By Rick Telfer Around 850 administrative, technical and library workers at Carleton University began picketing at campus entrances on March 5 as they went on strike to protect their pensions. The workers are represented by Local 2424 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The strike followed nineteen days of bargaining since July 2017. Negotiations with Continue readingCarleton University workers striking to protect their pensions
By Evan Johnston Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Ontario university workers continue their strike actions Strikes continue at York University in Toronto and Carleton University in Ottawa this week. As we reported last week, over 3,000 teaching assistant, graduate assistants, research assistants, and contract faculty at York University — members of CUPE 3903 — went on Continue readingWeekly Labour Briefing – March 17, 2018
By Robert Devet “Our bias is the market,” said Marco Navarro-Génie, president of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) as he introduced education pundit Paul Bennett. Bennett was there to give a talk on governance in Nova Scotia’s education system at the Central Library on Spring Garden Road this morning. It’s exactly that market Continue readingTeachers confront Paul Bennett, AIMS, on business agenda for education
By Elizabeth Rowley After the 7th round of bargaining on NAFTA concluded March 5 with agreement on just 6 of 30 chapters, it comes as no surprise that US President Trump has upped the ante with threats of 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and 10% on aluminum. Trump thinks this will force Canada to agree Continue readingTrump’s tariffs show we should ditch NAFTA
By Michal Rozworski We’ve had two months of jobs data in Canada since Ontario increased it’s minimum wage from $11.60 to $14 on January 1, 2017. When January’s Labour Force Survey numbers came out and showed some of the biggest month-over-month losses in years, there was a slew of predictable, reflexive commentary blaming Ontario’s minimum wage hike. Now Continue readingJobs data doesn’t say much about the minimum wage (yet) but lots about growing inequality
By David Bush On Saturday, Ontario’s PC Party picked Doug Ford as their new leader. After revelations of sexual misconduct by Patrick Brown led him to resign in January, the party scrambled to find a new leader heading into the June 7 election. The brief, but contentious, leadership contest exposed fractures within the Tory party. Continue readingFighting Ford
By Evan Johnston Manitoba Safeway workers vote to strike This week, Safeway workers from across Manitoba have given their bargaining team an overwhelming strike mandate. UFCW 832, representing over 2,200 Safeway workers from Neepawa, Dauphin, Brandon, Thompson, and Winnipeg, have voted 98% in favour of taking strike action. Strike votes began February 26 in Brandon Continue readingWeekly Labour Briefing: March 10, 2018
By Robert Devet Look at it whichever way you want, the decision by the NSTU not to strike was a retreat. Government gave up very little. The pent up anger of 83% of all teachers willing to engage in civil disobedience will remain untapped. This is not to argue with the NSTU decision not to Continue readingLabour in Nova Scotia has its work cut out
Teachers in West Virginia went on strike on February 22 against low-pay and attacks on their healthcare. After nine days of a statewide strike which shutdown public schools in West Virginia teachers won a substantial pay increase. This victory is significant because the teachers struck and won in the heart of Trump country. West Virginia Continue readingThe West Virginia Teachers’ Strike Reader
By Souzan Mirza and Jared Ong On January 1, 2018 the University of Toronto raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for the majority of their non-union casual employees. This comes in the wake of CUPE and USW locals at UofT bargaining and winning $15 minimum for all unionized employees. This is a tangible Continue readingWinning $15 at the University of Toronto
By Crystal Warner, As one of the largest components of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), with over 88% of our members directly affected by the beguiled Phoenix pay system, members of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) in Vancouver had been quietly making plans to occupy a federal government building for several Continue readingPhoenix finally nixed?
By Kevin Prosen Earlier this week, the Supreme Court began hearing oral argument in Janus v. AFSCME, a lawsuit that seeks to gut public sector unions by denying them so called “agency fees,” or mandatory dues contributions from workers. One component of the deliberations was the question of “labor peace” — the state’s interest in Continue readingStriking West Virginia teachers show the way