September 2015th - SWEET JESUS, MOTHER MARY AND JOSEPH- 94 MILLION UNEMPLOYED USA ?????-
Record 94,031,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Stuck at 38-Year Low for 3rd Straight Month
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/record-94031000-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-stuck-38-year#.VeoV4IOhXgA.facebook
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Lech Walesa |
 Lech
Walesa is known for his valiant effort to free his native Poland from
Communist rule. Born into a working-class family in 1943 in Popowo, he
excelled in school. But lack of money forced Walesa to attend a
vocational school at 16. In 1967, he moved to Gdansk where he worked in
a shipyard as an electrician. By this time, Polish workers were
beginning to protest the poor conditions of life. A strike in Gdansk in
1980 led to the formation of the National Committee of Solidarity (see
below), and Walesa was elected chairman. In 1990, Walesa was re-elected
to chairman of Solidarity. His interest in serving as president in
Poland became increasingly public. In the presidential election of 1990,
Walesa won more than 74 % of the ballots, making him Poland's first
popularly elected president. For his efforts, Walesa was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, among many other awards. Walesa has been
married since 1969 and he has eight children. He is a devout Roman
Catholic.
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Solidarnosc Polish
trade union (Niezalezny Samorzad Zwiazkow Zawodowych Solidarnosc)
that in the early 1980s became the first independent labor union in a
country belonging to the Soviet bloc. Solidarity was founded in September
1980, was forcibly suppressed by the Polish government in December 1981,
and reemerged in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to
participate in free elections in a Soviet-bloc nation since the 1940s.
Solidarity subsequently formed a coalition government with Poland's United
Workers' (communist) Party (PUWP), after which its leaders dominated the
national government. The origin of Solidarity traces back to 1976, when a
Workers' Defense Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotnikow or KOR) was
founded by a group of dissident intellectuals after several thousand
striking workers had been attacked and jailed by authorities in various
cities. The KOR supported families of imprisoned workers, offered legal
and medical aid, and disseminated news through an underground network. In
1979 it published a Charter of Workers' Rights. During a growing wave of
new strikes in 1980 protesting rising food prices, Gdansk became a hotbed
of resistance to government decrees. Some 17,000 workers at the Lenin
Shipyards there staged a strike and barricaded themselves within the plant
under the leadership of Lech Walesa, an electrician by trade. In
mid-August 1980 an Interfactory Strike Committee was established in Gdansk
to coordinate rapidly spreading strikes there and elsewhere; within a week
it presented the Polish government with a list of demands that were based
largely on KOR's Charter of Workers' Rights. On August 30, accords reached
between the government and the Gdansk strikers sanctioned free and
independent unions with the right to strike, together with greater freedom
of religious and political expression. Solidarity formally was founded on
Sept. 22, 1980, when delegates of 36 regional trade unions met in Gdansk
and united under the name Solidarnosc. The KOR subsequently
disbanded, its activists becoming members of the union, and Walesa was
elected chairman of Solidarity. A separate agricultural union composed of
private farmers, named Rural Solidarity (Wiejska Solidarnosc), was
founded in Warsaw on Dec. 14, 1980. By early 1981 Solidarity had a
membership of about 10 million people and represented most of the work
force of Poland. Throughout 1981 the government (led by General Wojciech
Jaruzelski) was confronted by an ever stronger and more demanding
Solidarity, which inflicted a series of controlled strikes to back up its
appeals for economic reforms, for free elections, and for the involvement
of trade unions in decision making at the highest levels. Solidarity's
positions hardened as the moderate Walesa came to be pressured by more
militant unionists. Jaruzelski's government, meanwhile, was subjected to
severe pressure from the Soviet Union to suppress Solidarity. On Dec. 13,
1981, Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland in a bid to crush the
Solidarity movement. Solidarity was declared illegal, and its leaders were
arrested. The union was formally dissolved by the Sejm (Parliament) on
Oct. 8, 1982, but it nevertheless continued as an underground
organization. In 1988 a new wave of strikes and labor unrest spread across
Poland, and prominent among the strikers' demands was government
recognition of Solidarity. In April 1989 the government agreed to legalize
Solidarity and allow it to participate in free elections to a bicameral
Polish parliament. In the elections, held in June of that year, candidates
endorsed by Solidarity won 99 of 100 seats in the newly formed Senate
(upper house) and all 161 seats (of 460 total) that opposition candidates
were entitled to contest in the Sejm (lower house). In August Solidarity
agreed to form a coalition government with the PUWP, and a longtime
Solidarity adviser, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, on August 24 became the first
noncommunist premier to govern Poland since the late 1940s. In December
1990 Walesa was elected president of Poland after splitting with
Mazowiecki in a dispute over the pace of Poland's conversion to a market
economy. The split between Walesa and Mazowiecki prevented the formation
of a Solidarity-backed coalition to govern the country in the wake of the
PUWP's collapse, and the union's direct role in Poland's new parliamentary
scene dwindled as many new political parties emerged in the early 1990s.
| The History Guide | Feedback |
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MIDTOWN BLOGGER/MANHATTAN VALLEY
Monday, September 29, 2014
Born Today- Polish Trade Unionist and Politician Lech Walesa- wikipedia
Lech Wałęsa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Wałęsa" redirects here. For other uses, see Wałęsa (disambiguation).
| Lech Wałęsa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of Poland | |
| In office 22 December 1990 – 22 December 1995 |
|
| Prime Minister | Tadeusz Mazowiecki Jan Krzysztof Bielecki Jan Olszewski Waldemar Pawlak Hanna Suchocka Waldemar Pawlak Józef Oleksy |
| Preceded by | Wojciech Jaruzelski |
| Succeeded by | Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
| Chairperson of Solidarity | |
| In office 14 August 1980 – 12 December 1990 |
|
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Marian Krzaklewski |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 September 1943 Popowo, Poland |
| Political party | Solidarity (1970–1988) Solidarity Citizens' Committee (1988–1993) Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms (1993–1997) Christian Democracy of the 3rd Polish Republic (1997–2001) Civic Platform (2001–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Solidarity Electoral Action (1997–2001) |
| Spouse(s) | Danuta Gołoś (1969–present) |
| Children | Bogdan Sławomir Przemysław Jarosław Magdalena Anna Maria Wiktoria Brygida |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
);[1][2] born 29 September 1943) is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity (Solidarność), the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.[3]Wałęsa was an electrician by trade. Soon after beginning work at the Gdańsk (then, "Lenin") Shipyards, he became a dissident trade-union activist. For this he was persecuted by the Communist authorities, placed under surveillance, fired in 1976, and arrested several times. In August 1980 he was instrumental in political negotiations that led to the ground-breaking Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government. He became a co-founder of the Solidarity trade-union movement. Arrested again after martial law was imposed in Poland and Solidarity was outlawed, upon release he continued his activism and was prominent in the establishment of the 1989 Round Table Agreement that led to semi-free parliamentary elections in June 1989 and to a Solidarity-led government.
In the Polish election of 1990, he successfully ran for the newly re-established office of President of Poland. He presided over Poland's transformation from a communist to a post-communist state, but his popularity waned. After he narrowly lost the 1995 presidential election, his role in Polish politics diminished. However, his international fame remains. Wałęsa continues to speak and lecture in Poland and abroad on history and politics.
Contents
Personal life
Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Poland.[3] His father, Bolesław, was a carpenter who was arrested by the Nazis before Lech was born and interned in a concentration camp at Mlyniec. Boleslaw returned home after the war but lived only two months before succumbing to exhaustion and illness – he was not yet 34 years old.[4] Lech's mother, Feliksa, born Kamienska,[5] has been credited with shaping her son's beliefs and tenacity.[6]In 1961, Lech graduated from primary and vocational school in nearby Chalin and Lipno as a qualified electrician. He worked from 1961 to 1965 as a car mechanic, then embarked on his two-year obligatory stint of military service, attaining the rank of corporal, before beginning work at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina, now the Gdańsk Shipyard, Stocznia Gdańska, as an electrician on 12 July 1967.[7]
On 8 December 1969 Wałęsa married Danuta Gołoś. The couple have eight children: Bogdan, Sławomir, Przemysław, Jarosław, Magdalena, Anna, Maria-Wiktoria, and Brygida.[8][9]
Moustache
It is rumored that around 1980 Gillette offered him more than $1,000,000 to shave off his trademark moustache in a commercial, but that he refused.[10][11] A few years later, he surprised the public by shaving off his moustache for personal reasons.[10]Solidarity movement
From early on, Wałęsa was interested in workers' concerns; in 1968 he encouraged shipyard colleagues to boycott official rallies that condemned recent student strikes.[8] A charismatic leader,[12] he was an organizer of the illegal 1970 strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard (the Polish 1970 protests) when workers protested the government's decree raising food prices; he was considered for chairman of the strike committee.[3][8] The strikes' outcome, involving over 30 workers' deaths, galvanized his views on the need for change.[8] In June 1976, Wałęsa lost his job at the Gdańsk Shipyards for his continued involvement in illegal unions, strikes and a campaign to commemorate the victims of the 1970 protests.[3][8][9] Afterwards, he worked as an electrician for several other companies, but was continually laid off for his activism and was jobless for long periods.[8] He and his family were under constant surveillance by the Polish secret police; his home and workplace were always bugged.[8] Over the next few years, he was arrested several times for participating in dissident activities.[3]Wałęsa worked closely with the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR), a group that emerged to lend aid to individuals arrested after 1976 labor strikes and to their families.[3] In June 1978 he became an activist of the underground Free Trade Unions of the Coast (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża).[9] On 14 August 1980, after another food-price hike led to a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk—a strike of which he was one of the instigators—Wałęsa scaled the shipyard fence and, once inside, quickly became one of the strike leaders.[3][8] The strike inspired some similar strikes, first at Gdańsk, then across Poland. Wałęsa headed the Inter-Plant Strike Committee, coordinating the workers at Gdańsk and at 20 other plants in the region.[3] On 31 August, the communist government, represented by Mieczysław Jagielski, signed an accord (the Gdańsk Agreement) with the Strike Coordinating Committee.[3] The agreement, besides granting the Lenin Shipyard workers the right to strike, permitted them to form their own independent trade union.[13] The Strike Coordinating Committee legalized itself as the National Coordinating Committee of the Solidarność (Solidarity) Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen chairman of the Committee.[3][9] The Solidarity trade union quickly grew, ultimately claiming over 10 million members—more than a quarter of Poland's population.[14] Wałęsa's role in the strike, in the negotiations, and in the newly formed independent trade union gained him fame on the international stage.[3][8] Wałęsa held his position until 13 December 1981, when General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law.[3] Wałęsa, like many other Solidarity leaders and activists, was arrested; he would be incarcerated for 11 months at several eastern towns (Chylice, Otwock, and Arłamów, near the Soviet border) until 14 November 1982.[8][9] On 8 October 1982, Solidarity was outlawed.[15] In 1983 Wałęsa applied to return to the Gdańsk Shipyard as a simple electrician.[8] That same year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[3] He was unable to accept it himself, fearing that Poland's government would not let him back into the country.[3][8] His wife Danuta accepted the prize on his behalf.[3][8]
Through the mid-1980s, Wałęsa continued underground Solidarity-related activities.[16] Every issue of the leading underground weekly, Tygodnik Mazowsze, bore his motto, "Solidarity will not be divided or destroyed."[17] Following a 1986 amnesty for Solidarity activists,[18] Wałęsa co-founded the first overt legal Solidarity entity since the declaration of martial law—the Provisional Council of NSZZ Solidarity (Tymczasowa Rada NSZZ Solidarność).[16] From 1987 to 1990, he organized and led the "semi-illegal" Provisional Executive Committee of the Solidarity Trade Union. In late summer 1988, he instigated work-stoppage strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard.[16]
President Bush meets privately with Wałęsa, November 1989
In December 1988, Wałęsa co-founded the Solidarity Citizens' Committee.[9] Theoretically it was merely an advisory body, but in practice it was a kind of political party and won the parliamentary elections in June 1989 (Solidarity took all the seats in the Sejm that were subject to free elections, and all but one seat in the newly re-established Senate).[21] Wałęsa was one of Solidarity's most public figures; though he did not run for parliament himself, he was an active campaigner, appearing on many campaign posters.[3] In fact, Solidarity winners in the Sejm elections were referred to as "Wałęsa's team" or "Lech's team," as all those who won had appeared on their election posters together with him.[22][23]
While ostensibly only chairman of Solidarity, Wałęsa played a key role in practical politics. In August 1989, he persuaded leaders of former communist-allied parties to form a non-communist coalition government – the first non-Communist government in the Soviet Bloc. The parliament elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki as prime minister – the first non-communist Polish prime minister in over four decades.[14]
Presidency
Wałęsa (right) with former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum
During his presidency, Wałęsa saw Poland through privatization and transition to a free-market economy (the Balcerowicz Plan), Poland's 1991 first completely free parliamentary elections, and a period of redefinition of Poland's foreign relations.[3][12] He successfully negotiated the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Polish soil and won a substantial reduction in Poland's foreign debts.[8]
Wałęsa supported Poland's entry into NATO and into the European Union. Both these goals would be realized after his presidency, in 1999 and 2004, respectively.[8] In the early 1990s, Wałęsa proposed the creation of a NATO bis as a sub-regional security system. The concept, while supported by right-wing and populist movements in Poland, garnered little support abroad; Poland's neighbors, some of whom (e.g., Lithuania) had only recently regained independence, tended to see the proposal as Polish "neo-imperialism."[14][24]
Wałęsa has been criticized for a confrontational style and for instigating "war at the top," whereby former Solidarity allies clashed with one another, causing annual changes of government.[12][14][17][25][26] This increasingly isolated Wałęsa on the political scene.[27] As he lost more and more political allies, he came to be surrounded by people who were viewed by the public as incompetent and disreputable.[17][27] Mudslinging during election campaigns tarnished his reputation.[3][28] The ex-electrician with no higher education was thought by some to be too plain-spoken and too undignified for the post of president.[12][14][29] Others thought him too erratic in his views[14][26][30] or complained that he was too authoritarian – that he sought to strengthen his own power at the expense of the Sejm.[14][26][27][29] Jacek Merkel, Wałęsa's national security advisor, credited the shortcomings of Wałęsa's presidency to Wałęsa's inability to comprehend the office of the president as an institution. Walesa was an effective union leader capable of articulating what the workers felt but as president he had a difficult time delegating power or navigating the bureaucracy.[31][clarification needed] Finally, Wałęsa's problems were compounded by the difficult transition to a market economy; while in the long run it was seen as highly successful, it lost Wałęsa's government much popular support.[26][27][32]
Wałęsa's BBWR performed poorly in the 1993 parliamentary elections; at times his popular support dwindled to some 10%, and he narrowly lost the 1995 presidential election, gathering 48.72% of the vote in the run-off against Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who represented the resurgent Polish post-Communists (the Democratic Left Alliance, SLD).[3][14][27] Wałęsa's fate was sealed by his poor handling of the media; in the televised debates, he came over as incoherent and rude; at the end of the first of the two debates, in response to Kwaśniewski's extended hand, he replied that the post-Communist leader could "shake his leg".[27] After the election, Wałęsa said he was going to go into "political retirement", and his role in politics became increasingly marginal.[25][33][34]
Later years
Wałęsa with Aleksander Kwaśniewski, 2005
In 2006 Wałęsa quit Solidarity, citing differences over the union's support of the Law and Justice party, and the rise to power of Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński.[38] On 27 February 2008, at Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, in Houston, Texas, in the United States, Wałęsa underwent a coronary artery stent placement and the implantation of a cardiac pacemaker.[39] In the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament elections, he appeared at a rally in Rome to endorse the pan-European Eurosceptic party Libertas, describing it and its founder Declan Ganley as "a force for good in the world."[40][41] Wałęsa admitted that he had been paid to give the speech but claimed to support Civic Platform, while expressing the hope that Libertas candidates would be elected to the European Parliament.[40]
He is member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and a recipient of the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, along with Anna Walentynowicz and John Paul II.[42]
In 2009 Wałęsa condemned the Obama administration's abandonment of a long range missile defense agreement with Poland.[43] In 2011 he wrote an article claiming that only communism is a viable temporary solution for the poor African countries in the 21st century.[44] He also voiced support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.[45] Wałęsa endorsed Mitt Romney during the 2012 US presidential campaign, stressing the importance of the US restoring its leadership role.[46]
Allegations of being a collaborator
Over the years, Wałęsa has been accused of having been an informant for the Polish secret police Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB) in the early 1970s, codenamed "Bolek". Although this was long before Wałęsa emerged as a hero of the Solidarity, questions remain whether it had an effect on his later decisions; for example, making him a probable target of blackmail. On 11 August 2000, the Warsaw Appellate Court, V Wydział Lustracyjny, declared that Wałęsa's lustration statement was true – that he had not collaborated with the communist regime.[47] Nonetheless, periodically the question resurfaces.A 2008 book by historians from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Sławomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk, presenting new evidence, received substantial coverage in the media, provoked a hot nation-wide debate, and was noted by the international press.[48][49][50][51] The book is seen by some as very controversial; however, it contains over 130 pages of documents from archives of the secret police (which were inherited by the IPN) to support its claims, and Cenckiewicz defended his discoveries on a factual basis.[52] Janusz Kurtyka, president of the Institute of National Remembrance at the time, staunchly affirmed the thesis of the book while admitting that it does not contain a "hundred-percent" proof that Wałęsa was the agent Bolek, as some of the documents went missing during Wałęsa's presidency of Poland (1990–1995). He expressed hope the book would be subject to a wider debate.[53]
In his autobiography A Way of Hope, Wałęsa admitted that he did not come out clean from his interrogations in the aftermath of the December 1970 strikes and in subsequent conversations admitted that he and his family were threatened by security agents.[54] At times he has said that he tried to outwit his interrogators, although historians have observed it would have been an impossible self-delusion with more than a hundred agents assigned to dissident leaders. He has denied having been "Bolek"; or that he collaborated with the secret police, which seems to be the case after 1978 when he became a member of the Coastal WZZ [Free Trade Union].[55] His most dramatic refusal to cooperate with the regime came shortly after the introduction of martial law when he rejected the offer to head regime controlled Solidarity, which would have been a major blow to the popular dissident movement.[56]
Others have noted that the Polish secret police commonly falsified their own top secret reports (known as fałszywka in Polish) in order to ruin the good name of prominent individuals.[30][57] In November 2009 Wałęsa sued the then president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, over his having repeated the collaboration allegations.[58]
On 15 April 2010, during a civil trial brought by Wałęsa against former fellow activist Krzysztof Wyszkowski over the collaboration allegations, a retired MO and Służba Bezpieczeństwa officer appeared in court and confirmed the fact of Wałęsa's collaboration in a sworn testimony.[59] The officer, Janusz Stachowiak, was in charge of keeping documentation on Wałęsa from December 1970 to 1974, although never met him in person. He stated that Wałęsa was convinced to cooperate by SB Capt. Henryk Rapczyński and SB Capt. Edward Graczyk, after a two-hour interrogation, albeit without the use of threats, and signed an agreement to keep his cooperation with SB in secret.[60] The officers asked him to "calm down" the atmosphere in the shipyard after protests were bloodily suppressed. Wałęsa kept meeting regularly with the secret police, reportedly receiving substantial sums of money,[60] but after about four months he started to "withdraw" (although it was not until June 1976 when he was unregistered, because of his "reluctance to cooperate").
Previously, in 2008, Capt. Edward Graczyk (long thought to be deceased and as such not summoned to testify in the 2000 trial) was interrogated by the IPN about his contacts with Wałęsa[61] and subsequently interviewed by Gazeta Wyborcza.[62] In the interview, which somewhat contradicts his earlier testimony, Graczyk recounted Wałęsa's cooperation, but denied his own actions had been "recruitment" of an agent. He also denied giving money to Wałęsa. The other of the two officers, Capt. Henryk Rapczyński, was never interrogated.
On 22 December 2011, it was reported that the prosecutor Zbigniew Kulikowski from the Białystok division of the IPN (National Remembrance Institute) determined that the SB (communist secret security) had forged documents in the 1980s that suggested Wałęsa was their agent during the 1980s.[63] Perhaps the most controversial act was the wanton destruction of government files, which occurred during the Wałęsa presidency, which some have argued have contributed to legal distortions and derailing of lustration in free Poland.[64]
Religious and personal views
Wałęsa in Washington, D.C., May 2011
Wałęsa has also said that he is interested in information technology and likes to use new developments in that field. He has stated that he has assembled several computers to find out how they work and takes a smartphone, a palmtop, and a laptop with him when traveling.[68] Early in 2006 he revealed that he is a registered user of the Polish instant-messaging service Gadu-Gadu, and was granted a new special user number – 1980.[69] Later that year, he also said that he used Skype, his "handle" being lwprezydent2006.[70]
Honours
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa's coat of arms assigned by the Heraldic Authority of the Kingdom of Sweden on the occasion of his admittance into the Royal Order of the Seraphim. According to the intentions of the designer, Adam Heymowski, it refers to Polish national colors and the coat of arms of Gdańsk, of which one of the crosses was replaced by a fleur-de-lis, symbol of Our Lady of Częstochowa.
On 8 February 2002, Wałęsa represented Europe, carrying the Olympic flag at the opening ceremonies of the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, in company with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Africa), John Glenn (the Americas), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Asia), Cathy Freeman (Oceania), Jean-Michel Cousteau (Environment), Jean-Claude Killy (Sport), and Steven Spielberg (Culture).[76][77] Two years later, on 10 May 2004, Gdańsk International Airport was officially renamed Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport to commemorate a famous Gdańsk citizen, and his signature was incorporated into the airport's logo.[78]
A month later, in June 2004, Wałęsa represented Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan.[79] On 11 October 2006, Wałęsa was keynote speaker at the launch of "International Human Solidarity Day," proclaimed in 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly.[80] In January 2007 Wałęsa spoke at a Taiwan event, "Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies," in support of peace and democracy, along with other prominent world leaders and Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian.[81]
On 25 April 2007, Wałęsa represented the Polish government at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin, former President of the Russian Federation.[82] On 23 October 2009, he spoke at a conference in Gdańsk of presidents of all European senates, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first free parliamentary elections in a former communist country – the 1989 elections to the Polish Senate.
On 6 September 2011, Wałęsa rejected Lithuania's Order of Vytautas the Great as a result of alleged discrimination on the part of the Lithuanian government towards its Polish minority.[83]
Books written
Wałęsa has written three books: Droga nadziei (The Road of Hope, 1987), Droga do wolności (The Road to Freedom, 1991), and Wszystko, co robię, robię dla Polski (All That I Do, I Do for Poland, 1995).[16]In popular culture
Wałęsa has been portrayed in numerous works of popular culture. In Volker Schlöndorff's film Strike, a character based on Wałęsa was played by Polish actor Andrzej Chyra.[84] He was portrayed by Bernard Hill in the 1984 TV production of Tom Stoppard's Squaring the Circle. Wałęsa played himself in Andrzej Wajda's 1981 Golden Palm-winning film about Solidarity, Man of Iron.[85] While this was perhaps his best-known movie appearance, he has played himself in some 20 other productions.[86]In the 1990s two satirical Polish songs, "Nie wierzcie elektrykom" ("Don't Trust Electricians") by Big Cyc, and "Wałęsa, gdzie moje 100 000 000" ("Wałęsa, Where's My 100,000,000 [złotych]?") by Kazik Staszewski, were major hits in Poland, and another song about Wałęsa was composed in 2009 by Holy Smoke.[87] He also inspired U2's song "New Year's Day" on their War album.[88] Coincidentally the Polish authorities lifted martial law on 1 January 1983, the very day that this single came out.[89] Patrick Dailly's Solidarity, starring Kristen Brown as Wałęsa, was premiered by the San Francisco Cabaret Opera in Berkeley and Oakland, California, in September and October 2009.[90]
Wałęsa has been the subject of dozens of books and articles.[91][92][93][94][95]
On 1 December 2011, Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrzej Wajda began shooting the biographical film Walesa. Man of Hope. The off-Broadway playwright Janusz Głowacki wrote the screenplay. Robert Więckiewicz and Agnieszka Grochowska star as Lech Wałęsa and his wife Danuta Wałęsa. The film was released in September 2012.[96][97]
The documentary film Lech Wałęsa, Twenty Years Later (2003) by director Adam Kinaszewski shows the life and career path of Wałęsa.
See also
http://midtownblogger.blogspot.ca/2014/09/born-today-polish-trade-unionist-and.html
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SEPTEMBER 7, 2015
- ... 01 September 2015 ... 28-08-2015 . Canada Do our soldiers need a union? [Now] ... [PSA] 01-09-2015 4 more labour news stories from New Zealand today.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2014- UPDATES- UNIONS AND THEMES CHANGING IN CANADA AND GLOBALLY... 4 THE GOOD.... WE DIED, WE ROSE UP.... WE FOUGHT THE HORRIBLE FIGHT FOR RIGHTS - now it's ur turn 2 ensure they are not eroded in our Civilized society.... be the watchers and the fixers.... don't bow... get in2 your communities...NOT JUST THE NET-DON'T BE LAZY... see, feel, touch be change.... hugs and love from an old tarnished and tattered warrior...
Fighting the good fight- how humiliated we used 2 be as unionists (60s,70s,80s, 90s (and we did change the world) in smaller communites and small populations at the shennigans that the major cities and their thousands and thousands used 2 get up 2- MIND U - WE NEVER DID THE COWARD'S MASK OF OUR FACES- OR DESTROY PUBLIC/PERSONAL PROPERTY- although some union parties did- most of us were/are huge volunteers in our communities and $$fundraising and awareness issues of children, women, homeless, health and safety and general good... but this is interesting... and crossing picket lines.... knowing the 'STEALIN WAGES FROM THE POOR' like these restaurant workers... who are paid and treated like the 3rd world - where they can get away with hijacking the poor and living conditions... imho
Marchers Celebrate Labour Day - Halifax Nova Scotia
SEPTEMBER 2, 2014- UNIONS ARE A CHANGING...CANADA
Canadian labour movement redefining role
ALEXANDRA BOSANAC THE CANADIAN PRESS
Labour Day celebrations across Canada this year come at a time when organized labour is in the midst of redefining its role in the workforce as a decline in the manufacturing industry and the rise of contract and part-time workers has challenged its traditional fo cus. Nelson Wiseman, director of Canadian studies at the University of Toronto, said that the significance of the holiday fails to resonate with many people outside the labour movement.
“Once upon a time, people were marching in the streets because they wanted to cut down the (workday) and a lot of people were involved in industry that was there, like manufacturing, but now it’s not the case," says Wiseman .
“People don’t perceive that (unionized) workers are underpaid or undu ly exploited, even though many of them may not be making huge amounts," he adds. “People have more sympathy for you if you’re flipping burgers at McDonald’s."
The principle aims of the firstwave labour movement — universal health care, welfare, the public education system — are now well-established in Canadian society. Outside of their collective bargaining obligations, Wiseman says, unions have been relegated to serving the role of watchdog.
The types of jobs new to the economy fall out of the traditional purview of unions: temporary s ervice industry jobs and knowledge sector jobs and, in particular, the high-tech sector with a highly mobile workforce that has largely has evaded unionization.
Economic headwinds have forced unions to re-evaluate their brand and their purpose in an economy where steady employment is precarious. “We recognize that are there are some challenges and we have to grow the labour movement because the economy itself is not the economy of the ’50s, the ’60s, and the ’70s,” says Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“In that regard we have to orient ourselves to the new workforce,” adds Yussuff, who says that the union’s effectiveness in negotiating pensions and better wages has been tested in recent years by governments and private sector employers.
“Nevertheless, I think we have a lot to celebrate. All of those good salaries and wages that our members make are spent in their communities and contribute to a successful and growing economy.”
In its first year of existence, Unifor — formed on Labour Day weekend 2013 by the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union — introduced new ways to bring workers from traditionally non-unioniz ed jobs into the fold.
Notably among them, was the Canadian Freelance Union, which represents self-employed media pro fessionals.
It’s also moved to solidify its community chapters program for unemployed former Unifor members, providing access to similar health insurance plans.
“We’ve had to do things differently as it relates to outreach,” said Unifor president Jerry Dias. “Our union very much plays a huge role in the community.”
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VOTE IN 2015 CANADA- Don't take the lives of our troops 4 granted laying dead in the fields of war 4 freedom.... 'DON'T TAKE MY LIFE 4 GRANTED- UR FREE BECAUSE OF ME...
VOTE....2015- honour our troops
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SEPTEMBER 1 2014
Canadian WWI Graves Pls. don't take my life for granted- ur free because of me
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Canadian Graves honoured- Holland
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Afghanistan Pls. don't take my life for granted- ur free because of me
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Worldwide Graves of the Unknown Soldier
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Canadian Soldiers Normandy France- CANADA WAS FOUNDED ON CHRISTIANITY- DON'T SPIT ON UR HISTORY... please- honour it- all of it...
START GETTING PREPARED AND VOTE CANADA IN 2015- September 1 2014 is labour day... did u ever hear of MY HERO -Lech Walesa of Poland 1970s and 80s.... as any unionist or human rights working volunteering with the ordinary people having it hard- u should. Don't vote on pretty, or family tradition or bullshit and beans media crap.... Vote with ur heart.... Show Afghans who had the guts and showed the world true courage... that Canadians and voting matters... just like our troops matter... please...
How Would Soldiers Who Died For Our Freedom Feel About Pathetic Turnout Of Voters In Our Elections?
Posted on November 10, 2010
By Doug Draper
In the former battle grounds Europe and others regions of the world, there are row after row of white markers above the graves of young Canadians and Americans who never got the chance to come home.
Graves of fallen Second World War soldiers in Normandy, France.
These young people, we are reminded every November 11 on Veterans and Remembrance Day, sacrificed their lives so the rest of us could live our lives in relative freedom – in democracies where we could express our views without death squads, and where we can actively engage in elections and vote.
Today, we have Americans and Canadians in the line of fire Afghanistan where the people living in that hapless country risk being beaten or killed, just for trying get an education or in some other way better their lives. At least 14 Afghan voters were killed in this past summer’s parliamentary elections.
And yet here we are in Canada and the United States, where we set aside occasions like Canada Day and the Fourth of July for parading our pride in country in front of the world, and less than half of us could be bothered to go out and vote this fall in important municipal elections in Ontario and midterm elections in the U.S. What a tribute that is to those who fought and died (and still are in) for our way of life!
The turnout of eligible voters for the Erie and Niagara County, New York area for this past November 2 midterm elections was about 45 per cent, and some pundits suggested that was a fairly strong turnout compared to elections in the recent past. Think about it. Less than half the people with a right to vote bothered to exercise that right during midterm elections that had the potential to decide the fate of the progressive policies of country’s president, Barack Obama, when it comes to health care, education, renewable energy and energy independence, and host of other issues for the next two years.
On the Niagara, Ontario side of the border, residents in the region’s 12 local municipalities faced choices at the local and regional level during this October’s municipal elections at a time when this region faces one of the highest jobless rates in the country, among the lowest average income rates, and a host of important challenges and opportunities those we have chosen to elect to our councils have to address. But that didn’t keep at least six out of ever 10 eligible voters across the region from not caring enough to go to the polls.
In St. Catharine – the largest municipality in the region – the turnout was a pathetic 30 per cent. Some suggest the lack of a close mayor’s race was the reason, but this municipality also had a large field of local city and regional candidates running that, given their diverse positions on issues, could make a huge difference on key issues like the soaring costs of policing and water and wastewater rates, on any hope for building a regional transit system, and so much more. In the neighbouring municipality of Thorold, where there was an important mayor’s race, barely more than 38 per cent of those eligible bothered voting in an election that ultimately left a three-vote gap between the winner and his nearest contender. Someone told me they talked to some of their acquaintances in Thorold who mentioned that they were planning to go out and vote but were “too tired.”
Too tired? The soldiers fighting their way up the beaches of Normandy, France in June of 1944 couldn’t afford to be too tired, nor could the pilots battling off Nazi air forces over the skies of Britain. Our young soldiers negotiating roadside bombs in Afghanistan can’t afford to be too tired either.
If we could ask the tens-of-thousands of our fallen veterans from wars going back as far as Vietnam, Korea and the Second World War what they would do if they could get up out of their underground beds, I’ll bet one of the things they would do is vote!
As for the six out of 10 or more of us who were either to tired or, for some other reason, couldn’t be bothered voting in the recent October 25 and November 2 elections across our Ontario/New York border, maybe they should go and spend some time living in Iran or some other nation where the people have to fight for their lives for the right to vote.
Then come back and tell us how tired or how much you can’t be bothered voting here.
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary of interest and concern to residents across our binational Niagara region. And please continue to share your views in the comment boxes available below.)
COMMENT:
Honour Those Who Have Fought For Our Democracy. Take The Time To Vote!”
. OR in other words,
“Voting Day is Remembrance Day.”
. OR in other words,
“If you didn’t Vote, then don’t be a hypocrite and wear a poppy.”
. OR in other words,
“Did you honour the fallen? Did you Vote?!”
1,000 years of British history -our political history- has given us the right to change Kings PEACEFULLY every 4 years, without fear of death or jail. Our Constitutional Monarchy is the living memory of the long battle between rulers and ruled.
Anyone who won’t make the time to enter a voting booth and mark a ballot -even to spoil it in anger!- should be
doomed to have the past repeated, to live under dictatorship…!
COMMENT:
While I in no way forgive people for being so apathetic that they don't vote, I think part of the probelm is that many people (especially young people) are completely fed up with the old left vs right, ad hominem, politics, not to mention the fact that politicians lie so often and, at least in Canada, get away with it as we are so passive.
I think the answer is to promote post partisan politics, much as Ben Franklin did 200 years ago - see
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this is union... this is courage... this is standing up 4 rights and right wrongs instead of turning away... as a longtime Shop Steward... life was shitty way 2 often in the workplace... but by God never lost a grievance... and the Black Hats knew... if a first level crossed my desk ... no f**king deals ever... and so did the member...
Lech Walesa
Lech Walesa : Poland
Lech Walesa, the son of a peasant farmer, was born in Popowo, Poland, on 29th September, 1943. After leaving school he worked as a car mechanic. In 1967 Walesa moved to Gdansky where he became an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard.
Walesa was active in the trade union movement and during an industrial dispute in 1970 he became chairman of the shipyard's strike committee. In 1976 lost his job as a result of his trade union activities and for the next few years had to earn his living by taking temporary jobs.
Walesa continued to involve himself in organising free non-communist trade unions and in 1980, along with some of his friends, founded Solidarnosc (Solidarity). It was not long before the organization had 10 million members and Walesa was its undisputed leader.
In August 1980 Walesa led the Gdansk shipyard strike which gave rise to a wave of strikes over much of the country. Walesa, a devout Catholic, developed a loyal following and the communist authorities were forced to capitulate. The Gdansk Agreement, signed on 31st August, 1980, gave Polish workers the right to strike and to organise their own independent union.
In 1981 General Wojciech Jaruzelski, replaced Edward Gierek as leader of the Communist Party in Poland. In December 1981, Jaruzelski imposed martial law and Solidarnosc was declared an illegal organization. Soon afterwards Walesa and other trade union leaders were arrested and imprisoned.
In November 1982 Walesa was released and allowed to work in the Gdansk shipyards. Martial law was lifted in July 1983, but there were still considerable restrictions on individual freedom. Later that year, in the recognition of the role he was playing in Poland's non-violent revolution, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Reformers in Poland were helped by the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev had gained power in the Soviet Union. In 1986 Gorbachev made it clear he would no longer interfere in the domestic policies of other countries in Eastern Europe. Wojciech Jaruzelski was now forced to negotiate with Walesa and the trade union movement. This resulted in parliamentary elections and a noncommunist government and in 1989 Solidarnosc became a legal organization.
In December 1990 Walesa was elected President of the Republic of Poland. He was not a success and his critics claimed he developed an authoritarian style in running the country. His behaviour was erratic and he was criticised for his close links with the military and security services. In November 1995 Walesa was defeated by the former communist, Aleksander Kwasniewski.
By John Simkin (john@spartacus-educational.com) September 1997 (updated August 2014).
-my hero
LECH WALESA- SPEECH 1983
Primary Sources
(1) Lech Walesa, Nobel Lecture (11th December, 1983)
I belong to a nation which over the past centuries has experienced many hardships and reverses. The world reacted with silence or with mere sympathy when Polish frontiers were crossed by invading armies and the sovereign state had to succumb to brutal force. Our national history has so often filled us with bitterness and the feeling of helplessness. But this was, above all, a great lesson in hope. Thanking you for the award I would like, first of all, to express my gratitude and my belief that it serves to enhance the Polish hope. The hope of the nation which throughout the nineteenth century had not for a moment reconciled itself with the loss of independence, and fighting for its own freedom, fought at the same time for the freedom of other nations. The hope whose elations and downfalls during the past forty years - i.e. the span of my own life - have been marked by the memorable and dramatic dates: 1944, 1956, 1970, 1976, 1980.
And if I permit myself at this juncture and on this occasion to mention my own life, it is because I believe that the prize has been granted to me as to one of many.
My youth passed at the time of the country's reconstruction from the ruins and ashes of the war in which my nation never bowed to the enemy paying the highest price in the struggle. I belong to the generation of workers who, born in the villages and hamlets of rural Poland, had the opportunity to acquire education and find employment in industry, becoming in the course conscious of their rights and importance in society. Those were the years of awakening aspirations of workers and peasants, but also years of many wrongs, degradations and lost illusions. I was barely 13 years old when, in June 1956, the desperate struggle of the workers of Poznan for bread and freedom was suppressed in blood. Thirteen also was the boy - Romek Strzalkowski - who was killed in the struggle. It was the "Solidarity" union which 25 years later demanded that tribute be paid to his memory. In December 1970 when workers' protest demonstrations engulfed the towns of the Baltic coast, I was a worker in the Gdansk Shipyard and one of the organizers of the strikes. The memory of my fellow workers who then lost their lives, the bitter memory of violence and despair has become for me a lesson never to be forgotten.
Few years later, in June 1976, the strike of the workers at Ursus and Radom was a new experience which not only strengthened my belief in the justness of the working people's demands and aspirations, but has also indicated the urgent need for their solidarity. This conviction brought me, in the summer of 1978, to the Free Trade Unions - formed by a group of courageous and dedicated people who came out in the defense of the workers' rights and dignity. In July and August of 1980 a wave of strikes swept throughout Poland. The issue at stake was then something much bigger than only material conditions of existence. My road of life has, at the time of the struggle, brought me back to the shipyard in Gdansk. The whole country has joined forces with the workers of Gdansk and Szczecin. The agreements of Gdansk, Szczecin and Jastrzebie were eventually signed and the "Solidarity" union has thus come into being.
The great Polish strikes, of which I have just spoken, were events of a special nature. Their character was determined on the one hand by the menacing circumstances in which they were held and, on the other, by their objectives. The Polish workers who participated in the strike actions, in fact represented the nation.
When I recall my own path of life I cannot but speak of the violence, hatred and lies. A lesson drawn from such experiences, however, was that we can effectively oppose violence only if we ourselves do not resort to it.
In the brief history of those eventful years, the Gdansk Agreement stands out as a great charter of the rights of the working people which nothing can ever destroy. Lying at the root of the social agreements of 1980 are the courage, sense of responsibility, and the solidarity of the working people. Both sides have then recognized that an accord must be reached if bloodshed is to be prevented. The agreement then signed has been and shall remain the model and the only method to follow, the only one that gives a chance of finding a middle course between the use of force and a hopeless struggle. Our firm conviction that ours is a just cause and that we must find a peaceful way to attain our goals gave us the strength and the awareness of the limits beyond which we must not go. What until then seemed impossible to achieve has become a fact of life. We have won the right to association in trade unions independent from the authorities, founded and shaped by the working people themselves.
Our union - the "Solidarity" - has grown into a powerful movement for social and moral liberation. The people freed from the bondage of fear and apathy, called for reforms and improvements. We fought a difficult struggle for our existence. That was and still is a great opportunity for the whole country. I think that it marked also the road to be taken by the authorities, if they thought of a state governed in cooperation and participation of all citizens. "Solidarity", as a trade union movement, did not reach for power, nor did it turn against the established constitutional order. During the 15 months of "Solidarity's" legal existence nobody was killed or wounded as a result of its activities. Our movement expanded by leaps and bounds. But we were compelled to conduct an uninterrupted struggle for our rights and freedom of activity while at the same time imposing upon ourselves the unavoidable self-limitations. The program of our movement stems from the fundamental moral laws and order. The sole and basic source of our strength is the solidarity of workers, peasants and the intelligentsia, the solidarity of the nation, the solidarity of people who seek to live in dignity, truth, and in harmony with their conscience.
Let the veil of silence fall presently over what happened afterwards. Silence, too, can speak out.
One thing, however, must be said here and now on this solemn occasion: the Polish people have not been subjugated nor have they chosen the road of violence and fratricidal bloodshed.
We shall not yield to violence. We shall not be deprived of union freedoms. We shall never agree with sending people to prison for their convictions. The gates of prisons must be thrown open and persons sentenced for defending union and civic rights must be set free. The announced trials of eleven leading members of our movement must never be held. All those already sentenced or still awaiting trials for their union activities or their convictions - should return to their homes and be allowed to live and work in their country.
The defense of our rights and our dignity, as well as efforts never to let ourselves to be overcome by the feeling of hatred - this is the road we have chosen.
The Polish experience, which the Nobel Peace Prize has put into limelight, has been a difficult, a dramatic one. Yet, I believe that it looks to the future. The things that have taken place in human conscience and re-shaped human attitudes cannot be obliterated or destroyed. They exist and will remain.
We are the heirs of those national aspirations thanks to which our people could never be made into an inert mass with no will of their own. We want to live with the belief that law means law and justice means justice, that our toil has a meaning and is not wasted, that our culture grows and develops in freedom.
As a nation we have the right to decide our own affairs, to mould our own future. This does not pose any danger to anybody. Our nation is fully aware of the responsibility for its own fate in the complicated situation of the contemporary world.
Despite everything that has been going on in my country during the past two years, I am still convinced that we have no alternative but to come to an agreement, and that the difficult problems which Poland is now facing can be resolved only through a real dialogue between state authorities and the people.
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MY HERO- God we had it hard sometimes- imagine being a unionist in small towns Canada... and the bigboys of Union flagrantly flaunting and taunting... and we had our neighbours and church and volunteer and working communities as we quietly and determinedly marched and walked the talk... our Priest did make me remove my I support our Teacher's Pin being the Lector 4 Sunday Mass... however, they did allow me 2 wear it during mySunday School Class-
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CANADA THE STRUGGLE-
Canada Labour Day Parade 1900s
LABOUR DAY- In the beginning- Winnipeg
CANADA - LABOUR DAY 1882
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Canada Labour Day 1872
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labour day canada
faces of labour- we have come far and paid very dearly 4 those rights u enjoy.... please don't 4 get
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People need good jobs all around the world- humanity over wars- our troops are tired and so are we- don't sell out Canada and never sell out our troops.... u get 2 march and celebrate 2day because of their sacrifice...respect
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POVERTY- all these years later... still fighting poverty, 4 homeless, women and girls being safe, jobs, warm beds, aged, disabled- education and re-education.... come on Canada
Let There Be Love -Nova Scotia's Anne Murray and one of the most beautiful voices on this planet- Dawn Langstroth- this video is extraordinary....nature's beauty
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September 2, 2013
Origins of Labour Day CANADA
In a time when the news of labour "strife" is dominated by disputes between millionaire athletes and billionaire owners, history provides a useful perspective on a time when working people had to fight to work less than 12 hours a day. The "Nine-Hour Movement" began in Hamilton, Ontario, and then spread to Toronto where its demands were taken up by the Toronto Printer's Union.
Working-Class History
Working-class history is the story of the changing ...
In 1869 the union sent a petition to their employers requesting a weekly reduction in hours per week to 58, placing itself in the forefront of the industrialized world in the fight for shorter hours. Their request was refused outright by the owners of the printing shops, most vehemently by George Brown of the Globe.
By 1872 the union's stand had hardened from a request to a demand and a threat to strike. The employers called the demand for a shorter workweek "foolish", "absurd" and "unreasonable." As a result, on March 25, 1872 the printers went on strike.
On April 15 a demonstration was held to show solidarity among the workers of Toronto. A parade of some 2000 workers marched through the city, headed by two marching bands. By the time that the parade reached Queen's Park, the sympathetic crowd had grown to 10,000.
The employers fought the strikers by bringing in replacement workers from small towns. George Brown launched a counterattack by launching a legal action against the union for "conspiracy." Brown's action revealed the astonishing fact that according to the laws of Canada union activity was indeed considered a criminal offense. Under the law, which dated back to 1792, police arrested and jailed the 24 members of the strike committee.
On 15 May 1872, Hamilton's "nine-hour pioneers" defied opposition with a procession of 1500 workers (Canadian Illustrated News, courtesy NAC/C-58640).
As history tells it, however, Brown had overplayed his hand. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald had been watching the Nine-Hour Movement with curious interest, "his big nose sensitively keen," wrote historian Donald Creighton, "like an animal's for any scent of profit or danger." The scent of profit came from the fact that Macdonald's old Liberal rival George Brown had made himself a hated man among the workers of Canada.
Macdonald was quick to capitalize. In Ottawa, he spoke to a crowd at city hall, promising to wipe the "barbarous laws" restricting labour from the books. Macdonald then came to the rescue of the imprisoned men and on June 14 passed a Trade Union Act, which legalized and protected union activity. Macdonald's move not only embarrassed his rival Brown but also earned him the enduring support of the working class.
For the strikers themselves, the short-term effects were very damaging. Many lost their jobs and were forced to leave Toronto. The long-term effects, however, were positive. After 1872 almost all union demands included the 54-hour week. Thus the Toronto printers were pioneers of the shorter workweek in North America. The movement did not reach places such as Chicago or New York until the turn of the century.
The fight of the Toronto printers had a second, lasting legacy. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration. In 1882 American labour leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labour festivals in Toronto. Inspired, he returned to New York and organized the first American "labour day" on September 5 of the same year. Throughout the 1880s pressure built in Canada to declare a national labour holiday and on July 23, 1894 the government of Sir John Thompson passed a law making Labour Day official. A huge Labour Day parade took place in Winnipeg that year. It stretched some 5 kilometres. The tradition of a Labour Day celebration quickly spread across Canada and the continent. It had all begun in Toronto with the brave stand of the printers' union.
James Marsh is editor in chief of The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Related Articles
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George Brown, journalist, politician (b at Alloa, Scot 29 ...
Labour Day
Labour Day, honouring organized labour, is a legal holiday ...
Nine-Hour Movement
The Nine-Hour Movement was an international workers' ...
Strikes and Lockouts
A strike is the withholding of labour by workers in order ...
Working-Class History
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The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration...
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/featured/origins-of-labour-day
Rita MacNeil's Working Man- 2 all our everyday working men and women who work the mines, the seas, the land - the backbones of our proud Canada and the USA- God Bless u each and all and our brothers and sisters globally
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GOD SO LOVES HIS TARNISHED ANGELS...
NOVA SCOTIA FIGHTERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMAN DIGNITY AND OLD UNIONISTS- God needed some Fightin Warrior Heroes from Nova Scotia
This year, in my world, we lost 4 special heros, Elsie Lane, Rita MacNeil, Rocky Jones and Walter Newton- fierce and strong warriors 4 the everyday rights of men and women- God must need them really bad....
WALTER OWEN NEWTON- 1941- 2013 Lawyer extraordinaire- fighter of human rights and there wasn't a cause we brought 2 him he wouldn't take- MY HERO... and God is soooo lucky- Nova Scotia loses yet another hero
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/08/walter-owen-newton-1941-2013-lawyer.html
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OMG- TORY GOVERNMENT SETTLES WITH PAY EQUITY .... WE HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE THE 80s...... interesting it was a tory - Scott Brison (now liberal) who brought it in2 the house 4 us across Canada and NOT THE NDP .... hell yeah!!!
Pay equity
February 13, 2013
PSAC and OAG cooperate to reach a pay equity settlement
Federal Auditor General Michael Ferguson and PSAC President Robyn Benson sign pay equity agreement
PSAC has negotiated a settlement with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) that will put outstanding pay equity money into the hands of our members.
The settlement applies to approximately 300 eligible current and former employees. The total payout is estimated at $1.5 million.
According to national president Robyn Benson, PSAC is very pleased that the OAG took the step of approaching the union to resolve this important issue. "We hope that other separate employers will follow the OAG's lead and agree to negotiate settlements to resolve these long-standing complaints."
OAG employees classified as CR, DACON, LS, STOCE and STSCY who worked between March 8, 1985 and April 1, 1999 and employees classified as PE who worked between October 1, 1991 and April 1, 1999 are entitled to receive an amount based on all the days they worked during these periods.
Eligible employees will receive 55% of the amount that Treasury Board employees were entitled to receive under the 1999 pay equity settlements. Individual amounts will vary by classification and level.
Details to follow soon
Now that the settlement has been signed, PSAC and OAG representatives will work out the details as to the calculation of the monies owed, when cheques will be issued and other aspects of the settlement.
More information will continue to be posted on this website as it becomes available. In the meantime, members with questions can send them to payequityoag@psac-afpc.com
The settlement ends a long legal process
In 2002, PSAC filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission on behalf of members employed with seven separate employers, including the OAG.
In 2009, the Conservative government's Budget Implementation Act eliminated the right of federal workers to file pay equity complaints with the Human Rights Commission and all outstanding cases were referred to the Public Service Labour Relations Board.
The OAG approached PSAC in mid-January this year about settling the case and the union took the opportunity to end the uncertainty, cost and time involved in ongoing litigation. Both parties moved quickly to reach this settlement.
PSAC continues to pursue pay equity for members at other separate employers
The complaint that involves the other six separate employers is still in progress. PSAC will be participating in mediation at the Public Service Labour Relations Board at the end of February.
The six employers are:
•Canadian Institutes of Health research (formerly Medical Research Council)
•Canadian Security Intelligence Service
•Communications Security Establishment
•Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
•Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
•Statistical Survey Operations
Date Modified : 2013/02/14
http://www.psac-afpc.com/news/2013/issues/20130213-e.shtml
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Labour Day has long, proud history in Canada
The Citizen
August 30, 2013
Imagine fighting to reduce the work week to only 54 hours.
That's exactly where Labour Day in Canada has its roots. The Nine-Hour Movement (yes, that makes the work week nine hours a day, six days a week) began in Hamilton, Ontario and spread to the Toronto Printer's Union.
In 1869 the union sent a petition to their employers requesting a 58-hour work week - they were refused outright.
Particularly vociferous among the opposition was George Brown of the Toronto Globe.
In 1872 the union went on strike. An April parade of 2,000 workers marched through Toronto, joined by a sympathetic crowd of 10,000.
It was far from smooth sailing for the striking workers, in spite of the popular support.
What they were doing was, at the time, illegal.
Printers brought in replacement workers and the 24 members of the strike committee were jailed.
But soon this labour disagreement hit the political stage, where things did not go in the employers' favour.
None other than Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald saw a chance to win public support against his old Liberal rival - George Brown.
In June of that same year, Mac-Donald passed the Trade Union Act, legalizing the union actions.
So how did Labour Day come out of all of this? The parades in support of the Nine Hour Movement and the Printer's Union strikers became an annual celebratory event.
In 1894 Prime Minister Sir John Thompson made Labour Day official. The tradition spread across Canada. In continuing to celebrate Labour Day we are celebrating ourselves, workers.
- See more at: http://www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com/opinion/labour-day-has-long-proud-history-in-canada-1.606750#sthash.m1T2CsfY.dpuf
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Where we came from...
CANADA'S YOUTH- PLEASE RESPECT US OLD WARRIORS- the Tarnished Angels who slowly move among u...... and those rights and laws you walk over... cost a lot of blood, sweat, tears and sacrifices 4 us oldies (and way 2 many no longer with us) to win...
In Nova Scotia's World- after WWII victory especially- 85 million folks killed plus 10 million Jews- our men came home to a Canada in ruins....
ON LABOUR DAY.... A PERSPECTIVE- 4 ALL FIGHTING RIGHTS...
Remember in 40s-
MOST 10-12 YEAR OLDS...
-working in the mines
-working on the fishing boats
-working on farms
-Residential Schools
-Segregated Schools
-Disabled- ignored
that's how life was...
yet we created an incredible world- our moms pushed 2 have WWII girls be educated... and boys and have them actually stay in school
.... and 2da- HOW ABOUT SOME JUKEBOX MEMORIES 4 US OLDIES.... ok :-)
Do yourselves a favor and watch this until the very last second (don't miss the ending!). Life is good, dance on!
One of the first rock and rollers- We Ruled.... baby - beautiful, gorgeous and we ruled- the best days
DANCING NANA- Run Around Sue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP9b_91PHi8
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Take This Job and Shove It- Johnny Paycheck
Uploaded on Aug 1, 2008
This happened on October 14th 2006 outside of Edson Alberta. An employee from this camp was relieved of his duties late Friday afternoon. He went a little 'postal' with the excavator on some of the equipment late Saturday night. What you're about to see is the aftermath that was discovered on Sunday morning - October 15th.
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Labour Day USA- how it came about
The History of Labor Day
Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
Founder of Labor Day
The father of labor day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
Learn more about the founder of Labor Day
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
A Nationwide Holiday
Women's Auxiliary Typographical Union
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
DOL's Historian on the History of Labor Day
Labor Daze — Pride, Chaos and Kegs on Labor's First 'Day'
Rosie: By Any Other Name — The Riveting True Story of the Labor Icon
DOL Celebrates 100 Years
We turned 100! March 2013 marked the Department of Labor's first 100 years of service. We launched a year's worth of educational events outlining the Department's history. When you see our centennial icon, expect to find out some tidbit of history, or about an event or activity celebrating our first century of service to America's workers.
Learn more about DOL Celebrating 100 Years
Take a Virtual Tour of the Department's Historical Timeline
View our Centennial Video — "100 Years of DOL History"
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President Woodrow Wilson (Left) with American Federation of Labor founder and long-time president, Samuel Gompers (Center), and DOL Secretary William B Wilson at an undated Labor Day Rally.
http://www.dol.gov/laborday/history.htm
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THEM LIBERALS BABY-.... REMEMBER THEM IN THE 80s AND 90s - they will break ur hearts.... same black hats different colour parties... that's all folks...
N.S. labour fears public-sector wage freeze
MICHAEL GORMAN ERIN POTTIE STAFF REPORTERS
newsroom@herald.ca @chronicleherald
Some of Nova Scotia’s highestranking labour officials say they have concerns the provincial government could follow the lead of Ontario and try to pursue public- sector wage freezes.
The Kathleen Wynne government announced Friday an agreement with one of that province’s largest public-sector unions that included a two-year wage freeze. On Monday during Labour Day festivities in Halifax, at least one union leader said there are parallels to be drawn.
“It’s a majority Liberal government in Ontario; it’s a publicsector union that agreed to a two-year wage freeze," said Joan Jessome, head of the Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union. “We’re a public-sector union. All of our members are funded by government almost without exception ."
Since coming to p ower, the McNeil Liberals have stressed the poor state of the province’s books. Premier Stephen McNeil and several cabinet ministers have talked publicly about the need for everyone to participate in belttightening, something they have said wou ld extend to contract talks. Jessome said she is already seeing evidence of that.
“They’re not hinting at zeros, but they are not hinting at what we just came through — two, 2 1/2,and three (per cent increases)," Jessome said, referring to the three-year deal negotiated by the former NDP government.
“We believe that they’re going to come with some kind of wage restraint.”
Rick Clarke, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, said union memb ers and their salaries make a major contribution to their lo cal economies.
Clarke questioned governments that look for savings through wage freezes or rollbacks.
“I think what they really have to do is find ways to grow the economy. And if they can’t find ways to grow, they’re not only cash strapped, they’re idea poor.”
In Halifax, Monday’s annual event started with a rally in Victoria Park before participants marched to the Halifax Commons for a barbecue, speeches and other activities.
Rally speakers referenced challenges the labour movement has faced locally — Halifax cafe workers’ attempts to unionize, provincially — essential-services legislation for health-care workers, and federally — changes to door-todoor mail delivery.
At a Cape Breton rally, participants us ed their concerns as a call to action for the next federal election .
“As a post worker, for us in the coming year, we’re going to look at saving the public service for all Canadians,” said Gordon Mac-Donald, president o f the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ Breton Local 117. “How is it expected that seniors and disabled people will be able to go down the road a mile or two and get their mail?
“Our mission will b e to side with other affiliates, (including) the veterans, and defeat the government that’s in power today.”
Speaking about the impact of the essential-services legislation, known as Bill 37, Halifax-area registered nurse Trish MacDonald said the bill may have passed, but nurses’ concerns about scheduling and rest time were ultimately heard.
Capital Health recently hired 130 new nurses, something Mac-Donald suggested was the result of the public pressure nurses and union supporters exerted on the province and health authority during Bill 37 debate.
A one-day walkout and protests may have facilitated the eventual hiring of new nurses in Halifax, but it didn’t do much to build support for the union at the time.
Opinion p olls after the passage of Bill 37 showed the public strongly behind the government for its bill, which requires employers and employees to agree on essential-service staffing levels before workers can strike.
Despite that, Clarke and Jessome said they believe the public is supportive of unions and their efforts on behalf of workers. Jessome said there is public support for union effor ts until it inconveniences people’s day-to-day lives. That’s nothing new, she said.
“The minute it impacts them , then the tone changes, and I think you’ll find that in any dispute in labour right across the country, and right across the world, for that matter.”
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Marchers celebrate Labour Day in Halifax on Monday.
TIM KROCHAK • Staff
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Fast food workers continuing push
Civil disobedience, arrests planned in protests for $15 hourly wage, unionization
CANDICE CHOI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — McDonald’s , Wendy’s and other fast-food restaurants are expected to be targeted with acts of civil disobedience that could lead to arrests Thursday as labour organizers escalate their campaign to unionize the industry’s workers.
Kendall Fells, an organizing director for Fast Food Forward, said in an interview that workers in a couple of dozen cities were trained to peacefully engage in civil disobedience ahead of this week’s planned protests.
Fells declined to say what exactly is in store for the protests in around 150 U.S. cities. But workers involved in the movement recently cited sit-ins as an example of strategies they could use to intensify their push for higher pay and unionization. Past protests have targeted a couple of restaurants in each city.
The “Fight for $15" campaign is being backed by the Service Employees International Union and has gained national attention at a time when growing income disparities have become a hot political issue.
President Barack Obama and others have said raising wages for those at the bottom of the economic ladder cou ld help strengthen the middle class.
Many fast-food workers, for instance, do not make much more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. That equates to around $15,000 a year for 40 hours a week. But workers are often subject to unpredictable schedules and don’t know how many hours they’ll be given from week to week, since restaurants are careful to avoid paying overtime.
The fast-food campaign is designed to bring attention to such hardships, which few customers think about when buying burgers and fries, said Catherine Fisk, a professor of labour law at the University of California in Irvine. Over time, she said that could help “change the mindset" about fast-food jobs, which have historically been seen as difficult to unioniz e.
“The goal is to persuade workers that it doesn’t have to be this way. The goal is to persuade consumers that it doesn’t have to be this way," she said.
“This is about getting attention to the issue."
Fisk noted that mining and manufacturing jobs were also once considered low-wage jobs with dim prospects. That changed in the 1930s, however, after legal protections for unionizing and actions by fed-up workers helped transform the jobs into more middle-class professions.
The National Restaurant Association said in a statement that the fast-food protests are attempts by unions “to b o ost their dwindling membership." The industry lobbying group said it hopes organizers will be respectful to customers and workers during the protests this week.
So far, the campaign and a similar effort on behalf of Wal-Mar t workers have been effectively handled by BerlinRosen, a public relations firm known for its political work. Since the protests began in late 2012, organizers have kept the issue in the spotlight by switching up their tactics every few months.
They trumpeted the spread of protests around the country and then overseas, for instance, although turnout has been fairly minimal in some places. Organizers are also pushing to bring attention to the issue of “wage theft," such as the denial of overtime pay and rest breaks.
Several lawsuits alleging wage theft by McDonald’s and its franchisees have been filed in three states on behalf of workers who were referred by labour organiz ers.
McDonald’s Corp. has said it would investigate the claims.
In the meantime, actions by labour organizers are likely to continue, with the SEIU pouring millions of dollars into the effort.
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