Submitted on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 12:26am
By a member of the Ottawa-Outaouais IWW, January 23, 2016
OTTAWA—The Industrial Workers of the World are picketing Wine Rack to defend a member unfairly fired on September 6, 2015.
Our member engaged in his legally-protected right to organize and was publicly engaged in a card-signing campaign by another union in efforts to certify a bargaining unit for Wine Rack locations in Ottawa, Ontario.
Wine Rack is owned by parent company Constellation Brands, a US-based multinational corporation with two billion dollars of profit in 2013. Front-line employees of Wine Rack are paid minimum wage and given only conditional yearly increases lower than the rate of inflation, compounding the difficulties posed by a part-time and unpredictable schedule for workers.
According to the Labour Relations Act, all workers have the right to form, select, and administer a union without interference from the employer. In response to our member’s organizing efforts, Wine Rack manufactured a spurious reason to terminate his employment without following their established disciplinary processes.
The IWW will continue to picket Wine Rack to demand fair treatment for our member until our demand for our member’s reinstatement on the job with back pay is met. All employees deserve to be able to organize without reprisal.
The IWW is calling on Ottawans to not cross our picket line and to respect a boycott of Wine Rack locations until management meets with our union to negotiate.
This is yet another instance of arbitrary firings and disrespect for the Labour Relations Act happening here in Ottawa. Workers can win these fights when they unite and take action. The IWW is a member-run union for all workers and is dedicated to organizing on the job.
Submitted on Sun, 10/10/2010 - 1:31pm
When the City of Ottawa installed speakers and started broadcasting muzak in busker Raymond Loomer's favourite underpass, he cut the speaker wires one day in May 2009. He then taped the wire on the door of the office door of the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area, a business lobby group that has waged a campaign to remove street people and performers from the city centre.
As a tin flute player, he was one of several buskers who relied on the unique acoustics of the downtown Ottawa underpass near the Rideau Centre shopping centre to make a living. Loomer is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He did not take kindly to having his live music replaced by a machine.
"They were playing music to interfere with our industry," he said.
City police arrested Loomer and charged him with two counts of mischief under $5,000. He was convicted on May 25, 2010 with a sentence of 12 months probation and 20 hours community service. Loomer represented himself and has appealed, saying the city failed to provide bylaw information he could have used in his defense and that he has rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make a living and freedom of expression. He objected to the community service as "the slave style practices of government" for appropriating his labour power.
Loomer's appeal will be heard on November 12, 2010 at the city courthouse.
Ottawa had introduced restrictive bylaws requiring street performers to get a license and perform in designated spots chosen by the city. Ontario's Safe Streets Act, brought in to target squeegee kids, buskers and other street people making a living on the province's streets, has set the stage for tighter controls on informal workers.
For more information, visit www.ottawaiww.org
Submitted on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 6:49pm
Originally posted here
Andrew Nellis of the Ottawa Pandhandlers Union said the group has reached a settlement after filing a $1-million lawsuit against the city last year.
The lawsuit accused the city of violating panhandlers' constitutional rights by putting up a fence at the underpass across from Chateau Laurier. Nellis ended up being charged after he snipped a lock off the fence.
On Tuesday, Nellis said the panhandlers and city reached a deal but an agreement on confidentiality prevented him from going into details. Sounded like the settlement might involve allowing the panhandlers to use some property for a street art gallery.
Nellis is claiming victory.
"It won't be the first victory we have, either," he said.
In the same breath, Nellis said the panhandlers group plans to sue the city again if an updated nuisance bylaw comes into force for roads and sidewalks. The bylaw passed the transportation committee meeting Wednesday.
Submitted on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 11:58pm
The University of Ottawa
fired Denis Rancourt, a physics professor, renowned researcher, and IWW member
on March 31, 2009, while he
was speaking at an academic freedom conference in New York
City.
The university sought to dismiss him on the basis that he had
awarded high grades to a graduate level physics class, which Rancourt says he
did in order to remove competition and performance as they are obstacles to
learning. The university claimed that Rancourt’s marking damaged the
institution’s credibility as an academic institution.
Rancourt has said that the university’s board fired him
before an April 1 deadline to submit a legal brief in his defense and that it
ignored his submission of his students’ exams as proof that he was evaluating
students properly. The university disregarded the union’s collective agreement
and the grievance procedure by firing Rancourt without allowing him due process
in his defense.
The Association of Professors (APUO), a registered trade
union that represents university faculty, has announced it will launch an
inquiry and it will likely appeal the firing in court.
Submitted on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:03pm
The University of Ottawa
in Canada is planning to fire Denis Rancourt, physics professor, IWW member, and renowned
researcher, today, March 31, 2009 .
The university claims it is firing Denis because he
announced that all of his students would get A+ grades on the first day of the
physics class so that they could get on with learning, rather than compete and
perform for grades. The university claims this educational approach damages its
reputation and credibility as well as that of its students. In short, grades
equal credibility.
The IWW General Defense Committee Local 6 (GDC Local 6)
rejects this pretext as an exaggeration that does not justify the university’s
repressive approach, which is a threat against academic freedom and education
workers’ rights.
More information about Denis’ case is online at the Academic
Freedom and Governance at the University
of Ottawa weblog http://www.academicfreedom.ca/
