In our third episode of Work in the West, Tom Walker talks discusses the question of time and work, and what it means for natural resource-dependent economies, and worker’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In episode 2 of Work in the West, Tracy Zambory, President of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses discusses the addiction and mental health crisis in Saskatchewan and its impact on the work of nurses in the province, including everything from tough family conversations to safe injection sites. Learn more about SUN’s initiatives here: https://makingthedifference.ca/addictions
Rankandfile.ca is proud to host Work in the West, a podcast series about work and employment in Western Canada. We’ll be hearing from a wide range of people and posting new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Work in the West is a research project about work and employment in Western Canada. It is facilitated by Continue readingIntroducing the Work in the West podcast series
By Doug Nesbitt As COVID-19 took hold through the spring of 2020, it ravaged the elderly, particularly those in congregate settings such as long-term care homes. By late spring, it was apparent that the infection and death rates in Ontario’s long-term care homes were among the worst in the world. Of all COVID-19 deaths in Continue readingPutting the long-term care profiteers out of business
“Work in the West” Podcast Series Interview participants wanted! With support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Drs. Shelagh Campbell and Andrew Stevens at the University of Regina, are facilitating a webinar and podcast series that focuses on the state of work and employment in Western Canada. This is an opportunity for Continue reading“Work in the West”: interview participants wanted!
By Lisa Cameron on behalf of the Halifax Workers’ Action Centre Workers at Wynn Park Villa, a long-term care home in Truro, Nova Scotia, are getting close to winning major workplace improvements. Less than a month since the abrupt termination of Tevin Crawford, a former long-term care nurse at the facility, the workers of Wynn Continue readingAfter nurse is fired, Truro long-term care workers go for union
Editor’s note: The author has been kept anonymous for privacy reasons and to prevent identification by the employer Most people I know would pinpoint mid-March 2020 when COVID-19 changed life as we know it. For myself, as a part-time worker at Shoppers Drug Mart, there were signs of what was to come over a month Continue readingPandemic Diary of a Shoppers Drug Mart worker
By Doug Nesbitt With files from Dan Darrah In a new press release, Uber has proposed new changes to “reinvent independent work” in Canada. Called “Flexible Work+,” Uber claims it will start paying into individual benefits, while calling upon provincial governments to make changes to policies to improve work conditions. Gig Workers United— a union Continue readingUber launches new union-busting offensive in Canada
Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions of sexual harassment. Names with an asterisk (*) have been changed to protect the privacy of some individuals interviewed. An investigation by Cole Rockarts Over the course of the past six years, at least six women have documented accounts of sexual harassment within the Winnipeg labour movement. Among the Continue readingSexism in Winnipeg’s labour movement
By Zaid NoorsumarPart 8 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA The Ontario Personal Support Workers Association maintains a private Facebook group of 12,000 members. It is one of the main, regular platforms of communication between OPSWA president Miranda Ferrier and PSWs. During my investigation of OPSWA, I found multiple examples of her spreading misinformation. Here Continue readingOPSWA’s social media misinformation
By Zaid NoorsumarPart 7 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA I just find it interesting that you see all these OPSWA posts that claim they are there for the PSW, and support all PSW’s and all this. But if you question anything, ‘No, you’re blocked, that’s it.’ Stephanie Lynn, home care PSW and former OPSWA Continue readingBlocked: OPSWA and its critics
By Alice Chen & Zaid Noorsumar Part 6 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA The Ontario Personal Support Worker Association (OPSWA) is one of the only associations representing Personal Support Workers in the province. It has a president, but it has no governing board because OPSWA is in fact governed by its parent body, the Continue readingOPSWA’s governance structure: A family affair?