LABOUR FAIR 2010 March 22‐26 Final Report A JOBLESS

LABOUR FAIR 2010 March 22‐26 Final Report A JOBLESS RECOVERY: WHO WINS? WHO LOSES? Speakers from Sky Works Foundation talk to several Social Service Worker classes about Home Safe Toronto, their documentary on homelessness in Ontario as a result of the loss of manufacturing jobs: Joanne Ngo (laid off from PMP plant and featured in film), Laura Sky (filmmaker), Colleen Richards (husband Phil laid off from GM).
1 1. Background to the Labour Fair It is safe to say that there is no college‐ or university‐based event in Canada that equals the size, scope and breadth of George Brown College’s annual Labour Fair in profiling the labour movement to post‐secondary students. Furthermore, since its inception in 1992, the Labour Fair has grown from a one‐day event at one campus into a full week of activities, across all campus. It is one of the largest events at George Brown that is organized specifically for our students. It brings dozens of speakers from across the labour movement into classes to talk to students, from a union perspective, about the issues they are facing in their working lives now, and about the fields that they are training for. A college wide committee of staff and students works from late October until March on the Labour Fair (see Section ). The strength of the Labour Fair is drawn from the commitment, skill and knowledge of its speakers and performers. Every year college staff and students give rave reviews to these speakers and entertainers, and especially recognize the relevance of their talks and performances. The Labour Fair cake, courtesy of Eugene Harrigan & Fatima Gata! 2. Labour Fair 2010 Theme: A Jobless Recovery: Who Wins? Who Loses? This year, we decided on the theme as A Jobless Recovery: Who Wins? Who Loses? The global financial crisis has had a deep and terrible impact on working people, including young people. Banks and other corporations that caused the mess say the economy is “recovering” ‐‐ but Canada has lost about 500,000 jobs in the last year. Toronto’s youth
2 unemployment is now at 20%, says Toronto’s 2009 Vital Signs Report – 5% higher than last year at this time and 5% higher than any other Canadian city. And immigrants, according to the same report, are three times more likely to have been laid off in the past year than their Canadian‐born co‐workers. Around the globe, in poorer countries, the impact has been even more severe. A real recovery means social responsibility and social justice for all – not major layoffs and insecure, casual, temporary jobs with no benefits. We’ll highlight the work that unions and community groups are doing to restore social justice with full and fair employment. Despite the collapse of the global financial markets, the Canadian labour movement and community‐based organizations have experienced many recent and significant successes. And they are successes that impact on all of us! Min Sook Lee answers questions about her documentary, Badge of Pride, about LGBTQ members of the Toronto Police Force 3. Labour Fair 2010 summary data At 82 sessions, this year’s number matched the previous highest number of LF events in 2008 – this included speakers, films, panels, several media and documentary based
3 events, three performances – and two cake‐cuttings! We were fortunate to have several high‐profile speakers, like Wade Rathke of ACORN, and to have pre‐release documentaries shown. Because some events combined several classes, we were able to reach 87 classes with an estimated total of 3479 students, the highest ever. Total number of LF classes/events by campus 99 17 19 00 16 32 01 14 25 02 9 52 03 16 54 04 21 53 05 14 61 [06] 6 68 07 12 49 08 16 57 09 10 14 20 51 53 300 Adelaide SHE (Ryerson) Nightingale Other events (bake sale, etc) 1 ‐ 3 ‐ 4 ‐ 2 ‐ 1 7 4 3 0 4 5 2 4 2 4 5 2 3 2 3 2 10 11 9 3 ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ 8 ‐‐ 4 Total number of events Total number of classes Total number of teachers 44 62 54 72 81 81 79 81 67 82 76 82 Casa Loma St James 87 26 32 34 43 44 45 44 Bernadette Hood, CUPE Local 79 speaks about shelter work to a class of Assaulted Women & Children’s Counsellor / Advocate Program students
4 43 49 39 46 Total number of participating students 2004 2005 3240 2960 2006 [strike] [3160] 2007 2008 2009 2010 2668 3049 3431 3479 4. Labour Fair Evaluation data 1
Relevance of talk to
students & curriculum
2
3
(good)
4
(excellent)
2
5
19
% good
or
excellent
92%
Speaker’s expertise
1
1
1
22
92%
Speaker’s
presentation skills
1
1
4
19
92%
A/V (8 n/a)
1
1
14
87%
LF arrangements
1
1
21
91%
LF publicity
1
3
17
82%
1
5 Teacher Lynne Brennan with Community Worker students playing a game of Monopoly designed by Steel Worker Kai Lai to teach lessons about globalization. 5. Teacher Evaluations 5.1 Comments re content, design, arrangements, organization of LF o
o
No suggestions at this time – everything has been very well organized so
far
Perhaps panel discussions on various themed topics (organizing and
technology, social justice initiatives); I like the major guest speakers we
have had in years past
None – I think you did an excellent job!
o
o Design­ Dave Bleakney did not use visuals. You (and I) did recommend this to Dave, so I don't think we could have done anything more. 42/45 students rated him a 4/4, so this was not a major concern. o Content ­ very good. o
o
o
o
o
o
Continue it if we can!
Perfect job! Students wished they had more time for Q&A
Students: Focus on an area of study, i.e., Globalization, the economy,
who wins, who loses (in the Fashion Industry) [?]
No suggestions. Fantastic. Always a highlight of the year.
Hooray for Maureen!
None – excellent in terms of content, design, etc
o The speakers were excellent Maureen. I really appreciated the thought and effort that the speakers in my classes put into their talks. They made important contributions to my students' education. Thank you so much for sourcing such terrific speakers, providing them with information on my courses and student needs, making the arrangements and even providing a thank you for the speakers. You do a great job with the Labour Fair and I really appreciate it. Thanks Maureen!
6 Actor Sundance Crow, Native Earth Performing Arts, chats with students after the Casa Loma performance of Stakes! 5.2 Teacher comments re increasing student/staff participation o
I think that greater student participation is based on greater staff
participation; if more faculty arranged to have guest speakers, more
students would be exposed to the Fair. In order to get more faculty
involved, perhaps a Q&A sheet could be sent out to all faculty that could
stress the importance of the Labour Fair and how having a guest speaker
can be of benefit to their students.
The media­based events are popular; see above
o
o I don't know how to increase student participation except through o o o o o o o o o more awareness. The awareness has to come from staff and peers talking about it. That is also one way to encourage more staff participation. I told other teachers in my department about my experience last year, and at least one of them asked for speakers this year. Students­ I would suggest you distribute the posters sooner, so that the faculty can post them for the students to see. Most of the students were unaware of this event. Staff­ I think you do an excellent job of announcing the event and providing endorsements from previous staff and students, so I am not sure what else you can do. I believe faculty has a bias, or they may not see the link to their courses and so you will never have 100% participation. Students: advertise electronically – poll student interests Include sex work issues Is it possible to get students (maybe from the SA) to do one­on­one outreach for key events in the week prior? Students: hold the LF in late Jan or early Feb Publicity doesn’t say events are open (?) Make it mandatory! J Focus on area of study, ie, presentations on Fashion­specific topics I brought up the Labour Fair in all my classes, but students were totally unaware of it – no other teachers mentioned it. We talked about unions, social justice, and I showed the “Janitor” video [one of the 5 finalists in the Labourstart video contest] which we then
7 discussed. (Personally, I loved the York U / CUPE video! Maureen, thanks for forwarding the links) o
It would be great to involve students more and to add some new
members to the Labour Fair Committee. Marco Luciano, Migrante, speaks to students about migrant workers in Canada. 5.3 Student & teacher comments re speakers o
Great job, Terri! [Aversa]
o We had a huge turnout for his talk (Summers). We had very interesting discussions after the talk. o
o
o
o
Speaker should be more organized; slow down; don’t use cell phone (!!!)
We (the PN students and myself) enjoyed Andy’s [Summers’] presentation
as usual. He has such a passion for nursing!
Andy’s [King] presentation was excellent as always. Students were fully
engaged. Very relevant and interesting!
Joan-Ann was very pro-union and actually said that associations are useless (these
students belong to CHIMA) -- and the students felt that she was not as prepared or
organized as they would have liked. They did enjoy the talk and felt it was very
worthwhile.
o Sue tried to be prepared, but her information was outdated (mercury for fillings) and she
focused on WHIMS -- and the students have a course that covers this. In all fairness, I
thought she was going to discuss the rights as a worker when you are injured or the
refusal of work. I had sent her a list of "risks" from the students. I should have been more
direct about the topic in our emails.
o Thanks Maureen, for all of the wonderful speakers you worked so hard to bring to George Brown. All of the speakers were informative and engaging, and today's presentation by Native Earth was particularly inspiring. Art can provoke so many emotions, simultaneously, so the message lives on in us long past our encounter with the art form.
8 o [K Payne’s message to Marco Luciano and Pinky Paglingayan, Migrante]: Marco (and please do pass this along to Pinky too), I want to say a huge huge THANK YOU to you and Pinky for your presentation in my class today. That was absolutely brilliant! I really cannot gush at you enough! Your material was stunningly interesting, Pinky's recounting her experience put a human face on the kind of labour abuses we've been talking about all term, and you did a fabulous job contextualizing her personal story in a global economic framework! My students learned tons and finally really got a couple of things I've been saying to them for months. One young man asked me to explain "what capitalism really is" after you left!!! If you ever need signatures on a petition, folks to write letters, demonstrations or actions announced/publicized (or just attended), or anything like that, please do drop me a line. Certainly the students you spoke to today would be thrilled to do so, and I will be happy to encourage future groups to participate. So thank you, enormously, for all the time you must have put into preparing that, for your time in the room, for your knowledge and expertise and for sharing that with my students and I!!! And I know I speak for them when I say that we all wish you both enormous success in your work! In Solidarity, Kathryn Payne p.s. Jed [Pinky’s toddler!] was great too! o Thank you for all the work you have done to arrange for the speakers who
came to my three classes. They extended and enriched my students‛
learning experiences. They provided knowledge and experience that will
continue to be significant to my students‛ personal and professional growth.
o [To Fereshteh & Mehdi] I would like to add my thanks for your time and efforts to bring this important issue to groups of students in the Community Worker Program. Sincerely, Bill o I too would like to extend my thanks to yourself [Fereshteh] and Mehdi for your presentation. I know that it certainly moved our students to think far more deeply about the importance of labour organizing and global solidarity and to understand the commitment, passion and risk that such work means for so many the world over. It was a great pleasure to meet the both of you.(Resh Budhu)
9 United Steel Worker Local 1005 president, Rolf Gerstenberger (seated) & poet/Steel Worker Ben Mahoney performing a poem about the takeover of Stelco by US Steel 5.4 Overall comments (teachers) o
o
o
o
o
Great work overall – my students have thoroughly enjoyed the
presentations over the last few years.
Excellent work, Maureen! This one was the best yet! Labour Fair is a
highlight of my year—I feel as though I learn more this week than at any
other time.
Overall – an excellent event! Good job.
Student comments: We’d like events outside of class time.
Ensure that the Labour Fair continues! This is a vital component in my
classes, the program and George Brown College. PEN Lecturer‐in‐Residence, Fereshteh Molavi, presenting with Mehdi Kouhestaninejad, CLC
10 Hildah Otienu, Canadian Federation of Students, speaks to a Student Leadership class. 6. Speakers’ comments about the LF o maureen, just read through all of your material. i want one of those posters! best! wade (Wade Rathke, ACORN) o Thank you also for all the years of work you’ve put into the Labour Fair, and creating an opportunity for labour affiliates to meet with students in your programmes at George Brown. For me, it was my fourth year in a row at the Labour Fair. They’ve been opportunities I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, as I am able to meet younger people with worldviews that are mostly quite a refreshing change from the day to day contact with union members. I’ve always used my sessions to try out something new, and, to get responses that have always been refreshing and insightful to me. (Kai Lai, USW) o You're most welcome! I enjoyed meeting Paul's class. There were some great suggestions on the Kodak land project and thoughtful comments on public transit and the challenges for working poor in the building of a resilient city. It reminds me how infrequent we engage folks outside our labour orbit in meaningful and at times, challenging conversations. Thank you for your dedication and hard work in making the annual labour fair the forum for such exchange. (Winnie Ng) o Just wanted to send out a quick email to thank you both for the opportunity to work, once again, with George Brown. It was a lot of fun and the students seemed to really engage with the material. (Erin Weir, USW) o Thank you all for the wonderful opportunity. You have a very diverse and interesting group of students. Suzanne [Babin] and I both enjoyed the experience.(David Langille) o No problem Maureen, it was my pleasure. You did an amazing job coordinating this year’s labour fair. Your successor is going to have very big shoes to fill! I wish you all the best in the future and on behalf of UFCW I thank you for your many many years of pushing labour issues in the academy. (Enver Harbans) o I'm very grateful to have been apart of George Brown labour fair, it was a wonderful experience, and thanks a lot for inviting me on behalf of the USW. We were able to generate some really good discussion during presentation. Thanks again for having me, and I would be delighted to participate again if such opportunity was to arise. Best wishes.
11 David Langille, York University, jokes with teacher Anna Willats before screening of Poor No More. 7. NEXT YEAR’s LABOUR FAIR Ø Consider a change ‐‐ calling it the UNION FAIR?!?! Less than previously, but still the Labour Fair is mistaken for a “Job Fair.” (But then we’d need new red banners…) 7.1 Banners Ø It’s a hassle to make separate arrangements with all the different buildings. CL Campus Mgr is great and puts up the banners in the cafeteria; consider asking him to put one or two in 146 Kendal, main entrance. Ø Zal Petrowicz put the poster up on screens in Technology in 146 Kendal, CL Ø Jim Kennedy in SJA really helps a lot in putting up banners at 200 Ø Hospitality won’t take any banners, and they SAY they put up the poster on their screens but I stood and watched for about 15 minutes the week before but the poster never appeared; Suzanne Caskie is the person I arranged this thru Ø You need to make a separate arrangement with the Finance bldg at SJ, too Ø Consider getting Eugene to help out with some of these issues… Ø Work with Kathleen Alexander at Ryerson for banners – she’s great 7.2 Printing Ø Overall, the combo of approx 200 posters, only 300 programs and 1‐page colour flyers was very effective and worked really well! It was also cheaper than previous printing costs when we got about 2500 full programs printed. A successful combo, though I would get more than 300 programs for next year (possibly 400)
12 Ø Printing “Special Event” flyers – we printed 2500 8 ½ x 11 flyers, but ran short and I ordered another 1000. We need at least 1500 for staff alone; and there were approx 3500 students who got to hear an LF speaker, but I think the 3500 number for printing flyers works well. Ø MAKE SURE flyers are distributed by participating teachers into their classes 2 WEEKS BEFORE the LF Ø Next year, consider printers who are using green technology. Get quotes from Peter Mania at Thistle Printing [[email protected]]and Lesley MacMillan at Eva’s Phoenix [[email protected]] for printing LF posters, flyers and programs. Compare with OPSEU’s prices 7.3 Posters Ø We got lots of interest from students in programs across the college in the poster contest this year – I think because Genevieve, the student doing the postering handed out lots of flyers directly to students as she was postering. Next year, let CL students drop off their entries at a CL office (with Katherine Friesen in Gen Ed? Arrange this) rather than having to come down to SJ to drop them off Ø It’s really a hassle to get more than 16 posters stamped for CL. They even claimed stamps were needed for union bulletin boards. Ø The student got around this by postering inside classrooms (a very good idea) GBC interpreter, Monique Bozzer, and Native Earth Performing Arts actor, Michaela Washburn. 7.4 Speakers / Performers Ø Regularize the honoraria! This year the amounts were all over the map. Speakers from community orgns should get $100 each. Artists vary but try not to have a
13 huge discrepancy – Canada Council reading fee for authors (and the League of Cdn Poets, and the Writers’ Union is $250 for a full reading, ie, only one author appearing) Ø Get Dionne Brand, Poet Laureate of Toronto, to read in an appropriate class? Ø Another poet to consider is “Nadine Williams is a fabulous poet who has presented at a number of Rexdale Microskills events – really dedicated & she’s got 2 books published – http://swaymag.ca/winter2009/books2.php” Ø Sulong Theatre – would have been good to have them back again this year as they had a recent show at Factory Theatre Lab… but then they appeared in the Baby, Not Mine video that Marco Luciano from Migrante showed (Ryerson students filmed their performance at the GBC Labour Fair last year!) Ø Native Earth Performance Arts – a big hit, great acting, but the thread of the“customized” play (Stakes) was a little unclear; their other performances of Savage have been more successful. At $3400, our biggest cost (but generously paid for by Georgia out of Aboriginal Programs & Services) 7.5 Films Ø Arranging for captioning is a HUGE problem, despite many warnings to presenters about our policy, and the capacity of our library – with some notice – to caption documentaries. 5 of the 5 films that I saw were not captioned. This is really bad! In one case, the video was captioned but it had impossibly poor sound, so the uncaptioned version was used; in another the producers couldn’t afford to have the captioning done by the time the film was shown in the LF; in another, the filmmaker thought she was bringing a captioned version as that is required for broadcast but the DVD actually had no captions. 7.6 Cake Ø Once again, thanks to Eugene and Fatima! Ø Make specific arrangements about delivery to St James (eg, meet at loading dock on Frederick at 9:00 am) & get phone number of driver (cake can be left in Receiving at CL if you arrange ahead of time thru Julie Harrington @ Receiving in CL 160).
14 Tom Tomassi, Georgia Quartaro and Maureen Hynes cutting the Labour Fair cake (compliments of VP Eugene Harrigan and Fatima Gata) at Casa Loma. 7.7 Website Ø It’s really important to update it daily just before and during the LF and to give updated print‐outs of each day’s events to both CL & SJ Security and Welcome Desks Ø Do Facebook again next year! (Thanks, Chris and JP!) 7.8 Special events for next year Ø Hold a board game event in the Student Lounge (use a mike) – inspired by Kai Lai’s use of Monopoly and possibly including the game, Class Struggle Ø Some members of the LF Ctee want there to be a “Tribute to Maureen Hynes” next year! 7.9 Committee Ø Include the SA Campaigns team in the LF Committee 8. Special thanks
8.1 To our student winner of the Labour Fair poster contest:
Kael Pinto, Year 1 Graphic Design
8.2 To our supporters, sponsors and funders inside and outside the college George Brown College President’s Office GBC Vice‐President, Eugene Harrigan, and Fatima Gata for the LF cakes! George Brown College’s Diversity Equity and Human Rights Services George Brown College’s Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies George Brown College’s Aboriginal Programs and Services George Brown College Student Association
15 Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Local 556 Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Local 557 Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Print Shop Toronto and York Region Labour Council 8.3 To the Labour Fair Committee! Pramila Aggarwal Chandra Budhu Chris Caron Ita Ferdinand‐Grant JP Hornick Maureen Hynes Danielle Juschko Ed Larocque Rachele Maciel Fereshteh Molavi Kathryn Payne Ron Sluser
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