B.C. Federation of Labour supports Occupy Wall Street movement

Posted on by Laila

Members of the B.C. Federation of labour will be among those in attendance Saturday October 15th, at the Vancouver Art Gallery, for the Occupy Vancouver Rally and events.

http://act.bcfed.ca/solidaritywithoccupywallstreet/

“The Occupy Wall Street movement expresses an underlying desire for fairness and equality in the economy and our society. The B.C. Federation of Labour stands in solidarity with that desire, and calls on the governments of British Columbia and Canada to act swiftly and decisively to narrow the gap.

Members of the B.C. Federation of Labour will gather at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 12:00 noon, Saturday, October 15, in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement’s call for good jobs, fair taxes and strong public services.”

B.C. Federation of Labour Supports Occupy Wall Street

Global economic uncertainty is shining a bright light on the rapidly growing gap between rich and poor in North America and around the world. In the United States, the consequences have been widespread and severe. Real unemployment is approaching 20 per cent. People are losing their homes to foreclosures. And, for the first time in generations, few young Americans believe their lives will be as prosperous and secure as their parents.

Here, well paying jobs, fair taxation and strong public services built the Canada we know and love. For 20 years across Canada, however, real wages have stagnated, the richest Canadians and corporations have avoided billions in taxes, and successive governments have weakened public services. This has created a gap between rich and poor not seen in generations, and the gap is widening.

 The Conference Board of Canada has identified that Canada had the second largest rate of income inequality growth among peer nations from the mid-1990’s to the mid-2000’s.  Clearly, the same conditions that have lead to Wall Street exist in Canada as well. In British Columbia, a decade of tax cuts for the richest British Columbians and corporations combined with stagnant wages for average income earners have left British Columbia families struggling to make ends meet and nervous about their futures. As the cost of living has increased, household debt has piled up and savings eroded. This has got to stop.

The Occupy Wall Street movement expresses an underlying desire for fairness and equality in the economy and our society. The B.C. Federation of Labour stands in solidarity with that desire, as part of the 99 percent, and calls on the governments of British Columbia and Canada to act swiftly and decisively to narrow the gap. The BC Fed will support an ongoing peaceful occupation in Vancouver on these important issues.”

**Three days and counting. Of course because I may be speaking to potentially many thousands of people, I caught some bug in my throat.

For those of you on the island, there are Occupy Victoria events, http://occupyvictoria.ca/ , as well, many smaller communities in British Columbia are planning their own occupations to participate and stand in solidarity with movements taking place around the world on October 15th.

Ongoing updates to the days events as well as ongoing plans can be found at http://occupyvancouver.com/

For those readers wishing to organize a carpool or rally point in Vancouver, I will be forwarding your information to those who have offered rides shortly.

11 thoughts on “B.C. Federation of Labour supports Occupy Wall Street movement”

  3. Kim, they should have stepped up long long ago, starting with Campbell ripping up the Hospital Workers ‘legal and binding contract’ and Campbell and Kiewit busting the Construction union, forcing everyone to join CLAC, the CHRISTIAN Labour Association of Canada, etc., etc. An association is not a union but rather a sweetheart deal between management (Kiewit) and government (Campbell), members not getting to vote on anything, including collective agreements….and Sister, they are already bandwagoneers and they still can’t show up before noon?? Less than 10% of B.C. is now ‘unionized’, and a lot of them do not come with an acceptable wage or benefits. Had Sinclair moved when he should have and shut this province down starting in 2003 we may not be where we are now.
    Lynn, I will have my son and his very large tough friend guarding my house from arson, etc. any time I am away on political stuff. Cameras coming soon.

    Laila,

    Walter and I are both having problems with our computers. Google won’t let me sign in to your blog, I have to click on the messages you send to my inbox to get through.
    Jean

    Like

    1. Are you kidding me Jean? I just got the same message from several other readers.!!!!

      The games have begun. I will email you personally Jean.

      Like

  5. I really hope these protests/occupy gatherings pick up steam.
    A typical protest will be ignored, where civil unrest like Greece, Egypt may get them scared.
    We need this to steam roll into a massive movement and incredible pain in the arse for government and big business.
    Perhaps storming the legislature and parliament hill may get the country back.

    Like

  6. Troubles speaking freely in the land of “free speech”…say it ain’t so! Almost makes one wonder when the benevolence of our dictator is going to run out completely, doesn’t it?

    Like

  7. Really glad you brought that up, Grant D. I’ve been thinking along the same lines lately. Our clueless leader and our equally clueless MLAs will be going back to sit in the legislature on October 17th. It would be wonderful if we could organize a demonstration to take place while they are there. Does anyone agree with this?

    Like

  8. P.S. Just found out there will be an OWS in Kelowna at Kerry Park, 10 a.m. Saturday. I sincerely hope that many Okanagan residents have been informed of this and that we’ll have a big turn-out.

    Like

Comments are closed.