiles the experiences of immigrant workers who arrived in Canada in the ’70s and ’80s. The researchers found that:
– Only one third (34 per cent) of participants secured permanent full time employment, two thirds of former workers were either precariously employed or unemployed;
– 77 per cent of workers wages were worse off than what they earned from PMP;
– 36 per cent of male workers and 37 per cent of women workers reported a wage drop of $5 an hour or more;
– 52 per cent or women workers and 42 per cent of men reported that it was difficult to make ends meet since PMP went bankrupt;
– 49.4 per cent of workers felt their health worsened after the plant closures;
– 85 per cent of workers felt age barriers was the primary reason while they could not find permanent work;
– and 67 per cent felt that they were racially discriminated in the labour market.…