"I put 34 years into this firm, Howard, and now I can't pay my insurance. You can't eat an orange and then throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit" - Willie Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
In the play, Willy Loman lives in a world of illusion, a world in which loyalty and long-term service are rewarded by one's employer. Of course, even when the play was written, that ideal was already on the wane to the point that we are now witness to the return of unfettered capitalism worldwide, where workers are yet just another disposable commodity.
In her column today, Heather Mallick writes about how all of the electronic tools that we so highly prize for both our productivity and our diversion are made in China under conditions that are eerily reminiscent of those that gave the Victorian Era such a bad name.
About Foxconn, the electronic company that makes about one-third of all of the electronic devices we use today, she writes:
Cameras watch the line workers and supervisors throughout non-stop shifts of 12 to 16 hours ... the workers wear uniforms. They are not allowed to speak to each other at work. After a recent string of suicides, Foxconn installed nets on the upper floors and made workers sign documents promising not to kill themselves.
When you work as hard as Foxconn employees do for dimes an hour, the joints in your hand disintegrate ... Workers don’t switch from job to job, as Canadian workplace standards would demand. They make the same motion hundreds of thousands of thousands of times until their hands are used up. “When you start working at 15 or 16, by the time you are 26, 27, your hands are ruined.”
And finally, in a slip that reveals much about how the workers are regarded, the head of Hon Hai (Foxconn) last week said:
“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide . . . to manage one million animals gives me a headache.”
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, however, words are just as effective.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
The Voice of Labour Roars
Although those in the embrace of neo-liberalism would have us believe that unions and worker solidarity are but a quaint historical artifact, the size of yesterday's rally in London, Ontario protesting the predatory practices of Catterpillar Inc. suggests otherwise.
In response to the company's attempt to halve the wages of its workers at Electro-Motive Canada and severely reduce pensions and other benefits,
A crowd of more than 10,000 descended upon this city’s Victoria Park to support local workers who have been locked out of their jobs since the new year. They came from all over, from Timmins, Sudbury, and Pennsylvania in scores of buses. They came to protest corporate greed and Stephen Harper.
Ken Lewenza, president of Canadian Auto Workers, offered a sobering warning to the Harper government, which permitted the sale of the company to U.S.-based Caterpillar, and now seems egregiously unconcerned about the disastrous consequences that decision has wrought:
“If the government doesn’t step in, Canada will become a low-paid workforce .... We need to protect the middle class if we want a more equal society.”
Apparently any concern for the fate of the middle class is trumped by Mr. Harper's ideology, an ideology which seems to believe that unfettered capitalism can do no wrong.
In response to the company's attempt to halve the wages of its workers at Electro-Motive Canada and severely reduce pensions and other benefits,
A crowd of more than 10,000 descended upon this city’s Victoria Park to support local workers who have been locked out of their jobs since the new year. They came from all over, from Timmins, Sudbury, and Pennsylvania in scores of buses. They came to protest corporate greed and Stephen Harper.
Ken Lewenza, president of Canadian Auto Workers, offered a sobering warning to the Harper government, which permitted the sale of the company to U.S.-based Caterpillar, and now seems egregiously unconcerned about the disastrous consequences that decision has wrought:
“If the government doesn’t step in, Canada will become a low-paid workforce .... We need to protect the middle class if we want a more equal society.”
Apparently any concern for the fate of the middle class is trumped by Mr. Harper's ideology, an ideology which seems to believe that unfettered capitalism can do no wrong.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
One Step Closer To The Totalitarian State: Chris Hedges On The National Defense Authorization Act
Although I have a somewhat jaundiced view of the intellectual capacity of many Americans, one who I consistently hold in high esteem is Chris Hedges. Please watch the following video in which he offers his objections to Obama's enthusiasm for the National Defense Authorization Act, a law that allows for the indefinite detention, without charge or trial, of anyone suspected of terrorism. As has become the pattern for this so-called progressive President, Obama, who initially threatened to veto the bill, in that great spirit of illusory compromise, suddenly found it quite acceptable.
For accompanying text, please click here.
For accompanying text, please click here.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The G20 Beating of Adam Nobody: Toronto Constable Michael Adams and His Thuggish Colleagues
Despite the impotence of the SIU in pursuing criminal charges against the police thugs who beat Adam Nobody during the G20 Summit held in Toronto in June of 2010, The Globe and Mail reports today that upon the recommendation of an arm’s-length watchdog agency, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, five Toronto constables will face disciplinary charges under the Police Services Act for their misconduct.
The Globe reports the following:
The OIPRD report says that constables Adams, Babak Andalib-Goortani, David Donaldson, Geoffrey Fardell and Oliver Simpson committed misconduct when they tackled, punched and kneed Mr. Nobody outside the Ontario legislature.
It also discloses the following:
One of those officers whose name is now made public, Constable Michael Adams, was involved two months before the G20 protests in another controversial incident, the arrest of 18-year-old Junior Manon, who died after a struggle while officers tried to arrest him.
By law, despite his blithe earlier dismissal of Mr. Nobody's allegations, Toronto Police Chief bill Blair is now tasked with appointing someone to preside over the proceedings against the accused.
Because of the obvious conflict of interest, let's hope the Chief is forced to pick someone whose impartiality is above reproach. Somehow I'm not counting on that happening.
UPDATE: Police Union Vows To Block G20 Charges
The Globe reports the following:
The OIPRD report says that constables Adams, Babak Andalib-Goortani, David Donaldson, Geoffrey Fardell and Oliver Simpson committed misconduct when they tackled, punched and kneed Mr. Nobody outside the Ontario legislature.
It also discloses the following:
One of those officers whose name is now made public, Constable Michael Adams, was involved two months before the G20 protests in another controversial incident, the arrest of 18-year-old Junior Manon, who died after a struggle while officers tried to arrest him.
By law, despite his blithe earlier dismissal of Mr. Nobody's allegations, Toronto Police Chief bill Blair is now tasked with appointing someone to preside over the proceedings against the accused.
Because of the obvious conflict of interest, let's hope the Chief is forced to pick someone whose impartiality is above reproach. Somehow I'm not counting on that happening.
UPDATE: Police Union Vows To Block G20 Charges
More Joy in Heaven
The above title, taken from both The Bible and the title of a Morley Callaghan novel, suggests the possibility of redemption. There was a report in yesterday's Star amply demonstrating that potential.
When 37-year-old Maxwell Beech was facing sentencing for gun and drug-related charges seven years ago, he expected the worst. The veteran of youth court offences was assuming he would be receiving a sentence of at least four years when the Judge, Hugh Atwood, did something he hadn't anticipated.
“I could see you're a changed man,” Beech remembers the judge told him. He repeats this phrase like a badge of honour.
Atwood sentenced Beech to serve just 90 days on weekends, reporting to Metro West detention centre on Fridays and released Monday mornings, to go home, and raise his son.
“This man gave me another shot. Another opportunity at life,” Beech said.
On Tuesday, Beech returned to Judge Atwood's court to thank him for his mercy, something that set him on a corrective life course, resulting in his now running his own business installing blinds and home security systems.
I mention this not because I do not believe in harsh sentencing for serious and violent offenses (I do), but because a followup story in today's Star discusses how the discretion used by Judge Atwood in Beech's case will no longer be an option because Bill C10, expected to pass into law in Canada by the end of March, will make second chances a thing of the past. Instead, the bill’s mandatory minimum sentences will make sure that people like Maxwell Beech go to jail.
Bill C10, one may recall, is being enacted at a time of sharply declining rates of crime, something the ideologically-drive Harper government seems to think is irrelevant.
The article serves to remind us that to acknowledge the humanity in others, as did Judge Atwell, is also to experience it within ourselves.
When 37-year-old Maxwell Beech was facing sentencing for gun and drug-related charges seven years ago, he expected the worst. The veteran of youth court offences was assuming he would be receiving a sentence of at least four years when the Judge, Hugh Atwood, did something he hadn't anticipated.
“I could see you're a changed man,” Beech remembers the judge told him. He repeats this phrase like a badge of honour.
Atwood sentenced Beech to serve just 90 days on weekends, reporting to Metro West detention centre on Fridays and released Monday mornings, to go home, and raise his son.
“This man gave me another shot. Another opportunity at life,” Beech said.
On Tuesday, Beech returned to Judge Atwood's court to thank him for his mercy, something that set him on a corrective life course, resulting in his now running his own business installing blinds and home security systems.
I mention this not because I do not believe in harsh sentencing for serious and violent offenses (I do), but because a followup story in today's Star discusses how the discretion used by Judge Atwood in Beech's case will no longer be an option because Bill C10, expected to pass into law in Canada by the end of March, will make second chances a thing of the past. Instead, the bill’s mandatory minimum sentences will make sure that people like Maxwell Beech go to jail.
Bill C10, one may recall, is being enacted at a time of sharply declining rates of crime, something the ideologically-drive Harper government seems to think is irrelevant.
The article serves to remind us that to acknowledge the humanity in others, as did Judge Atwell, is also to experience it within ourselves.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Another Politician's Attempt To Suppress Democratic Participation
My previous blog entry dealt with attempts by Giorgio Mammoliti to discourage people from partaking in the democratic process in Toronto. Essentially concurrent with that outrageous behaviour is something equally untenable taking place in Mississauga; this time the villain of the piece is none other than the indefatigable icon of the pro-development set, Mayor Hazel McCallion.
Hurricane Hazel, a sobriquet she perhaps earned for her at-times tempestuous behaviour, has issued a directive forbidding a former resident’s association president from contacting anyone at City Hall but the mayor with her concerns, which range from bylaw violations to the city’s 311 service.
According to McCallion, Jean Overell, the target of this fatwa, has been disrespectful to city staff while filing her numerous complaints. The mayor had said earlier that Overell’s calls to city staff and her ward councillor, Pat Mullin, were “far too numerous,” kept them from dealing with other work, and that Overell’s behaviour violated the city’s Respectful Workplace policy.
Interestingly enough, when Overell made a call to McCallion in December to air a complaint, she said, McCallion “bullied and intimidated” her for calling.
Hazel, now in her 34th year as Mississauga's mayor, has said that this is her last term in office. One wonders if, with her anti-democratic fiat against a citizen of her fair city, she has perhaps already overstayed her welcome?
Hurricane Hazel, a sobriquet she perhaps earned for her at-times tempestuous behaviour, has issued a directive forbidding a former resident’s association president from contacting anyone at City Hall but the mayor with her concerns, which range from bylaw violations to the city’s 311 service.
According to McCallion, Jean Overell, the target of this fatwa, has been disrespectful to city staff while filing her numerous complaints. The mayor had said earlier that Overell’s calls to city staff and her ward councillor, Pat Mullin, were “far too numerous,” kept them from dealing with other work, and that Overell’s behaviour violated the city’s Respectful Workplace policy.
Interestingly enough, when Overell made a call to McCallion in December to air a complaint, she said, McCallion “bullied and intimidated” her for calling.
Hazel, now in her 34th year as Mississauga's mayor, has said that this is her last term in office. One wonders if, with her anti-democratic fiat against a citizen of her fair city, she has perhaps already overstayed her welcome?
Why Don't Politicians Like Democratic Participation?
Yesterday I opined on why democratic participation in our country is so muted, and offered two examples of what can be accomplished when people are willing to get involved.
One of the obstacles to greater participation is surely the belief that we have little chance of making an impact because our elected representatives do not listen to us, indeed, seem to actively discourage us from becoming involved.
I definitely got them impression while following the budget debate in Toronto, which saw a record number of citizens making deputations on the cuts that were being proposed. One of the city's most obnoxious councillors, Giorgio Mammoliti, a man quite happy to belittle anyone who questions him, a man who seems to have changed political stripes for the allure of power offered by conversion to the Ford agenda, is now getting his shorts in a twist over ' repeat deputers,' those citizens who have the temerity to make more than one deputation to City Council.
In a story appearing in today's Star, Catherine Porter reports how Mammoliti takes grave exception to people like Mary T. Hynes, a retired teacher whom he lumps into a group he has decided are exercising their democratic duties far too much.
Perhaps the best answer to Mammoliti's carping criticisms comes from Ms Hynes herself:
“I learned that people can make a difference, if they struggle long and hard and respectfully,” she says. “If people hadn’t come down to city hall, what would have happened?”
I suspect there is a lesson for all of us in her words.
One of the obstacles to greater participation is surely the belief that we have little chance of making an impact because our elected representatives do not listen to us, indeed, seem to actively discourage us from becoming involved.
I definitely got them impression while following the budget debate in Toronto, which saw a record number of citizens making deputations on the cuts that were being proposed. One of the city's most obnoxious councillors, Giorgio Mammoliti, a man quite happy to belittle anyone who questions him, a man who seems to have changed political stripes for the allure of power offered by conversion to the Ford agenda, is now getting his shorts in a twist over ' repeat deputers,' those citizens who have the temerity to make more than one deputation to City Council.
In a story appearing in today's Star, Catherine Porter reports how Mammoliti takes grave exception to people like Mary T. Hynes, a retired teacher whom he lumps into a group he has decided are exercising their democratic duties far too much.
Perhaps the best answer to Mammoliti's carping criticisms comes from Ms Hynes herself:
“I learned that people can make a difference, if they struggle long and hard and respectfully,” she says. “If people hadn’t come down to city hall, what would have happened?”
I suspect there is a lesson for all of us in her words.
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