A better idea would be to issue a debit card to Ontario Tories that could only be used to buy a brain, a heart and the nerve to pick on someone other than the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

A picket line with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Elvis (Costello & Presley) and AC/DC?

Tune in to Radio Free Saint John, an online radio station operated by seven members of the Canadian Media Guild who’ve been on strike for over two hundred days against three Saint John area radio stations (“K-100″, “98.9 Big John FM”, and “93 CFBC”) owned by Maritime Broadcasting.

While many folks (like the admin of this site) deep down inside are wannabe disc jockeys, real DJ’s at private radio stations across this country often get paid shit.

MBS Radio is currently offering their employees wage rates in the $10.58 to 12.98 per hour range.   They could probably make just as much if they were Walmart greeters given that the minimum wage in New Brunswick right now is $10 per hour.

Many local businesses have pulled their advertising from the three stations for the duration of the strike.    There are some (including national chains like Canadian Tire and Shopper’s Drug Mart) who continue to advertise on the scab operated stations.

In the meantime you can enjoy the tunes coming out of Radio Free Saint John (click here)  Or, if like your admin you really can’t stand Adobe’s Flashplayer (sorry Radio Free Saint John) you can copy and paste the link below into your favourite media player.  It works great with VLC Media Player.

http://67.228.177.153:4783/;stream.mp3

F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35 F-35

Defence Minister Peter McKay giving the thumbs up to the overpriced F-35 fighter jet.

A strike in 2011 by workers at an oilfield operated by Toronto based Pacific Rubiales was met by over 800 riot police along with the Colombian Army according to Justice for Colombia

Now much as Harper and his cronies might occasionally fantasize about shooting trade unionists, it’s not something that can be done in Canada.    But why not help out their pals in Colombia?

Canada’s ice man, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has finally melted…at least a little bit.

He announced today that he’s going to meet with leaders of the Assembly of First Nations next Friday (January 11th) to talk about ongoing treaty concerns and to soothe rising tensions.

Chief Theresa Spence may or may not be at the meeting and has no plans to end her heroic hunger strike until the meeting actually takes place.   The grassroots “Idle No More” movement that Spence helped inspire has no plans to turn down the heat either!

Harper’s agenda is to help multinational oil, gas and mining corporations rip out as many raw materials as humanly possible using the cheapest and most exploited labour possible, running roughshod over aboriginal treaty rights, environmental protections and workers rights.

Then after the multinationals have ripped everything out, we’ll spend the next several generations dealing with massive toxic waste dumps.

That’s the Harper vision.   Make no mistake about it.

In the meantime the heat should be turned up.    This right-wing gang in Ottawa won’t back down unless there’s a fire burning under their asses.

It’s a new year and the ruling elites are continuing to do things that piss us all off. Time for a CLASS RAGE relaunch!

We have the unfolding disaster that is Harper’s Ombnibus budget bill. We have the McGuinty government in Ontario beating up on Ontario’s teachers and education workers. Then in a move worthy of Stephen Harper, he hung up his socks and then prorogued the legislature.

Here in Toronto, the home of Class Rage Towers we have a mayor who couldn’t quite figure out that when everyone and his uncle is telling you that you’re in a conflict of interest situation, that you might in fact be in a conflict of interest. It took a judge slapping Mayor Ford on the wrist for him to figure this one out.

Harper gave a special Christmas gift to Canada’s worst employers in the form of Bill C-377, a bill so intrusive in nature that every file clerk and janitor who happens to work in a union office will have their salary published on the Canada Revenue Agency website. And, if that file clerk or janitor happens to pick up a marker and a piece of cardboard and writes “Harper Sux” on it that will become a “political” expense instead of a collective bargaining expense and will have to be accounted for separately.

Keeping a list of gun owners was an invasion of privacy. But, publishing the salary of a file clerk in a union office is not. Welcome to Harperland!

Justin Bieber didn’t have to go on a hunger strike to have a chat with the Prime Minister. But if you happen to be the chief of an aboriginal community where people are forced to live in third world conditions you do.

Maybe we can convince Peter McKay to let the Prime Minister borrow his private search and rescue helicopter so that he can pay Chief Theresa Spence a visit eh?

By the way, if you’d like to become a class rager drop us a note at info@classrage.ca

Hudak wants to get rid of the Rand formula, the “historic compromise” on union security that has governed labour relations in Ontario (and most of Canada) since the 1940′s.

Even disgraced former premier Mike Harris didn’t dare go this far.

Hudak uses the language of “modernizing” Ontario labour law.   Of course that’s only if moving worker rights back to where they were in the Dirty Thirties is your definition of “modern”.

It would be very easy to write Hudak off as a right wingnut.

Don’t.

Right-wing extremists have lately got into the habit of getting elected through campaigns of lies, half truths and robocalls.   Take Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for example.   Someone please take him!

Then there’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who’s on a global crusade to make the world safe for multinational corporations.

Take Hudak very seriously. But do take him on.

A couple of weeks ago we held a little contest here at Class Rage and asked the question “What do you call a restaurant owner who skims tips?”

Carolyn Givens gave us what we thought was the most creative answer.   She thought that we should call them a “Restauranteur a la Vulture”.   So that’s what we’re going to call them from now on!

We are pleased to see that the Rosseau Muskoka resort near Port Carling, Ontario has been embarassed into backing down on a scheme that would have forced spa workers to hand over their tips or be fired.

This resort is no struggling mom and pop outfit either.   It’s a posh resort where rooms start at $269 a night and is connected with the multinational Marriott hotel chain.

Let’s hope that McGuinty follows through this fall on his promise to support NDP MPP Michael Prue’s private members’ bill that would ban this practice.

Well, so are we at CLASS RAGE!  Which is why we, along with high school students, are asking the question, “What have unions EVER done for us?”  I mean, if unions have made any contribution to our society, public schools would teach us this stuff, right?  There would be some type of labour history within our curriculum, wouldn’t there?

Hmmm….it seems there is little or no labour history being taught at schools, so this was the best Canadian high school presentation (a blurb about unions) we have found on the net.

For a second time NDP member of the legislature Michael Prue has introduced a private members bill to ensure that tips only go to servers and workers NOT restaurant owners and managers.

It’s a pretty simple thing.   A similar law was passed in the state of New York a couple of years ago.

Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey was initially cool to the idea, but it looks like Premier Dalton McGuinty has given her marching orders to support the bill.  I guess kicking the poor with a measly 1% increase in Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programme (ODSP) payments was enough during this budget round.

So here at Class Rage Towers we’ve decided to run a contest!

Our question is:  What would you call a restaurant/bar owner or manager who demanded a cut of a servers tips?

The winner will receive their very own personalized “@classrage.ca” e-mail address and blogging space here on classrage.ca

Just fill in the form below or send an e-mail to: info@classrage.ca

The winner will be announced on July 2, 2012.