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
covid19
In this latest episode of Work of the West, we are joined by Janice Jarvis, President of Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 823 in the Salmon Arm and Revelstoke area of British Columbia. Janice discusses the state of working conditions at Canada Post during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts of back-to-work legislation Continue readingInterview: Working at Canada Post under Harper, Trudeau and the Pandemic
We continue the “Work in the West” podcast and interview series with labour law scholar Judy Fudge on her research interests with a focus on “modern slavery” and its connections with the COVID-19 pandemic, and research on migrant labour.
In our latest episode of the Work in the West podcast, industrial relations researcher Sean Tucker discusses the large-scale infection and deaths of workers in Alberta’s meatpacking industry due to COVID-19, particularly at the Cargill plant at High River. In the spring of 2020, the Cargill High River plant was the site of the largest Continue readingCargill, Alberta meatpacking, and the COVID-19 Pandemic
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
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
Nurse in Truro, Nova Scotia says he will notstop fighting for the right to unionize By Lisa Cameronon behalf of the Halifax Workers’ Action Centre Truro, Nova Scotia – Some might think that long-term care (LTC) workers – the heroes of the pandemic – would be respected these days in Nova Scotia. For Tevin Crawford, a Continue readingLong-term care nurse fired for saying ‘union’
Acadia U study is looking at working conditions in retail, grocery, long-term care, education By Lisa Cameron Work has drastically changed for Nova Scotians during the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of researchers from Acadia University are studying work and health during COVID-19 through the experiences of grocery and retail workers, long-term care workers, and teachers Continue readingNova Scotia job study shows COVID-19 impact on workers
By Barbara Fletcher I have always been a helper. For over 20 years, I have done the work of a PSW (Personal Support Worker), and I am good at it. I work in home care, the purpose of which is to keep people out of LTC (Long-term Care) and hospitals. It is better mentally, and Continue readingI help them stay in their homes; I want to stay in mine
I’m a teacher in Saskatchewan and my provincial government is trying to send me back to work to a room crowded full with the normal number of kids a building with 100s of people using the same few toilets with no safety measures in place and no extra funding to make it safe I want Continue readingEducation worker speaks out about reopening
By Zaid Noorsumar Robin Nelson’s 79-year old mother has endured more than four months of isolation during the pandemic in a long-term care home in Lakefield, Ontario. Ann Nelson, who has suffered three strokes, has intensive care needs. Even before the pandemic, Robin says the resident-to-staff ratio wasn’t sufficient to provide the level of care Continue readingOntario’s nursing homes continue to face critical staffing challenges
A one per cent budget increase could pay for appropriate staffing in long-term care homes By Zaid Noorsumar A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives demonstrates how the fiscal policies of successive Ontario governments have led to immense pain and hardship for long-term care residents, their families and the workforce. For decades, Continue readingOntario’s fiscal policies have wrecked long-term care