Kevin Bittman from Unifor 594 in Regina, Saskatchewan discusses impending lockout for Co-op refinery workers. www.unifor594.com/ Mike Espenell, from IBEW 2034 discusses how Brian Pallister’s cuts to Manitoba Hydro have impacted Hydro’s ability to respond to last week’s snow storm, which knocked out power for nearly 50,000 Manitobans. www.ibew2034.com/ Jeff Traeger, President of UFCW Local Continue readingBuilding worker solidarity across sectors
Minimum Wage
It was a positive sign that on Labour Day the NDP came out in support of an immediate $15 minimum wage for federally-regulated workers. However, this one step forward was followed by another step backwards. The NDP’s Labour Day statement also tied further increases to the minimum wage to the concept of a “living wage”, Continue readingNDP’s living wage is a dead-end for workers
Today on Rank & File Radio, Darren Stebeleski, a graphic designer and graphic design educator working on Treaty 1 territory. He is also a union steward and a member of Spark Poster, a collective of graphic designers working to support worker’s movements and social justice causes. We’ll talk about the role of graphic design in Continue readingCampaign branding & graphic design in labour organizing
Rank & File Radio – Prairie Edition, February 17, 2019: Daniel Huber, founder of the Alberta Vanguard Association and Fairserve.ca, reacts to UCP leader Jason Kenney’s new proposal for a sub-minimum wage for youth and alcohol servers in Alberta. Kenney announced that idea at a recent meeting for Restaurants Canada, an industry lobby group opposed Continue readingCombating Alberta’s restaurant lobby | Worker-driven workplace inclusion
By David Bush A full year of big changes to labour law in Ontario has just passed. Newly released jobs numbers let us measure the impact of these changes, and gauge whether the nightmarish predictions of job losses and economic upheaval have come true. Bill 148’s changes Last January, Bill 148 ushered in a sweeping Continue readingA year of Ontario’s Bill 148: Not what the big business lobby predicted
By Michal Rozworski On November 20, the libertarian Montreal Economic Institute think tank released a short report claiming that Ontario’s $14 minimum wage is costing thousands of young workers their jobs and raising prices for everyone else. These overblown claims, based on skewed and cherry-picked data, came out—purely coincidentally to be sure—the day before Doug Ford’s Continue readingIs this the best they can do? The weak case against $14 in Ontario
By Jesse McLaren Bill 47 is a major attack on workers across Ontario. It freezes the minimum wage for 33 months (amounting to a pay cut), eliminates two paid sick days and reduces the number of unpaid sick days from a possible 8 to 3, it revokes equal pay for part-time, contract and temp workers, Continue readingThe Fight for $15 and Fairness after Bill 47
By Chloe Rockarts On Saturday, September 15 workers across the province took part in a day of action marking 15-weeks until January 1, 2019, the scheduled date for the $15 minimum wage increase. These 23 actions, coordinated by the Fight for 15 and Fairness campaign and Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) aim to pressure the Continue readingMessage to Tories: Hands off $15
By David Bush The August job numbers are out and on the face of it they look grim for the workers of Ontario. 80,000 jobs were lost in August. The headlines are ready-made for the Ford government to use as an excuse to freeze the minimum wage and rollback the labour law reforms in Bill Continue readingThe August job numbers: Beyond the big business spin
By Brynne Sinclair-Waters and David Bush The election of Doug Ford means that workers, union and non-union alike, are facing down a legislative attack on their rights. Ford signalled in the winter that he would freeze the minimum wage at $14. There is little doubt he also has his sights on employment standards and labour Continue readingHow trade unionists can defend $15 and Fairness
by David Climenhaga Originally published at AlbertaPolitics.ca Now there’s a surprise! Ontario’s minimum wage increase behaved exactly as predicted by most mainstream economists. That is, the 21-per-cent wage increase implemented by the former Liberal government that took effect on Jan. 1 this year did none of the terrible things Conservative politicians, right-wing think tankers, Astro-Turf Continue readingMinimum wage hikes aren’t wrecking Ontario and Alberta
By David Bush Only seven months after Ontario’s minimum wage was increased to $14/h, the business lobby’s grim job loss predictions have been demolished by reality. Over the last 12 months Ontario has added over 182,000 jobs, accounting for some 74 percent of all job growth in the country during that same period. Since February, Continue readingMinimum wage, maximum fearmongering