Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union go wobbly!!!

[blake 3:17]

This is some boombastic sh#t! Known some of these folks for a loooooong time and they know where it's at.

Originally posted November 11/14


TORONTO, ON – Harm reduction workers from across the city announced today that they have formed the Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union (http://thrwu.org/) (THRWU), an affiliate of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Workers from South Riverdale Community Health Centre and Central Toronto Community Health Centres are the first to announce their affiliations with the union, and have demanded that their managements recognize the union and commit to negotiating with them. The Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union is the first of it’s kind in the world.
Harm reduction programs are services or policies designed to reduce harms associated with drug use (or other potentially risky behaviours) without requiring the cessation of use. The low rates of HIV transmission amongst injection drug users in Toronto today can largely be attributed to the work of activists who established the first needle exchanges in the 1980s. Since then, continuing efforts have lead to the 45 programs currently contracted by Toronto Public Health to distribute harm reduction materials and information in the city. All of these programs rely on the labour and participation of harm reduction workers, including the expertise and knowledge of many workers who use (or have used) drugs.
The city’s harm reduction programs are run by agencies with the mission to advance social and community justice, often through bettering access to employment security and other poverty-reduction measures; despite this, the workers who provide these key services are all too often denied job security themselves, and work in precarious and low-paying positions that keep them in poverty.
“As we face increasingly corporate management structures and austerity budgets, as well as the continuing toll of the war on drugs, stigma, and poverty, we realized we needed to organize ourselves as workers, to make our voice heard and push harm reduction forward”, says harm reduction worker Max Ducsharm. Ducsharm is one of 50 employed, unemployed, and student workers doing a variety of jobs – from community workers and program coordinators, to supply kit makers and outreach workers, who have so far signed up with the THRWU. He says organizing is ongoing, with plans for more workplaces to announce their affiliation with the union in the weeks and months to come.
In a rare move, the union has opted to forgo certification with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, choosing instead a ‘do-it yourself’ model of unionism. Rather than relying on government officials, lawyers or professional union staffers, THRWU members will advocate directly on their own behalf. It’s a strategy that fits broadly into a growing movement of ‘solidarity unionism’ that seeks to innovate strategies to make gains for workers in a context where traditional, Labour Board-certified unions are unable or unwilling to do so. “Labour Board certification is not an option for many workers and it didn’t make any sense for us,” said Peter Leslie.
In addition to workers, such as those without status, independent contractors and others who are legally excluded from certification, many other precarious, temporary, and casual workers face nearly impossible hurdles to Labour Board recognition. Leslie explains, “We’ve been divided by workplace for too long. We wanted an organization that could harness the power of all harm reduction workers, regardless of where they worked. We also didn’t want people’s union membership to be dependent on being employed in an industry where people are often between jobs or trying to eke out a living by holding multiple casual positions.”
“We are a union of some of the most marginalized workers in our city. We’re fighting for better jobs and better services. We’re building a movement from the bottom up.” says THRWU member Frank Crichlow.
Visit their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/thrwu) or website http://thrwu.org/ for more information.
Donate to their campaign (http://www.gofundme.com/thrwu).

http://iww.ca/?p=456

[blake 3:17]

Solidarity to the Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union! Posted on November 11, 2014 by AAN Congratulations to the Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union (THRWU) IWW 610 for their launch today! Over the last year, harm reduction workers across the city of Toronto have been organizing. They are the kit makers, outreach workers, community workers, and coordinators that reduce the harms associated with bad drug laws, poverty and capitalism. This is the first union for harm reduction workers with over 50 members and growing. AIDS ACTION NOW! supports all harm reduction workers across Toronto, and we look forward to the growth of this innovative union. - See more at: http://www.aidsactionnow.org/?p=1197#sthash.3JNUEu5Y.dpuf

[Decolonize The Left]

Damn good news on a rather dreary day.

[blake 3:17]

A union unlike any other

THRWU is meant to encompass a multiplicity of work statuses, job titles and workplaces. Instead of forming bargaining units or dividing into locals based on workplaces or trade, the union creates a looser affiliation, which allows them to cover territory that traditional unions cannot.
THRWU plan to deal with employee concerns on an issue by issue basis rather than have a collective agreement. They won't have a steward system either, using worker councils at each workplace to fulfill that role.
Given their history of (https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/unions/iww/timeline.htm)unconventional unionism and organizing the unemployed (https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/unions/iww/timeline.htm), it is no surprise that that the harm-reduction workers chose to affiliate with the Industrial Workers of the World, known for more than a century's worth of radical unionism.
One potential obstacle facing the new union is the issue of (http://lawofwork.ca/?p=7726)double unionism (http://lawofwork.ca/?p=7726). At some harm-reduction workplaces, staff are already represented by unions and thus the existence of THRWU could potentially violate Section 73 of the Ontario Labour Relations Act.
THRWU is not interested in bargaining collective agreements, so it remains to be seen if they would even qualify as a union in the eyes of the Labour Board. But since the union intends to engage volunteers and occasional staff -- many of whom could not afford the dues of a traditional union, and would not fit easily into traditional labour classifications -- it is safe to say that THRWU will cover a very different jurisdiction from the existing unions.
Kelly O'Sullivan is the president of CUPE Local 4308, which represents workers at Street Health, a non-profit agency that provides some harm-reduction programming in the southeast core of Toronto. She believes that THRWU will only compliment her union's efforts.
"CUPE 4308 welcomes THRWU and knows that by working together and jointly representing workers when needed, we will be a stronger advocate with and for our members," said O'Sullivan. "Having another union in our workplaces that shares that commitment can only strengthen both of our abilities to support and represent ourselves and our co-workers."



Across Canada, (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/24/harm_reduction_more_effective_than_war_on_drugs_va ncouver_study.html)evidence has borne out the efficacy of these programs (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/24/harm_reduction_more_effective_than_war_on_drugs_va ncouver_study.html) in curbing the rate of drug-related deaths and the spread of communicable diseases. At just over 4 per cent, Toronto has maintained one of the lowest HIV infection rates in the developing world, due largely to the city's early adoption of harm-reduction programs.
And like other forms of preventative medicine, harm reduction also helps to reduce health-care costs.
In large part, these successes can be attributed to the former and current drug users who make up the frontline staff of many harm-reduction programs.
The harm-reduction workforce is made up of both trained health-care professionals and street experts, hired for their lived experience with drug use and homelessness.
The workers at THRWU are adamant that the workers in these "peer positions" were inexpendable to the harm reduction project.
"At some point it was recognized that these people know what's up," said one worker. "We need them in order to do this work with any integrity. They know how to talk to people, they are going to be trusted," they added.
Though many harm-reduction workers are hired for their "lived experience" they are also stigmatized for it, and that stigma keeps workers from being recognized as such.
The problem, as THRWU members identify it, is that many aspects of harm reduction aren't considered work because they are being performed by current or former drug users.
Several THRWU members noted that their workplaces would not give building access to peer workers, who were still burdened by the stigma associated with drug use.
"People have worked in the same places for years and they're still not seen as workers," said one THRWU member. "Even though they are on payroll or they work, they don't get in the mix. They aren't seen as part of the workforce."
Many of the peer support workers, such as the safer crack use kit makers, work for honoraria or volunteer their time. They may not have regular schedules and the pay scales vary wildly: at one agency they might be getting $15 dollars an hour; at another they are given $10 dollars for three hours of work; while at other organizations compensation comes in the form of tokens and pizza.
Workers also says that management depends on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) to provide benefits for many of the people they are employing, several of whom have complex health needs, such as HIV treatments and Hep C treatments.
As THRWU members explain, the drop-in model works in many cases, given that some harm reduction workers are dealing with homelessness and other issues that make it difficult to commit to a regular schedule.
"To be hired for lived experience is an amazing thing," said one THRWU member. "But there are still struggles with it. Workers are workers and they need to be seen that way. They don't need to be made to feel that they are lucky to have a job. We're lucky to have them saving lives and reducing transmissions of HIV and HEP C and that seriously needs to be acknowledged."
So they decided to form a union.


http://rabble.ca/news/2014/12/toronto-now-home-to-worlds-first-harm-reduction-workers-union