Saturday, 20 April 2024

Labour

Sticking it to the Smiling Goat: Beating a bad boss

Charlie Huntley, a Smiling Goat employee and union activist who helped organize the Just Us! cafes in Halifax several years ago writes on the ongoing fight against their new boss and why it is so very important to join a union. “I don’t know about you, but we, the workers of the Smiling Goat, are finished with wage-theft as usual. We are finished with bad bosses in the service industry. We encourage all service industry workers to unionize and fight back against the bullshit at work.”

News brief: Is this how we welcome people to Nova Scotia? Founders Square pickets continue

Picketing continues in support of the unjustly fired Black cleaners who used to work at Founders Square, where, as a tenant tells us that, counter to the Armour Group’s claims, they did a good job. We also talk to Omar Joof about being poor, Black and immigrant, and to Gary Burrill, who believes the government, as a major tenant of the building, should speak out.

“I have never had occasion to complain about the state of cleanliness in the mornings.” Founders Square tenant reacts to firing of seven Black janitors

The Armour Group, property managers of Founders Square, have pointed to poor service to justify the termination of the janitorial services contract with GDI, causing the layoff of seven Black janitors. This Saturday Robert Wright, a tenant of the building, wrote a letter to set the record straight. “I have been in that building for several years and have never had occasion to complain about the state of cleanliness in the mornings.” Wright wants both the Armour Group as well as one of its main tenants, the Province of Nova Scotia, to right this wrong.