Working Class Fightback: Lessons of the Last Great Depression

Toronto, January 25, 2009 – A 10 Minute Production

The financial crisis has certainly brought on a deepening worldwide slump, with growing mass unemployment and impoverishment. There is also a crisis of working class institutions, in particular the union movement. How can the working class build unity within its ranks and rebuild our capacity to fight back? One thing we can do, is to learn from the experiences of working people during the 1930s, who organized a series of mass fightbacks and built new institutions, such as industrial unions.

Challenges Facing the Labour Movement Today:

Vancouver, June 4, 2008.

Greg Albo: teaches political economy at York University in Toronto. He is also on the editorial boards of Canadian Dimension, Relay and Socialist Register. He writes on contemporary capitalism and the political economy of North America.

Sam Gindin: is a former Assistant to the President of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), and is now the Packer Chair in Social Justice at York University in Toronto. He writes widely on the labour movement (notably on developments in the auto sector), and on the US empire.

Putting the Movement Back in Labour:

Toronto, May 27, 2008.

A discussion of the current crises we face in the labour movement and how we might organize differently to build the kind of movement we need. LeftForum page...

Defending The Right To Strike:

Toronto, Nov 26, 2007.

In October, the CAW announced its “Framework of Fairness Agreement” (FFA) with Magna International. This deal could signify an historic turning point in the union. In addition to ushering in an undemocratic workplace representation structure and enshrining a new kind of “non-adversarial” labour relations, the CAW has given up the right to strike at the Magna plants organized under the FFA. Meanwhile, that same week, CUPE's national convention witnessed a walkout by almost 1,000 Ontario delegates when a resolution from Ontario's health care workers asking for access to the strike fund for political strikes was defeated. Strike page...