MINUTES: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2018
1919 GENERAL STRIKE CENTENARY CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Present:
Krishna Lalbiharie
Scott Price
Jim Naylor
Paul Jenkins
Julie Guard
Paul Moist
Sharon Reilly
David Camfield
Jeff Taylor
Jim Mochoruk
Rhonda L. Hinther
1. Billy Bragg
Rhonda Hinther will further speak with Jason Hooper of the West End Cultural Centre (WECC) re: possibility of Billy Bragg speaking and/or performing at the conference – most likely for the Friday night event. Rhonda will also see about speaking with James Patterson to this end, too.
David Camfield recommends that we connect with Basia Sokal re: programming of the Friday evening event to ensure that no conflicts exist re: Bragg proposal.
2. Liaison Committee Member with MFL
Paul Moist recommends that we establish better communication with Manitoba Federation of Labour. Jim Naylor will email Kevin Rebeck and Basia Sokal and see if they can become more involved in our committee’s work.
3. Call for Papers Advertising
Jim Naylor reported that we have not received many responses from our Call for Papers advertisements over our website. Recommends that we all write to friends and colleagues directly and request proposals.
Scott Price offers to write an article about the conference and CFP for www.rankandfile.ca .
Krishna will create a Facebook event page to further advertising efforts.
4. Panels
General discussion about the need to have a structure in place and the need to write individuals and see what kind of panels that might wish to organize.
5. Keynote Speakers
Julie and Krishna are continuing to liaise with James Patterson re: Arundhati Roy. Julie and Krishna to write a pitch letter, which James will forward to Roy’s agent.
The budget should be able to sustain two keynotes in addition to Roy.
Paul Jenkins has statistically scored our 13 recommendations for keynotes (not including Roy), with Jane McAlevey (on the crisis of the labour movement in the 21st century) and Saru Jayaraman (the fight for the $15) as ranked no. 1 and no. 2, respectively.
Krishna will contact both Jane and Saru to determine their availability and their fees. If neither Jane or Saru are available, Krishna will work his way down the list of remaining 11 choices, which are
3. Barbara Ehrenreich
4. Phil Jennings
5. Keeanga-Yamahtta
6. Bill Fletcher
7. Selina Todd
8. Mike Davis
9. David Jones
10. China Mieville
11.Baldemar Velasquez
12. Srecko Horvat
13. Dave Zirin
If Jane McAlevey agrees to come, it’s possible that the trade movement could offset her costs by engaging her for training.
6. Roundtables
Paul Moist recommends that we need to establish the context for each of the three general roundtables. It’s very important that at the start of each roundtable, a member of this committee (or experts on the topic) should provide introductions re: historical setting, etc.
David Camfield raises concerns about travel subsidies for prospective speakers. Jim Mochoruk suggests that the monies received through the SSHRC grant should be used to cover these needs.
David Camfield and Paul Moist suggests that we need to determine the themes of each roundtable and then based on those, we determine who might be best to constitute the roundtable. The committee agrees to proceed as such.
A. ROUNDTABLE: THE STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER LIFE
Themes around this section include the following:
• Living wage/Fight for $15
• Guaranteed annual income (GAI)
• Anti-poverty activism (local examples include Indigenous-led organizations, Bear Clan Patrol)
• Negotiating fairness
B. SOLIDARITY ACROSS BOUNDARIES/BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE LABOUR MOVEMENT
Themes around this section include the following:
• Making labour a social force
• Indigenous rights and labour
• Rights or temporary workers
• Justice for migrant workers
• Quebec Solidaire as an example of building solidarity movements
• Injury of one is an injury to all – harkens back to struggles of the industrial movement
• Where does the labour movement fit in with the rest of society?
C. BUILDING A WORKING-CLASS ALTERNATIVE
• Labour movement forming its own political party
• Labour councils and their significance — labour centrals
• Labour as a social movement
(Basia Sokal, WLC should be represented on this panel)
After a lengthy discussion on all three proposed roundtables, it was agreed that a subcommittee should be struck to further flesh out themes and ideas and to recommend prospective speakers to each of said and to report back to the larger committee.
Rhonda Hinther noted the importance that when exploring themes and speakers that we do so with gender equity in mind.
Jim Mochoruk added the importance of completing this work ASAP in respect of grant applications, etc.
David Camfield noted the importance of giving the subcommittee very clear parameters of work and tasks.
David Camfield, Paul Moist, Scott Price and Jim Naylor will constitute the subcommittee and will report back to the larger WGSCC committee at our next meeting.
Next meeting: Saturday, March 3, 2018 | 1:30PM | University of Winnipeg