Sudbury Social Justice News - August 11, 2013

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) Monday, August 12: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
2) Wednesday, August 14: $14 Minimum Wage Now!
3) Monday, September 2: Labour Day Family Fun Fest at Bell Park
4) Monday, September 2: Walk With Labour

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) "Campaign to Raise Minimum Wage Heats Up with a Province-Wide Day of
Action" by Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
2) "Canada's got a disease and it's called militarism" by Matthew
Behrens

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

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Monday, August 12: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209
upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native
Friendship Centre)

Matters to be discussed include the provincial 'consultation' meeting
on social assistance rates and poverty issues in Sudbury; the
province-wide day of action for raising the minimum  wage on Wed. August
14th; the province-wide week of action in October; our continuing direct
action support work; and our drop in space at APANO. The venue is
wheelchair accessible. Children are welcome to attend, or childcare
support is available upon request.

S-CAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada. We provide direct-action support work assisting
individuals in their struggles with welfare and ODSP, housing,
employers, and others who deny people what they are entitled to in order
to meet their needs. In addition, we mount campaigns against and support
educational work about regressive government policies as they effect
working people and people living in poverty. We believe in the power of
people to organize themselves. We believe in the power of resistance!

La coalition contre la pauvreté de Sudbury (S-CAP) est un organisme
d’action directe luttant contre la pauvreté. Elle se trouve à Sudbury en
Ontario.

Le travail de la coalition se base dans l’action directe et consiste à
apporter de l’aide aux individus dans leurs luttes pour l’assistance
sociale, l’invalidité, le logement, l’emploi et à les aider à faire face
aux gens qui leur refusent ce à quoi ils ont droit pour rencontrer leurs
besoins. De plus, la coalition fait des compagnes de sensibilisation et
de dénonciation par rapport aux politiques gouvernementales régressives
quant à leurs effets sur les travailleurs et travailleuses et les
personnes vivant dans la pauvreté.

La coalition croit au pouvoir des personnes de s’organiser elles-mêmes;
elle croit au pouvoir de la résistance!

Please call us (249-878-7227)

Email us at sudburyCAP@gmail.com

S-CAP on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/257339454351403/

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Wednesday, August 14: $14 Minimum Wage Now!

Time: Noon
Location: starting from Memorial Park, downtown Sudbury

August 14th is the province wide day of action regarding the urgent need
for a minimum wage raise. Come show your support with signs and sidewalk
chalk. We'll be handing out information sheets. We also have a nice
collection of pins for participants. We're meeting at Memorial Park and
then heading over to Rick Bartolucci's office at noon. Organized by the
Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty.

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/447559808675611/

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Monday, September 2: Labour Day Family Fun Fest at Bell Park

Time: 10am to 4pm
Location: Bell Park, Sudbury

Celebrate Labour Day with Sudbury's working families, free for you,
sponsored and organized by Sudbury labour unions and our generous
partners

    FREE BBQ! Hamburgers - Hot Dogs - Drinks
    FUN FOR THE KIDS - Bouncy Castles, Face Painting, Games and more!
    MUSIC IN THE AMPHITHEATRE - From alternative to classic rock, a
great variety of FREE live music on the main stage
    GREAT PRIZES – participate in a FREE raffle to win one of dozens of
great prizes donated by local businesses
    MUCH MORE – Demos from our local Irish Regiment reserve corps,
Police and Fire Services, games for grown-ups, and much more!
    MAIN STAGE LINEUP: To be announced

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/366050843515753/

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Monday, September 2: Walk With Labour

Time: 11:30am
Location: Bell Park

During the Labour Day At Bell Park Family Fun Fest, The Sudbury Labour
Council is organizing a "Walk With Labour" to start at the Bell Park
venue and proceed around the Board Walk to Science North and back up
Paris Street. Affiliates and community members are being asked to join
the "Walk" and bring flags, pickets, drums, music makers, and their
enthusiasm. Please come out and show your solidarity with workers in our
wonderful Northern Ontario Community. Your support means a lot to folks
who are working for a better society.

Join us at the Sudbury and District Labour Council tent between 11:30 am
and noon for sign making before the walk!

This event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/594339817275478/

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

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Campaign to Raise Minimum Wage Heats Up with a Province-Wide Day of
Action
by Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
 
On Wednesday, August 14th people across the province will be campaigning
for a $14 an hour minimum wage. This rate would allow single minimum
wage workers working 35 hours per week to earn 10% above the low-income
measure, an important step towards eliminating poverty for those working
for wages across the province. The minimum wage has been frozen since
2011 by the Liberal government while living expenses continue to rise,
creating even more difficulties for the 534,000 minimum wage workers in
Ontario.

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) will be participating in
the provincial event. S-CAP, and other supporters of raising the minimum
wage, will be meeting in Memorial Park at noon on the 14th and then
walking to Rick Bartolucci's office to help raise awareness again of the
need to raise the minimum wage. This is a follow-up to their action on
March 22nd, when they delivered blocks of ice with the current minimum
wage - $10.25 - frozen in them to MPPs France Gelinas and Rick
Bartolucci's offices, asking them to melt the minimum wage freeze and
raise minimum wage to $14 an hour.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the minimum wage put forward by
some business owners and politicians. The percentage of minimum wage
earners who are over thirty-five years old continues to rise, up from
17% in 2004 to 27% in 2012. This is not just an issue for young people
but affects working people much more generally. This is increasingly not
only a problem for those working for very small businesses with small
numbers of workers. The percentage of minimum wage earners working for
corporations with over 500 employees has also increased to almost half.

A 2013 report by the Canadian Labour Congress found that Canadian
corporations are hoarding nearly $500 billion in unused funds, rather
than using that money to re-invest to help create jobs or provide higher
wages for their workers. Raising the minimum wage would be a way of
getting more of this money circulating in our communities.

No more studies or consultations are needed. Low-waged workers need an
immediate increase in the minimum wage to $14 an hour.

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"Canada’s got a disease and it’s called militarism"
by Matthew Behrens
(from NOW Magazine, Aug 1-8 2013:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=193802)