For immediate release
June 11, 2012

Toronto,ON—The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) and its allies call on all to take action and participate in the national workers’ conference titled “Workers’ Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization” set to take place inTorontoon August 11 and 12. As recent mobilizations on the local and global scale have shown—from the Quebec student strike to the Middle East—exposing neoliberal policies of prioritizing economic growth over basic equality and democracy have made an impact in showing that the possibilities of social change is heightening. The upcoming conference will bring out the necessity and centrality of workers’ roles in advancing the movement for social change.

In this time when austerity measures signify attacks on the majority—from students, women, people of colour and workers—neoliberal policies and the global elites that support them have continued to push for these measures as a purported solution to the global economic crisis. Yet we have already seen the impacts of such policies on the lives and conditions of working people around the world. For instance, with the rise of tuition and the contractualization of jobs, meaningful employment and accessible education have been denied to the very population that is supposed to build the future of these nations. It is important that as these struggles take place, we remember the struggle of workers as pivotal to these resistances.

In Canada, recent government implementations of such policies and the following protests against them signify concrete and direct realities of what the current crisis really means, making it all the more necessary to heighten our resistance through this upcoming workers conference and beyond. The ongoing strikes nationwide, cutbacks on social security and public services, the push to lower wages and divide workers are clear indications of the direct impact on every Canadian by global circumstances. As these direct impacts manifest themselves in the lives of all workers, their direct participation is all the more necessary as this conference is set to tie in all these events. There is a need to discuss how these actions can become part of the larger struggle for social change.

“Workers’ Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization”
North American Conference
August 11 & 12, 2012
United Steelworkers Hall
25 Cecil Street (Spadina& College)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Organized by the Counterspin secretariat (CPFC & allies)

REGISTER NOW: http://bit.ly/workersconference

For more information, contact:
Bryan Taguba or John Nerier

(416) 519-2553
siklab-on@magkaisacentre.org
www.magkaisacentre.org
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