{ texts for nothing }

According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate in this country rose to 8% in March, with some 387,000 full-time jobs lost since last October. But the official unemployment rate is a weird and very narrowly defined statistic. It includes only “the percentage of the labour force that actively seeks work but is unable to find work at a given time.” If we add other groups of people that you and I would consider unemployed or underemployed — such as those who have given up looking for work altogether and those working part-time because they can’t find full-time work — the real unemployment rate for March is more like 12.4%. That translates into approximately 1,456,600 people without full-time jobs in Canada.

The real unemployment rate in the United States, by the way, is 15.6%, which works out to more than 13 million people. According to the Center for American Progress, more Americans have lost their jobs in the past year than at any other time since the government started tracking unemployment just after World War II.

Please stop equating militant labor action with death threats and workplace shootings (listen to the audio to see what I mean). The workers may be angry, but they’re not going to hurt you. Honest.

Sincerely,
textsfornothing.com

At the beginning of this month, 250 workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago were told that the factory would be closing — in three days. Apparently Bank of America cut off the factory’s line of credit, and the owners couldn’t be bothered with the 60 days’ notice of closure required under state and federal law.

The workers responded, not by filing grievances or pursuing legal action, but by occupying the factory where they worked.

“They want the poor person to stay down. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere until we get what’s fair and what’s ours,” Silvia Mazon, 47, a formerly apolitical mother and worker at the factory for 13 years told the New York Times. “They thought they would get rid of us easily, but if we have to be here for Christmas, it doesn’t matter.”

And guess what? They succeeded.

Under the brokered deal, workers will each receive around two months’ worth of salary and healthcare benefits, as well as all accrued vacation pay. Most of the financing will come from Bank of America. The company relented after coming under heavy criticism for its role in blocking the employees’ pay despite receiving $25 billion in the taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout.

Congratulations to the folks at Republic Windows and Doors!