February marks the 10-year anniversary of the presence of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Quebec. Once a sparkle in the eyes of a tenacious group of student strike veterans looking to broaden their fight, the union now marks its decennial without a single workplace in the province organized under its banner. What was this initiative and why did it run into trouble? ...
Interview with Cari Mitchell from the English Collective of Prostitutes By the Sex Work Autonomous Committee , an autonomous political organization of sex workers based in Montreal with the aim of demanding the decriminalization of sex work, and better working conditions in the sex industry more broadly. Cari Mitchell is a former sex worker and a member of the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), a network of sex workers in the United Kingdom working both outdoors and indoors campaigning for decriminalisation and safety. 1 ...
Stella, l’amie de Maimie: Fighting to end the criminalization of sex workers’ bodies since 1995 Sex working bodies are criminalized, surveilled, stigmatized, and discriminated against daily. Some people respect and revere our bodies, while others vilify and reduce us to the parts of bodies. Anti-sex work prohibitionists and law enforcement attempt to control us for using our bodies for pleasure, economic empowerment, and our advancement in society. Even though our bodies are only one of the many working tools we use in the context of our sex work, the stigma around sex work leads to social control and criminalization of our work and our lives. It results in discriminatory health, public, legal, and social services for sex workers, compromising our health and safety. ...
In addition to our organizing campaigns, the Montreal IWW also organizes Claim Your Pay campaigns, where our members help workers who have been robbed of their wage after being fired. These campaigns mostly happen in the restaurant business and involve a few hundred dollars. When a worker came into contact with us about some unpaid wages in a restaurant that had just closed, we were not expecting such an important case. ...
K’jipuktuk GMB of the IWW issues statement in solidarity with prison strike. K’jipuktuk, Unceded and Unsurrendered Mi’kmaq Territory Whereas Prisoners at Burnside Jail have begun a peaceful protest in pursuit of 10 reasonable demands, and have expressed support for and solidarity with the “National Prison Strike” in the United States, Whereas the protest organizers “call upon all people with a conscience beyond the bars” to support their statement and demands, ...
In my two years with the communications committee of the IWW, I have never seen anything like this. The little story of Sarah, who was fired from the vegan restaurant Antidote a few days before Christmas, after experiencing intimidation and abuse of power, has gone viral. Within less than 24 hours, the words of hope and acts of solidarity have been flowing from everywhere. Tens of thousands of views on our blog, I almost had the impression that I worked for Vice or Ton Petit Look, the only difference was that in the comment section it was a breathtaking expression of love that Sarah received, instead of the traditional hate mail. ...