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(Music Playing)
I can remember going to rallies with the foster workers.
I can remember that they were different unions who were trying to work on the issue
and I believe that was very well captured by earning the movie.
What we said out to try to do with make a movement movie.
(Music playing)
October the 3rd 1980, a historical day for Canadian labor
for the public service alliance of Canada and most of all for our perks.
Arthur Carkner: The film runs about 20 minutes and it deals with the struggle for paid maternity leave,
adoption leave, elder care and other types of family related leave in Canada
and its taking about three and a half years to produce this subject.
Janice McClelland: The NDP is always very much on side in terms of helping out women
to move forward and advocating policies on their behalf.
(Music playing)
(French Speaking) "It was the consensus among the major players who felt they should all *** on the same nail as soon as a gain was made in the public sector, of course those same arguments could then be made in the private sector. At the same time that's how it was, everyone was knocking at the same door in the hopes of breaking through. It was a bargaining priority, we made choices and those were society's choices at the time."
(People talking)
My name is Aaron Floresco.
I am a documentary film maker and I have a, I actually do fiction work as well
but it turns to love documentary for the past years and
I have directed the a film "A Struggle to Remember",
which has premier tonight here at Club Saw, saw a video.
Ah, I mean it taking sometimes to get it done so, you know,
as it often is whether it say a, in a lower budget production or major Hollywood future films.
Ah, There's a, you know there's a processing getting funding in place.
Ah, so, you know that took a little bit of time to have happen.
Ah, but surely truly you did and it was happening more and more shooting would be done ah you know it come together really well.
(Music playing)
Often times the things that we do in the labor movement are the breakthrough.
Arthur Carkner: In making at what inspired us to do this is in part of issue political framing.
The right wing often taks about family values and the argument that I think were making successful in our video
is that the Unions and Progressive people are actually done something for families.
(Music playing)
Rosemary Warskett: Before pavements leave with your wherein the night situation it was regarded that you have to leave your job.
Morally, you should leave your job and look after your children.
(Music playing)
Janice McClelland: I was a member of the other committee for labor action,
which was regarded as the very left wing group so I got it to that but I, but we also and you remember, Linda, you also got it for being a feminist.
And there was feminist debating.
I always remember a brother saying to me, "Oh, you're just in it.
Your one issue rep or you're interested in it where is the quality."
And you have to say to people, well, if the women rise up, the whole movement rises up.
And then the post two arguments way too expensive
and we should not be providing this, you know, it shoulder by the government.
(French Talking) "they offered us fairly substantial increases and they wouldn't give us something that cost less than 2 cents an hour. So once the reporters and the media understood this, they couldn't see what the problem was."
First of all, when we enter in that negotiation,
ah, we had decided that this was going to be a priority to deal with the issue of family rights.
Ah, we had this approach in previous round of negotiation that you have to achieve someone for everybody, something for everybody.
You have to achieve a breakthrough somewhere.
And you have to achieve something for a minority group.
Arthur Carkner: The other thing in looking at what inspired the film
is that when people believe they can do something, they can.
And when people work together for a cause,
they can be a real achievements and they can be a last thing achievements.
There are now millions of women in Canada and man in Canada who benefit it for some kind of family.
At the time that we first negotiated this, it was treated as unrealistic, it could never work
and yet it said a really positive effect in Canadian society
and we're really proud of the job that the labor movement
and the progressive left have done in making this a more family friendly country.
(People talking)
Robert Hatfield: I'm really pleased with what the event went this evening.
We wanted to have a good launched. We wanted to have lots people out.
I never expected that we would get as many people out as we did.
I'm Lynn Patio
and I just watched the film on the struggle for parental rights and I really enjoyed it.
It was a great capturing of the History that went on.
I didn't, I knew but parts of it but I didn't know the long History.
I really appreciate learning all through like the last century
and capturing the voices of a lot of the people who were active bargaining for some of those gains.
This is really knew to me.
I'm a first time here tonight like everybody but its first time for me to hear about all these
and I'm quite fascinated and I really enjoyed the movie.
I remembered when the project was first proposed as an idea, the Robert Hatfield and Art Carkner had
and seeing it progress and as the oral Histories were done and the editing, it's wonderful to see it completed.
The truth is, these things we won because we fought.
And people lead to understand that, I think that's key part of labor History;
to understand the fights of workers, to basically build the society we have now.
So that's, for me that's it and being part of the law, the museum, the labor history museum is something I can do to continue struggle.
Thank you.
(Music Playing)