August 26, 2018 | UCTE President Dave Clark & Winnipeg Labour Council President Basia Sokal - a podcast by Emily Leedham

This week, the Union of Canadian Transport Employees has called for the government to buy back the Canadian Wheat Board from the Saudi-U.S. joint venture, Global Grain Group. The Harper government sold 50.1% of the CWB to the joint venture, which is now known as G3 Canada Limited. UCTE President Dave Clark highlights that grain shipments through the Port of Churchill were vital to Churchill’s livelihood. He also notes that the port itself and the Hudson Bay Railway leading up to the port were both privatized in 1997 by the federal Liberal government and sold to Denver based company OmniTrax. The privatization of the port, railway and wheat board has lead to the perfect devastating storm for Churchill.

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Basia Sokal is a proud member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 856 and a letter carrier in Downtown Winnipeg. She is a Former VP and acting President of her local, and current president of the Winnipeg Labour Council. She started activism early on, working at Superstore while in high school where she became steward and worked on organizing campaigns with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832. She was born in Poland and came to Winnipeg with her family in the late 80s as political refugees.

In this episode, Sokal discusses the impact Unifor’s disaffiliation with the Canadian Labour Congress has had on local organizing in the province and on the Prairies. She also addresses the need to bridge the gap between unionized and non-unionized workers, and the challenges facing the Manitoba labour movement under the Brian Pallister’s austere, union-busting Conservative government.

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