The Canadian Labour Congress should want to hear my campaign’s pro-working-class message and it’s not too late for the labour federation to allow the only fully bilingual candidate to participate in their NDP Leadership Forum.
Tomorrow the CLC is hosting Workers Together. “This is your chance to meet the candidates who want to lead the NDP and hear their vision for a Canada that works for working people”, explains promotional material.
After they hadn’t reached out, last week my campaign asked the CLC to include me in the discussion. The house of labour has every right to invite me. Unlike official party debates, the CLC forum isn’t listed in the NDP campaign policy, which details what prospective candidates must do to participate. The NDP nomination package states that individuals must put in the “Submission of Nomination Signatures” and pay the party two instalments of $25,000 by October 31 “Two Weeks Prior to the First Debate.”
While I have yet to formally submit my nomination out of fear that the three-person party ‘vetting’ committee will simply block my 1,000 volunteer campaign from the race, we surpassed the nomination signatures and funding requirements six weeks ago. And we did so without access to the large official NDP contact list or the ability to offer donors tax credits, which vetting grants leadership candidates.
The CLC should want me to be part of the debate to hear my campaign’s unabashedly pro-working-class message. Drafted by 45 activists, “Capitalism can’t be fixed — onwards to a socialist future” is a comprehensive pro-worker platform. It says “Socialism is built by workers and communities controlling their own workplaces and, through democratically elected councils, determining social and economic priorities. A socialist government would guarantee socially useful employment for all those willing and able to work with higher wages, shorter work weeks, and standard retirement at age 55.”
In a section titled “Guarantee union access, sector-wide bargaining, and workplace democracy”, the platform calls for:
● Guarantee union access, sector-wide bargaining, and workplace democracy.
● Convene a permanent assembly of elected worker representatives to guide national policy.
● Strategically applying mandatory co-operative conversions to resolve constraints to social progress imposed by corporate business models.
● Establish a national living wage tied to real costs of living.
● Reduce working hours without loss of pay to share work and improve quality of life.
● Expand apprenticeships, mentorships, and paid training programs.
Throughout the text there are calls for “worker control of industries”, “worker cooperatives” and “worker control of automobile firms”. The platform also puts forward a series of reforms that would completely upend the regressive Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Beyond the platform, I have strong union credentials. I worked in the research department of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union/Unifor for three years. My father was elected vice-president of CEP/Unifor Local 2000 and my mother was vice-president of the BC Nurses’ Union. An uncle, Terry Engler, was president of ILWU local 400 and another uncle, Al Engler, was also president of that local. My aunt, Jean Rands, was central in establishing the feminist Service, Office and Retail Workers Union of Canada (SORWUC) in the 1970s.
Yes, I am left wing, a critic of capitalism and Canadian foreign policy and that makes supporters of “the system” nervous. All are reasons the Canadian Labour Congress should invite me to its NDP Leadership Forum.
To assist, donate or learn more about my bid to lead the NDP check out yvesforndpleader.ca
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