EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) All April: Earth Month

2) Tuesday, April 10: Community Video Shoot: "50 ways to Close the Food Bank"

3) Saturday, April 14: Northwatch Spring Meeting

4) Saturday, April 14: Sexual Assault Awareness March (formerly Sudbury Slut Walk)

5) Sunday, April 15: Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty Direct Action Support Workshop

6) Tuesday, April 17: Meeting of Justice and Freedom for John Moore

7) Wednesday, April 18: Next meeting of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

8) Saturday, April 21: Ontario Day of Action Against Cuts

9) Sunday, April 22: Earth Day Festival

10) Sunday, April 22: Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee Fundraising Rain Barrel Sale

11) Wednesday, April 25: "Taste for Life" - Fundraiser for Réseau ACCESS

Network Sudbury

12) Friday, May 4: "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" - Benefit for Rainbow Routes Association

 

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) Recycle the Rim - Community Art Project!

2) Mayworks Sudbury Call-Out

3) "Economic Crisis and Austerity: The Stranglehold on Canada's Families" by Adrie Naylor

 

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

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All April: Earth Month

Check out http://www.earthdaysudbury.ca for a complete list of events associated with Earth Month in Sudbury.

 

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Tuesday, April 10: Community Video Shoot: "50 ways to Close the Food Bank"

Time: 2:00-5:00pm

Location: Victory Playground - in the CGS Recreation Building with the colourful murals on it at the corner of Frood Road and Shevchenko Ave

Would you like to see Food Banks become obsolete?

Concerned about what was supposed to be an emergency go on for over 20 years?

Want to have some fun?

Come out to be part of a Community Video Shoot

We will be singing "50 ways to Close the Food Bank" (apologies to Paul

Simon)

No experience necessary - we will be practicing there and will have some professional help.

For more information, contact Annette Reszczynski at areszczynski@spcsudbury.ca.

 

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Saturday, April 14: Northwatch Spring Meeting

Time: 9:30am-5pm

Location: 4th Floor Resource Room, St. Andrew's Place, 111 Larch Street, Sudbury

Please join us for Northwatch's Spring Meeting in Sudbury on April 14th. Presentations and discussions will include:

* Nukes: Nuclear waste and the industry's search for a "willing" host

* Forests: Wolf Lake and getting mineral exploration out and protection in for this ancient red pine forest

* Rivers: what's in store for the Vermillion River and others on the list for hydro-development

* Mines: what's burning in the Ring of Fire with Cliffs Resources and Noront Minerals

* Community: eating local, acting local, organizing local

9:30am: Coffee, muffins, settling in

10am: Open space, introductions, fine-tuning the agenda for the day, morning sessions (rivers plus more!)

Noon: Lunch, free time

1pm: Afternoon sessions, including Wolf Lake

4pm: Session wrap-up, review of action plans and next steps

4:30pm: Closing and good-byes

IMPORTANT DETAILS

+ Childcare is available but must be requested no later than Saturday, April 7th

+ A suggested donation of $15 per person will cover the costs of the meeting room and lunch

+ Pre-registration - no later than April 12th - is required for those staying for lunch - please do!

+ Pre-registration by April 7th is requested to assist with meeting planning

Northwatch's meeting agendas are developed using an "open space" meeting method, which includes participants in allocating time according to interest, availability of resource people, and urgency of the issue. The agenda items noted above have been identified in advance, and resource people will begin the discussion with a brief overview to provide background information that will enable everyone to participate in the discussion. The meeting approach includes the option of break-out groups and concurrent discussions, and encourages active planning and problem-solving. For more info email northwatch@onlink.net

 

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Saturday, April 14: Sexual Assault Awareness March (formerly Sudbury Slut Walk) 

Time: 4:00pm

Location: Corner of Paris and Brady 

The group will be marching through the downtown core, arguing that no-one should ever be blamed for their assault. 

This march serves to remind the community that consent should always be sought for any sexual contact; and that no one, ever deserves to be assaulted. ONLY YES MEANS YES; and CONSENT IS SEXY. We are asking you to join us for the Sexual Assault Awareness March. We ask you to accompany us in making a unified statement about sexual assault and victims' rights and to demand respect for all. Join us in our mission to spread the word that those who experience sexual assault are not the ones at fault, without exception.

Wherever We Go, However We Dress; 

No Means No, and Yes Means Yes. 

This event is sponsored by the Students General Association, the Graduate Students Association, the Association of Mature and Part-time Students, the Association des étudiantes et étudiants francophones, and the Department of Sociology, all of Laurentian University; and the Department of Women's Studies of Thornloe University. 

For information on the event, please contact lamirande.jessica@gmail.com 

This event on Faceboook:

http://www.facebook.com/events/111897585572166/

 

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Sunday, April 15: Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty Direct Action Support Workshop

Time: 12:00-3:45pm

Location: Mackenzie Street Public Library, large downstairs meeting room

Members of the new Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) will offer a direct action support workshop. Facilitators will be Clarissa Lassaline and Gary Kinsman, who were involved in the old S-CAP, and will cover support work relating to Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program issues, as well as housing issues, and how to deal with employers who refuse to pay their workers.

Anyone interested in doing direct action support work is welcome to attend.

The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (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 affect working people and people living in poverty. We believe in the power of people to organize themselves. We believe in the power of resistance.

For more information, contact S-CAP at sudburycap@gmail.com.

This event on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/394423107242941

 

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Tuesday, April 17: Meeting of Justice and Freedom for John Moore 

Time: 6:30pm

Location: Little Montreal, 182 Elgin St., Sudbury 

Matters to be discussed include John's talk in Toronto on April 20, the 'zine we are producing as an outreach and fundraising tool, and strategizing in the face of AIDWYC's decision not to proceed with John's case.  

 

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Wednesday, April 18: Next meeting of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

Time: 6:30-8:30pm

Location: yet to be determined

Matters to be discussed include ongoing direct action support work and organizing against the proposed provincial budget.

 

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Saturday, April 21: Ontario Day of Action Against Cuts

Time: Bus leaves at 7:00am

Location: Steelworker's Hall, 66 Brady St., Sudbury

The Sudbury and District Labour Council is organizing a bus from Sudbury to Toronto for the Ontario Day of Action Against Cuts at Queen's Park, which is being organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour. The bus is scheduled to leave from 66 Brady Street at 7am on the 21st.

** There is no cost to the bus but you need to confirm your attendance asap (Preferably before the 13th of April) **

Seats are first come first served.

To reserve your seat on the bus or if you need more information, contact:

Sudbury & District Labour Council

sdlc@persona.ca or (705)674-1223

***

Tell Premier McGuinty to build Ontario, not tear it apart.

Premier McGuinty put banker Don Drummond in charge of recommending nearly 400 cuts to jobs and public services in Ontario. At a time when Ontarians are in desperate need of economic recovery, these cuts will jeopardize every aspect of society: from health care to full-day kindergarten to pensions. No public service is safe. However, in Mc...Guinty's reckless plan to balance Ontario's books by putting more people out of work and destroying the social safety net, he refuses to roll-back corporate tax cuts that are starving the province of billions of dollars that could be better used to create new jobs and help tens of thousands of struggling Ontario families to get back on their feet.

Ontarians from all sectors of society must come together to tell Premier McGuinty that he cannot cut his way to economic prosperity. Ontarians need a job creation strategy and it is time that banks and corporations began paying their fair share.

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is working with community groups and organizations across Ontario to call on workers, retirees, students and community members to join a mass rally at Queen's Park from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on April 21 to demand prosperity, not austerity!

Help to mobilize your members, your families and your communities to stop the cuts and put Ontario on the road to economic recovery.

Our collective future depends on it.

This event on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/262822340475182

 

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Sunday, April 22: Earth Day Festival

Time: 10:00am-4:00pm

Location: Lake Laurentian Conservation Area

Come celebrate Earth Day 2012 in this beautiful setting!

FREE Admission

FREE SHUTTLE BUS at PARIS & YORK St (NW corner lot across from Bell Park). Two half-size school buses will be running all day, starting at 10am, 15 minute bus ride. Last bus out of the Conservation Area around 4pm. Please use the shuttle as parking at Conservation Area is very limited!!

NDCA staff will be giving short guided nature hikes perfect for the whole family, as well as leading nature activities. Try out the First Nations medicine bag making workshop in the Nature Chalet. Enjoy storytelling in the tipi. Or explore the scenic trails at your leisure, or relax by the lake. Please PACK A LUNCH as there will be no food for sale. Drinking water, recycling, composting, restrooms and St. John Ambulance are ON SITE.

RIVER & SKY Camping and Music Festival presents the acoustic stage with Canadian folk genius PETUNIA! 2 sets! Find out about this summer's R&S festival: www.riverandsky.ca, or find 'em on facebook

"Everybody's talking about this ultracool, hillbilly cowboy singer from Quebec who keeps traveling back and forth across Canada singing his songs in little joints & coffee houses, collecting new friends, fans - wherever he goes. From what I can tell so far, he seems to be the real McCoy, A delightful mix of Hank Williams, rural rap, appalachian stringband all rolled into one tight, entertaining package."

- Tom Wilson, Jackdaws Pub, CALGARY, AB

More details on the Festival and Earth Month activities at www.earthdaysudbury.ca

Due to the outdoor nature of this year's Earth Day Festival, local vendors and exhibits will instead be presented as part of an INTERACTIVE GREEN EXPO at DYNAMIC EARTH the preceding weekend- Sat April 14 & Sun April 15. Check it out that weekend, or contact info@rethinkgreen.ca 705-674-1685 or Dynamic Earth for details on how to exhibit.

This event on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/297097420362886

 

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Sunday, April 22: Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee Fundraising Rain Barrel Sale 

Time: 10:30am-1:30pm

Location: York Street parking lot at Paris Street, Sudbury 

RainBarrel.ca is pleased to partner with the Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee. The Committee is working toward the protection and enhancement of the Ramsey Lake watershed. Rain barrels help reduce water pollution by reducing stormwater runoff, which can contain pollutants like sediment, oil, grease, bacteria and nutrients. 

For details and to order your barrel, visit http://rainbarrel.ca/ramseylake/ today! 

This event on FaceBook:

http://www.facebook.com/events/323387721024950/

 

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Wednesday, April 25: "Taste for Life" - Fundraiser for Réseau ACCESS

Network Sudbury

How can you help? Dine out and have some fun...it's that simple.

Here's how:

1. Book a table at one of the locally owned, participating restaurants for April 25th.

2. Go out for dinner with your friends and family and have a great evening!

3. The restaurant will donate 25% of the cost of your meal to Réseau ACCESS Network Sudbury.

Make your reservation early to avoid missing out! Plus, everyone who dines out at 'Taste' will get a chance to win some great prizes.

Over the past five years, you have raised $40,000 through A Taste For Life Sudbury. This means that you have helped support people affected by HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, just by dining out! Thank you!

Participating Restaurants:

• Anke & Tony Teklenburg's - Long Lake Rd.

• Buddies Café - Azilda

• Curious Thyme's Bistro -Travelway Inn - Paris St.

• Hardrock 42 Gastropub - Days Inn -Elm St.

• La Casa Mexicana - Elgin St.

• My Thai Palace - Notre Dame & new south end location

• Respect is Burning Supperclub - Durham St.

• Ristorante Verdicchio - Kelly Lake Rd.

 

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Friday, May 4: "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" - Benefit for Rainbow Routes Association

Time: 9:30-11:00pm

Location: Rainbow Cinemas, 40 Elm St., Sudbury

SB Tuesdays Presents

Pee Wee's Big Adventure - I know your excited Sudbury, but what am I?

This special presentation is taking place May 4th, 9:30pm at Rainbow Cinemas. This is another participation screening, so make sure to dress up as your favourite character and cheer on Pee Wee in his search for his beloved bike! Participation kits will also be provided at the door (while supplies last). This film is rated PG.

All profit from this event will be donated to The Rainbow Routes Association. They are a not for profit organization, dedicated to sustainable mobility through the development and promotion of active transportation routes, including the Trans Canada Trail, in Greater Sudbury. www.rainbowroutes.com

Tickets are $10 and will be available at Rainbow Cinemas, Records On Wheels, and can also be purchased from all members of SB Tuesdays.

See you there!

This event on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/216432611789743

 

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

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Recycle the Rim - Community Art Project!

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THIS EARTH DAY EVENT:

I would like to encourage EVERY ONE to pick up discarded coffee cups between now and Earth Day (April 22nd) in and around the Greater Sudbury region THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND OR DISCARDED IN THE STREETS, IN NATURE, AND BY THE SIDE O...F THE ROAD, in (please use protective gloves). Place them in bags (clear bags if possible), AND TELEPHONE ME (919-2304) TO PICK THEM UP. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF RECYCLE BINS OR GARBAGE BINS - WE WANT TO MAKE A POINT OF CLEANING UP THE STREETS AND CLEANING UP NATURE!!! and show how much we impact our environment.

AFTER THEY ARE COLLECTED, bring them to the Laurentian site on April 22nd OR I would be happy to come and collect them at your home, office or school in preparation for a HUGE COMMUNITY art project.

ON APRIL 22ND I want everyone who is available to JOIN N THE FUN for this MASSIVE COMMUNITY ART PROJECT.

WHERE? Laurentian Lake, Sudbury (part of the Earth Day Celebrations there!)

WHEN? from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 (join us for a few minutes or a few hours)

WHO? All ages are welcome to join in

Bring your coffee cups to the site anytime after 10:00 and hopefully before 1:00 on April 22nd (or phone me ahead of time for pick up 919-2304).

All cups, after our celebration, will be upcycled, recycled and turned back TO OUR BEAUTIFUL EARTH in an ecological way!!!

Thank you for your participation. I look forward to meeting all of you!!!!

Betty Ann McPherson Please call me at - 705-919-2304

(psychotherapist and nature junkie)

contact@bettyannmcpherson.com

This call on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/117576105032808

 

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Mayworks Sudbury Call-Out

Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary festival that celebrates working class culture.  Celebrated in many communities acrossCanada, this festival is the largest and oldest labour arts festival.  It is built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle for decent wages, healthy working conditions, and a living culture.  This culture can be found in art, music, drama, and the spoken word.

Mayworks Sudbury and the Sudburyand District Labour Council are pleased to announce northern Ontario's first Mayworks Festival.  On May 3 and 4, 2012 the Windsor Feminist Theatre will present "Riveter", a play written and directed by Joey Ouellette.  Riveter is set in a period of time when men were leaving their jobs to fight overseas during WW2 and Canadian women (including women in Sudbury) assisted in the war effort by working in those jobs and the new ones created by the demands of the war.

As a way of drawing attention to and showing appreciation for the creative expressions of work and labour issues, Mayworks Sudbury and the Sudbury District Labour Council are encouraging submissions from Sudbury's artists/photographers.  These submissions should be reflective of the artist's identify as a worker and their experiences in the workplace.  This art will be displayed for viewing and for sale on May 3 and 4, 2012 before and after the play.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information about Mayworks Sudbury, you want to buy tickets, or you would like to find out more about submitting artistic pieces to be shown at Mayworks Sudbury Festival, please contact one of the people listed below.

Jo-Anne Marshall (705-673-8802)

Bryan Obonsawin (705-560-3330, Ext. 223)

Shelley Condratto - Sudbury and District Labour Council (705-674-1223)

 

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Economic Crisis and Austerity: The Stranglehold on Canada's Families

By Adrie Naylor, courtesy New Socialist (http://www.newsocialist.org)

The claim that economic crises and austerity have an uneven impact on the working class - with the greatest effects being felt by women and children - is one we hear often on the Left. However, with some important exceptions, this claim is all too often just an aside or a footnote.

In this article, I want to look at the economics of austerity in two ways: first, by thinking about the uneven impacts of austerity on women and families and, second, by looking at austerity itself as a gendered phenomenon.

What I mean by this is that it isn't a coincidence that austerity measures fall more heavily on women than on men. They represent efforts by capital to force the working class to increasingly take on all of the responsibility for reproducing itself, efforts that destroy the institutions and supports that socialize some of the costs of this reproduction, including social assistance, maternity leave, childcare subsidies, pensions, Old Age Security, and social housing. The gains that are under attack were fought for - and won - by working people, and women in particular.

A manufactured crisis

One of the key political and economic goals of neoliberal capitalism has been to individualize and re-privatize the responsibility for caring, socially reproductive labour. The social supports that are currently provided by the state, victories of previous waves of feminist and working-class mobilization, have long been targets for rollback. When Margaret Thatcher proclaimed, "there is no society," she was articulating precisely this neoliberal logic: there should exist no support, no caring labour outside the family.

If this is not a new agenda and austerity measures are not just a reaction to economic crisis, but rather part of an ongoing attempt to shift power relations, what is unique about the present moment is how this argument for shifting the burden onto families has been framed.

Debt has been a potent weapon in the neoliberal arsenal. But the argument that we all need to tighten our belts rings very hollow when governments that for decades bemoaned the lack of funds for public childcare programs or free post-secondary education were suddenly able to find trillions of dollars to bail out banks and corporations. And while some countries - Greece for example - do have massive national debts (Greece's national debt is at about 160% of GDP), Canada does not. Our public debt level is at 34%, compared to an average in advanced industrial countries of 63%. So what's going on?

Debt is being used as powerful ideological tool to force the austerity agenda down the throats of Canadians. At the same time, it has encouraged a race to the bottom that is profoundly gendered and that once again puts the economic burden on families.

Women and paid work: layoffs and privatization

One way that progressive economists have talked about austerity in terms of its gendered impact has been by differentiating between a "he-cession" and a "she-cession." This distinction has the advantage of bringing a gender analysis to layoffs and privatization. It talks about the first wave of layoffs beginning in 2008 as a "he-cession," since it primarily affected male workers in the private sector. For example, in the first eight months of the 2008 recession, 370 000 workers were laid off, 71% of whom were men. This was within the broader context of the loss of more than 500 000 manufacturing jobs in Canada since 2003.

The "she-cession" refers to the attacks on public sector workers and the cuts to the public services and programs they provide that are necessary for the reproduction of people, including health care, education, child care, libraries, social assistance, pensions and support for seniors. Because women are much more highly represented in these jobs - in many cases, they represent the majority of workers facing layoffs in public sector jobs - the argument is that they are much more severely affected by these cuts.

Although this way of looking at the gendered dimensions of the recession and job losses in the private and public sector sheds some light on the subject, its silence on the relationship between paid and unpaid work means that it neglects some of the most important implications of austerity.

For example, the argument that the crisis in the manufacturing sector represents a "he-cession" completely ignores the implications of male layoffs for their female partners and families. In the face of these job losses, the burden of reproducing now-poorer families has overwhelmingly fallen to women. Women's unpaid work has increased, including the stress of balancing childcare, housing and grocery costs on a reduced budget and taking on the emotional labour associated with any job loss. Women whose male partners have been laid off also frequently become the primary wage earners for their families, taking on a second or third job. It's no coincidence that the decline in manufacturing jobs has gone along with a boom in precarious, poorly paid, non-union, feminized retail and service sector jobs.

At the same time, a focus on unpaid reproductive labour illuminates the broader impact of job cuts in the public sector - the so-called "she-cession." First, it's worth emphasizing the number of jobs that public sector cuts affect. In its most recent budget, the federal government projected 19 000 job losses. And, as one review of the 2012 federal budget reminds us,

"This figure does not include the impact of previous cutting exercises that themselves will reduce employment over the next 3 years, including the 2007-2010 strategic reviews and the 2010 budget freeze. That initial 19,000 is just the start. There are another 6,300 positions from the 2007 to 2010 strategic reviews and another 9,000 positions from the budget freeze. In total, the reduction from 2011 to 2014-15 will be 34,000 positions. That is only in the public service."

It is absolutely essential to see the sustained attacks by all levels of government in Canada on public sector workers as attacks on equity. Public sector jobs are some of the only well-paid, secure, unionized jobs where women and people of colour are highly represented in Canada. Employment equity measures in the public sector were  an extremely important and hard-fought victory for the working class. The attacks on job protection for higher-seniority workers that have been major components of efforts by the state and capital to weaken public sector unions directly target women and people of colour who have been hired in the last 15 or 20 years. This is a clear effort to divide older and younger workers - and to encourage divides between workers on the basis of gender and race.

Attacks on job security and seniority disproportionately affect women in other ways as well. They penalize women who took time off from their jobs to have and raise children, or care for elderly parents or other family members. In the absence of an affordable public childcare program and with few state supports for elderly people or people suffering from long-term illness or disability, women workers - overwhelmingly responsible for this unpaid care giving of various kinds - must balance paid work with these responsibilities. Public sector part-time work with benefits, including health coverage and decent provisions for sick leave, flexible vacation days, and extended maternity (and paternity) leave was one way of doing this. The alternative, of course, which will become even more prevalent, will be to hold two or three extremely precarious and poorly paid jobs in the private service sector.

Service cuts and unpaid work

In an article on feminism and austerity in n+1's Occupy Gazette, Silvia Federici talks about the gendered impact of the cuts implicit in the austerity agenda, arguing that "it is clearly expected that in the aftermath of the new cuts women will make up for the loss." In tandem with cuts to jobs, the austerity agenda attacks services that are for many people - to put it bluntly - the difference between life and death. Home care assistance for the elderly, homeless shelters, shelters and supports for female and child survivors of violence in the home, subsidized housing and social assistance clearly fall into that category.

The cuts to these programs are nothing short of inhuman. As the Ontario organization Health Providers Against Poverty pointed out recently in response to the 2012 Ontario budget, "A freeze in welfare rates is effectively a cut to the income of people who are struggling to live on almost 60 percent less than what they received through social assistance 20 years ago."

As has been well-documented, these cuts are racialized and gendered. Single-parent families headed by women and racialized people, including indigenous people, are much more likely to be poor and in need of these services and supports. Consider the fact that the difference in life expectancy at age 25 between the highest and lowest income groups in Canada is 7.1 years for men and 4.9 years for women.

Cuts to other types of services - pensions and Old Age Security, libraries, childcare subsidies, in-school nutrition programs, after-school programs, community centres, transit - are also critical, as they represent important efforts to socialize the work that goes into reproducing people.

The logic behind these cuts is clear: the state is increasingly unwilling to provide services that help maintain and reproduce the working class. These costs won't be paid for by taxes, and they certainly won't be paid for by taxing the rich and their corporations. The costs will be borne by individual families. Families will figure out for themselves how to manage the costs associated with raising children and with an ageing population. Women's unpaid and unacknowledged work is essential to the austerity agenda because it is considered an infinitely elastic resource, capable of stretching to meet even the most onerous demands.

But of course this labour isn't infinitely elastic, and we know that many people will fall through the cracks. Inevitably, working ever more precarious jobs won't be enough to pay the rent and put food on the table. In a context where men still make higher wages on average than women and where divorce or separation usually leads to a fall in living standards for women, economic pressure may force many women to stay in relationships that they would rather leave. For others, economic hardship will be dealt with in other ways: taking on more debt, prostitution, drug dealing, panhandling, tax or welfare fraud, theft. The state knows this too, which helps us explain the logic behind the passing of the unbearably punitive Omnibus Crime Bill.

Moving forward

Without a doubt, it's a dire situation, one that will continue to require a multi-pronged, coordinated resistance. It will be necessary for a broad coalition of social forces to come together. Some of that is already happening. In Toronto, for example, the coordinated fightback against municipal level cuts by Toronto Stop the Cuts and its allies in the community and the labour movement had a big impact. But we'll need to expand and further deepen this mobilization. It will also be important to integrate a feminist analysis and initiatives related to the unpaid work done by women in the home and in the community.

Mobilization against job and service cuts as they come down needs to be paired with a broad discussion about caring labour. These questions are only going to become more critical in the context of the record-level growing household debt burden, the lack of a national public childcare program, a rapidly ageing population without adequate elder care or pension support, and rising levels of child poverty, Caring labour needs to be seen as an essential part of our economy, and not the sole responsibility of over-burdened and under-supported families.

Adrie Naylor is a member of the Feminist Action Committee of the Greater Toronto Workers' Assembly. She also organizes with the St. Clair West chapter of Toronto Stop the Cuts and is an editor of Upping the Anti.