It has been a decade since the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that workers do have collective rights, including the right to strike, which employers and governments cannot easily overturn. As labour scholar Charles Smith wrote a decade ago for Rankandfile.ca: The challenge now is how workers and their unions can transform their legal victory Continue reading10 Years of the Right to Strike
By Samantha Porter The corporate media has made a contest out of spreading the most outlandish lies about postal workers. We’re simultaneously considered obsolete, glorified paperboys, yet also blamed for destroying Canadian small businesses. They say we should be privatized and subjected to the whims of the market, but in the same breath demand that Continue readingThe Perspective of a Letter Carrier in Toronto
By Michael Mcdonald, Canada Post PO5 forklift driver, St. John’s Canada Post has framed this narrative that they are losing money… well, I guess if you say something enough, people will start to believe it is the truth even though it is not! I believe it’s unfair that the crown corporation can state that it Continue readingA worker’s opinion on Canada Post’s false narratives
By Mason Godden On September 21st, 124 retired trade unionists, activists, and various friends, allies, and families of the labour movement congregated inside the Unifor union hall on 12th Street in New Westminster, British Columbia. The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical, and Allied Workers (CAIMAW). If the name Continue readingCAIMAW’s 60th anniversary
By Doug Nesbitt Slavery was legally abolished in most of the British Empire and what is now Canada on August 1, 1834, although exemptions were made for the British East India Company until 1838. Emancipation Day, August 1, has been celebrated among black communities in Canada since the 19th century. Emancipation Day was officially recognized Continue readingAugust 1 is Emancipation Day in Canada
By Doug Nesbitt “We have to be fast like a robot. So we say we’re not robots,” says a former Amazon worker, Ibrahim Al Sahary, ahead of Amazon’s big discount “Prime Day” scheduled July 16 and 17. Amazon Prime Day and other Amazon sale periods are notorious among Amazon warehouse workers for speed-ups, cancelled breaks, Continue readingBeyond the Beachhead: Unionizing Amazon in Canada
“Under capitalism the working class has but two courses to follow: crawl or fight” – JB McLachlan By Doug Nesbitt Today is Davis Day in Nova Scotia. William Davis was a coal miner shot and killed June 11 by company police during the 1925 Cape Breton coal miners’ strike. The miners were fighting against a Continue readingThe Origins of Davis Day, June 11
By Doug Nesbitt and Scott Price While organized labour has loudly pronounced the triumph of anti-scab legislation in federal parliament, Manitoba’s recently-elected New Democratic government has introduced two major labour law reforms that have largely flown under the radar, even in Manitoba. Automatic card check certification and anti-scab reforms are now in second reading in Continue readingLabour at the Bat: Manitoba’s new labour reforms
Standing room only at book launch in Regina This past April, people gathered in Regina to mark the launch of a new book, Unjust Transition, about the 2019-2020 Co-op Refinery lockout in Regina. The Regina Brewing Taphouse was packed with standing room only. Books were sold out before speakers even started. A panel of oil Continue reading“Unjust Transition” tells story of Co-op Refinery lockout
By Anthony Marco, OSSTF member Here’s why I will be voting AGAINST the upcoming OSSTF proposal to use arbitration as a tactic to prompt more effective bargaining with Ford’s Conservatives. I will be voting against the proposal even though I acknowledge that THIS TIME it could likely result in a better wage deal for OSSTF Continue readingArbitration tactic a mistake, says OSSTF member
In the early hours of July 6, 2013, a parked Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway train’s brakes failed. Crewed by a single person, the train was carrying oil cars and derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic. The resulting explosion killed 47 people and the downtown was completely destroyed. Three railway workers were dragged through Continue readingRemember Lac-Mégantic!
By Anna Luxemburg Seasonal, part-time, full-time – titles that seemingly distinguish different categories of workers in Amazon’s warehouses in Montreal. However, delve deeper and you’ll find that these labels, particularly the ‘seasonal’ one, often serve as a smokescreen to mask an exploitative labour system. As a ‘white badge’ or seasonal worker at Amazon, I’ve witnessed Continue readingInside Amazon’s two-tier system at a Montreal warehouse