By David Bush The Rally for Decent Work on October 1st is an important moment for Ontario’s labour movement. After years of legislative attacks and austerity directed at workers, the rally is a chance to build the movement for $15 and Fairness, push for positive legislative change for workers, and put real pressure on both Continue readingOntario! All out for October 1st!
Fight for 15
Bill Hopwood interviews a Montreal Old Port worker, Jacques Fontaine, who has been on strike since May of this year. Q: Tell me the main points of the strike and why you are on strike. A: Some 280 workers of the Old Port of Montreal have been on strike since May 27. Our main goal Continue readingStriking for $15 in Montréal
Do you have crappy wages? No benefits? Shitty boss? Are you disgusted by the wealth hoarded by the rich when you and so many others struggle to make ends meet? Want to do something about it? Then we have have the booklet for you! RankandFile.ca is publishing a new handbook for organizers: Fight for $15 Continue readingPre-order Fight for $15 and Fairness Now!
by the Kingston, Ontario chapter of $15 and Fairness Ontario’s Changing Workplaces Review (CWR) is long overdue. The last time Ontario labour relations were overhauled was under the Mike Harris government. After years of pressure, the Liberals have improved some employment standards, but there has been no overhaul of the “Open for Business” labour laws of the Continue readingChange Ontario’s workplaces by burying the Harris era
These videos outline the scope and politics of the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign in Ontario. Pam Frache from Ontario’s Fight For $15 & Fairness talks about the campaign, how it relates to the fight for paid sick days and other employment standards and how it is organizing to win. Nadine MacKinnon’s music video Continue readingWeekend Video: Fight for $15 and Fairness
By Laura Kaminker, President, CUPE Local 1989, Mississauga Library Workers Union The Fight for 15 and Fairness is in high gear in Peel Region. More than 80 people attended a community organizing event in Brampton on July 28. Just days earlier, CUPE Local 1989, Mississauga Library Workers Union, had concluded a three-week strike with a Continue readingFighting for $15 and Fairness in Brampton
By Angella MacEwen The Alberta government has announced their timeline for getting to $15 / hour, which includes eliminating the lower minimum wage for liquor servers. The Alberta Federation of Labour has an excellent minimum wage campaign, called “15 is fair”. I provided some research support for a paper they produced on the positive economic impact Continue readingMinimum wages as economic stimulus?
By Sonia Singh Thousands of Quebec nursing home workers have walked off the job in their first-ever series of coordinated strikes. They’re demanding that all workers get a starting hourly wage of $15. It’s a big jump for a workforce where the average wage is $12.50. (Fifteen dollars Canadian is equivalent to about $11.71 in Continue readingQuebec nursing home workers strike for $15
By David Bush In the spring of 2015, a coalition of labour and community groups launched the $15 and Fairness campaign in Ontario. The campaign was shaped in part by the Ontario governments’ Changing Workplaces Review, a full-scale review of both the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and the Labour Relations Act (LRA) announced in February Continue readingWhy $15 matters for Ontario’s unions
By Alia Karim On October 1 Ontario’s minimum wage will increase to $11.40 an hour, a mere 15 cents increase from the current wage. As Trish Hennessy astutely pointed out we’ll have to wait until 2040 for Ontarians to finally achieve a $15 minimum wage. This raise, if we can even call it that, is Continue reading$15 and Fairness on a finite planet
By Samantha Ponting On April 23, SeaTac airport worker Socrates Bravo and community organizer Claudia Alexandra Paras spoke to delegates of Organize BC’s Canroots 2016 Conference about the massive referendum victory that forced the small US city of SeaTac into implementing a $15 living wage –adjusted for inflation – for its 6,000 airport and hotel Continue readingLessons from the SeaTac Living Wage Victory
By Scott Price Seventeen years of NDP governance in Manitoba has come to an end. The Progressive Conservatives, lead by Brian Pallister, have won an unprecedented victory capturing 40 seats and 53% of the popular vote. The Manitoba NDP have been reduced to 14 seats with only 2 (Flin Flon and The Pas) outside of Continue readingPCs win: What now for Labour in Manitoba?