Latest news with #Mihai
Vancouver Sun
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Media union backtracks on Gaza statement that blamed Israel alone for the ongoing war
Complaints by members of a Canadian media union over a public statement on dangers faced by on-the-ground journalists in Gaza prompted a quick edit that didn't blame only Israel for the crisis. The Canadian Media Guild (CMG), a trade union representing 6,000 Canadian media workers, issued a statement Thursday afternoon decrying the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its impact on journalism and journalists, but several union members were upset their union's statement blamed just one side in the conflict. The CMG statement is titled 'Journalists in Gaza.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'Many journalists in Gaza have died during this war, either actively at work or seeking shelter with their families,' the statement says. 'Over the past week, the world has relied on the work of remaining journalists in Gaza to document the starvation and continued bombings, even as organizations have raised alarms over the declining health of these media workers and their families.' The CMG statement calls on the Israeli government to allow international journalists access to Gaza to report on the situation. Several news agencies recently reported on harsh conditions facing freelance journalists they rely on for on-the-ground reporting inside Gaza. The union's original statement concluded: 'The CMG also join (other media organizations, humanitarian groups, and governments) in calling on the Israeli government to end the hostilities, cease the inhumane treatment of civilians in Gaza, and allow the flow of necessary food and supplies provided by international humanitarian organizations into the territory.' It was that last sentence that particularly bothered some members. 'The problem with the press release was if you knew nothing about the conflict and just read that press release, you would have the impression that Israel mounted an unprovoked attack on Palestinian civilians in an attempt to annihilate them,' said a CMG union member who works at CBC and who asked not to be named for fear of jeopardizing union support in a precarious job market. 'There is no mention of Hamas' role in any of this; not in the massacre that triggered the war, not for holding hostages, and most significantly in terms of this press release, no mention of Hamas looting aid delivery,' the member said. The union's executive soon received 'feedback from members,' prompting a re-evaluation and an edit the following day, said Andreea Mihai, spokeswoman for the CMG. 'In response to feedback from members, we clarified the language in the statement to underscore our call for 'all parties' to cease hostilities and to reaffirm our focus on the safety of media professionals,' Mihai told National Post. The updated version of the release , changed late Friday afternoon, leaves that last sentence intact but adds a postscript below it, reading: 'Finally, the CMG calls on all parties to end the hostilities and cease the inhumane treatment of civilians in the region.' The new version of the release includes a notation: 'This communication has been adjusted for clarification.' Mihai said that as a media union, the CMG 'believes it is essential to recognize and respond to the impact global conflicts have on both our members and media workers worldwide,' Mihai said. 'The statement issued by CMG is part of that ongoing commitment to advocate for the protection of all media workers, regardless of location or employer. It called for humanitarian access, journalistic freedom, and an end to hostilities; values that are at the core of our work as a union. 'Our intention was not to take a political stance, but to draw attention to the unacceptable conditions faced by journalists and reaffirm the essential role they play in keeping the world informed,' she said. The union member, who said several other members expressed similar concerns, said the union's original statement could make reporting on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza more difficult for its members. 'The fact that there is no acknowledgement that there is culpability beyond just Israel makes it clear that the union is picking a side, and that's disgraceful when you consider it is a union representing thousands of journalists whose job it is to be impartial observers.' The CMG controversy is another example of internal conflict that can arise when unions that represent diverse memberships take public stances on divisive issues, particularly outside of their core mandates. Broader social activism has long been a sensitive feature of trade unions, from its century-old roots when unionization was often seen as an ideological battle between socialism and capitalism. As unionism embraced more industries and increasingly diverse workers, internal quarrels arose from union support for political parties or stands on divisive social issues, especially emotional matters, such as international wars, abortion rights, apartheid, and more recently, transgender rights. The Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's fierce response in Gaza have been particularly polarizing. Public stances on issues can be particularly sensitive for unions representing news workers. Reporters sometimes complain of their union advocating for a political party — just as they sometimes complain of their employers publishing editorial endorsements — while they are out in the field trying to remain impartial. The CMG is the collective bargaining representative for workers at the English and French sides of CBC, Canadian workers at news agencies The Canadian Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse, and some TV and radio stations, including Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and TV Ontario. Their members are in a range of media jobs, from on-air hosts and reporters who audiences see and read, to producers, photographers, support staff and customer service workers. In May, the union released a statement urging governments to prioritize the safety of journalists and media workers 'as deaths rise in the Israel–Gaza conflict.' Earlier in July, the union called for immediate protection of journalists in Iran. • Email: ahumphreys@ | X: AD_Humphreys Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Edmonton Journal
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Media union backtracks on Gaza statement that blamed Israel alone for the ongoing war
Article content 'In response to feedback from members, we clarified the language in the statement to underscore our call for 'all parties' to cease hostilities and to reaffirm our focus on the safety of media professionals,' Mihai told National Post. Article content The updated version of the release, changed late Friday afternoon, leaves that last sentence intact but adds a postscript below it, reading: 'Finally, the CMG calls on all parties to end the hostilities and cease the inhumane treatment of civilians in the region.' Article content The new version of the release includes a notation: 'This communication has been adjusted for clarification.' Article content Mihai said that as a media union, the CMG 'believes it is essential to recognize and respond to the impact global conflicts have on both our members and media workers worldwide,' Mihai said. Article content 'The statement issued by CMG is part of that ongoing commitment to advocate for the protection of all media workers, regardless of location or employer. It called for humanitarian access, journalistic freedom, and an end to hostilities; values that are at the core of our work as a union. Article content Article content 'Our intention was not to take a political stance, but to draw attention to the unacceptable conditions faced by journalists and reaffirm the essential role they play in keeping the world informed,' she said. Article content The union member, who said several other members expressed similar concerns, said the union's original statement could make reporting on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza more difficult for its members. Article content 'The fact that there is no acknowledgement that there is culpability beyond just Israel makes it clear that the union is picking a side, and that's disgraceful when you consider it is a union representing thousands of journalists whose job it is to be impartial observers.' Article content The CMG controversy is another example of internal conflict that can arise when unions that represent diverse memberships take public stances on divisive issues, particularly outside of their core mandates. Article content Article content Broader social activism has long been a sensitive feature of trade unions, from its century-old roots when unionization was often seen as an ideological battle between socialism and capitalism. As unionism embraced more industries and increasingly diverse workers, internal quarrels arose from union support for political parties or stands on divisive social issues, especially emotional matters, such as international wars, abortion rights, apartheid, and more recently, transgender rights. Article content The Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's fierce response in Gaza have been particularly polarizing. Article content Public stances on issues can be particularly sensitive for unions representing news workers. Reporters sometimes complain of their union advocating for a political party — just as they sometimes complain of their employers publishing editorial endorsements — while they are out in the field trying to remain impartial.
Telegraph
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Why Starmer's homelessness reform could see Britain overrun by rough sleepers
The 'tent city' on Park Lane, in the central reservation near Hyde Park Corner, comprises 23 tents, tables, office chairs, shopping trolleys and washing lines. A neatly stacked pile of bin bags lies to one side while Lime bikes have been discarded around the settlement. A handful of large white signs are stacked up, reading: 'I'm hungry, God bless.' Those living here suggest there is little difference between their circumstances and those of the thousands of rough sleepers across the country, who will be decriminalised under plans announced by Sir Keir Starmer this week. To tourists, residents and those working in the surrounding Mayfair streets, however, the scene might more aptly be described as illegal camping. 'It's not good at all, but we don't have a permanent place where we can wait for approval from City Hall [for housing],' says Mihai, 54, from Romania, the only inhabitant prepared to speak to The Telegraph, who refuses to give his surname. 'Would you like to live here?' He says he has lived at the site for two years, has indefinite leave to remain in the UK and works as a cleaner. He has also camped at Marble Arch and in Hyde Park. There were more people in the camp previously, he says, but they have gradually been found housing. A mile to the east, at Tottenham Court Road, Mel, 60, who also refuses to give his surname, lives in another encampment with his nephews Danny, 27, and Liam, 22, and their dogs, Cain and Sierra. Mel was born in west London and says he used to have three full-time jobs – in sales and advertising, as an estate agent and as a supervisor at a bowling alley – but has been living on the street for six years since he was kicked out of his council house over a dispute with a neighbour. 'It's not a choice for me living on the street,' he says. 'If it was, I wouldn't have been here for nearly seven years now.' He adds that Romanian migrants are more comfortable living this way. 'People from other places have a tent mentality,' he says. 'What bugs me is we're a first-world country, and these people don't have the understanding that when you come to a better country, you have to make yourself better. You can't just stand on the corner drinking beer and whistling at women. It's easy for them because they grew up in desolate countries.' The situation in central London encapsulates the complexity of legislating around homelessness. On Tuesday, the Government announced plans to decriminalise rough sleeping, continuing a Tory proposal from 2022 to repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act. The Bill was originally brought in to deal with rising homelessness after the Napoleonic Wars and has long been considered out of date, with references to 'vagabonds' and 'rogues'. 'We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support,' said Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister. 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and, by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.' To ensure the police still have authority to combat antisocial behaviour, the Government promised to create new offences, including facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously included under the 1824 Act. Experts warn legislation against begging may yet rub up against the European Convention on Human Rights; in 2021, the court ruled that Switzerland had violated human rights when it fined a woman who had been begging. Homelessness is a global issue, of course, and there is a huge range of government responses to it. While Britain is moving to decriminalise rough sleeping, America has gone in the other direction. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that punishing rough sleepers was not a 'cruel and unusual punishment,', as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. Homelessness has become a pressing problem in several American cities, most notoriously San Francisco. An estimated 771,000 Americans were homeless last year, more than any year on record. Since the ruling, at least 163 municipalities have passed rules banning camping. There are signs that policy is working. Last year, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, promised 'no more excuses' for the state with the highest 'unsheltered' rate in the country. Since encampments began to be cleared after the Supreme Court ruling, California's rate has stabilised. While, nationwide, homelessness increased by 18 per cent, in California it rose by just 3 per cent. In Fresno, California, members of the public can now report camps via an app. Rough sleepers could face fines of up to $1,000 or a year in prison, or they can ask to be taken to a shelter to discuss treatment or housing. When asked about whether the new rules were simply moving homeless people out of sight, Jerry Dyer, the city's Republican mayor and its former police chief, recently told The Economist: 'I'm sure there are people that have now chosen places that are less visible publicly, which is not a bad thing.' Some fear that the relaxing of rules in the UK will lead to the proliferation of rough sleeping seen in California prior to last year's Supreme Court ruling, in which Park Lane-style encampments spread across the country. 'San Francisco is the worst example but loads of these Left-wing-run cities in America have taken an approach of non-enforcement of laws around rough sleeping and petty crime,' says Fred de Fossard, the strategy director of the Prosperity Institute and a former Tory special adviser at the Cabinet Office, highlighting the absurdity of the UK taking such an approach when the United States is tacking in the opposite direction. 'Repealing the Vagrancy Act paves the way for [American levels of rough sleeping] here. This, in turn, will lead to a clamp-down in the future that will be 'more authoritarian than people are comfortable with and it will be entirely avoidable because we have taken a misguided, short-termist approach to these laws. This will fortify these encampments and make it harder for police to get rid of genuine criminals.' Certainly, those in charge of clearing encampments such as the one at Park Lane may wish police had similar powers to their US counterparts. The problem has been rumbling on for years. Last month, a court granted Transport for London (TfL), which owns the land, a possession order to remove the camp on Park Lane. A TfL spokesman said: 'We had to take enforcement action to regain possession of the site on two occasions last year; however, a number of people have returned with tents and other belongings.' David Spencer, the head of crime and justice at Policy Exchange, a think tank, and a former Met Police officer, says the situation at Park Lane encapsulates the difficulties facing those trying to disperse groups of rough sleepers, and the risks of removing their powers. 'Aggressive begging, rough sleeping and associated antisocial behaviour are things residents bring up all the time with the police,' he says. 'The reality is that they are issues which the police and local authorities are not able or willing to get to grips with. The police would never look at arrest and prosecution in the first instance, but what the Government is doing is removing the backstop, taking away almost any power the police has to deal with it. 'What we risk is a constant slide towards the degradation of our public realm, with government, police, authorities seeming to take a more permissive attitude to things like graffiti, begging, rough sleeping, fare dodging, which come up all the time with law-abiding people going about their lives,' he adds. 'People are sympathetic to those who find themselves in these situations, but we risk taking away the backstop that lets authorities do something about it. If we look at Park Lane, things have really got out of control. While some rough sleepers in central London beg, others manage to work, often in marginal gig-economy employment as delivery drivers or kitchen porters. Others choose to leave offered accommodation altogether. In June 2023, dozens of asylum seekers camped outside the accommodation they were offered in Pimlico, having balked at the prospect of sleeping four to a room. Signs by their camp read: 'This is a prison, not a hotel.' The Home Office stated that the accommodation was offered on a 'no-choice basis' and met 'all legal and contractual requirements.' In May 2024, Sadiq Khan pledged to end rough sleeping by 2030, and secured £17 million in central funding to do so. But if dealing with homeless people who want to find accommodation is difficult enough, what to do about those who – like the asylum seekers in Pimlico – prefer to sleep outside? Rough sleeping is only the most visible form of homelessness, which can also include living in temporary accommodation, sofa-surfing – sometimes called 'hidden homelessness' – and statutory homelessness, where a tenant has been served an eviction notice. The nature of rough sleeping can be difficult to quantify. According to the Ministry of Housing, which collates estimates from local authorities, there are around 2,000 rough sleepers in London, a figure that has more than doubled since the pandemic. Its data show that in that period, rough sleeping has risen across the country, in some areas by many multiples, including 1050 per cent in Charnwood, Leicestershire. Other sources put the figures much higher. According to the homelessness charity St Mungo's, there were 4,427 people recorded rough sleeping in London in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 8 per cent on the same period last year. 'More people are becoming homeless and people are staying homeless for longer,' says Sean Palmer, the executive director of strategy and transformation at St Mungo's. 'It's getting more difficult to move people off of the streets, because there's not a supply of social housing, there's a block at the end of the system.' Rough sleeping has already been in effect decriminalised, with only five people sentenced for 'sleeping out' in England and Wales since 2017. Begging prosecutions have also fallen: the 160 sentences handed down for begging in 2024 was the lowest annual total on record, less than a fifth of the series high in 2018. But Palmer says the law can still have a deterrent effect on people seeking help: 'The Act as it is now isn't good for our clients, people suffering from homelessness and people rough sleeping. Sometimes it encourages them to hide more because they don't want to be criminalised and are less likely to receive the help and support they need to resolve their homelessness.' He says Mungo's clients come from a wide range of situations. 'It could be problems with the housing market, problems with money. A lot of people are bouncing around insecure accommodation and eventually they run out of goodwill and end up on the streets. Often our clients have backgrounds in the care system, sometimes in the military. Often people are leaving a government institution – they might be discharged from hospital, or be being moved on from the asylum system, or they might have left prison. 'I can't see how criminalising someone is helpful. We see the numbers of people coming out of the criminal justice system into homelessness. Feeding them back into the criminal justice system for being homeless, or feeding people who are homeless for other reasons back into the justice system, seems entirely counterproductive.' Proposed new offences target aggressive beggars and gangs, rather than individuals. The cautionary example of the US, however, shows what can happen when authorities have insufficient powers to disperse rough sleepers. The knottier issue at the heart of legislation is that many people don't think camping ought to be illegal and have great sympathy for those who find themselves homeless, even if they object to the sight of tent cities in some of London's most prestigious areas. The legal fudges reflect this Nimbyism. It also means that as a political issue, rough sleeping will not be moving along any time soon.
Gulf Today
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Rats, rotting waste as rubbish row blights UK's city
On a normal day in an ordinary English street there would be nothing special about the arrival of a bin lorry. But in Birmingham, the UK's second city, a rare garbage truck visit brings crowds of people rushing into the road, their arms full of rubbish. Residents are desperately trying to get rid of an estimated 17,000 tonnes of trash that has piled up since refuse workers ramped up a strike last month. Now, as bin bags swelter in the spring sun and rats, foxes, and cats claw through mounting heaps of litter, many people in Birmingham feel the city has reached breaking point. Four weeks in, the city council has declared a 'major incident,' the prime minister has had to defend the government's response in parliament, and residents say their problems are worsening by the day. 'There was a bin fire on the end of our street the other night,' said Abel Mihai, 23, who lives in the Saltley area of the city where mounds of ripening rubbish have attracted worms, maggots and vermin. 'It's scary — I'm worried for my kids,' he said, adding the pest-infested piles were affecting his three-year-old son's health. 'Every time he goes out the back he vomits from the smell,' Mihai said. 'We need to do something about it,' his eight-year-old daughter Vanessa told AFP. 'It's not good.' At the centre of the dispute is a pay row between the cash-strapped city council and refuse workers belonging to the Unite union, which says some staff employed by the council stand to lose £8,000 ($10,400) per year under a planned restructuring of the refuse service. The quarrel also plays into wider problems in British society — from stretched local council funding to sweeping inequality. Residents in poorer areas of the city in England's Midlands region told AFP they felt neglected, and questioned whether the trouble would have spiralled in wealthier parts of the country. City Councillor Mohammed Idrees said he was also worried about Birmingham's reputation. The city of over a million people is known for its industrial heritage and rich multicultural makeup — but he said the strike was 'creating a very bad image throughout the world.' The council has disputed the union's account of the restructure and insists it has 'made a fair and reasonable offer' to workers. But at a union picket line outside a city waste depot, refuse collectors told AFP they felt insulted by the changes, which they said would amount to a hefty pay cut for hundreds of workers. Wayne Bishop, a 59-year-old driver and union member, said he would lose his position under the shake-up and be around £600 per month worse-off. He said the job was gruelling work and deserved to be paid fairly. 'We can't afford that for our toil,' he said. 'We go out all weathers, we was out in Covid, we just can't afford to lose that with the cost of living going up.' The industrial action has been rumbling on since January, but increased to an all-out strike on March 11. It's now begun to cause a political stink for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Confronted by the opposition in parliament on Wednesday, he admitted the situation in Birmingham was 'completely unacceptable' — but insisted his government would provide extra support and stood by the council, which is run by Starmer's Labour party. Residents are tired of waiting though, and some have taken matters into their own hands. The special waste truck visit on the street in Saltley on Wednesday was arranged by members of a community centre who contacted a local councillor for assistance. Organiser Hubaish Mohammed, 26, said the Hutton Hall group had helped hundreds of people lug their rubbish to the temporary collection site, where residents load their waste onto trucks staffed by non-striking workers. Staff said they'd helped collect around 45 tonnes of waste in a single day. 'It's been a graft but we're here to look after the community,' Mohammed said. 'We had to take the initiative.'
Khaleej Times
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Rats and rotting waste as rubbish row blights UK's second city
On a normal day in an ordinary English street there would be nothing special about the arrival of a bin lorry. But in Birmingham, the UK's second city, a rare garbage truck visit brings crowds of people rushing into the road, their arms full of rubbish. Residents are desperately trying to get rid of an estimated 17,000 tonnes of trash that has piled up since refuse workers ramped up a strike last month. Now, as bin bags swelter in the spring sun and rats, foxes, and cats claw through mounting heaps of litter, many people in Birmingham feel the city has reached breaking point. Four weeks in, the city council has declared a "major incident," the prime minister has had to defend the government's response in parliament, and residents say their problems are worsening by the day. "There was a bin fire on the end of our street the other night," said Abel Mihai, 23, who lives in the Saltley area of the city where mounds of ripening rubbish have attracted worms, maggots and vermin. "It's scary -- I'm worried for my kids," he said, adding the pest-infested piles were affecting his three-year-old son's health. "Every time he goes out the back he vomits from the smell," Mihai said. "We need to do something about it," his eight-year-old daughter Vanessa told AFP. "It's not good." At the centre of the dispute is a pay row between the cash-strapped city council and refuse workers belonging to the Unite union, which says some staff employed by the council stand to lose £8,000 ($10,400) per year under a planned restructuring of the refuse service. The quarrel also plays into wider problems in British society -- from stretched local council funding to sweeping inequality. Residents in poorer areas of the city in England's Midlands region told AFP they felt neglected, and questioned whether the trouble would have spiralled in wealthier parts of the country. Pay cut fears City Councillor Mohammed Idrees said he was also worried about Birmingham's reputation. The city of over a million people is known for its industrial heritage and rich multicultural makeup -- but he said the strike was "creating a very bad image throughout the world." The council has disputed the union's account of the restructure and insists it has "made a fair and reasonable offer" to workers. But at a union picket line outside a city waste depot, refuse collectors told AFP they felt insulted by the changes, which they said would amount to a hefty pay cut for hundreds of workers. Wayne Bishop, a 59-year-old driver and union member, said he would lose his position under the shake-up and be around £600 per month worse-off. He said the job was gruelling work and deserved to be paid fairly. "We can't afford that for our toil," he said. "We go out all weathers, we was out in Covid, we just can't afford to lose that with the cost of living going up." The industrial action has been rumbling on since January, but increased to an all-out strike on March 11. It's now begun to cause a political stink for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Confronted by the opposition in parliament on Wednesday, he admitted the situation in Birmingham was "completely unacceptable" -- but insisted his government would provide extra support and stood by the council, which is run by Starmer's Labour party. Residents are tired of waiting though, and some have taken matters into their own hands. The special waste truck visit on the street in Saltley on Wednesday was arranged by members of a community centre who contacted a local councillor for assistance. Organiser Hubaish Mohammed, 26, said the Hutton Hall group had helped hundreds of people lug their rubbish to the temporary collection site, where residents load their waste onto trucks staffed by non-striking workers. Staff said they'd helped collect around 45 tonnes of waste in a single day. "It's been a graft but we're here to look after the community," Mohammed said. "We had to take the initiative." lcm/jkb/ach © Agence France-Presse
