June 28, 2010

VINCE VERSACE

Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan addresses the crowd during a G20 protest rally in Toronto on Saturday.

Organized labour rallies against corporate bailouts during G20 protest

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Thousands of demonstrators gathered on the front lawn of Queen’s Park to protest the billions of dollars spent on economic recovery worldwide which still has left workers behind, state labour leaders.

“It was not the workers of the world or the workers of Canada that caused this financial crisis,” said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). “We do not want to see the transfer of wealth from the public sector into the hands of the financial private sector. Let the financial sector, the private sector, pay for the financial crisis they created.”

The “People First!”rally was held as G20 summit leaders converged on Toronto after the G8 summit in Muskoka wrapped up. Organizers of the rally wanted to give ordinary working people “a chance to speak out” and rile against issues from government bailouts of failed banking institutions to the $1.1 billion security price tag for the two Canadian summits.

“The First Nations people are living in abject poverty and one hundred communities are living without drinking water on a daily basis,” said Ryan to the rain-soaked protesters. “Instead of spending a billion dollars on security, we could have built water treatment plants right across this province.”

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) organized the rally with the OFL. CLC president, Ken Georgetti, stressed that private financial sector leaders should take responsibility for what occurred. He said workers have been left behind, burdened by bailout measures.

“Reckless financial traders and greedy investment bankers caused it,” said Georgetti. “People lost millions of jobs and billions in savings. Governments went deep into debt to provide help and now they want us to pay with higher taxes and belt-tightening and let those bankers off the hook,” said Georgetti.

Among the members of the labour movement joining the CLC and OFL in solidarity were United Steelworkers Workers Local 1005 from Hamilton and Canadian Auto Workers union. Environmental organizations like Greenpeace and various social activists also joined labour representatives in the protest.

The rally became a focal point among the many anti-G20 rallies and protests in Toronto since it was dubbed as the largest. In the hours leading up to the rally some protesters openly stated they would test summit security, splintering off the rally’s route, and march towards the downtown security zone.

Though the initial rally was held successfully, without incident, as was the first part of its demonstration march, slowly, clashes with police and random acts of violence began to unfold in the following hours.

Numerous arrests were made as riot police and rioters clashed, four police cruisers were set on fire. Violent protesters smashed windows of retail outlets and tried to break into banks in downtown Toronto.

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