Category: Health

Nearly 200 members of OPSEU Local 546 are on strike against the Technical Standards and Safety Authority in Ontario.  These front line workers inspect elevators, ski lifts, food trucks and amusement park rides.  They check fuel-burning equipment, boilers and pressure vessels, as well as gas stations, propane dispensing stations and nuclear power plants.  They are on strike because the TSSA, an agency that works at arms length from the provincial government, has been trying to make do with fewer safety inspectors, less regular inspections and less accountability.  The workers need and deserve a wage catch-up.

The current contract for the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors will end on April 30, 2020.

That agreement provided only a 3 to 4 dollar increase to wages and benefits over a 36-month term.

The astonishing reality of capitalist-driven inflation: rapidly rising house prices, energy prices and expenses in all other industries reliant on the trucking supply chain, like fresh fruit and vegetables, have driven the day-to-day cost of survival beyond the means of a great part of the working class across Canada.

The word "Vampire" may seem harsh or macabre when speaking about economic issues, but when looking at privatization objectively, it becomes clear how striking the similarities are. Both feed off systems that are not their own, stealing what isn't theirs to grow fat and powerful. Both lie to lull you into a false sense of security, making their targets vulnerable and too passive to resist them. If privatization is a Vampire then austerity is the scent of blood that draws the predator in. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadians are facing another round of cruel and needless austerity.