Ella Does Squamish

at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ravenandjason

from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver

Incredible that there is still so much pay inequity between genders!

from: http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/08/20/LibraryStrike/

Men get nearly $6 more hourly for similar work, says union.

By Tom Sandborn
Published: August 20, 2007
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/08/20/LibraryStrike/print.html

TheTyee.ca

Vancouver city librarians say a key reason they’re still on
the picket line
is a sexist divide in pay rates. Hourly pay for library
jobs filled mostly
by women start at nearly $6 less than jobs of equal value
that happen to be
filled by a majority of men, a study shows.

The 17.5 per cent raise over five years the city is now
offering is only
part of what the union is fighting for, they said.

Spokespeople for CUPE 391, the local that represents city
librarians, told
The Tyee on Thursday night that they were encouraged that
their employer
had agreed to meet for negotiations on Friday, Aug. 17, but
were cautious about how much progress they could make. They said that
although the city’s
press release announcing the new negotiations indicated a
willingness "to
negotiate wage adjustments as a means of addressing wage
issues raised by
library staff," to date the city negotiators have refused
to discuss any of
the local’s four key bargaining demands: pay equity,
improvements for
part-time workers, job security and general benefit
improvements.

Three weeks into the strike, they say the city’s latest
offer falls short
of others already settled in the Lower Mainland, and
includes a proposal to
add a new, low-wage job classification that would hire
workers at reduced
wages to do work currently done by library assistants.

"Pay equity is a human rights issue," said Laura Safarian,
a librarian at
VPL’s downtown main branch, and a member of her local’s
bargaining committee.

"Canada has signed on to international agreements that
recognize the human
rights implications of gender bias in wages. This statement
from the city,
awkward as it is, represents the first time we’ve seen any
recognition at
all of the issue from the employer. We have made
significant compromises in
our negotiations already, including a reduction in the
special wage
adjustment we’re asking for, for all professional
librarians," Safarian
added….

whole article at :
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/08/20/LibraryStrike/


Penney Kome, author and journalist
http://penneykome.ca
Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com

Men get nearly $6 more hourly for similar work, says union.By Tom SandbornPublished: August 20, 2007Vancouver city librarians say a key reason they’re still onthe picket line is a sexist divide in pay rates. Hourly pay for libraryjobs filled mostly by women start at nearly $6 less than jobs of equal valuethat happen to be filled by a majority of men, a study shows.The 17.5 per cent raise over five years the city is nowoffering is only part of what the union is fighting for, they said.Spokespeople for CUPE 391, the local that represents citylibrarians, told The Tyee on Thursday night that they were encouraged thattheir employer had agreed to meet for negotiations on Friday, Aug. 17, butwere cautious about how much progress they could make. They said thatalthough the city’s press release announcing the new negotiations indicated awillingness "to negotiate wage adjustments as a means of addressing wageissues raised by library staff," to date the city negotiators have refusedto discuss any of the local’s four key bargaining demands: pay equity,improvements for part-time workers, job security and general benefitimprovements.Three weeks into the strike, they say the city’s latestoffer falls short of others already settled in the Lower Mainland, andincludes a proposal to add a new, low-wage job classification that would hireworkers at reduced wages to do work currently done by library assistants."Pay equity is a human rights issue," said Laura Safarian,a librarian at VPL’s downtown main branch, and a member of her local’sbargaining committee." has signed on to international agreements thatrecognize the human rights implications of gender bias in wages. This statementfrom the city, awkward as it is, represents the first time we’ve seen anyrecognition at all of the issue from the employer. We have madesignificant compromises in our negotiations already, including a reduction in thespecial wage adjustment we’re asking for, for all professionallibrarians," Safarian added….whole article at enney Kome, author and journalistEditor, Straight Goods,

 

Rodolfo Collado is promoted on yahoo!

see http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=751507&cache=1

This is the second Vancouver Film School student production I have seen that has been very impressive!

until tomorrow in North Vancouver. 

Stopped in at Khot-La Cha Art Gallery at 270 Whonoak Street, North Vancouver (see http://www.khot-la-cha.com/page118.htm)  yesterday enroute home to Squamish and had a visit with one of the carvers, Dick Sr.  Lovely paddles, carvings and silver jewelry are available.

at http://mosaicartsource.wordpress.com/2006/12/15/

if you get a chance!  It is on until September 16th, 2007 and I might go again after seeing the show yesterday.

Here is the description from the Vancouver Art Gallery website at http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/theexhibitions/exhibitmonet.html

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art

June 11 to September 16, 2007

Monet to Dalí represents the most comprehensive showing of European painting and sculpture in Vancouver in more than half a century. Drawn from the superb collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition consists of more than 80 paintings, drawings and sculpture that demonstrate key examples from the European modernist movement. Organized into four groupings, this exhibition covers a century of art making from 1864 to 1964 and showcases important work by the major Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, early modern sculptors and avant-garde artists interested in Dadaism, Cubism and Surrealism. Most notably, the exhibition includes key works by Manet, Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Rodin, Picasso, Dalí and other renowned artists. Together, the works in this stellar collection illuminate the breadth of creativity in one of the most extraordinary epochs in the history of Western art. Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Curated by William H. Robinson in association with Heather Lemonedes, Cleveland Museum of Art

For poor/middle-class people, especially poor (though one is supposed to use the sanitized term ‘low income cut-off’) people - the elderly, people on social assistance, disability pensions, the on-going development in Vancouver area as well as other areas of BC is making life unbearable.

This open letter is to challenge Mayor Sam Sullivan,
Councillor Suzanne
Anton, Councillor Elizabeth Ball, Councillor David Cadman,
Councillor Kim
Capri, Councillor George Chow, Councillor Heather Deal,
Councillor Peter
Ladner, Councillor B.C. Lee, Councillor Raymond Louie, and
Councillor Tim
Stevenson to a House Swap with women of the Power of Women
Group.

The Power of Women Group a group at the Downtown Eastside
Women’s Centre
and we are dedicated to educating and raising awareness on
social issues.
We are a group of women from all walks of life who are
either on social
assistance, working poor, or homeless; but we are all
living in extreme
poverty below the poverty line. Many us of are single
mothers or have had
our children apprehended due to poverty; most of us have
chronic physical
or mental health issues for example HIV and Hepatitis C;
many have drug or
alcohol addictions; and a majority have experienced and
survived sexual
violence and mental, physical, spiritual , and emotional
abuse. For
indigenous women, we are affected by a multi generational
legacy of the
effects of residential schools and a history of
colonization and racism.

We believe that politicians far too frequently make
declarations and
decisions about ‘resolving’ poverty particularly in the
Downtown Eastside
(DTES) without having any idea about the painful reality of
those who live
in the DTES. All the overwhelming and well-documented
research and
statistics about growing poverty especially for single
mothers, the
‘housing crisis’, violence against women particularly
Indigenous women,
the effects of the Olympics, and the inadequacy of social
assistance rates
seem to have little impact on policy-makers. Therefore,
instead of
offering any new evidence or research or even our own
voices and stories,
we challenge you to walk in our shoes, even for a brief
amount of time and
for a fraction of the distance.

Our conditions for the House Swap challenge, that we
believe are far less
onerous than our struggle which is a daily struggle and not
time-limited,
are as follows:
- The House Swap will be for a minimum of eight weeks.
- Each council member lives off only $610 per month- the
basic support and
shelter payment amount for a single person on social
assistance. Excluding
shelter amounts, this averages to under $8 per day.
- There shall be no external financial support (including
use of credit
cards or any other gift, credit, or loan of money) nor will
Council
members have access to any private vehicles.
- The only external material support will be limited to
clothes and food,
if needed, and provided by DTES-serving agencies as per
their regular
donations policies.
- No media reporting of any kind.
- Each council member brings the following to the House
Swap: basic
necessities, no more than two appliances (such as TV and
stereo), and at
least ten items of personal sentimental value.
- We believe it will be much easier for you to rent a room
in an SRO hotel
for the whole duration as you will not experience the
discrimination that
we do when attempting to rent, therefore at least two weeks
of the eight
weeks must be spent homeless.
- All Council work, including Council meetings, is
conducted in the DTES.
We are happy to setup meeting rooms for this.
- Daily check-in with the Power of Women Group who will
ensure no
conditions are being violated.

During the House Swap, we will live in the lap of luxury as
you do; while
you will experience some of the following (we believe you
will be able to
avoid many of them):
* Homelessness including sleeping in doorways, alleys,
shelter beds, park
benches; having to carry as many belongings as you can with
but chances
are that they will all be stolen including your wheelchair,
your last pair
of clean clothes, and your items of sentimental value. If
you are able to
access a shelter, you will have to leave by early in the
morning, ensure
you are in by curfew time, and you may not be able to bring
in a cart that
has all your belongings.
* Highly regulated schedule in order to ensure various
appointments with
health care workers, Ministry of Employment and Income
Assistance workers,
advocacy appointments, scheduled meals, getting in line
early for a
shelter bed, arriving early to get clothing donations
before it runs out,
and being able to access general services based on hours of
operation of
agencies.
* Living in a Single Room Occupancy hotel room that is
infested with bed
bugs, rodents, and cockroaches. Your entire room will be
the size of a
closet with no bathroom or kitchen in the room and there
will likely be
structural problems with the building that will result in
leaks through
your roof and accumulation of mould in the room. The
landlord may keep
your damage deposit after you leave; illegally enforce
guest fees; deny
you essential services such as heat, running water, and
elevator services
for those with disabilities; cooperate with police in
illegal searches;
illegally enter your premises without notice; and illegally
evict you. *
Going hungry, standing in a food bank line for 1 hour,
eating rotting or
rotten food from a dumpster.
* Infrequent and irregular access to a bathroom therefore
having to
defacate and urinate in the streets at times.
* Police violence including being woken up from doorways
with multiple
kicks; illegal search and seizures; police entry into your
premises
without warrants; and general heightened police
surveillance.
* General and overwhelming sense of social isolation while
living with a
complete lack of privacy, stigma, fear, disempowerment,
anger,
frustration, chronic depression, grief, and desire for
radical social change.

What you will experience in this House Swap Challenge will
not come close
to the totality of our experiences; for example the history
of violence
and abuse that has brought many of us women here; the
addictions that
break our souls; the brutality of child apprehension many
of us have borne
as a direct result of poverty; that many of us do not know
our parents
because the legacy of residential schools and colonization
has destroyed
our entire family; the chronic and often fatal illnesses
such as AIDS and
Hepatitis C that have made us weak; the grief of living
through the deaths
of our missing and murdered sisters; and much more. We have
survived these
brutal realities and they have made us stronger.

Are you strong enough to bear a small percentage of our
reality? If you
refuse to participate in our House Swap Challenge, or find
some excuse for
why it is impossible or not feasible, then it will confirm
for us what
many  already believe: that there is absolutely no
political will to
eliminate poverty; instead government policies and social
apathy will
continue to create and perpetuate the violence of poverty
and
displacement.

To all those who believe that this is a fair challenge, we
strongly
encourage you to please contact City Council at
mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca or call at 604-873-7621 and
tell them you
support our House Swap Challenge and tell them to
participate.

To contact us, please do so via Harsha Walia, Project
Coordinator at the
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre at 604-681-8480 x 234 or
through email at
project@dewc.ca.


Signed,
Members of the Power of Women Group


Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
302 Columbia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 4J1
Email: project@dewc.ca
Tel: (604) 681-8480 x234
Fax: (604) 681-8470

 at http://www.straight.com/article-93176/developers-are-the-games-real-winners

Carthage Cafe, 1851 Commerical Drive

604-215-0661