Union of Unemployed Workers
Organization profile published 1983

Year Published:  1983
Resource Type:  Organization
Cx Number:  CX2776

Abstract: 
The UNION OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS (UUW) is a "non-partisan poltical action group whose purpose is to organize the unemployed". The UUW calls itself a union because its aims are the same as the labour movement's: "full employment in a healthy work environment where workers have a real voice in the conditions of their employment". The UUW believes that "employment is a right not a privilege", and is pressuring the government for meaningful jobs and demanding the extension of unemployed insurance benefits.

The UUW sponsored a March for Jobs on May 28th, 1983. Some of their demands were:
- People before profits;
- an economic policy for jobs;
- restrain profits not wages;
- freeze on evictions and foreclosures;
- reverse social service cutbacks; and
- extended public work programme at union wages.

As a result of UUW's efforts, Bell Canada was forced to delay and possibly withdraw its plan to charge some new customers defined as "credit risks" a $100 deposit. This policy discriminates against those people who can least afford to pay such a charge: the enemployed, students, and the poor.

The UUW also sponsored demonstrations at Jobmart in protest of its practice of charging $50 for job postings which in most cases had already been published in the newspapers. Jobmart was subsquently forced to establish a refund policy.

The UUW has recently formed a Women's Committee that has developed a statement on women and unemployment and participated in two International Women's Day events. The Women's Committee is currently setting an agenda for its future discussion and work; suggestions and requests for information are welcome. The UUW also includes: Membership and Mobilization, Press and Publicity, and Labour Committees.

This abstract was published in the Connexions Digest in 1983.

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