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Ford just changed who can get Ontario Works and ODSP.
The new rules shut more migrants out of basic financial and health supports. Here is who is affected, why it matters and why we need to speak up.
What are Ontario Works and ODSP?In Ontario, financial support is available to some people who need help paying for basic needs.
Ontario Works (OW) supports people with little or no income. The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) supports low-income people who meet the program’s disability requirements.
These programs are already small and exclusionary. A single person on Ontario Works receives only $733 per month – nowhere near enough to pay rent, buy groceries and meet basic needs.
That amount has been frozen for eight years.
What did Ford change on August 13?On August 13, 2026 the Ford government changed Ontario’s OW and ODSP regulations to explicitly exclude people based on their immigration status.
The new rules say that people are not eligible if they:
- do not have authorization to remain in Canada; or
- are only authorized to remain temporarily, including people on work and study permits,
unless they fall within specific exceptions, including having made a refugee claim or certain applications for permanent residence.
The same new exclusion was added to ODSP.
The government also removed an existing protection for some people with enforceable removal orders who cannot leave Canada for reasons completely beyond their control.
The new rules Immigration situationBefore August 13: what the regulations saidSince August 13: what the regulations sayRefugee claimantsCould qualify for ODSP and OW. No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirementsPeople who have applied for permanent residenceCould qualify for ODSP and OW. No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirements.Migrant workers, international students and other work permit holdersThe regulations did not explicitly say that everyone with temporary status was ineligible. They excluded people categorized as “visitors” and “tourists”.Now explicitly excluded.Undocumented people without an enforceable removal orderCould qualify for ODSP and OW. Now explicitly excluded. People with an enforceable removal order who cannot leave Canada for reasons completely beyond their controlCould qualify for ODSP and OW. Now explicitly excluded.People with an enforceable removal order who have made an H&C application for permanent residenceCould qualify for ODSP and OW. No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirements.Before August 13, the regulations excluded “visitors” and “tourists,” but neither term was defined in the legislation or regulation.
The Ford government has now removed those words and replaced them with much broader language explicitly covering temporary immigration status and lack of immigration status.
Were migrants receiving OW and ODSP?Ontario had a longstanding unjust practice of caseworkers treating many people with work and study permits as “visitors.” As a result, many migrants were often denied OW or ODSP. Those who could, challenged those decisions at the Social Benefits Tribunal.
The regulations did not previously say that every person with temporary immigration status, or every person without immigration status, was automatically excluded, so hearings at the Tribunal were often successful.
The Ministry describes this as a “clarification” of its longstanding policy. But what it has actually done is put a much broader immigration-status exclusion directly into Ontario law.
Who will this hurt?These rules affect people who may have lived, worked and paid taxes in Ontario for years and then suddenly need help because of illness, unemployment, abuse or another crisis.
Patel: Patel is a 40-year-old man who came to Canada from Bangladesh after fleeing persecution because of his bisexuality. His immigration applications were denied, but he was afraid to return. He was later diagnosed with liver failure and cirrhosis. Because of his serious health condition, Canada cannot remove him. ODSP provides him with essential financial and medical support. Ford has now removed that protection. People in Patel’s situation can now be denied the basic financial and health supports they need to survive.
John: John is a 30-year-old seasonal agricultural worker from Jamaica who has been coming to Canada every year since 2020 to grow and harvest our food. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2024. He could not work while receiving chemotherapy and temporarily relied on Ontario Works. Today, John is in remission and back at work. Under Ford’s new regulation, most workers in John’s immigration situation are now explicitly excluded from Ontario Works.
Vanessa: Vanessa is a mother from Jamaica who worked as a home support worker caring for elderly people. During the pandemic, she fled abuse from her ex-partner with her children and entered the shelter system. After losing her job, she temporarily relied on Ontario Works while looking for work and child care. Her family later became permanent residents and she returned to care work. Under the new regulations, migrant women on temporary status in similar situations can be explicitly denied basic financial support while trying to escape violence or survive a crisis.
Why is the Ford government doing this?Meanwhile, Ontario’s Auditor General found that the Ford government spent a record $111.9 million on government advertising in 2024–25. Six of its ten largest advertising campaigns would not have passed Ontario’s former, stricter rules against partisan government advertising.
And while poor people and migrants struggle to pay rent and buy food, Premier Ford used taxpayer money to buy a $28.9 million dollar jet for his own private use. Members of Ford’s government have spent hundreds of thousands of public dollars on hotel rooms and fancy dinners.
The government announced these changes after media attention around a Social Benefits Tribunal case involving a man who had lived and worked in Canada for decades before losing his home. He challenged the denial of social assistance and won. Ford responded by changing the regulations.
No one should be denied food, housing, medicine or the means to survive because of the immigration documents they have or do not have.
At a time when rent and food prices are soaring and decent jobs are harder to find, blaming migrants will not make anyone’s life more affordable.
Taking $733 a month away from someone with cancer, someone escaping violence or someone who has lost their job will not lower the rent, raise wages or fix health care.
These changes are another attempt to pit migrants and poor people against each other while those responsible for the affordability crisis escape responsibility.
We must reject divide-and-rule and speak up together.
I’m a migrant and I’m worried. Where can I get support?Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is a group of current and former migrants. We come together to support each other and push back against unfair rules and laws like these.
If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, we offer free, confidential, in-person Migrant Support Clinics every second Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
You can share what is happening and work with other migrants to understand your options and find solutions.
Can’t come in person? Fill out the form anyway and we will get back to you.
The post Ford just changed who can get Ontario Works and ODSP. first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
The post Ford just changed who can get Ontario Works and ODSP. appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
Migrant Farm Worker Safety During Niagara Elections
A pledge for Niagara municipal candidates
Road Safety for AllEveryone deserves the freedom to move safely through their community. Migrant farm workers are asking candidates to commit to practical action so that every worker can get to work, reach essential services and return home safely.
See where candidates stand Read the commitments Candidate? Sign the pledge Sign the petitionFreedom of mobility
Road safety is about the freedom to live a full life.Freedom of mobility means being able to travel between work, home, grocery stores, health care, legal services and community without risking your life.
For many migrant farm workers, there is little or no public transit. Workers may have no choice but to walk or cycle on dark rural roads without safe shoulders, bike lanes, crossings or lighting to get privacy and access basic needs.
Essential Work. Invisible to public planning.Migrant workers have helped sustain Niagara’s farms and food economy for sixty years. Their labour is visible everywhere. Their safety, transportation needs and voices have too often been missing from road design, transit planning and government decisions.
They have names
These deaths and injuries are part of a pattern.At least seven migrant farm workers have been killed or seriously injured on Niagara roads since 2019. Behind that number are workers, neighbours, friends and family members.
2026 Sinhue GarciaSinhue was killed while cycling home on Concession 6 near Line 4 in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He was 39 years old and leaves behind his wife and two daughters in Mexico.
2019 ZenaidaZenaida, a Mexican farm worker and mother, was killed in a hit-and-run in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
2022 Fermin Soto Sanchez and two co-workersFermin was killed and two of his co-workers were seriously injured when they were struck near St. Catharines.
2022 Ceto ReidCeto, a Jamaican farm worker, was seriously injured while cycling home from a laundromat.
2023 OmarOmar, a migrant farm worker, was injured in a hit-and-run on Lakeshore Road.
Sinhue Garcia was a neighbour, a co-worker, a friend and a father. He deserved to get home safely. So does every migrant worker who comes to Niagara to work.
The Road Safety for All Pledge
Candidates who sign commit to:Working with migrant farm workers, community members, municipal staff and regional partners to advance the following actions.
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Create and fund a migrant farm worker road safety plan
Support multi-year funding for improved lighting, protected shoulders or bike lanes, traffic calming, safer crossings and lower speeds on routes used by workers.
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Complete a worker-led road safety audit and map
Ensure migrant farm workers directly identify dangerous roads, routes and destinations and help set priorities for action.
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Put worker-identified routes into municipal and regional plans
Use transportation and master planning processes to prioritize routes identified by migrant workers.
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Assign responsibility and report publicly on progress
Identify a lead Niagara Region staff person and provide at least two public reports to council each year: one before and one after the height of the agricultural season from May to September.
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Ensure migrant worker housing is safe and dignified
Support proactive inspections through Niagara Region Public Health, including access to basic facilities, privacy, adequate space and protection from unsafe conditions.
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Call for a coroner’s inquest
Publicly support a coroner’s inquest into migrant farm worker road deaths and serious injuries in Niagara.
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Meet directly with migrant farm workers
Hold direct meetings with workers and release a public implementation plan during the first year of the new council.
For municipal candidates
Sign the pledgeAdd your name to publicly commit to the Road Safety for All Pledge and to working directly with migrant farm workers on implementation.
By signing, you commit to supporting all seven actions listed above.Your contact information will be used to confirm your response and communicate with you about the pledge. Only information you have agreed to make public should be published.
Candidate pledge formPlease complete the form below. We will follow up to confirm your response.
For everyone
Justice for Sinhue GarciaAdd your name to demand safer roads and real support for migrant workers in Niagara. Together, we can push municipal leaders to act so no one else is killed simply trying to get home.
Send a message now calling for safer roads, dignified housing and action with migrant workers at the table. Sign the petitionAdd your name and send your message to decision-makers.
The post Migrant Farm Worker Safety During Niagara Elections first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
The post Migrant Farm Worker Safety During Niagara Elections appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
Are you an Undocumented Care Worker in Toronto? Join Our Meeting.
Join a private and confidential meeting for undocumented care workers.
Request an invitation Meeting details
Saturday, August 8
3:00–5:00 p.m.
In person in Toronto
The location will be shared only with people who are invited and confirmed to attend.
Who is this meeting for?This meeting is for people who:
- Live in the City of Toronto
- Do not currently have valid immigration status in Canada
- Currently work or have previously worked in care
The criteria for this meeting were set by the City of Toronto, which is funding this project.
Space is limited. We will review responses and contact people who are invited.
People who are invited and attend the full two-hour meeting will receive:- A $50 gift card
- Food
- PRESTO fare
- Access to health care, housing, transit and other City services
- What support undocumented care workers need
- Problems at work, including low wages, unpaid wages, abuse or unfair treatment
- Immigration status, permits and access to permanent residency
- What needs to change in Toronto and across Canada
Your experiences will help us identify the changes, services and resources undocumented care workers need. We will also share information about services and support available in Toronto.
Need support or do not meet the criteria?Contact us for support , join us as a member or call 437-518-8662.
This is a private and confidential process. Your name, immigration status, employer information and other personal information will not be shared with the City of Toronto, immigration authorities or your employer. We will not contact your current or former employer. Request an invitationShare your information below. We will contact you if you are invited and send you the meeting location.
Request an invitation (function () { var registrationSection = document.getElementById("mwac-registration"); var stickyButton = document.getElementById( "mwac-mobile-register-button" ); if ( !registrationSection || !stickyButton || !("IntersectionObserver" in window) ) { return; } var observer = new IntersectionObserver( function (entries) { entries.forEach(function (entry) { if (entry.isIntersecting) { stickyButton.classList.add("is-hidden"); } else { stickyButton.classList.remove("is-hidden"); } }); }, { threshold: 0.08 } ); observer.observe(registrationSection); })();The post Are you an Undocumented Care Worker in Toronto? Join Our Meeting. first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
The post Are you an Undocumented Care Worker in Toronto? Join Our Meeting. appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
Petition: Justice for Sinhue Garcia. Safer roads and support for migrant workers now.
Sinhue Garcia, a migrant farmworker from Mexico, was killed while riding his bicycle in rural Niagara-on-the-Lake. He leaves behind a wife, two children, and many loved ones. He is not the first. At least six other migrant farmworkers have been killed or seriously injured on Niagara roads in recent years.
Send the email nowWe grieve with Sinhue’s family, friends, co-workers, and the migrant worker community. But his death is not an isolated tragedy.
Migrant farmworkers keep Niagara’s farms, greenhouses, wineries, restaurants, and food system running. Too many have no choice but to travel long rural roads by bike or on foot, often at night, without safe transportation, wide shoulders, bike lanes, proper lighting, or access to public transit.
This is a public safety crisis and reflects serious gaps in road infrastructure, housing, workplace protections, and political responsibility.
We are calling for action at every level of government.- Safer roads and transportation, including lighting, protected shoulders and bike lanes, lower speeds, and traffic calming.
- Worker-led road safety planning, with dangerous routes identified by workers, acted on, and publicly reported.
- Safe and dignified housing, with stronger standards and enforcement.
- More control over work schedules and protection from reprisals, so workers can make decisions about their own safety.
- A coroner’s inquest, compensation, and support for injured workers and families of workers who die in Canada.
- Permanent resident status so migrant workers can speak up, change jobs, and exercise their rights without fear.
Migrant workers are not disposable. They are our neighbours, co-workers, friends, and community members. They deserve to live with dignity.
Send an email now to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada, and election candidates.
This petition is co-hosted by Niagara Community Legal Clinic, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and other local migrant worker organizations.
Send the emailAdd your name. You can edit the message before sending.
One message goes to all listed decision-makers. It takes less than two minutes. Every message increases public pressure. Migrant workers feed our communities, care for our families, and keep the economy running. Safe roads, safe work, support and permanent resident status cannot wait.The post Petition: Justice for Sinhue Garcia. Safer roads and support for migrant workers now. first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
The post Petition: Justice for Sinhue Garcia. Safer roads and support for migrant workers now. appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
ACTION ALERT: Pittsburgh City Council Considers New Slush Fund for Downtown Developers—on our Dime
Developers are asking Pittsburgh City Council to vote on another major tax giveaway scheme – giving up to $200 million dollars to a handful of Downtown private real estate companies, without any requirements around public benefit. This vote to implement the Downtown Transit Revitalization Improvement District (TRID) will divert tax revenue from the Strip District, Downtown and the North Shore for the next 40 (!) years into the coffers of private corporations.
Right now, when working people and our public agencies are struggling to make ends meet, Pittsburgh City Council is being asked (via the Urban Redevelopment Authority) to hand the Golden Triangle yet another golden ticket.
Take Action: Tell Council to fund neighborhoods, not developers What is the TRID proposal?A TRID is a type of legislation intended to fund transit improvements—but this one won’t do that. Instead, here’s how this proposal would work:
- The City (i.e., taxpayers) would initially borrow $50 million to invest exclusively in the TRID area: the Strip District, parts of the North Shore, and Downtown. This money would effectively be a grant paid to wealthy developers, with the City gambling on future tax revenue to pay down the debt.
- Many Downtown developers are concurrently challenging their commercial property assessments, so that they could pay lower taxes in the future.
- Many Downtown developers are concurrently challenging their commercial property assessments, so that they could pay lower taxes in the future.
- Only 20% of this money would be invested in public infrastructure—but they’ve not named any particular public projects that would benefit. By contrast, the remaining 80% has been earmarked for specific, private, for-profit real estate developers.
- All future public tax dollars from Downtown, the Strip District, and the North Shore for the next 40 years would be diverted to a “Golden Triangle Reinvestment Fund”, exclusively financing development in a small pocket of Downtown. This fund would be controlled by the non-elected Urban Redevelopment Agency (URA)—not City Council, a public body that is accountable to the public.
Members of Pittsburgh City Council and the Mayor’s administration have said that we are facing a massive City budget crisis. So why are they fast-tracking a $200 million handout to Downtown developers, with almost no public process?
What’s at stakeWe have already given almost a billion dollars to Downtown developers in tax breaks over the past 5 years. Enough is enough.
Our communities deserve so much more: public transit infrastructure, affordable housing, local food initiatives, street and sidewalk repairs, childcare programs and more. These are critical investments for the well-being of our City—and we cannot fund them if our City Councilmembers signs away millions in tax dollars to private developers for the next four decades.
Transit riders must tell our elected officials to vote NO on implementing the Downtown Transit Revitalization Investment District (TRID). Public dollars – whether borrowed or generated from tax revenue – should be invested across all communities – from Fairywood to Fineview, Brookline to Bloomfield. Our resources should be allocated through the annual City budgeting process, with robust public input to ensure that our tax resources are distributed equitably and address the needs of the moment.
We say: no more handouts to Downtown corporations until our neighborhoods, our small businesses, our workers and our students are given their fair share!
Take Action NowAfter you send a letter, CALL your City Councilmember to urge them to vote NO (find your councilmember here):
- District 1 (Northside, Strip District, Parts of Downtown):
Bobby Wilson (412) 255-2135 - District 2 (West End, Sheraden, Elliott, Banksville):
Kim Salinetro (412) 255-8963 - District 3 (Oakland, Southside, Arlington, Allentown):
Bob Charland (412) 255-2130 - District 4 (Beechview, Brookline, Carrick, Overbrook):
Anthony Coghill (412) 255-2131 - District 5 (Greenfield, Hazelwood, Lincoln Pl, Swisshelm Park):
Barb Warwick (412) 255-8965 - District 6 (Manchester, Downtown, The Hill, Uptown, Perry Hilltop):
Danielle Lavelle (412) 255-2134 - District 7 (Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, Polish Hill, Stanton Heights) :
Deb Gross (412) 255-2140 - District 8 (Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Oakland):
Erika Strassburger (412) 255-2133 - District 9 (East Liberty, Larimer, Homewood, Garfield):
Khari Mosley (412) 255-2137
The post ACTION ALERT: Pittsburgh City Council Considers New Slush Fund for Downtown Developers—on our Dime appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
Transporte Público para la Gente: Únete a la campaña de Socios 2026
Me llamo Evelyn Ulysse Alcántara. Uso el transporte público a diario para ir al trabajo, al médico, actividades de ocio, reuniones, llevar a mi hijo al colegio— para todo.
Soy latina y mi inglés no es perfecto, así que cuando me mudé a Pittsburgh me costó usar el transporte público porque había muy poca información disponible en español. Por eso me ofrecí de voluntaria para ayudar como embajadora en los Recorridos de tránsito de PPT. Fue muy frustrante y aislante intentar aprender a usar el sistema de transporte público por mi cuenta. Sabía que si podía hacer algo para apoyar el aprendizaje de mi comunidad, ¡tenía que hacerlo!
Ser miembro de PPT no solo ha mejorado mis propias necesidades de transporte. Me abrió la puerta para ayudarme a marcar la diferencia.
Cuando hubo recortes en el transporte público en Beechview, hubo ocasiones en que el autobús o el Tren no venían—y no sabía la razón, porque los cambios sólo se comunicaban en inglés. Pero hoy, si vas a Steel Plaza o Wood Street Station, ¡escucharás anuncios en español! Y hay instrucciones paso a paso en español en la web de PRT. Esto se debe a que PPT y Casa San José se unieron para dar voz a mi comunidad, para que PRT pudiera entender el verdadero impacto que esto estaba teniendo en nosotros.
Este es el verdadero poder de PPT: realmente escuchan a la gente.
Cuando descubrí que PPT, me pedían testimonios sobre el papel que tiene el transporte público en la vida de las personas, para mostrar lo importante que sería un programa de media tarifa. Sabía que tenía que dar mi testimonio, porque necesitábamos actuar para mejorar el acceso. En aquel entonces solo era una idea y un proyecto, pero hoy es una realidad que lleva el servicio de transporte a la gente.
Me encanta el PPT porque sé de primera mano lo que podemos lograr juntos.
Solo en 2026:
- Llevamos a 120 miembros a Harrisburg para arrojar luz sobre la brecha presupuestaria de 80 millones de dólares y enfatizar la importancia de los servicios para tránsito y viajes compartidos para nuestros representantes.
- Compartimos habilidades y construimos poder con 170 personas de todo el país, compartimos habilidades y construyeron poder en nuestro Entrenamiento de Primavera 2026.
- Formamos a 13 becarios de organización comunitaria en toda la colina del barrio de PGH, y las regiones de Lancaster y Lehigh Valley en Pensilvania.
Por eso quería preguntar: ¿apoyarán el trabajo urgente de PPT haciéndote miembro que paga cuotas hoy?
Puedes apuntarte por solo 2,75 $, ¡el precio actual del billete de autobús del PRT! Ese dinero va directamente a la defensa de un presupuesto de transporte que mueve a TODOS los habitantes de Pensilvania. Todo el mundo merece acceso al transporte público.
¿Nos ayudarás a hacer realidad ese sueño?
The post Transporte Público para la Gente: Únete a la campaña de Socios 2026 appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
Transit for the People: Join the 2026 Member Drive
Image Description: Evelyn Ulysse Alcantara, a dark-skinned woman in a red PPT shirt, smiles in front of a collaged picture of Pittsburgh
I’m a mother and member of the Latino community fighting with PPT for a transit system that truly serves everyone. Will you join me by becoming a dues-paying member? Donate to become a PPT member!My name is Evelyn Ulysse Alcantara. I use public transportation daily for going to work, the doctor, leisure activities, meetings, bringing my son to school—everything.
I’m Latina and my English isn’t perfect, so when I first moved to Pittsburgh I struggled to use public transportation because there was so little information available in Spanish. This is why I volunteered to help be an ambassador for PPT’s Transit Tours. It was so frustrating and isolating to try and learn how to use the system by myself. I knew that if I could do something to support my community’s learning, I had to do it!
Being a PPT member hasn’t just improved my own transit needs. It opened the door to help me make a difference.
When there were cuts to transit in Beechview, there were times the bus or T didn’t come—and I didn’t know why because the changes were only communicated in English. But today, if you go to Steel Plaza or Wood Street Station, you’ll hear announcements in Spanish! And there are step by step instructions in Spanish on PRT’s website. This is because PPT and Casa San Jose came together to uplift my community’s voice, so that PRT could understand the true impact this was having on us.
This is PPT’s real power: they truly listen to the people.
When I first found out about PPT, they were asking for testimonies about the role transit has in people’s lives, to show how important a half-fare program would be. I knew I had to give my testimony, because we needed to take action to improve access. Back then it was just an idea, but today it’s a reality that brings transit service to the people!
I love PPT because I know firsthand what we can accomplish together.
In 2026 alone, we have:
- We brought 120 members to Harrisburg to shed light on the $80 million dollar transit budget gap, and emphasise the importance of paratransit and shared ride services to our representatives.
- We trained 13 community organizing fellows across the Hilltop neighborhood of PGH, and the Lancaster and Lehigh Valley regions of PA.
- Shared skills and built power with 170 people from across the country at our 2026 Spring Training.
That’s why I wanted to ask: will you support PPT’s urgent work by becoming a dues-paying member today?
You can join for just $2.75—the current cost of a PRT bus fare! That money goes directly towards advocacy for a transit budget that moves ALL Pennsylvanians. Everyone deserves access to public transportation. Will you help us make that dream a reality?
Donate now to join Evelyn as a member—and build transit for the people!The post Transit for the People: Join the 2026 Member Drive appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
From remunicipalisation to the democracy of the commons
By Vanessa Mascia Turri
Naples became one of Europe’s most ambitious experiments in democratic water governance after Italy’s 2011 referendum against water privatisation. Yet bringing water back into public hands did not necessarily redistribute power over how water itself would be governed.
In 2011, after the Italian referendum against water privatisation, Naples became one of the most ambitious experiments in remunicipalised water governance in Europe. The city transformed its water utility into ABC Napoli (Acqua Bene Comune Napoli), a publicly owned entity presented not simply as a return to public management, but as an attempt to implement the “democracy of the commons” theorised by the Italian Forum of Water Movements.
Within this perspective, water was understood not only as a public service, but as a common good whose governance should involve the direct participation of citizens and social movements.
Over the following decade, Naples became a testing ground for a broader political question that has emerged across many remunicipalisation struggles: what happens when the language and practices of the commons enter public institutions? The Neapolitan experience shows that bringing water back into public hands does not automatically democratise its governance. Instead, participation became continuously negotiated and reshaped through political conflict, financial pressures and struggles over who should control public resources.
From water struggles to the democracy of the commonsSince the early 2000s, struggles against water privatisation have connected local mobilisations to broader debates around the commons. Struggles against water privatisation in Europe have often gone beyond opposition to market reforms and increasingly connected demands for public ownership with broader claims around the commons and direct democracy, as explored throughout the Reimagining, remembering and reclaiming water series. In many countries, water movements have challenged not only privatisation, but also the idea that essential services should be governed through technocratic and top-down forms of management, increasingly linking water struggles to broader claims around the commons and direct democracy, as discussed in Transforming capitalism? The role of the commons and direct democracy in struggles against water privatisation in Europe.
In Italy, these debates converged in the Italian Forum of Water Movements, one of the broadest water movements in Europe. As broader discussions around the commons in Italy have shown, these debates extended well beyond water itself and raised wider questions about collective resources, democracy and institutional change. Under the slogan “si scrive acqua, si legge democrazia” (“it is written water, it is read democracy”), the movement argued that remunicipalisation should involve not only public ownership, but also direct civic participation in water governance.
Naples became the most ambitious attempt to translate this political vision into institutional practice.
Poster from the 2011 Italian referendum campaign against water privatization reading “Water is not for sale.” Image courtesy of the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua.
Naples became the most ambitious attempt to translate this political vision into institutional practice.
Yet public and academic debates on remunicipalisation have often focused on privatisation conflicts and legal transitions, paying far less attention to what happens afterwards. How are participatory mechanisms actually organised inside remunicipalised utilities? How much power are institutions willing to share with social movements and citizens once remunicipalisation has taken place?
My article From theory to practice: evaluating civic participation in Naples’ remunicipalised water service examines these questions through the case of ABC Napoli, reconstructing how participation was progressively organised, contested and reshaped during the decade following remunicipalisation.
Participation and the limits of the commonsAt the moment of remunicipalisation, Naples faced deteriorated infrastructures, chronic underinvestment and a massive municipal public debt. For many activists of the Neapolitan water movement, remunicipalisation was therefore not only about public ownership, but also about transforming the priorities of water governance through ecological restoration, infrastructural investment and more equitable access to water.
Over the following decade, ABC Napoli experimented with different forms of civic participation. Initially, the municipal government opened the board of directors to representatives linked to the Italian Forum of Water Movements and to environmental associations. Yet local activists who had led the mobilisation against privatisation were largely excluded from these arrangements, generating immediate tensions over who had the legitimacy to participate in the governance of the utility.
The most ambitious participatory experiment emerged with the creation of the Civic Council, a public assembly open to citizens, activists and ABC workers. Meetings were held directly inside the company and addressed issues such as tariffs, infrastructure maintenance, hiring policies and investment priorities. Delegates from the assemblies also participated in discussions with the board of directors, creating one of the most advanced attempts in Europe to institutionalise direct civic participation inside a remunicipalised water utility.
However, participation became far more conflictual once these assemblies started intervening in concrete political and economic questions. Members of the Civic Council promoted long-term infrastructural investments and the recruitment of specialised personnel while defending the financial stability of the utility. According to several interviewees, these priorities increasingly clashed with those of the municipal government, which was more focused on short-term employment policies and the management of public-sector jobs within a broader context marked by debt, unemployment and political pressures surrounding public employment.
These tensions ultimately led to the removal of the board of directors and to the progressive weakening of participatory governance. In the following years, participation increasingly shifted towards weak consultative mechanisms with limited influence over decision-making processes. Many activists gradually distanced themselves from the experiment, while severe financial constraints continued to limit investments in infrastructures and ecological renewal.
Rather than evolving towards deeper forms of democratic governance, the Neapolitan experience progressively revealed the difficulties of institutionalising the “democracy of the commons” within existing municipal structures and political priorities.
Remunicipalisation without democratisation?Poster from the Italian public water movement following the 2011 referendum campaign, emphasising water as a public right rather than a source of profit. Image courtesy of the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua.
The experience of ABC Napoli complicates many celebratory narratives surrounding remunicipalisation. Bringing water back into public hands did not automatically redistribute power inside public governance. On the contrary, the Neapolitan case shows how quickly the language of the commons can become absorbed into existing institutional structures once participation starts challenging concrete political and economic interests.
The weakening of participatory governance inside ABC Napoli did not result from a lack of civic mobilisation or technical expertise. Quite the opposite: activists involved in the water movement developed increasingly detailed proposals on tariffs, infrastructures and long-term investments, becoming capable of intervening directly in the governance of the utility. Participation became problematic precisely when it stopped being symbolic and started questioning how public resources, infrastructures and employment should be managed.
In Naples, these tensions unfolded within a broader context marked by public debt, deteriorated infrastructures, unemployment and long-standing systems of political mediation surrounding public-sector employment. Under these conditions, the “democracy of the commons” increasingly collided with the political and administrative logics shaping municipal governance.
More broadly, the Neapolitan experience suggests that remunicipalisation alone cannot democratise essential services without a real willingness from public institutions to share decision-making power. Commons become politically difficult when they move beyond participation as consultation and start demanding participation as co-governance.
Rather than offering a linear model of democratic transformation, Naples reveals the unresolved tensions that emerge when social movements attempt to institutionalise the commons inside existing state structures. The question, then, is not simply whether remunicipalisation is possible, but whether public institutions are truly willing to democratise the power through which public resources are governed.
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Featured image: Protest sign reading “Public water, public management. Clear?” during a demonstration of the Italian water movement. Photo courtesy of the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua (acquabenecomune.org).
The post From remunicipalisation to the democracy of the commons appeared first on Undisciplined Environments.
Russian socialists: “Solidarity means accepting Ukrainians’ pain and suffering as our own”
Organising action on climate and social justice: what next
NEW We the People Story Map
Backbone Intern Giacomo Moody's Story Map for We the People is now LIVE!.
The Story Map traces the journey of this Iconic image, from its 2007 debut at Seattle Center to its current deployments in pro-democracy protests around the country. Check out Giacomo's great work and the amazing fruits of our collective labors.
Learn more about joining us in DC or pitching in to support our team going to Washington, DC to mark the 250th Birthday of this country. We'll once again take the streets in a defiant and beautiful expression of common cause and our shared commitment to fulfilling mission of creating a more just, sustainable, and democratic nation, and a future we can be proud to hand our children.
Check out the We the People Story Map at BackboneCampaign.org/WeThePeople.
We the People on display at Folklife 2026!
We the People featured at NW Folklife Festival this weekend!
Two copies will be at Seattle Center this weekend at the NW Folklife Festival, one at the Mural Amphitheater Stage, near the Space Needle and another in the International Fountain Pavilion, with pens for signing. Use this chance to add your signature in time for it to be taken to DC this July 4th!
Over the last 19 years, Backbone's giant We the People banner has served as an icon of people power and our aspirations to fulfill the shared mission of creating a more perfect union. Adding two more Preamble sections has allowed it to appear in even more cities in the past year, collecting signatures and grabbing the attention of the press and public as a symbol of resistance and resilience.
How the Gutting of the Voting Rights Act Deepens Environmental Injustice
In April 2026, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted a core protection of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the provision barring racial gerrymandering designed to dilutes the voting power of Black communities. The Trump administration called it a victory. For communities on the frontlines of pollution, climate change, and environmental injustice, it is one most deliberate act of erasure and as Dr. Beverly Wright of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) says, it is a “theft of our movement’s inheritance”.
This ruling did not arrive alone. It is part of a coordinated, multi-front strategy to remove impacted communities — particularly Black communities — from the rooms where decisions get made. Through the courts, through Executive Orders seizing control of elections, through the SAVE Act’s documentation barriers that would block more than 21 million Americans from voting, through a Department of Justice that has sued all 50 states to build a national voter surveillance database, and through the threat of criminal prosecution against election officials and civic organizations.
This administration’s goal is not election integrity. The goal is the permanent political marginalization of Black communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color.
The pattern is unmistakable when you see it whole. The Supreme Court’s ruling applies not just to Congressional districts, but also to state legislative districts and maps for county and municipal elections — determining who gets to serve on a school board, a city council, or in the judiciary.
Meanwhile, the administration has turned the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department into an agency that violates the very definition of civil rights, redirecting it toward suppressing voting rather than protecting voting rights.
At the same time, another assault on voting rights is being advanced through Congress. If signed into law, the SAVE Act would require every American to produce a passport or certified birth certificate, in person, at an election office just to register to vote, eliminating online registration, mail registration, and most voter registration drives. For Black communities, this lands on a foundation of deliberate historical denial: many older Black Americans were never issued birth certificates by governments that refused to recognize their full humanity.
For Indigenous communities, the SAVE Act’s promise that Tribal IDs will suffice is a fiction, ignoring the fact that virtually no Tribal ID includes place of birth, another barrier buried in the bill’s text. And even with documents in hand, the nearest election office can be a hundred miles away across reservation land, or in Alaska, accessible only by plane.
These are not bureaucratic inconveniences; they are systemic barriers deeply rooted in this country’s history of racial segregation. They reflect the architecture of laws written around people who were never meant to be politically represented and applied to communities still fighting to be counted.
The same communities facing barriers to their rights to vote are bearing the greatest burden of air pollution, toxic contamination, extreme heat, and climate disasters. And the fact that these communities are overwhelmingly Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income, and this is not a coincidence. It is the predictable result of political exclusion and the enduring legacy of segregation.
When communities cannot elect representatives who share their priorities, when their votes are diluted through racial gerrymandering, the outcome is a petrochemical plant permitted next to an elementary school, a neighborhood left without clean water, or a community absorbing the full cost of an energy system it had no power to refuse.
A political system that makes voting harder perpetuates the very conditions that make environmental justice necessary.
This is also why the assault extends beyond the ballot. The same administration that is dismantling voting rights protections is also terrorizing immigrant communities — deportation threats, surveillance, and the weaponization of documentation status as a tool of political control.
What this administration is attacking, in every instance, is the fundamental democratic principle that the people most affected have a rightful voice in decision-making.
That principle does not begin and end at the voting booth. It lives in every planning meeting, every regulatory comment period, every public hearing, every coalition room where communities are fighting for their lives and their land. Undocumented neighbors, visa holders, green card holders, people who live and work and raise children in the same fenceline communities, who breathe the same air and drink the same water, carry knowledge and moral authority that no policy process can afford to exclude.
Voting is an essential mechanism through which communities exercise the most direct form of political power available to our communities, and its protection is non-negotiable. The fight for voting rights and the fight for full community participation are intrinsically linked because they are being waged against us by the same forces, for the same purpose: to ensure that the communities with the most at stake in our climate and environmental future have the least say in shaping it.
Our communities continue to show up, no matter the barriers put in our way: voters and non-voters, citizens and non-citizens, people who cast ballots, people who testify, and people who organize. No matter the injustices we face, environmental justice leaders know that our solidarity is unstoppable and our resolve to fight for true representation will never be broken by any court or politician.
Byron Ramos Gudiel is Executive Director of the Center for Earth, Energy & Democracy (CEED).
Sources:
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/save-act-and-election-power-grab
https://www.vote.org/save-act/
https://narf.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/narf-save-act-native-voters.pdf
https://www.aclu.org/trump-on-voting-rights
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-gerrymandering-tilts-2024-race-house
LCV – https://www.lcv.org/media-center/lcv-statement-on-scotus-decision-in-louisiana-v-callais/
Not NRDC Action Fund: https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/news/scotus-voting-rights-act-decision-hurts-our-democracy-and-the-court-itself/
Sierra Club: https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2026/04/sierra-club-statement-supreme-court-ruling-gut-voting-rights-act
The post How the Gutting of the Voting Rights Act Deepens Environmental Injustice appeared first on CEED.
Tackling extreme heat in India: aiming at a moving target
Recent immigration changes: Free online information session
Rumours. False announcements. Lies. What’s going on with immigration changes in Canada these days?!
Join us on June 10 for a free online information session just for migrants like you. Let’s break through the noise together to get the facts, and learn how migrants are uniting to take action against unfair immigration rules to win permanent status for all.
What we’ll cover:
- Recent TR to PR announcement
- Changes to Express Entry
- What to do if your permit is expiring
- & more
Don’t miss out! Sign up now and invite a friend:
The post Recent immigration changes: Free online information session first appeared on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
The post Recent immigration changes: Free online information session appeared first on Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
How PRT’s Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0 Can Benefit Our Region
A bus network redesign is a tool for massive change—whether good or bad. With the Bus Line Refresh, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) has the opportunity to make positive changes that our system needs. PRT has shown a commitment to rider needs by updating its Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0 to include valuable new neighborhood connectors, expanding service frequencies on popular routes, and more. But in order to make the system work for its riders, PRT needs to commit to improving ridership, reliability, funding, and rider/worker satisfaction—regardless of what shape the Refresh ends up taking.
A strong transit system is one in which ridership is robust, buses and trolleys show up on time, and both riders and workers feel positive about their experience with the service. A strong transit system is also one in which there is stable funding to maintain and expand the service.
Ridership, Reliability, and Satisfaction Metrics Should Come FirstAt May’s Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) Board of Director’s committee meetings, we were pleased to see some progress in our organizing for more transit system accountability, with PRT staff reporting to their Board on ridership and reliability trends by month. That’s a start: with more attention paid to these metrics, we hope to see clearer plans for how PRT is going to improve them. We have seen 40% of our total transit service cut over the last 20 years, and PRT service reliability is poor- as a result, transit ridership levels are now at a devastating low. That is why it is critical that PRT identifies goals and a plan for strengthening our system, and makes it clear how the Bus Line Refresh will help meet those goals.
The Bus Line Refresh needs to be part of a coherent broader PRT strategy around transit restoration, growth and improvement-—not just managing or accelerating decline—and the public must be able to evaluate the success of the plan implementation against those metrics. A Bus Line Refresh that clearly lays out its purpose in strengthening our transit system to the benefit of riders can then be used as a tool to organize for stable and expanded state transit funding.
Since the Bus Line Refresh is cost-neutral, any service improvements in one community must come at the expense of others. Over the last several weeks, our participatory research committee has identified the potentially harmful impacts of this proposal as well as the improvements that riders would see under Draft 2.0.
4 Key Recommendations for a Successful Refresh 1 . PRT should establish specific goals for growing ridership, improving reliability, improving rider/worker satisfaction, and supporting advocacy for expanded state funding.Whatever the Refresh looks like, our system cannot succeed without dedicated attention and clear progress towards these vital goals.
2 . PRT must create transparency and accountability towards these goals by collecting data related to the impact of the Bus Line Refresh—before, during, and after implementation.
PRT should report monthly on these critical metrics to the PRT website and Board of Directors, as well as the Western PA Regional Data Center. Data to report include
- Average ridership by route
- On-time performance by route
- Crowding by route
- Number and type of customer complaints and their resolutions (in particular, as a way of daylighting ongoing communications, scheduling, disability and safety-related issues).
In addition, PRT should run parallel transit rider and transit worker satisfaction surveys, before, during, and after the implementation of the Bus Line Refresh. This will provide critical insights on whether the Refresh has improved or worsened transit outcomes for its primary stakeholders- its users and its workforce.
Some key questions to ask riders in these surveys are:
- Overall approval of transit
- Ease of use
- Perception of reliability
- Satisfaction with amenities at stops, stations or on vehicles
- Satisfaction with the safety, accessibility and proximity of the bus stops to trip origins and destinations
- First-last mile accessibility
- Satisfaction with value for the fare paid
- Total commute time
- Do you have more or fewer transfers under the Bus Line Refresh than before?
- How long is the wait time for your transfer(s)?
- Do you feel like your trip is very fast, ok, or too long?
- Are you paying more, less, or the same for transit?
- Is your bus easier or harder to identify with the new naming system?
- Demographic and geographic data, to assess Refresh impacts based on those characteristics
- PRT should not cut bus stops as a part of the Bus Line Refresh. Bus stop usage and accessibility must be carefully evaluated before any consideration of stop removals are advanced.
- PRT should maintain the existing route names to the greatest extent possible, to keep buses familiar and legible for riders.
- PRT must minimize the number of new forced transfers under the plan. Adding transfers where riders previously had direct connections causes riders to stop taking transit.
- Some widely beneficial aspects of the Refresh—like the restorations of the 61D and 71A/C/D Downtown—do not need to wait for a full Refresh implementation, and can be implemented during regular service changes. PRT can also make immediate changes to alleviate overcrowding, expand weekend service, and make other minor improvements as appropriate.
The Bus Line Refresh is a massive change to almost the entire system. Without a thoughtful, clearly communicated plan for implementation, riders will not be able to successfully navigate it. Here are some ways that PRT can ensure a clear, harm-minimized rollout:
- In implementing the full Refresh, it is important that neighborhoods gain any service improvements at the same time as any service losses, so that they do not suffer any gaps in transit service.
- There must also be opportunities built into the implementation process in which PRT pauses and evaluates the impacts of the Refresh—and reverse course if necessary.
- During implementation, PRT must pay careful attention to how they are scheduling multiple routes sharing a common corridor. PRT schedulers must ensure that those routes are evenly spaced, providing the most convenient level of service for riders, rather than having multiple buses arrive at the same time, with a subsequent large gap in service.
- PRT needs to ensure that their communications on their website, social media, Ready2Ride and third-party transit apps, on the printed schedule and at the bus stop are aligned, so that riders are clear about the changes before they happen.
The post How PRT’s Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0 Can Benefit Our Region appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
The Communities that would Benefit Most from the Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0
Whether you live in McKeesport or McKees Rocks, the Hill District or the South Hills, our public transit system needs to work for everyone.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) will soon close their community engagement period for the second draft of their Bus Line Redesign (BLR). The redesign proposes a completely redrawn map of where transit routes will run. It includes new schedules for how frequently and how late at night buses and trains operate, and renames all the routes in the system.
Tens of thousands of people who use the system every day will be affected. Allegheny County Transit riders, transit workers, businesses, social service providers—we all have a stake in a Bus Line Redesign that works for all.
The Bus Line Refresh plan is complicated and will affect everyone differently. That’s why it’s very important that transit riders and transit workers review your routes and give feedback now! You can check out how your routes will be impacted and give feedback online, by phone, or at an upcoming PRT community event here.
This is the last opportunity for the public to weigh in before PRT finalizes and ratifies this transit plan—one that will impact our transit service for generations!
Notable Improvements Under the Proposed Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0Under the Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0, some communities are being proposed for transit service improvements: higher frequency service, or new direct connections to critical destinations. Other communities will see transit service cuts; this is the consequence of Pittsburgh Regional Transit deciding to develop a “cost-neutral” plan rather than a more visionary proposal for service restoration and expansion.
But riders spoke up about Bus Line Redesign Draft 1.0 and Pittsburgh Regional Transit made important changes based on our feedback! In particular, PRT took our advice to scale back the proposed disruption to our routes. They also provided riders with a commute “calculator”, allowing riders to model proposed changes to our trips, and ensured that the proposed “microtransit zone” communities like McKeesport, the Southern Hilltop and Natrona Heights would be provided with expanded fixed route buses, not irregular on-demand shuttles.
Check the list below to see if your routes/communities would gain significant service under the Refresh Draft 2.0.
Note: Old route numbers are listed where those numbers are continuing to be used, otherwise the new route number is listed here. Routes are listed numerically regardless of alpha-prefix.
Service Restoration- Restoration of service to Arnold
- N63 restored Jenny Lind Ave service
- 71C Restored to downtown and uptown
- P78 restoration of weekend service
- 6 Spring Hill extension to North Hills Village
- 12 McKnight extension to Wexford
- 16 Brighton extension to Emsworth
- 28X extension to Carnegie
- 79 extension from Lincoln Park to East Liberty via Larimer
- N1/N3 Extends and restores service to parts of Allegheny And Natrona Heights
- 7 Spring Garden all day service on weekdays
- D25 Moon/Robinson to Downtown all day, 7 day service ( Also restores 25A connection between Robinson and Moon cut over 15 years ago )
- N77 all-day weekday service on Universal Rd in Penn Hills
- O9 new connection between the East End to McKnight Rd ( Pseudo 12U restoration )
- N17 new connection between Bellevue/Avalon/West View to McKnight Rd ( pseudo restoration of 15A / Partial 9/11C restoration )
- 27 new connection between McKees Rocks to Crafton-Ingram shopping center ( Partial Restoration of 24A )
- N34 new connection between Carnegie crosstown to Brentwood loop
- O35 new connection between West Liberty to Oakland
- N41 new connection between Bower Hill Rd to Carnegie
- O45 new connection between Carrick to Oakland to East Liberty
- 54 new connections between Polish Hill to Bloomfield and the Southside Works
- D58 new connections between Swisshelm Park, Squirrel Hill and Greenfield
- 64 new connection to Millvale
- N66 new connection North Braddock to Walmart
- O73 new connection between Homewood to Bates St to Southside Works to Wharton Square
- 81 new connection between Lawrenceville to Bloomfield to Hill District to Mercy Hospital
- N84 new connection between the Hill District and the Strip District
- 86 new connection between the Strip District and Penn Hills
- 87 new connection between the Downtown to the Strip District to Garfield Heights
- D89 new connection between the Lawrenceville to Stanton Heights to East Liberty
The post The Communities that would Benefit Most from the Bus Line Refresh Draft 2.0 appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
Class & Climate Returns: The COP Folly with Martin Empson
The Green Economy Networks podcast Class & Climate is back, with new host Em Thompson.
On this eighth episode of Class & Climate: Perspectives on a Green Economy, Em Thompson sits down with Martin Empson to reveal how COPs (Conferences of Parties) have bureaucratized climate organizing.
Martin Empson is a climate activist from the UK and the editor and a contributor to System Change not Climate Change, a book of essays from socialists around the world on the nature of capitalism’s ecological crisis and the radical response that is needed.
Class & Climate is a podcast series from Perspectives Journal and the Green Economy Network that maps how climate action can deliver jobs and long-term affordability for workers — while debunking myths that these goals are a zero-sum trade-off with a clean environment.
NYC Light Projections
Boycott The Bezos Met Gala at the crown of the Chrysler Building, Boycott The Bezos Met Gala with Laughing Bezos Image.
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