By Alia Karim, Kevin Brice-Lall and Taylor Welsh On June 30, over 330 e-commerce logistics workers in a Hudson’s Bay Company warehouse in Scarborough, Ontario, won their nine-day strike for wage increases, retro pay, and no concessions. In battles they posted on Twitter, the strikers turned away trucks and scab buses trying to get into Continue readingHow Scarborough warehouse workers defeated HBC
By Doug Nesbitt On June 29, 1981, some 23,000 inside postal workers began what would become a long 42-day strike. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) stayed out and won 17 weeks of paid maternity leave at 93% of full wages. CUPW’s breakthrough agreement sets a standard for other unions, although CUPW was simply Continue readingThe 1981 postal workers’ strike for maternity leave
During the recent strike by the Canadian Football League Players Association, we reached out to labour historian and Winnipeg Blue Bombers superfan Scott Price. We asked Scott about the issues at the heart of the strike, talk of a CFL-XFL merger, and the power of Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment. – Rankandfile.ca There’s only been one Continue readingCFL strike: View from the cheap seats
By Lee Gilchrist On Monday June 6, 51-year-old welder Quoc Le was crushed under a 2,000 pound bulkhead while working on a rail car. Le was pronounced dead after paramedics rushed him to hospital. Le’s workplace death is the third at National Steel Car in 21 months. Labour responded immediately by calling a protest at Continue readingHamilton unions attack National Steel Car’s bloody record
A Rankandfile.ca editorial Well, Ontario, that was a shitty election! This is an important occasion to go back to basics and think about how organized labour is going to fight Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party. First, let’s dispense with a story being spun by the mainstream media. As the votes were still coming Continue readingBack to basics for Ontario labour
By Jeremy Appel Workers at numerous Amazon warehouses in Canada are aiming to build on the momentum of the first successful Amazon union drive in Staten Island. On Staten Island, the independent Amazon Labour Union (ALU) successfully built a grassroots organization at the JFK8 “fulfillment centre” culminating in a 10-percentage point victory over the anti-union Continue readingAmazon targeted by Teamsters Canada & CSN
By Lee Gilchrist After a five-month strike ending on March 29, unionized workers at the Lennox & Addington Interval House in Napanee, Ontario thought the long, grueling battle was over. Management and the union’s lawyer hammered out a return-to-work protocol, and the six strikers returned to work on April 29. Then, management fired each one Continue readingUnion-busting escalates at Napanee women’s shelter
By Andrew Stevens For the first time since the mid-1990s Saskatchewan’s population growth has tapered off, advancing a trend that began around 2018. That’s what makes the federal government’s recent, ambitious immigration targets so important for our province. By 2024 around 1.3 million permanent resident admissions have been planned for at the national level. It’s Continue readingOp-ed: Saskatchewan’s migrant future
By Lee Gilchrist Facing a major strike vote on Saturday April 30, eleven cleaning companies offered 2,500 Toronto cleaners a huge wage settlement on Friday April 29. The Saturday strike vote by SEIU Local 2 members turned into a ratification vote as hundreds of cleaners endorsed the new three-year deal with a 16.6 percent wage Continue readingJustice for Janitors forges ahead in Toronto and Vancouver
Two workers detail management’s dirty tricks during a union drive Editor’s note: We have kept the authors’ names anonymous Steamworks is a chain of five bathhouses across Canada and the USA, catering primarily to gay men. The Toronto location opened eighteen years ago in the heart of the gay village, taking over a space previously Continue readingBoss Fight at the Bathhouse
By Jeremy Appel CP Rail workers and management entered binding arbitration to resolve their labour dispute on March 22 — three days after workers were locked out by the employer. Binding arbitration means the new contract will be decided by a third-party arbitrator rather than through negotiations between employer CP Rail and Teamsters Canada Rail Continue readingCP lockout ends but business propaganda continues
Editor’s introduction As the housing crisis deepens in Canada, tenant unionism has re-emerged in many cities across Canada. In British Columbia, where the housing crisis is enormous, collective bargaining for tenants has become a central demand of Rent Strike Bargain (RSB). RSB is an organization coming from the new tenant unionism in British Columbia. Rankandfile.ca Continue readingThe challenges of tenant unionism in British Columbia