By Doug Nesbitt It’s a sad state of affairs when a Conservative Party leader comes across as the champion of workers and unions. Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole has started the election by making big announcements. His plans are said to be pro-union and pro-worker. After his Labour Day 2020 address, we made the case: Continue readingCorporate O’Toole’s bait and switch scheme
Election
Increasingly, unions in Canada have embraced strategic voting as a preferred strategy to defeating Conservative politicians. But does it really work? While the specific calculus for strategic voting changes with each election, and the results are mixed at best, evidence suggests the strategy offers very little to the labour movement over the long term. Union-led Continue readingDo union-backed strategic voting campaigns really work?
The party that wins the Manitoba election on Sept. 11 will prove crucial to ensuring unions in the province can defend the rights of their workers. Changes have occurred under the Pallister government that has negatively affected many of UFCW’s members, Local 832 president Jeff Traeger said. The current Labour Relations Act, Employment Standards Code, Continue readingManitoba election results critical to unions
By Doug Nesbitt, Gerard Di Trolio and David Bush The Tories have won Ontario and Doug Ford is Premier. Beyond the finger-pointing and some excitement around the NDP’s second-place finish, we now have the difficult task of defending social programs, jobs, the environment, and recent labour law reforms against the Tory majority. Waiting four years Continue readingFord wins, get ready to fight
By Haseena Manek In a tweet published last week, Ontario’s Liberal Party called strikes “disruptive” and said that they “can become downright dangerous,” using this anti-union rhetoric as a shot against the province’s New Democratic Party. Text in a video included in the tweet read: “The NDP puts unions first. And the public second.” These Continue readingStrikes aren’t dangerous, but Tory and Liberal union-busting rhetoric is
By John Bell With less than a week to go before the provincial election, Premier Kathleen Wynne conceded that 15 years of Liberal rule were over. The surprise announcement left her supporters in tears and pundits scratching their heads. How voters will react remains to be seen. “After Thursday, I will no longer be Ontario’s Continue readingOntario Liberals show their true colours
By David Bush With just days to go until Ontario voters go to the polls it worth remembering what is at stake in this election. The Ontario Liberals have been in power since 2003. It is clear their government is well past its due date. Years of scandals, Bay Street policies and austerity have left Continue readingWhat’s at stake in the Ontario election
By Gerard Di Trolio Regardless of who wins, the outcome of the June 7 provincial election in Ontario will have consequences for workers. The NDP will keep Bill 148 and the $15 minimum wage. But the NDP has said it will go further promising more changes that the labour movement has long been demanding. The Continue readingWhat Ontario workers can expect from a NDP government
By Michal Rozworski How big is your deficit? This Ontario election, no one seems to care—and that’s a decisive positive to emerge from a campaign that’s too often been submerged in the politics of personality. There is more and more light sneaking through the widening cracks in Canada’s austerity consensus. Hopefully, it will shine not Continue readingThe Ontario election isn’t about deficits—and that’s a good thing
On October 14 voters in Vancouver will elect a new City Councillor in a by-election. Upon hearing that Geoff Meggs was to take up a position with the newly elected BC NDP Provincial Government it was clear that an opportunity for a progressive to be elected to city council had presented itself. Jean Swanson, a Continue readingLabour for Swanson
By Daniel Tseghay In 1974, Jean Swanson was a 31-year-old single mother working as a waitress at the Patricia Hotel when Libby Davies and Bruce Eriksen stopped in for a drink. She had seen them on TV, fighting for better housing conditions with the newly-formed Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) so she began talking with Continue readingA Political Revolution: Jean Swanson runs for Vancouver City Council
By Robert Devet Labour issues have become part of the Halifax municipal election in more ways than one. A substantial number of candidates promised not to talk to Chronicle Herald scab reporters and made a public commitment to a living wage for city workers and contractors. A decision that takes guts 19 municipal candidates running Continue readingHalifax municipal candidates support fair wages, boycott scab reporters