justice award for Ontario Labour Leader

Benefitting from Armstrong and Upshaw good human rights work in labour movement

By William Doyle-Marshall

  Fred Upshaw, retired President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has been presented with the Bromley L. Armstrong. The first person of African heritage to head a major labour union received immense praise from his peers including Mohammed Baksh of the Steelworkers Union.

 Bromley Armstrong, retired labour leader after whom the award is named told Upshaw it was a great honour to make the presentation to him, being the first union president of African heritage.  Upshaw was obviously pleased that the Equity Committee of the Toronto and York Labour Council had selected him for the honour. “When you spend the hours, day in and day out, night in and night out that there is one person that’s in the background. They are not part of the work that you have to do except for the fact that they support you all the way. So I want to say to my wife Rosemary ‘thank God that I have a wife like you who allow me to do the things that I do,” Upshaw said

          Bromley Armstrong and Fred Upshaw

   “Bromley set a standard for a hell of a lot of us leaders. He set a standard that was tough for us to adhere to but he built in the labour movement and he put his rocks up there. I came along and I placed another rock a little further up and there are people behind me that will keep putting rocks up there and we’ll be going bigger and bigger and bigger,” Upshaw continued.

   “I have to admit that we are standing on big shoulders,” says Guyanese-born Mohammed Baksh of the Steelworkers Union. Because of Armstrong’s struggles and some of the groundbreaking things he has done Baksh concludes he and other visible minorities have been really encouraged.  The retired labour leader has inspired many to get involved and he continues to be an inspiration. Baksh regards the Labour Council’s decision to name the award after Armstrong ‘really amazing’. “I think it is really a good thing for us to look forward to and to participate,” he added.

   Upshaw is seen as an amazing individual who, as the head of OPSEU handled and resisted lots of attacks on visible minorities and came through successfully. “Fred has done some amazing things in the field of human rights and anti-racism for many, many years. I sat on a Canadian Labour Congress Committee with him and it was such an inspiration just to be there with him to hear his thoughts and his thinking and some of the ideas he came up with and it all goes toward the future generation because 25-30 years ago he was thinking of the people coming up then and today again, we are benefitting from all the good work that Bromley and Fred have done in the field of human rights in the labour movement,” Baksh continued.

   Marie Clarke-Walker, executive vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress warned trade unionists that they are living in a time when not just Conservative Governments, not just neo-conservatives and neo-liberals but everyone is attacking the trade union movement and progressive movements.

  John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Labour Council, believes it is really quite special to have the Bromley L. Armstrong Award go to Upshaw, the first Black leader of a major trade union in Canada. Thinking of Armstrong’s history and work Cartwright confessed “we always look at him as a ground breaker, as a pioneer, well Fred in his way, was very much a ground breaker and pioneer.”

  Reflecting on the 1990’s when Upshaw was at the helm of OPSEU, Cartwright noted recession was hitting Ontario. It was a time of terrible restraint. Initially there were lots of questions about the government response. The Rae Government decided to bring in the social contract and that immediately created a huge dilemma for Fred and others in the labour movement. “So it was very tough. It was like a fight inside the family and those are the hardest fights. But also Fred within OPSEU pushed to ensure that the human rights component was robust; it wasn’t just a token thing; that the entire membership and leadership of OPSEU embraced equity, embraced human rights, embrace an anti-racist understanding of who we are and where we are as a people,” Cartwright recalled.

   Past recipients of the include Bromley L. Armstrong Award included June Veecock, past human rights director of the Ontario Federation of Labour; Hassan Yussuff, secretary treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress; Marie Clarke-Walker, executive Vice President of the CLC; Janice Gairey, current Human Rights Director of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

May 17, 2013

new school for Corail, Haiti

multi-level, multi-dimensional Haitian School project

By William Doyle-Marshall

A new school to accommodate Haitian children residing in the slum area of Corail will open in September. Details of the project were released by Dr. Eric Pierre, president of Pierspective Entraide Humanitaire earlier this month at an appreciation affair held downtown Toronto. The community that developed following the serious devastating earthquake when 1500 displaced persons occupied the lands has grown to a slum of 100,000 in three years.

the process of Building of the elementary/vocational Catholic school in Corail, near Port-au-           Prince is being undertaken in cooperation with Pierspective’s partner in Haiti, Aide Mutuelle pour un Environnement Nouveau. Four hundred children will be attending the new school, scheduled to open in September but only 80 students will begin classes initially at the start of the school year. Right now the facilities are being used as a vocational school where young people are being trained to become mechanics, masons and plumbers. On weekends there will be sewing and knitting classes and other fine arts instructions for women.

   “It’s really a multi-level, multi-dimensional project. It’s really a grandiose project with a vision, that is going to have an impact on the community,” Dr. Pierre explained

   In addition individuals from the neighbourhood are being taught courses on citizenship in preparation for the society. The organizers are considering the use of the school as a community center, once it is completed. They are in the process of building a basketball course. Hopefully the young people who use the facility would volunteer with completing the project, says Dr. Pierre.

                         Dr. Eric Pierre flanked by colleagues at appreciation ceremony

   “In terms of job creation: in terms of buying Haitian construction materials: the people who contribute don’t realize the ripple effect of those donations. It’s really far and wide. They are really helping the people in that community, whether young people, adults, families. It’s really quite far reaching,” Dr. Pierre reflected.

  The school project is being pursued with partners in Haiti. Because the Canadian organization was unable to generate every day, the Haitian partners have been looking for other contributors to assist. Recently a group of French Canadians went down to help and they took some money which helped propel the venture forward. So far donations for the school from Canada are in the vicinity of $100,000.

   In the meantime, Perspectives has developed a computer center -- inaugurated in 2012 -- at another end of the city in an established area where there was the school Republic Da Cuba donated by Cuba back in the 1940s. It was a big schools, several stories high that was completely flattened by the hurricane. Dr. Pierre originally thought of rebuilding the structure but the estimate of $750,000 caused some re-thinking of the idea. That resulted instead in construction of the computer center on the site. Haitian partner in this venture is Action Communautaire de Meyotte
   Meanwhile, Dr. Pierre said the Haitian people are still concerned about unfulfilled pledges made following the hurricane. While some have not been honoured, those made through established agencies like the Red Cross are reduced when monies eventually arrive in Haiti. According to Dr. Pierre observers on the ground are alleging that Haiti is receiving approximately ten percent of the pledges after administrative costs are deducted from the pledges.

  “The concern is still there. First there have been a lot of pledges that have not been executed and secondly, the word out there, out of every dollar given to Haiti through those organizations, perhaps 10% reach the Haitian people. Some of that money actually goes back through contracts or corruption or whatever else, go right back to the donor countries: contracts to companies and sometimes the contracts were not genuine or they get bogged down in meetings and a lot of money is being spent on staff and trips. That is the whole picture. Some of the money did reach but definitely it is not what you would expect. 10% is the number being tossed around.”

May 24, 2013