News, Events & Comments

3 years ago hundreds of Bangladeshi garment workers were killed or injured when the factory they worked at collapsed on top of them. Canadian organizations were contractors with the Rana Plaza factory. 3 Years have passed since then, but it's worth asking if life has improved for garment workers in Bangladesh and elsewhere. The answer, unfortunately, is not very much. And although many cities around the world will participate in a global day of action on May 3rd so far Toronto is not among them, it seems. To  demand change join the Demand Safe Factories Now! campaign at any H&M store near you.See www.hmbrokenpromises.com/join-a-demo  to get involved. In solidarity with garment and all workers everywhere TorontotheBetter calls for more than concern and ritual regrets. The still new Canadian government and others globally must act where previous administrations have not.

 

Social economy proponents like TorontotheBetter largely concern ourselves with the nitty-gritty of the workplace (or lack of one) but as humans we are composites, i.e. bodies and the minds that think in them. The suicides that inevitably happen when jobs are lost and the spate of stress related illnesses that our increasingly controlling corporate workplaces seem to generate, are evidence, if more is needed, of the psychological impact of work, and on work. TorontotheBetter begins its exploration of this increasingly acknowledgesd determinant of health with a presentation by a "survivor" of the mental health system in Toronto and the GTA. Malvern reared Jaamaican-Canadian Paul Pakeman will tell his story of how he found a literal menu for wellness through factors that, in his words, the psychiatric establishment disavows.