Fight for 15 Alberta, Calgary Chapter, Gearing up For National Day of Action on April 15

Not only do we struggle together as workers, but together we can win so lets unite together and let's win together. We have nothing to loose but our chains.

Less then three months ago, the only Alberta fight for 15 coalition was fighting alone. We in the Calgary chapter have been organizing the working class for almost a year, but it was not until 3 month ago that we actually made efforts to contact some organizers in other cites. In late December we had a conference call with a committed comrade from the Toronto workers Action Centre who gave us inspiration and examples of successes in the Ontario fight for 15 campaign.

As workers committed to the campaign we desired to see coordinated nation wide action for the campaign and we suggested the idea with the comrade from the TWAC. In retrospect,  we may have came across as too pushy but clearly it was not just us who desired to see a national day of action. As it turns our, many from across the country were thinking the same thing as we were and thanks to the Comrade at TWAC and a comrade at the B.C Federation of labor, within a month from our initial conference call, we had an adhoc national network set up and a plan for a Pan Canadian day of action on April 15th, 2016

Since that first conference call we had, we have traveled to Edmonton to get a chapter started there,( I am still trying to figure out why a chapter started in Calgary before Edmonton) we went to a Calgary District Labor Council meeting to get their support and we have got the support of the Calgary chapter of the Council of Canadians

I think the reasons we in Calgary have stayed together and we have seen successes is because we are consistent,in that we have atleast one event a month, and we are committed workers who want to see workplaces that empower workers to fight for safer work environments, more stable scheduling, better pay and an overall sense of dignity.

Sometimes we hear people say that workers cannot make gains. Other workers often fall into the trap of believing that history happens to us rather than the other way around, that workers make history and the reason people often feel this way is because of the lack of power they have at their own work place, but once those people are handed a leaflet from us and told that a year ago we did not exist as a Calgary group and that now we are part of a nation wide network planning a Pan Canadian day of action, they cannot deny  that workers actually do make history.

Since the death of the post war social contract and the advent of the Washington Consensus with it's union busting, deregulation and privatization, we have seen a weakening of the working class over the last 40 years. As a result of this continued anti-social offensive against Canadian workers, workers from coast to coast to coast in Canada have been fighting back and winning victories. Not only do we struggle together as workers, but together we can win so lets unite together and let's win together. We have nothing to loose but our chains.

                                                       Aaron Doncaster, Member of Calgary chapter of Fight for 15 coalition.

P.S   For info on our rally check out, https://www.facebook.com/events/1760530230850490/

      for info on other action, check out https://www.facebook.com/fightfor15canada/?fref=ts

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