CALGARY

Environmental group finishes 7-year study on impacts of southwest ring road


CBC
Mon, November 13, 2023 

The southwest Calgary ring road wildlife underpass connects the Tsuut'ina Reserve and Weaselhead Flats. (Submitted by Lisa Dahlseide - image credit)

The Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society has finished a seven-year study on the environmental impacts of the Southwest Calgary Ring Road.

It says effects on bird life and vulnerable species have been less severe than anticipated, but erosion control efforts are "not good enough," and it has observed five sediment spills into a beaver pond near the ring road.

The non-profit's research also suggests wildlife did not frequently use a wildlife corridor that runs along the Elbow River during road construction.

"Nobody really went into this thinking that [negative impacts] wouldn't happen," said Lisa Dahlseide, the non-profit's impact study coordinator.

"But we do recognize that there's many ways that we can do better as we move forward."

The preservation society shared key takeaways from the research at its annual general meeting on Monday and plans to release a final report next month.

The Weaselhead Flats Natural Environment Park supports a range of wildlife, including smaller invertebrates.

The Weaselhead Flats Natural Environment Park supports a range of wildlife, including smaller invertebrates. (Submitted by Lisa Dahlseide.)

The southwest Calgary ring road runs between Highway 8 and Macleod Trail S.E., splitting the Tsuut'ina Reserve and Weaselhead Flats.

Major construction started in 2017 and the ring road fully opened to traffic in the fall of 2021.

The Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society began monitoring wildlife and vegetation in the area in 2006 after the project was proposed.

"It's actually a very unique study because unfortunately, globally, there's very few road studies that have baseline data," said Dahlseide.

Several bird species listed as sensitive or threatened in Alberta, including the common yellowthroat, sora and bank swallow, went undetected in the non-profit's bird surveys during road construction, but have reappeared in recent years.

Pileated woodpeckers, olive-sided flycatchers and least weasels all lost habitat due to road construction, but can still access "good quality" habitat on either side of the road, according to the society.

"We're glad to see that they haven't been as affected as we had expected … We hope that they can adapt and persist," said Dahlseide.

Noise levels in the park have also spiked, with the group's data indicating average sound pressure decibels climbed approximately 55 per cent from 2016 to 2022 — a change Dahlseide said could impact wildlife going forward.

Researchers at the Miistakis Institute are using movement-triggered cameras to monitor medium and large mammals entering and leaving the park through the wildlife corridor underpass, under the ring road.

They've captured images of beaver, moose, coyote, cougar, mule deer and white-tailed deer.

A beaver spotted by wildlife cameras near the Southwest Ring Road bridge.

A beaver spotted by wildlife cameras near the Southwest Calgary Ring Road bridge. (Submitted by the Miistakis Institute )

The institute's director,Tracy Lee, expects more wildlife will use the corridor as time passes and plant life grows.

Wildlife corridors are effective, she added, and adaptive wildlife infrastructure is typically needed for large development projects.

"As we continue to expand, we have to be cognizant of how animals are moving around the landscape. It's a number one strategy for biodiversity," said Lee.

"They have to be able to get to resources that they need to live, whether that be mates or water or food. And so we have to think about that when we're designing these systems."

The Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society says it's partnering with the City of Calgary to gather long-term data and to develop a habitat management plan for the area.

It wants the provincial government to improve erosion control and add more native vegetation along the wildlife corridor.

The provincial government has not yet responded to a request from CBC News for comment.

Quebec adds $100M to industrial land cleanup effort in eastern Montreal

CBC
Tue, November 14, 2023

Approximately $275 million has been earmarked in recent years for decontaminating land in eastern Montreal.

 (Julie Marceau/Radio-Canada - image credit)

The Quebec government is investing $100 million in an effort to acquire industrial lands in eastern Montreal and revitalize them in an effort to stimulate the economy in an area that has stagnated for decades.

The aim is to rehabilitate contaminated lands with high economic potential, said Pierre Fitzgibbon, minister of economy, innovation, and energy, in a statement Monday.

Working with partners, a new organization, Société de mise en valeur de terrains dans l'Est de Montréal (SMTEM), will purchase lands, conduct studies and do decontamination work in collaboration with the cities of Montreal and Montréal-Est.

Fitzgibbon said municipal authorities have limited powers in dealing with companies that have polluted these lands, so that's where SMTEM comes in with its substantial financial backing — an investment that brings the Legault government's spending on decontaminating land in Montreal's east side to $275 million.

An initial sum of $75 million was allocated by the Legault government for decontamination in 2018. In 2019, another $100 million was allocated, notably for the decontamination of four million square feet of land on nine municipal sites, Radio-Canada reports.

Delays, lack of spending on decontamination

Despite these investments, many developers complain of delays, both in Quebec City and at the municipal levels, as it takes time to get projects approved, permits issued and grant money released.

According to an access to information request made by Montreal's Official Opposition, only $1 million of the $100 million obtained in 2019 has been spent by the city to date through these grants.

The city of Montreal, on the other hand, says it has committed to spending approximately $56 million even if the projects have not yet started.

The eastern part of Montreal, which became one of Quebec's main industrial zones in the early 1900s, houses refineries, petrochemical complexes and heavy industry. It also borders the Port of Montreal for much of its length.

However, the sector also includes extensive residential areas and green spaces that public authorities have promised for years to develop by transforming former industrial areas into habitable zones.

This is no easy task given the intense industrial activity in this territory for more than a century.

Deprived of a rapid and modern public transportation system east of the Honoré-Beaugrand Metro station, eastern Montreal struggles to develop, even though about 10 per cent of Quebec's population resides there.

Lower life expectancy

The life expectancy in certain neighbourhoods of eastern Montreal is up to nine years lower than that of citizens on the west side of the island, according to data published in 2016 by the local health agency, CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal.

On Monday, a summit was held at the Olympic Stadium, drawing politicians from all levels of government, including Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and Anne St-Laurent, mayor of Montréal-Est.

The aim of the summit was to co-ordinate efforts between different levels of government, the private sector, the public sector, citizens and organizations to discuss how to take action.

"We know what needs to be done. We know the diagnosis. Now we need to take concrete steps," said Soraya Martinez-Ferrada.

She is the member of Parliament for the Hochelaga riding in Montreal's east end, and also Canada's tourism minister and the minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the regions of Quebec.

"Yes, there is industry. The perception of the east is that it's an area with refineries. It's grey. Maybe it's polluted, but it's also an area where you can live well with a good quality of life, and we need to develop the east with that in mind," she said.

On Friday, the federal government announced it was investing $8 million to create a linear park. And on Sunday, Montreal announced the transformation of nearly 700 hectares of wooded areas into a regional park in the east island.

CHINA

World’s largest wind turbine blows past previous record generating astounding amount of power amid typhoon

Leo Collis
Tue, November 14, 2023 

While already in the record books for being the world’s largest, a wind turbine based off the coast of Fujian Province in China has achieved another incredible milestone.

Set on the Zhangpu Liuao Phase 2 offshore wind farm, the wind turbine’s rotor diameter is about 827 feet, while the turbine’s hub is 479 feet high, Electrek reported.

During Typhoon Haikui, the mammoth installation was able to generate 384.1 megawatt-hours of electricity in the span of a day, which would be enough to power around 170,000 homes, according to South China Morning Post.

While wind speeds of 53 miles per hour would usually see a wind turbine lock its blades to prevent the system from overloading, the Goldwind’s GWH252-16MW turbine has an intelligent system that allows it to adjust its blades to account for the conditions, meaning there is no loss of power generation, as Electrek reported based on South China Morning Post’s assessment.

“We are closely monitoring critical components like the main control programme, pitch system and generators to gradually lift power restrictions while ensuring operational safety,” a spokesperson for Goldwind told the South China Morning Post, per The Independent.

The turbine’s rotor diameter of 827 feet is almost two-and-a-half times the length of an American football field with its end zones. Meanwhile, each blade can get close to breaking the speed of sound (about 767 miles per hour), coming within two-thirds of that figure, according to Euronews.green.

China’s renewable energy goals are ambitious, with an International Energy Agency report noting that the country will deliver around half of all the new global renewable power capacity between 2022 and 2027.

Furthermore, its target to reach 1,200 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic and wind power by 2030 could be achieved as early as 2025.

It all shows what can be achieved by moving away from dirty fuel and focusing on cleaner, more sustainable energy that produces zero planet-harming gases.

Thankfully, projects like China’s are found all over the world. In fact, the record the GWH252-16MW broke was set in Denmark, with Vesta’s V236-15.0 MW prototype producing 363 megawatt-hours of energy in 24 hours in August, according to Electrek.

Dreams of a 'broken up' Russia might turn into a nightmare for the West – and an opportunity for China

Susan Smith-Peter, City University of New York
Tue, November 14, 2023

THE CONVERSATION

Breaking up is hard to do. Glasshouse Images/Getty Images

Do names on a map matter? When they are in border territories, the answer is probably “yes.”

Earlier in 2023, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources ordered that new maps must use the former Chinese names of its lost territories in what is now Russia’s Far East. Vladivostok, home to Russia’s Pacific fleet headquarters, became Haishenwai; Sakhalin Island became Kuyedao. Then in late August, the ministry released a map that showed the disputed Russian territory of Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island within China’s borders.

These map moves come amid growing chatter and even calls in Western foreign policy circles for the disintegration of the Russian Federation into a multitude of smaller states. The thinking is, being split into smaller states would blunt Russia’s challenge to the West and its ability to carry on a war in Ukraine.

As a scholar of Russian regional identity and history, I believe the prospect of a broken-up Russia is unlikely, to say the least. But talk of Russia’s disintegration and the change in map names taps into themes worth exploring: Is there much appetite for independence in the far regions of the Russian state? And if there were to be breakaway regions in the Far East, would that be to the benefit of the West – or to China?
Rise of the ‘breakup boosters’

Those calling for, or predicting, the disintegration of the Russian Federation have grown in numbers since the start of the Ukraine war. In the book “Failed State: A guide to Russia’s Rupture,” political scientist Janusz Bugajski argues that the territories of the Russian Federation will in time declare independence – like during the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. This, he and others argue, would be good for everyone outside Russia. A rump Russian state would have “reduced capabilities to attack neighbors,” Bugajski argues.

The Washington Post’s David Ignatius has a gloomier view of Russian disintegration, writing in August that it would provide “a devil’s playground” that could pose a danger to the West.

Either way, a growing number of analysts are of a mind that, in the words of Russia scholar Alexander J. Motyl, it is “time to start taking the potential disintegration of Russia seriously.”

Having worked on the history of Russian regionalism for two decades, I see serious obstacles to territories declaring independence. It is certainly true that centralized authority has been to the detriment – both economically and culturally – to some of the Russian Federation’s 83 regions. But there is a lack of mass public support for autonomy – that is, the ability to decide local and regional matters within a larger state – let alone full-blown independence.

Not all regions in Russia are the same. In some, such as Tatarstan and Dagestan, autonomy has a genuine mass appeal.

But most Russian regions that favor greater autonomy are in locations that would make it difficult for them to declare independence outright because they would still be surrounded by the Russian Federation.

Those in a locations more suited to independence – say, those that have borders with neighboring countries – often face other difficulties, such as being close to China.

A view of Russia, from China. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In Russia’s Far East, there is concern among would-be breakaways that independence could lead to the possibility of an interventionist China either taking over or at least exerting its influence.
Problems of geography

“Breakup boosters” – the term I use to describe those advocating for Russia’s disintegration – assume that regions in the Russian Federation all have aspirations for independence.

But an analysis of Russian regions by Adam Lenton of Wake Forest University found a highly variable level of support for autonomy across Russian regions.



The data shows that in many of the regions that have exiled independence leaders and are talked about of being potential breakaways, the public doesn’t support that goal.

The data shows support for autonomy rather than independence. Autonomy would make the Russian Federation a real federation.

The region with by far the most support for autonomy is Tatarstan, a subnational republic led by Turkic-speaking Tatar people 447 miles south of Moscow. But arguing that this should lead to independence makes little sense – it would be completely surrounded by a hostile Russian Federation. An independent foreign and defense policy in such circumstances would be almost impossible.

Some Tatars have themselves argued against independence on this ground.

The regions of the North Caucasus have some of the highest scores, plus a foreign border with Georgia making it potentially a better candidate for independence. But the region has a bitter experience with attempts to break away. Chechnya’s attempt at independence failed after a long and bloody war.

In Siberia, the region of Tuva has high levels of support for autonomy. But it is in China’s backyard – and this would make it geographically vulnerable.
Russia’s Far East, China’s backyard

Russia’s Far East includes the Amur region along the border with China and Vladivostok. These were taken from China by Russia during the mid-19th century, when Russian general Nikolai Murav’ev-Amurskii used Russia’s greater firepower and more modern army to defeat China.

But the status of territories in the region remained contentious. In 1969, China and the Soviet Union fought a seven-month undeclared war over border issues.

After 1991, China and Russia went through several rounds of talks and treaties to ensure that the border between them was ratified by both parties, with the last treaty taking place in 2004. Even so, not all groups within China accept the results.

Textbooks in China still mention the loss of 1.5 million square kilometers to Russia and note that Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, said he would “present the bill,” meaning that Russia would have to pay what Mao perceived as the theft of territory.

The fear among some Russians – and those in the West – is that China could turn Russia’s Far East into its satellite, using it as a source of raw materials such as diamonds and gold, as well as oil and gas. And with economic hegemony comes political influence.

China faces challenges that make increasing its influence in Russia’s Far East particularly attractive now, including what experts see as a structural economic crisis and a rural education gap. Territorial expansion could provide economic growth while serving as a distraction from domestic issues.

But the breakup of the Russian Federation could also pose a security threat to China. The experience of Xinjiang serves as a warning. The region, which has been the focus of China’s persecution of the Muslim Uyghur people, had twice been a breakaway region under the protection of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Furthermore, the Chinese Communist Party will be fearful that any unrest in areas of the Russian Federation that are close to Xinjiang might spill over.

Given all this, the argument from breakup boosters that no one, other than President Vladimir Putin, would lose if the Russian Federation disintegrated is, I believe, simply not sustainable.

And rather than hastening the disintegration of the Russian Federation, polls suggest that the war in Ukraine is having a unifying effect. Many Russians who were originally against the war have become reluctant supporters of it – in part because of propaganda that has emphasized the threat from the West to Russia’s territorial integrity. Since 2021, Russia’s military doctrine has highlighted this threat, stating that one of the main issues facing the nation was groups “aimed at violating the unity and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.”

The calls in the West for the breakup of the Russian Federation might suggest to the Russian public that Putin’s territorial fears could become a reality. Moreover, dreams of a broken Russian Federation might distract those in the West from the very real problem of helping Ukraine protect its own territorial integrity.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: Susan Smith-Peter, City University of New York.

Read more:


China’s balancing act on Russian invasion of Ukraine explained


Russia wants military aid from China – here’s why this deal could help China, too

Susan Smith-Peter receives funding from the Fulbright Program, SRCC, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I volunteer for Razom for Ukraine.

DESANTISLAND
Pink to Give Away Banned Books at Florida Tour Stops

Kalia Richardson

Rolling Stone
Mon, November 13, 2023 

- Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty Images

Pink announced Monday she plans to hand out 2,000 banned books during her four concert dates in Florida. “Books have held a special joy for me from the time I was a child, and that’s why I am unwilling to stand by and watch while books are banned by schools,” she said in a press release.

The three-time Grammy-winning singer announced her collaboration with the national free speech organization PEN America during an Instagram Live with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in the U.S. Pink will also work with bookseller Books & Books to distribute four books from PEN America’s Index of Banned Books: Todd Parr’s “The Family Book,” Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” and Stacia Deutsch’s “Girls Who Code.”

Florida leads the country in book bans. In a study during the 2022 to 2023 school year, PEN America recorded more than 3,300 book bans across the U.S., a 33% jump from the previous school year. Of those books, 40% of the bans occur in Florida school districts, with 1,406 books off the shelf. Texas placed second with 625 bans. Book bans most often target female authors, LGBTQ authors, and authors of color. For example, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, backed by Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron Desantis, prohibits K-12 teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in schools.

“It’s especially hateful to see authorities take aim at books about race and racism and against LGBTQ authors and those of color,” Pink added in her statement.

The pop singer has planned performances in Miami and Sunrise, Florida, on Nov. 13 and 14, and two shows in Orlando on Nov. 18 and 19 to close out her Trustfall tour. She will hand out books on Florida’s banned list at each show.

“We have made so many strides toward equality in this country and no one should want to see this progress reversed,” Pink said.

CANADA

Union reaches tentative agreement with Integram Magna, ending strike

CBC
Mon, November 13, 2023 

Unifor members of Integram Seating in Lakeshore are on the picket line when the strike first began on Nov. 8. (Unifor Local 444/Facebook - image credit)

Workers at Integram Magna in Lakeshore reached a tentative agreement on Sunday night, the union representing workers said.

Unifor Local 444, representing about 900 workers at the seating manufacturer, had been on strike since Nov. 8.

On Sunday night, the union said members were to return to work Monday morning.

"I feel good. I mean, we had some tough bargaining going on there. We knew we had to secure not only wages and bring wages up for people, but we had to secure longevity of the facility as well with future work," said Dave Cassidy, Unifor Local 444 president.

The Patillo Road factory produces seating used in vehicles assembled at the Stellantis plant in Windsor.

The facility is part of the Magna International manufacturing group.

Reached Monday morning, Dave Niemiec, the director of corporate communications for Magna, said the company could confirm it reached a tentative agreement and that workers were back on the job.

Niemiec said ratification votes are expected later this week, but could not provide any details of the tentative agreement pending ratification.

Cassidy said that while the union didn't get everything, the deal will make Integram workers the "highest paid tier one supplier in all of Canada."

"They're going to be compensated very well, but they're worth it. They worked very hard," he said.

"We were able to achieve some very good gains for our membership which is exciting to be able to bring back to them especially under the you know the job security as well."

A tier one supplier is a plant that provides parts directly to the vehicle manufacturers.

The deal comes just two weeks after Unifor members at Stellantis voted to ratify their new collective agreement, after a brief seven-hour strike.

Stellantis was the last of the Detroit Three automakers to negotiate with Unifor in this year's auto talks.

Setting the bar

Cassidy said the deal reached with the other automakers and Stellantis sets the bar for this deal and others to come.

"The deal that we reached at Stellantis is going to be a bar setting for all of bargaining moving forward," he said.

"You know we are going to have some struggles with some of our parts suppliers as we go into the new year … and they watch what the OEM's got."

Unifor Local 444 will negotiate new collective agreements for four more tier one parts suppliers in early 2024.

Ratification votes on the deal are expected this weekend.

UAW president vows aggressive auto plant organizing -Senate testimony

Mon, November 13, 2023 

UAW union members in Belvidere, Illinois

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain will tell a Senate Committee on Tuesday the union plans to aggressively organize non-union U.S. auto plants after winning new contracts with the Detroit Three automakers.

"For decades, non-union auto companies have used fear, uncertainty, and division to break union drives in our industry," Fain will tell the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, according to written testimony seen by Reuters. "I’m here to promise you that those days are over.... We are going to organize like we’ve never organized before."

The UAW for decades has unsuccessfully sought to organize auto factories operated by foreign automakers.

Hyundai Motor said on Monday it will hike wages for nonunion U.S. production workers by 25% by 2028, weeks after the UAW won new contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis.

The Korean automaker joins Toyota Motor and Honda Motor in raising U.S. factory wages after the UAW won a new contract that will result in wage increases of 25% through 2028 and other benefits.

"We know these non-union companies are doing this because they’re scared," Fain's testimony says. "They’re scared that their workers will see that a better life is possible once they organize into a union. And these companies are trying to head that off."

The hearing will also include testimony from Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson.

Nelson's testimony also cited Honda's wage hikes.

"If non-union firms want to attract and retain qualified workers, they must compete with the unionized workers’ pay, benefits and working conditions," her testimony says. "The more of us who are unionized, the more pressure all employers face."

When U.S. President Joe Biden visited Illinois last week, he said he backed the UAW's efforts to unionize Tesla and Toyota, adding that all U.S. auto workers deserve a deal similar to the UAW's recent agreements with the Detroit Three.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by Deepa Babington)

Workers at Ford plant in Kentucky split over UAW deal

Olafimihan Oshin

The Hill 
Mon, November 13, 2023 


Productions workers at Ford-based plants in Kentucky have voted against the United Auto Workers’s (UAW) tentative agreement with the Big Three automakers.

In a Facebook post Sunday, UAW Local 862 shared that production workers who are chapter members voted down on the tentative agreement by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

In contrast, skilled trade workers who are members of the local chapter voted in favor of the proposed deal by a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent.

Members of UAW Local 862 work at the Louisville Assembly Plant and the Kentucky Truck Plant, all owned by Ford Motor Co., according to ABC News. The two plants employ more than 13,000 people, with 12,000 of them belonging to the union.

The decision comes days after the UAW, led by President Shawn Fain, reached tentative agreements with automakers including Ford, Jeep-maker Stellantis and General Motors, ending the union’s six-week strike against the major automakers.

UAW’s strike against the Big Three, the longest auto strike in 25 years, saw the auto union demand for cost-of-living pay raises, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay, union representation at new battery plants, pension increases for retirees and more.

The tentative agreements with each automaker also include 25 percent wage increases over the course of a four-year contract, among other benefits

Fain is slated to make an appearance on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where he’ll be one of several speakers at a hearing on union benefits for families, held by the Democratic-led Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The Hill has reached out to Ford and UAW Local 862 for comment and more information.

The UAW’s deal to end the auto strike could be in trouble

Chris Isidore, CNN
Tue, November 14, 2023

A growing number of rank-and-file autoworkers are voting against the deals with General Motors and Ford, despite pay increases that could come to 30% or more during the life of the contract.

The latest major setback for the deals came among Ford workers in Louisville, Kentucky, home to the company’s largest and most lucrative factories, and a GM truck factory in Flint, Michigan, a city known as the birthplace of the union.

The Ford vote in Kentucky showed 55% of the members at the Kentucky Truck plant voting against the deal. That plant went on strike with little notice on October 12, about three weeks into the strike that targeted specific plants at the company. Members at Ford’s nearby Louisville Assembly plant who belong to the same union local voted 53% in favor of the deal.

While the ratification vote at both companies still has the support of the majority of members, neither vote is large enough at this point to assure passage, especially with some large union locals yet to weigh in. A vote tracker on the UAW site shows that 65% of members at Ford who have voted so far approve of the deal. But that’s down from the more than 70% who had voted yes heading into the weekend. The GM vote is much closer with only 57% voting to ratify so far, and three other locations joining the Flint Truck plant in voting no.

A “no” vote at either company could lead to a resumption of the strike, perhaps with little notice. But it wouldn’t be unique, as there have been several instances in which the rank-and-file have voted against deals negotiated by their union and endorsed by its leadership.

The UAW members at Mack Truck voted down a tentative agreement with that heavy truck maker on October 8, and have been on strike ever since, although they are in the process of voting on a slightly different version of that rejected deal once again.

UAW President Shawn Fain has told members repeatedly that these are record contracts and wins for the members, and that the union negotiators won every last dime the companies had to offer. But he also has said the final decision on what to do is up to the rank-and-file.

While the deals give an immediate 11% pay raise to members, guaranteed wage increases totaling another 14% over the next four years and a cost-of-living adjustment that could bring wages up to more than 30% when combined with the guaranteed wages, it did not meet all of the union’s negotiating demands at the start of talks.

The union began demanding an immediate 20% raise and raises totaling 40% during the life of the contract. And it wanted a return of traditional pension plans for workers hired after 2007, who have only a 401(K) plan for their retirement, and health care coverage for retirees and their families.

When Fain and other union officials were spelling out the deals reached with the three companies on Facebook Live, comments that appeared on the feed showed many members urging other members to vote no on the deals.

Some members voicing complaints online argued that the deal didn’t do enough to help the more senior employees who had been with the companies since before 2007. Others complained about the lack of health care coverage for retirees, especially since many members retire from production jobs before they’re eligible for Medicare. And some just urged members to vote no without giving a reason.

Results are due in at other Ford locals by the the end of the this week, including the large local that represents numerous plants in the same complex in Dearborn Michigan. The votes at GM and Stellantis are likely to stretch into next week.

So far the vote at Stellantis has overwhelming support, with 82% of the members who have voted supporting the deal. So far, the only unit of the union at Stellantis to vote no is the one that represents about 300 workers at a parts distribution center in Marysville, Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Canada's Joly criticizes lack of fuel in Gaza, warns that UN may have to pause aid

Joly did not specifically name Israel in the statement posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

The Canadian Press
Tue, November 14, 2023 



OTTAWA — A lack of available fuel in the Gaza Strip will likely mean that United Nations work to support Palestinian civilians will end before Wednesday — a situation that has Canada's foreign affairs minister "extremely concerned."

"This is not acceptable," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement late Monday evening. "Civilians must be protected and enough food, fuel and water must get into Gaza so that (the UN's) life-saving work can continue."

Joly did not specifically name Israel in the statement posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

Israel declared war against Hamas after its attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages.

Weeks of retaliatory airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip since then have killed more than 11,200 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled territory. A ground offensive by the Israeli military remains underway.

Scores of people connected to Canada are still hoping to escape the territory, where the UN says nowhere is safe.

The Canadian government has faced increased pressure domestically from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, refugee settlement agencies, opposition members and municipal politicians to call for a ceasefire, in a bid to safely evacuate civilians and deliver humanitarian aid.

Joly did not mention a ceasefire in her statement on Monday, and the Canadian government has instead called for "humanitarian pauses" in the bombardments.

No Canadians were named on the list of potential evacuees allowed to cross the tightly controlled Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Tuesday.

Global Affairs Canada said Monday afternoon it is in touch with more than 250 Canadians, permanent residents and their eligible family members in the war-torn Palestinian territory. So far, 356 Canadians and their relatives have made it out of the Gaza Strip, including 10 on Monday.

"We are working day and night to bring the remaining Canadians in Gaza to safety," Joly said.

Canada is also involved in efforts to secure the safe return of hostages taken in last month's attack and brought to Gaza.

Julie Sunday, Canada's new senior official for hostage affairs, is in Qatar engaging in negotiations with partners in the Middle East, Joly said. She has recently been in Israel and Egypt as part of her mission to help facilitate the release of Israeli hostages.

Canadian Vivian Silver, a dual national previously believed to have been taken hostage, is confirmed to have died in last month's initial attack.

Silver, who moved to Israel in the 1970s, was thought to be alive and held in Gaza. But identification of some of the most badly burned remains has gone slowly, and her family was notified of her death on Monday.

A 19-year old soldier who was taken hostage has also been killed, Hamas and Israel both said, making her the first of the Oct. 17 hostages confirmed to have died in captivity.

Israel’s military on Tuesday declared Noa Marciano a fallen soldier without giving a cause of death. Meanwhile Hamas said she was killed in an Israeli strike, without providing evidence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2023.

— With files from The Associated Press.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

Jewish protesters and allies stage sit-in at California federal building demanding Gaza cease-fire
Associated Press
Updated Tue, November 14, 2023 


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APTOPIX US Israel Palestinians California
Demonstrators stage a sit-in demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. 

(AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of protesters led by Jewish peace activists calling for a cease-fire in Gaza staged a sit-in inside of the federal building in Oakland, California, leading to multiple arrests.

People wore T-shirts reading "Jews Say Cease-fire Now” and carried banners that read “Not in Our Name” and “Let Gaza Live” in the rotunda of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal building on Monday evening.

Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the protest organizers, posted online that dozens of people had been taken into custody by 9 p.m.

Protesters were escorted outside of the building by U.S. Department of Homeland Security police. Messages were sent early Tuesday to the department and to Oakland police asking how many people were arrested and on what charges.

“There is no other choice,” Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb of Berkeley told KNTV-TV when explaining why she was at the sit-in. “How many people do we have to kill before we arrive at a cease-fire?”

The protest was part of a growing number across the country following fighting triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, whose response has led to thousands of deaths — and much destruction — across Gaza.

On Monday, hundreds of Jewish peace activists and their allies converged at a major train station in downtown Chicago during rush hour blocking the entrance to the Israeli consulate and demanding U.S. support for an Israel cease-fire.

Jewish Voice for Peace led a similar sit-in in New York City’s Grand Central Station on Oct. 27, where a sea of protesters filled the main concourse during evening rush hour, chanting slogans and unfurling banners demanding a cease-fire as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. At least 200 demonstrators were detained by New York police officers.


Several hundred protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza occupied the rotunda of the federal building in downtown Oakland. There were similar demonstrations in New York and Chicago today that were also organized by Jewish groups that have called for a halt to the war between Israel and Hamas.


Jewish group in California holds protest calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war

Landon Mion
Tue, November 14, 2023 

Demonstrators led by the group Jewish Voice for Peace gathered at the rotunda inside the Oakland Federal Building in California on Monday to protest the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas terrorists.

Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself as the "largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world," posted on X Monday evening that "more than 700 Bay Area Jews and allies" were participating in the protest, which was part of a national week of Jewish-led protests calling for a cease-fire.

"We are not leaving, we demand an end to this bloodshed, we will not see Jewish grief used to perpetuate genocide," the post read.

Law enforcement began making arrests at around 8 p.m. local time after demonstrators refused orders to vacate the area, according to KTVU.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT CALLS ON STUDENTS TO CONDEMN ANTISEMITIC PHRASES; SCHOOL GROUP CLAPS BACK

President Biden, whose administration has pushed back on calls for a cease-fire, is expected to arrive in the Bay Area on Tuesday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Jewish Voice for Peace said it is calling on Biden and Vice President Harris to join Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., in calling for an immediate cease-fire.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"We demand an immediate ceasefire(sic) to protect innocent lives, deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians, ensure hostage's(sic) safe return and stop the violence," Lee said in a statement.

More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, prompting a military response from Israeli forces. Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.

The protesters said this was the first mass Jewish sit-in on the West Coast, although similar demonstrations have been held at Grand Central Station in New York and the Israeli consulate in Chicago.

CELEBRITY PAIR TO SEND MESSAGE TO JEWISH STUDENTS AFTER TROUBLING INCIDENTS ON IVY LEAGUE CAMPUS

Federal employees were forced to evacuate the building when protesters overtook it on Monday, according to KTVU. In a live stream on the JVP Bay Area Facebook, the protesters could be seen carrying banners and signs while clapping and chanting.

Filmmaker Boots Riley, of Oakland, was among the protesters at the federal building and wrote on X that "the govt of Israel does not act on behalf of, nor represent Jewish people," adding that "a bunch of us are only leaving if it's in handcuffs."

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb urged U.S. officials to end aid to Israel amid the ongoing conflict in the region, according to KTVU. Gottlieb said she has friends who have died in Gaza during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

"We're asking that Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank live and to stop sending U.S. military aid to Israel," Gottlieb said. "We are here today because our religious tradition tells us to save one life is to save an entire world."

"We are not going away no matter what happens here today in this moment," she added. "We are joining with tens of thousands, if not, millions all over the world to ask our leaders to stop killing Palestinian people."

Gottlieb said the protesters claim there is a link between Jewish safety and Palestinian safety.

"We will get nowhere if we continue to fight wars against civilians," she said.

Last week, Israel agreed to a four-hour daily pause in Gaza to allow civilians to evacuate the region.

Original article source: Jewish group in California holds protest calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war


Protesters occupy Oakland Federal Building, call for ceasefire in Gaza

Joey Horta
Mon, November 13, 2023 at 6:10 PM MST·4 min read

OAKLAND, Calif. - Several hundred people took over the rotunda inside the Oakland Federal Building on Monday and hundreds refused to leave. The protest, tied to the war in the Middle East, ended with demonstrators either arrested or detained.

Protesters held signs that read "Jews say Ceasefire Now'.

Shortly after 8 p.m., law enforcement began arresting demonstrators who refused to vacate.

The protest is part of a national week of Jewish-led protests calling for a ceasefire. In a news release, the group Jewish Voice for Peace, said as many as 600 demonstrators are on hand who took action at 4 p.m.

This also comes as President Biden is headed to the Bay Area for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The president is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.

The demonstrators say this is the first mass Jewish sit-in on the West Coast, mirroring similar actions at Grand Central Station in New York and the Israeli consulate in Chicago. It's described as the largest Jewish protest over the Middle East conflict on the West Coast.

Jewish Voice for Peace said they are calling on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to follow the lead of Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee in her calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Lee, in a statement said, "We demand an immediate ceasefire to protect innocent lives, deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians, ensure hostage's safe return and stop the violence."

When demonstrators overtook the building, federal employees were forced to evacuate. But the protesters came in peace. They were armed with banners, they made a lot of noise by clapping and chanting.

Among those protesting are allies including noted filmmaker, Boots Riley, of Oakland. On social media, he posted, "The govt of Israel does not act on behalf of, nor represent Jewish people." He followed up by saying, "A bunch of us are only leaving if it's in handcuffs."

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first women to become a rabbi, according to the protest group, asked for U.S. government officials not to weaponize the people's grief by committing genocide.

"We're asking that Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank live and to stop sending U.S. military aid to Israel," Gottlieb said. She noted that more than 15,000 people have died from this conflict in the last three weeks alone – more than have died in the Russia-Ukraine war, she said. "We are here today because our religious tradition tells us to save one life is to save an entire world."

Gottlieb said she has had friends who have died in Gaza during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

"We are not going away no matter what happens here today in this moment. We are joining with tens of thousands, if not, millions all over the world to ask our leaders to stop killing Palestinian people." She said the protesters believe Jewish safety and Palestinians' safety are linked. "We will get nowhere if we continue to fight wars against civilians."

Last week, Israel agreed to a four-hour daily pause in Gaza to allow civilians to flee.

Oakland Police Department officers are at the scene. Police said they are assisting the Federal Protective Service with the demonstration. Early in the protest law enforcement seemed to show restraint and did not make arrests. Streets in the area of the federal building, located at 1301 Clay Street, are closed and there is yellow police tape present.

Shortly before 8 p.m., Riley said Homeland Security began giving orders to disperse. One of his posts shows video of an officer shouting out an order, but he's drowned out by seated peaceful protesters singing, "Ceasefire now…"

We've since been told by organizers that law enforcement has made multiple arrests after about 450 people refused to leave. We are working to get confirmed numbers on arrests or possible detainment of demonstrators from law


Oakland Federal Building protest.

Hundreds Stage Anti-War Sit-In at Oakland Federal Building
Storyful
Tue, November 14, 2023 

A number of protesters were arrested after hundreds of people occupied the Oakland Federal Building Conference Center on November 13, and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, local media reported.

Video posted to Facebook by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence shows protesters gathered inside the rotunda and chanting “Let Gaza live”.

The Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Bay Area said in a post to X “We are not leaving, we demand an end to this bloodshed, we will not see Jewish grief used to perpetuate genocide.” Credit: Center for Jewish Nonviolence via Storyful
Video Transcript

[CLAPPING]

- Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live.

Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza live. Let Gaza--

Jewish protesters block Israeli Consulate office in Chicago demanding cease-fire in Gaza
Zareen Syed, Chicago Tribune
Mon, November 13, 2023 

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

CHICAGO — Some commuters arriving downtown Monday morning at Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center were met with protesters calling for an end to the Israeli government’s bombing of Gaza.

More than 1,000 Jewish peace activists gathered outside the Israeli Consulate located in the Ogilvie building to deliver an urgent call for a cease-fire in Gaza, where more than 11,000 Palestinians — including thousands of children — have been killed since Oct. 7.

The crisis in Gaza didn’t start Oct. 7, but it intensified that day when Israel was attacked by Hamas — which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization — kidnapping about 240 people and killing 1,200 others.

“We’re shutting down the consulate because business as usual can’t continue when Israel is committing a genocidal assault on Gaza in our name,” said Simone Pass Tucker, a member of the IfNotNow movement.

On Monday, alongside IfNotNow, organizers from Jewish Voice for Peace and Never Again Action made speeches, sang songs and prayed.

The mass action took over the escalators that go up to where the Israeli consulate offices are located and protesters spread out holding a large white sheet with “Jews say ceasefire now” written across it.

Most commuters kept walking by, while some stopped to watch the demonstration. A spokesperson for Metra said that trains continued to run normally, but commuters weren’t able to use the main doors at 500 W. Madison St. to leave the station.

Jodi Melamed, a Jewish Voice for Peace member from Milwaukee, said she hopes the message is clear that Joe Biden’s administration must stop its “insane complicity.”

“We’re here in anger and rage as Jews and as American citizens,” she said. “We really feel that fighting for Palestinian life is the same thing as fighting antisemitism. It’s the same thing as fighting Islamophobia. These are all part of the same fight. Our history makes us stand up for every life. It doesn’t condone genocide.”

Michael Wolfe, chapter organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace, said he too has been trying to dispel the argument that “pro-Palestine equals antisemitism.”

“It’s incredibly dangerous when the Israeli government does what it does, and says that they’re doing it in the name of the Jewish people. It just creates so much confusion that actually makes it harder for people like me to have a real conversation about what antisemitism really is,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe’s aunt and cousins live in Israel, and he noted how they’re able to move freely across the country, while Palestinians living in Gaza or the West Bank cannot.

“The textbook definition of apartheid is to have two different sets of rights for people. Palestinians don’t deserve this,” he said. “I’m continually humbled by the generosity that the Palestinians extend. ... I have a friend who lost more than 34 members of her family (in the attacks on Gaza), and she’s like, ‘Is your family OK?’ This is why we’re doing this.”

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, 100 people were arrested Monday for blocking the entrance to the Israeli Consulate. The Chicago Police Department was not immediately available to confirm those arrests.

“Today’s action was the largest demonstration of Midwest Jews in solidarity with Palestinians in history,” Wolfe said.

He said it’s important to keep the momentum going. “People are resigning from the State Department; congressional staff are telling us privately that it’s working,” he said. “I do have hope.”

Israeli hostage families start 5-day march on Netanyahu's home

MORE IMPORTANT THAN JINGOIST MARCH IN WASHINGTON 
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
November 14, 2023 



TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The families of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip kicked off a five-day march on Tuesday from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to demand the government does much more to secure their release.

Hamas fighters took around 240 people hostage during their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The captives ranged in age from nine months to 85 and are believed to be being held in tunnels deep under the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under fierce criticism from some relatives for not doing more to secure their release as the Israeli military pushes deep into Gaza with an order to destroy Hamas.

"I demand from Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet to give us answers and actions," said Shelly Shem Tov, whose 21-year-old son Omer was dragged into Gaza five weeks ago.

"Where are you? Where are you?" she said, addressing the government in an impassioned plea at the start of the march.

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Monday it was ready to release up to 70 women and children hostages in return for a five-day truce and the release of 275 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.

It said Israel was "procrastinating and evading" the price of the deal.


Netanyahu has so far rejected any talk of a ceasefire, telling NBC News on Sunday that he would only be willing to pause the fighting if all the hostages were freed.

He added that the best way to secure a deal was to maintain military pressure on Hamas. "That's the one thing that might create a deal and if a deal is available, well, we will talk about it when it's there," he said.

Israel says Hamas has lost control of the coastal enclave. Medical officials say more than 11,100 Palestinians, around 40 % of them children, have died as a result of Israeli strikes.

The Gaza militants have so far released four hostages, the last on Oct. 23. The Israeli military on Tuesday confirmed the death of a captive soldier, who Hamas said was killed in an Israeli strike.

The Tel Aviv marchers will end their protest on Saturday in front of Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, some 65 km (40 miles) away.

"I don't feel like we are in good hands. We don't feel like we get enough information. We fell into the darkness. We want answers," said Amit Zach, the nephew of 72-year-old hostage Adina Moshe.

"I don't have a solution, but it's not my job to get a solution. It's my job to demand my family back," he added.

Holding up pictures of the captives, the crowd chanted "Bring them home now!" One man shouted: "Everyone!"

(Reporting by Joseph Campbell in Tel Aviv and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Christina Fincher)

Canadian Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, feared to be held hostage, confirmed killed in Hamas attacks

CBC
Mon, November 13, 2023 

Canadian Israeli humanitarian and peace activist Vivian Silver, 74, was believed to have been taken hostage during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. (Submitted by Yonatan Zeigen - image credit)

Vivian Silver, a Canadian Israeli peace activist whose family said they believed was taken hostage from her home in southern Israel when Hamas-led militants carried out a surprise assault on Oct. 7, was killed in the initial attacks, her family confirms.

Demonstrators in Washington back Israel, denounce antisemitism

Updated Tue, November 14, 2023 




Demonstrators in Washington back Israel, denounce antisemitism
Israeli Americans and supporters of Israel gather in solidarity with Israel and protest against antisemitism, in Washington

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington on Tuesday for a "March for Israel" to show solidarity with Israel in its war with Hamas and condemn rising antisemitism.

Streets were closed around much of downtown amid heightened security, as people gathered in bright sunshine on the National Mall, many draped in Israeli and U.S. flags.

“We are here to show the world that we won’t be exterminated again," said Marco Abbou, 57, a personal trainer from Hackensack, New Jersey, who is originally from Israel.

Protests and public demonstrations — both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel — have rippled around the world since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Hamas rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israel, and taking about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel responded with a strict blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza, and an aerial bombardment and ground offensive that Palestinian authorities say has killed more than 11,000 people, around 40% of them children.

As well as protests, the conflict has sparked a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the United States including violent assaults and online harassment, according to advocacy groups.

Organizers of Tuesday's demonstration said they estimated 200,000 people were attending to show U.S. support for Israel, demand the release of hostages and condemn antisemitic violence and harassment.

The largest demonstration in Washington so far related to the conflict on Nov. 4 drew thousands who called for the U.S. government, Israel's main backer, to call for a ceasefire.

'NOT INTERESTED IN PEACE'

“A ceasefire is a pause that would allow Hamas to rearm,” said Ariel Ben-Chitrit, 33, a federal government worker from Herndon, Virginia, who was carrying a blue and white Israeli flag at Tuesday's protest.

Ben-Chitrit expressed regret that Palestinian civilians were suffering and Gaza hospitals being subjected to extreme conditions, but said the only way to end the conflict was to eliminate Hamas.

“Hamas has proven they are not interested in peace," he said.

The Biden administration has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire but has urged Israel to grant pauses in the fighting for civilians to move to safer locations and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Underscoring support in the U.S. Congress for Israel, busloads of senators and members of the House of Representatives attended the pro-Israel rally. Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate's Democratic majority leader, and the highest-ranking Jewish elected U.S. official, rescheduled his weekly press conference so he could attend.

Authorities ordered an increased police presence for the demonstration, the House of Representative's Sergeant at Arms said in a notice on Monday, adding there was no specific threat but measures were being taken out of an abundance of caution.

Tuesday's rally included Orthodox Jews wearing long black coats and black felt hats, gaggles of children, and self-described “progressive liberals” such as Erica Taxin, 56, a yoga studio owner from Philadelphia.

She said she disagreed with other progressives calling for a ceasefire.

“We can disagree about some of Israel’s policies. What I do disagree with is that this was terrorism,” she said of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.

The militants “didn’t just take hostages but killed children and peacemakers,” she said, referring to murdered Israeli activists who advocated peace with the Palestinians. “How does that have anything to do with social justice?"

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Daniel Wallis)