[opirgyork] Public Sector Unionism, Austerity and the Left (TODAY)

[aruna at opirgyork.ca]

Don't miss it TODAY!
Monday November 29th
3pm to 6pm
Student Centre (York U)
RM. 321

Austerity measures stemming from the global financial crisis threaten to
undermine public sector unions and the services they provide. The unions,
however, have failed to politicize the crisis along class lines, and by
extension, to the Left. This is leading to situations like the Toronto
mayoral election where union activity was opportunistically used to
motivate an anti-union conservative populism.

If anything, this crisis reveals that the connection between public sector
unionism and the Left has become unclear.
This is a problem that cannot be solved by simply reconsidering union
strategy pragmatically; its solution depends on working through and
clarifying the history, ideology and politics that underlie how public
sector unions and the Left presently relate.

This teach-in with leading Canadian labour analyst Sam Gindin will explore
the present crisis, its meaning and how we might get beyond it. His recent
piece with Michael Hurley, titled The Public Sector: Search for a Focus
(online at www.socialistproject.ca) considers how union activity could be
changed not only to meet the challenge of austerity, but also to reignite
the Canadian Left.