Barry Eidlin

I was heartened to see many of them seize the opportunity 🇵🇸 3/end

#FreePalestine #FreeGaza #StopTheGenocide #BDS #DivestNow

So rather than teach about “contemporary social movements” and “capitalism, socialism, and democracy” today, I gave my students the opportunity to gain some hands-on experience you can’t get in the classroom. 2/

Tens of thousands of students across Montreal universities and CÉGEPs staged a one-day strike for Palestine today, based on authorization votes taken in general assemblies and online referenda. 1/

Historic Alberta teachers' strike begins as 51,000 educators walk off the job | CBC News Alberta school divisions are telling families not to send students to school on Monday as the largest teacher strike in provincial history cancels classes at around 2,000 schools.

With 51,000 Alberta teachers now on strike, we currently have something on the order of 130,000 workers on strike across Canada, a country with 1/10 the population of the US:

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I’m all for people wearing what they want at conferences. Were I to try pulling off such a look, I’d take a cue from our Kiwi colleagues, who know a thing or two about wearing shorts in more professional settings. This Wellington civil servant ca. 1973 would be on my mood board.

wizard frog is insane

When you drag a woman by the hair, beat her and force her to kiss your flag, that’s how you tell the world you are the Good Guys

So! So! So! Solidarité! Avec! Avec! Avec la Palestine!

Huge march for Palestine in Montreal today 🇵🇸

Manifestation énorme pour la Palestine à Montréal aujourd’hui 🇵🇸

#AllEyesOnGaza #FreePalestine #PalestineWillBeFree #BoycottIsrael

This morning, an attack carried out by Israeli forces killed Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff member, Omar Hayek, and seriously injured four others. The attack took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza. All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers. We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir Al Balah. Our thoughts are with Omar’s family and colleagues at this tragic time. Omar, 42 years old, is the fourteenth MSF colleague to be killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

MSF staff are universally understood to be engaged in an essentially sacred form of work. For a state to nonetheless continuously murder them is a testament to a truly unthinkable degree of depravity.

msf.org/msf-denounce...

Return to Sender

An impressive analysis of the broader context surrounding the current contract dispute at Canada Post. The author puts workers at the center of the story, showing of how changes in the structure of work at the post office concretely affect workers’ lives.

maisonneuve.org/article/2025...

Hands off @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social !

a cartoon character says " yes you can " in front of a blue sky ALT: a cartoon character says " yes you can " in front of a blue sky

TFW your student comes up after class and asks “would it be OK if I wrote my research paper on the causes and consequences of the defeat of Operation Dixie?”

So we moved down the street to 680 Sherbrooke instead.

It was great to meet up with our union siblings as we gear up for the many fights we face this year ✊ 3/end

We were supposed to rally at Roddick Gates, the entry to campus, but this morning, a construction crew completely fenced off the area, and was busy using jackhammers to tear up the sidewalk in front of it (what a coincidence!). 2/

We had our first inter-union rally of the academic year today, bringing together students, faculty, and staff from across campus to speak out against austerity and cutbacks. 1/

Sponsored by GRIPP (Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire sur la philosophie politique) and @crimt.bsky.social (Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la mondialisation et le travail).

Hope to see you there! 6/end

Panelists:

Sibel Ataogul (Melançon Marceau Grenier Cohen)
David Doorey (York University)
Barry Eidlin (McGill University)
Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau (Université de Montréal)

Moderator: Evan Fox-Decent (McGill University Faculty of Law) 5/

Join a panel of labour experts and legal practitioners for a round-table discussion of these and other important questions related to efforts to suppress workers’ right to strike. 4/

What is behind these efforts to suppress strikes? How and why have they changed over time? How do they affect collective bargaining? Why isn’t arbitration a suitable alternative? And why do governments keep doing this? 3/

Description:

As strikes rates have risen in recent years across Québec and Canada, so too have government efforts to restrict them. These efforts are part of a long Canadian tradition of state repression of strikes, although they have evolved over time. 2/

I’m excited to be part of this round table discussion happening at @lawmcgill.bsky.social on November 10! It will feature a great panel of labour experts including @thelawofwork.bsky.social , @sibelataogul.bsky.social , Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, and me. 1/ 🧵

Great points all around Jen!

Great resource @eidlin.bsky.social . I would add that "tech" changes not just paid jobs but labour too. AI and other tech may eliminate some paid work. But they also push labour elsewhere: to unpaid system maintainers, to low-paid data and algorithm refiners in the majority world/global south, etc.

It may be that the future isn't jobless, but it's worth asking which jobs persist, who performs them, where, under what conditions. And importantly which types of *labour* are maintained, intensified, devalued, etc. Often, AI/tech create more labour, but not necessarily in the form of paid jobs.

It is also well-timed for our inter-union rally against campus austerity tomorrow at noon, when we we gather in front of the entry to campus and make loud noises together to express our views. See you there! 6/end

In this time of neo-McCarthyism, when universities are using pro-Palestine protests as a wedge to clamp down on campus protest more broadly, this is a small but welcome victory 5/

Absent a compelling case, the Quebec Superior Court denied McGill’s request for a permanent injunction.

Pointedly, the court noted that an injunction is not “meant to be a message broadcasted to the whole community to signify that certain acts will not be tolerated” 4/

McGill administrators did not make a convincing case, providing little evidence for imminent danger requiring injunctive relief aside from the Deputy Provost’s vibes that “something” might happen.

The judge was not amused. 3/

A group of campus unions along with anti-Zionist Jewish orgs @ijvcanada.bsky.social and Chavurah challenged the injunction, arguing that it would be used to restrict union members’ right to strike and have a chilling effect on campus speech 2/

‼️BREAKING‼️
Quebec court blocks McGill administration attempt to restrict campus protests.

Following months of student protests calling for action against the genocide in Gaza, McGill administration sought an injunction that would radically curtail many forms of protest 1/