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
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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
Op-ed by Scotty Hertz The massive condo project getting rammed in around the corner from our house has been super quiet lately. The orange vests gathering at the morning tailgate were down to about eight workers at last count in mid May. I spoke to a worker as he was clocking off one day, just Continue readingDivision, neglect opens door to Ford’s union conquests
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
By Doug Nesbitt Three notable labour policy changes were made in the first week of April, 2022: April 4: The federal government announced a significant loosening of Temporary Foreign Worker restrictionsApril 6: British Columbia’s government announced Bill 10 to deliver “card check” or single-step union certificationApril 7: Ontario’s government Bill 88 became law, imposing sub-minimum Continue readingLabour laws in Canada do the Backwards Shuffle
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 Doug Nesbitt On Saturday, April 2, 900 workers went on strike at the massive Metro Distribution Centre in Etobicoke. The facility supplies all of the Metro and Food Basics stores between Windsor and Kingston, including the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Niagara. That’s 10+ million people. It’s the latest fight by union workers to Continue readingLabour tensions are rising as inflation cuts wages
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