Stop the Hogs!

Dreaming of home care futures

[ https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles ... re-futures ]

by Megan Linton, Mary Jean Hande, and Ethel Tungohan - BRIARPATCH Magazine - Oct 25, 2023 11 min read

EXCERPT: "As organizers, former care workers, and care receivers, we – Megan Linton, Mary Jean Hande, and Ethel Tungohan – know the transformative potential of building common cause between migrant care workers and low-income home-care users. We write this article as part of the Towards Just Care project, which brings together the perspectives of low-income home-care receivers and migrant care workers to imagine a more just home-care system that doesn’t rely on global labour exploitation that displaces workers from their families and communities and that provides inadequate home-care services that endanger care receivers. . . . ."

Migrant workers’ fight to unionize in the Yukon

[ https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles ... -is-online ]

by Paige Galette BRIARPATCH Magazine Oct 26, 2023

EXCERPT: "There’s a misconception that in the North, other than Indigenous peoples, there are no Black and racialized people. But Black and racialized people have been here for many decades, and our unions need to start reflecting that and prioritizing us. I’m the only Black staffer at the Public Service Alliance of Canada North Region, and that needs to change.

As the YNP increases the number of nominees, more workers labour under duress. Unionizing migrant workers at their second and third jobs is important, but we can’t rely on those employers to sponsor migrant workers. Winning permanent status and fair wages and conditions for workers will require Yukon’s labour movement to re-envision how we organize and do so on a different scale.

Migrant workers in the Yukon are fed up with their exploitative and dangerous working conditions. They want to unionize, and it’s time Yukon’s labour movement steps up to the plate to ensure migrant workers in the Yukon not only survive, but thrive. Migrant workers are the leaders in this fight and we need to respond to their call to action."