Dear MUNACA members, I would like to ask you to take a moment to consider the significance of this anniversary. On August 28th 1963 250,000 marched on Washington DC to demand their freedom and basic human rights. Have we as the human race made significant progress in our relationships with other members of our species or have we come up lacking?

On Saturday August 26th on the anniversary of another shooting in Jacksonville, Florida a white man 21 years old walked into a convenience store and shot and killed three black people simply because he hated black people. I guess that cowardly and despicable act has answered my first question.

I remember watching news reports about this event and listening to Martin Luther King speak. Let us work together to ensure that Martin Luther King’s dream becomes a reality sooner than later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s

Yours in solidarity,
Thomas Chalmers
MUNACA President

PSAC-NEU members who work for the Iqaluit Housing Authority have been on strike since the middle of March. These workers, mostly young Inuit parents, are fighting for wages that keep pace with inflation in the exorbitantly expensive northern economy.  

They are fighting to maintain working conditions that are the norm in other parts of the country – things like maternity leave provisions, vacation leave, and personal leave.  They are fighting for respect and dignity in the face of bargaining that is often tinged with racism and sexism.  

In the meantime, the employer has brought in replacement workers. These scab labourers from southern Canada, are getting paid more, and are being provided with housing and food allowances and benefits that striking workers have never had access to. 

 It’s time for Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan and the federal government to step in and halt the use of scab labour in the Iqaluit Housing Authority strike.  

Please take action now

https://psacunion.ca/take-action-end-use-scab-labour#newmode-embed-2924-58916

MUNACA members, don’t forget to complete the online survey. It should be in your work email, sent on 5th July at 14:05h. If you didn’t see it, please check your junk mail folder.