Submitted by x353382 on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 7:39pm
November 15, 2009
Fellow Workers,
Ottawa's police and prosecutors know that panhandlers are
an easy target. They have no money and little support.
This is why panhandlers themselves organized the IWW Ottawa Panhandlers Union in 2004. Since then,
panhandlers have been pushing back! And they have noticed the difference.
Police know that harassment of union members now has consequences.
Pressing charges against organizer Andrew Nellis was a way of trying to immobilize the organization. By
withdrawing the charges, the City admitted it had a weak case. But it also knew
that Fellow Worker Nellis was saddled with legal fees he could not pay on his
own for a case that never even went to court.
We cannot allow the
authorities to use the costs of defending oneself in the legal system as a
weapon against the poorest and most marginalized members of our working class.
We need 100 IWW and GDC members to stand up and
send $10 to pay the legal defense of our organizer, Andrew Nellis.
Be one of the 100 to say that our union stands strong in the defense of the
working class on the street.
Submitted by x348328 on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 11:58pm
The University of Ottawa
fired Denis Rancourt, a physics professor, renowned researcher, and IWW member
on March 31, 2009, while he
was speaking at an academic freedom conference in New York
City.
The university sought to dismiss him on the basis that he had
awarded high grades to a graduate level physics class, which Rancourt says he
did in order to remove competition and performance as they are obstacles to
learning. The university claimed that Rancourt’s marking damaged the
institution’s credibility as an academic institution.
Rancourt has said that the university’s board fired him
before an April 1 deadline to submit a legal brief in his defense and that it
ignored his submission of his students’ exams as proof that he was evaluating
students properly. The university disregarded the union’s collective agreement
and the grievance procedure by firing Rancourt without allowing him due process
in his defense.
The Association of Professors (APUO), a registered trade
union that represents university faculty, has announced it will launch an
inquiry and it will likely appeal the firing in court.
Submitted by x348328 on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:03pm
The University of Ottawa
in Canada is planning to fire Denis Rancourt, physics professor, IWW member, and renowned
researcher, today, March 31, 2009 .
The university claims it is firing Denis because he
announced that all of his students would get A+ grades on the first day of the
physics class so that they could get on with learning, rather than compete and
perform for grades. The university claims this educational approach damages its
reputation and credibility as well as that of its students. In short, grades
equal credibility.
The IWW General Defense Committee Local 6 (GDC Local 6)
rejects this pretext as an exaggeration that does not justify the university’s
repressive approach, which is a threat against academic freedom and education
workers’ rights.
More information about Denis’ case is online at the Academic
Freedom and Governance at the University
of Ottawa weblog http://www.academicfreedom.ca/
Submitted by x346812 on Sat, 10/27/2007 - 6:34am
CAPTION October 22 organizers gathered at Freedom Corner and launched a new petition demanding police accountability and justice for Jerry Jackson. Download the petition HERE. The petitions will be gathered and a plan to deliver them with maximum impact will be made at the 10th Annual Summit Against Racism, the Saturday after Martin Luther King Day at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
By
Cynthia Levy | Published 10/25/2007
Group protests police brutality
Submitted by x346812 on Wed, 10/17/2007 - 11:07pm
FREE THEM FIGHTERS (pictured, right)—The Pittsburgh Six, from left: Anthony “Platinum Tone” Edwards, Tristyn Trailes, Peppy, Paradise Gray, Ruth Marshall and Bret Grote.
Protest in Jena: The Pittsburgh perspective
By C. Denise Johnson | Published 09/27/2007
The eyes of the nation were fixed on Jena last week as the epicenter of a countrywide protest descended on Jena, La., in protest of the charges leveled against six Black youths accused of attempted murder. While many tuned to radio, TV and Internet coverage of the proceedings, a small cadre of activists made the trek to be part of the demonstration.
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