CAWLS: Pathways to empowerment

by Levy Abad

A few days ago, I was invited by Migrante Manitoba to join one of the panels for the 12th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS). The conference was from June 3rd to 5th with the theme: Solidarity Unbound, Work and Labour in an Age of Intersecting Crises. It was part of the Labour Studies Program of the University of Manitoba.

CAWLS was founded on April 20, 2013, at what is now Toronto Metropolitan University, primarily to further labour research and workers’ rights in Canada and around the world (https://cawls.ca/en/about-cawls/).

The conference was a great opportunity to discuss my research on the Filipino Labour Leaders of Winnipeg 1968-1998, Giving Back Paying Forward. The panel that I was part of was titled, Filipino labour organizing in Çanada: Collective power towards Migrant Justice amidst Precarity. Other panel members were Chris Sorio (York University/ Secretary General -Migrante Canada), Diwa Marcelino (Migrante Manitoba), Lawrenz Decano (York University and Chair of the Panel), and Angela Gail Ciceron (University of Manitoba). There were a number of relevant labour-related topics lined up for the three-day conference. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend two panels on the first day.

It was also an opportunity for me to ask Chris Sorio about the importance of CAWLS. Chris shared his thoughts: “As a community activist and activist-scholar, I see the value of the CAWLS in its potential to create a space where scholarship remains connected to workers’ lived experiences, collective struggles, and aspirations for social change, rather than becoming detached from them. At its best, labour studies are not simply about studying workers. It is about engaging with the realities they have and contributing to efforts to build collective power and social justice.” Reflecting on this idea of Chris’ brings me back to my book, which, aside from my archival research, is coupled with actual immersion in the community that lived the labour narrative from 1968-98. This period saw the community’s engagement with labour issues through collective struggles by forming associations like the Filipino Garment Workers’ Association and joining labour unions (Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union Local 459, CUPE, CAW, UFCW, USW, Unite, UNITE HERE, UNIFOR) to expose labour issues and advocate for policy changes.

Chris Sorio added, “Participating in CAWLS raises an important question. How can labour studies become more accountable to workers themselves, particularly precarious, migrant and racialized workers whose experiences are often researched and analyzed, but whose voices remain marginalized, within both academia and organized labour? As researchers, educators, and activists, we must continually reflect on whom our work serves, whose knowledge is valued and how our scholarship can contribute to the struggle for dignity, equity and worker empowerment.” Chris’s comments are reflective of the actual situation in the community, where there is a dearth in organic activists’ scholarship. What we have are archival materials like community newspapers and community narratives in the First Filipino Immigrants of Manitoba (1959-1975) (G. Dalayoan, L. Enverga-Magsino, & L. Bailon, 2005). It is hoped that in the future, the community will produce more than synthesizing community struggles and further advance migrant (labour) rights and welfare.

Chris concluded, “For me, the challenge is not only to produce knowledge about workers, but to produce knowledge that is useful, accessible and accountable to the communities and movements that inspire it. In this sense, CAWLS offers an important opportunity to bridge the worlds of scholarship and struggle, rooted in the experiences of the working people and relevant to the challenges they face daily.” Having the information is important, but as Chris pointed out, the information should also be accessible. Labour scholarship should reflect the lived experiences of the Winnipeg Filipino diaspora labour community, rather than sounding too academic or technical. By being accessible, this knowledge is like the proverbial mustard seed that will grow to bear the fruits of empowerment.