By Andrew Stevens Less than a week into December, Saskatoon-based Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS) announced that it would be cutting its workforce by about 18 percent. Over a thousand employees across the company’s North American operations will be laid off, with the most significant job losses hitting Saskatchewan. Around 440 workers will be left Continue readingThe People’s Potash?
democracy
On September 1, comedian and shit-disturber Mary Walsh of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” fame stormed the founding Unifor convention with a roast of labour leaders before turning her guns on Harper and Co.
In our final installment of the Unifor Interview Series with union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members, we speak with Gary Engler, Vice-President of Unifor Local 2000, the Media Union of BC. Gary also recently penned two articles at Rabble.ca, “Thoughts on Labour Day” and “Unifor and the potential rebirth of militant union activism.” He recently Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Gary Engler, Local 2000
We continue our Unifor Interview Series with Dave Coles, former president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), and now a member of Unifor. Before being elected CEP president in 2006, he served six years as the Western Regional Vice President of the CEP. He was involved in the merger talks between CAW and Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Dave Coles, former CEP president
In our third installment of the Unifor Interview Series with union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members, we speak with Roxanne Dubois about Unifor’s Community Chapters. Roxane is a staff member of the CEP and now Unifor, and is a former chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. She presented a discussion paper on community chapters Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Roxanne Dubois on Community Chapters
We continue our weeklong series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members. Today we speak with Lindsay Hinshelwood, an assembly line worker at Ford Oakville and a member of Unifor Local 707, formerly of the Canadian Autoworkers. [audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/LHfinal.mp3|titles=Lindsay Hinshelwood interview] Lindsay is a rank-and-file Unifor member who ran from the floor for Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Lindsay Hinshelwood, Local 707
Over the next week, Rankandfile.ca will be publishing a series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members. We kick off our series with Bruce Allen, an outspoken member of the CAW/Unifor. [audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bruce-allen-final.mp3|titles=Bruce Allen interview] (listen on YouTube) Bruce is Vice-President of the former CAW Local 199 (now Unifor) representing St. Catharines General Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Bruce Allen, Local 199
by Doug Nesbitt On June 14 1872, the Trade Union Act, introduced by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, became law. Unions were now legal in Canada. How did this happen and what did it take for unions to achieve legal recognition? Was it enlightened and benevolent politicians looking out for the masses? Backroom deals between Continue readingThe Nine-Hour Movement: How civil disobedience made unions legal
A recent story by Vancouver Sun reporter, Peter O’Neil, reveals that a poll widely cited by Tory MP, Russ Hiebert, to support Bill C-377 might have contained some dubious claims. The Senate just recently sent the Bill back to the Commons with a list of amendments. Let’s not forget that the poll, commissioned by the Continue readingAnti-union poll now under investigation
by Doug Nesbitt Recent Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) president Ken Coran shocked many teachers, education workers and trade unionists this past week when it was announced he would run as an Ontario Liberal in the London-West by-election later this summer. Why would Coran run for the same party that had used the authoritarian Continue readingKen Coran: Anatomy of a Sellout
[audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lorne_interview.mp3|titles=November 14 2012 interview] RankandFile.ca interviewed Lorne Brown, Professor Emeritus at the University of Regina and author of Trade Unions and Canadian Democracy: Democracy, Labour Laws, and Workers’ Rights, published by Next Year Country Books in 2012. In 2008, Lorne was retained by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour as an expert witness in the legal Continue readingInterview with Lorne Brown, November 14, 2012