Trade has occurred for thousands of years, not just in the capitalist context of the last few hundred years, and not just in the current neoliberal, free trade context of the last 30 years. For over five years I have been tracking Latin America’s ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, as an alternative model [...]

  With the US on the brink of a relapse into recession or, at best, a period of very slow growth and rising unemployment, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve. After all, it seems to be the only show in town. The conventional wisdom is that there will be no second round of fiscal stimulus [...]

Here’s a fascinating finding from an NBER study: “The Economic Crisis and Medical Care Usage,” by Annamaria Lusardi, Daniel Schneider, and Peter Tufano (NBER study #15843). They undertook a broad public survey across 5 countries (the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, and France) on the economic and social impacts of the recession.  The survey covered over 6000 [...]

Related Posts:Organizing Videos on YouTubeAre You Over Communicating?Creating Cheap Stands for Union BannersUnion Activists and Union OrganizersUnion Leaflets: How to Cold Leaflet (If you must)

A key issue arising from the proposed potash takeover is BHP Billiton’s musing about leaving Canpotex, the agency that has long marketed Canadian potash offshore. (Growing up near the railroad tracks in Regina, Canpotex train cars were a familiar sight.) Perhaps BHP believes that it alone has sufficient clout to manage supply and negotiate overseas prices [...]

47 Years Ago Today

As sometimes happens, I started writing a comment on Jim’s excellent post and then realized that there was enough material for a new post. I agree with Jim that Ottawa’s $130-million settlement with AbitibiBowater deserves more attention, but I have been waist-deep in potash. I think that my initial take on Abitibi’s NAFTA challenge still holds up pretty [...]

I have the following op-ed in today’s Regina Leader-Post. Below it is a table supporting my statement that “the mines that PCS owned in 1989 still account for 80 per cent of its potash production and capacity.” Privatizing Potash was a Costly Mistake The greatest tragedy in BHP Billiton’s $38.6-billion (U.S.) bid for the Potash Corporation of [...]

            Canada’s federal government made an important announcement this week.  It was kept deliberately quiet: with a news release issued at 4:45 pm on a calm Tuesday in the middle of the late-summer news “dead zone.”  But it should set alarm bells ringing for anyone concerned with the anti-democratic direction of global trade law.             Prime [...]

What do obsessive coverage of terrorism and a joke about how to beat children have in common? As it turns out, it’s today’s National Post. Firstly, everything in the first 5 pages was devoted to the terror suspect arrests, except for one article stoking the idea of staying in Afghanistan, so that’s related. 5 pages. [...]

Its been reported by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers that Canada Post has not been backfilling carriers when they take sick days.  The Union has been recieving a number of grivences from postal workers claiming that their routes were left unattended for as many as three days while they were sick, delaying postal service substantially.  [...]

An article in today’s Globe and Mail discusses some new research funding for the University of Alberta.  In particular, the article notes: The U of A ranks second in total research funding, behind only U of T and up from fifth in 2006. This year, the U of A will spend $514-million on research, more than [...]

(Toronto) - The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) has donated $25,000, through its Humanity Fund, to Oxfam emergency flood relief efforts in Pakistan and is raising additional funds from members and Local unions across the country. CEP is urging members and Locals to give generously to the growing need for assistance for the 20 million citizens impacted by the flood. “The need continues to be great in Pakistan and CEP members and their families have a proud...

Fertile land the prize that could reignite ethnic conflict in DR Congo Land remains the greatest prize in North Kivu as residents grow uneasy over the return of the Congolese Tutsis from Rwanda Xan Rice in Masisi guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/26/un-report-rwanda-congo-hutus Unprecedented investigation by human rights commissioner says Hutu deaths ‘cannot be put down to margins of war’ Chris McGreal in Washington, Xan Rice in Nairobi, and Lizzy Davies in Paris guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 August 2010 20.45 BST The UN’s Goma camp in [...]

Last week, I was in Halifax at USW’s Ontario-Atlantic district conference. It was a great conference in a great city. But having so many key people out of the office limited our response to BHP Billiton’s bid for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. (Next time BHP launches a hostile takeover, it should better coordinate the timing [...]

http://www.sharenews.com/opinion/2010/08/25/labour-needs-step-employment-equity Posted by Editor on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 in Front Page Opinion By AJAMU NANGWAYA There are two issues that are not really grounded in the current public discussion on the Conservative government’s proposed review of employment equity in the national civil service. The two matters are the question of race and structural racism and [...]

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Basil-Davidson-s-soul-cannot-rest-in–peace_7832155 PATRICK WILMOT Thursday, August 26, 2010 // After 95 years, the last of which were spent in the fog of unknowing, this great but simple man died in July. He trekked through the jungles with Mondlane, Machel, Cabral and Neto, and now he has joined them in that immortality of the spirit created [...]

I got this wrong first time round. Krugman commends Nick Rowe over at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative for his spirited views and writing on monetary policy.