Canadian Auto Plant Caught Up In Abortion Debate

by Derek Kreindler

Published: June 29th, 2012

canadian auto plant caught up in abortion debate

Contract negotiations are looming for the Canadian Auto Workers, but that hasn’t stopped some union members of a Chrysler plant in Windsor, Ontario from wading into the abortion debate, something settled long ago and unlikely to ever be re-opened in Canada.

The mess began when an obscure parliamentarian from the ruling Conservative Party suggested that the legal definition of “human being” in Canada’s Criminal Code should be changed to include fetuses. CAW President Ken Lewenza then wrote a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper opposing the measure and re-affirming the union’s pro-choice stance.

“Less than a year into a majority government, we see the debate being cracked open by a member of the Conservative caucus,” Lewenza wrote. “Nothing has been as offensive as the suggestion that government may infringe on women’s rights over their own bodies and freedom of choice.”

The Prime Minister himself has declared that the abortion debate won’t be re-opened. But that hasn’t stopped the CAW from holding pro-choice rallies, as a means of countering pro-life protesters who have been picketing in Windsor. While there is a contingent of CAW members who are pro-life, most seem to be concerned about union issues rather than social issues.

Lewenza justified the political stance by stating

“We are involved in the political, economic and social fabric of this country,” Lewenza said. “We have an absolute responsibility to speak up on social issues. We’re stepping up to the plate on issues that affect Canadians.”

Of the rank and file members interviewed by the CBC, it seems that most have other, more pressing concerns – like the work contracts set to expire very shortly.

#Abortion #CanadianAutoWorkers #CAW #SocialIssues #Union #Unions

Derek Kreindler

More by Derek Kreindler

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 39 comments

C P on Jun 29, 2012

I can see why they wadded in. Chrysler & abortion are synonymous.

Like Reply
"scarey" on Jun 29, 2012

China is where the Summer of Love went to after it left San Francisco in 1967. Mellow, peace, love, and socialist utopia. Right ? And Chairman Maobama is bringing it back.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Jalop1991 In a manner similar to PHEV being the correct answer, I declare RPVs to be the correct answer here.We're doing it with certain aircraft; why not with cars on the ground, using hardware and tools like Telsa's "FSD" or GM's "SuperCruise" as the base?Take the local Uber driver out of the car, and put him in a professional centralized environment from where he drives me around. The system and the individual car can have awareness as well as gates, but he's responsible for the driving.Put the tech into my car, and let me buy it as needed. I need someone else to drive me home; hit the button and voila, I've hired a driver for the moment. I don't want to drive 11 hours to my vacation spot; hire the remote pilot for that. When I get there, I have my car and he's still at his normal location, piloting cars for other people.The system would allow for driver rest period, like what's required for truckers, so I might end up with multiple people driving me to the coast. I don't care. And they don't have to be physically with me, therefore they can be way cheaper.Charge taxi-type per-mile rates. For long drives, offer per-trip rates. Offer subscriptions, including miles/hours. Whatever.(And for grins, dress the remote pilots all as Johnnie.)Start this out with big rigs. Take the trucker away from the long haul driving, and let him be there for emergencies and the short haul parts of the trip.And in a manner similar to PHEVs being discredited, I fully expect to be razzed for this brilliant idea (not unlike how Alan Kay wasn't recognized until many many years later for his Dynabook vision).
B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.
FreedMike If Dodge were smart - and I don't think they are - they'd spend their money refreshing and reworking the Durango (which I think is entering model year 3,221), versus going down the same "stuff 'em full of motor and give 'em cool new paint options" path. That's the approach they used with the Charger and Challenger, and both those models are dead. The Durango is still a strong product in a strong market; why not keep it fresher?