By Robert Devet Efforts are well underway to establish a Workers Action Centre in Halifax, something that could make a big difference for low wage workers who do not enjoy the protection of a union. Workers Action Centres educate workers about their rights, and support workers who are being cheated or discriminated against by their Continue readingWorkers Action Centre, fight for decent work coming to Halifax
organizing
By Joe Fahey How many members attend your union meetings? And how do you feel about that? Whether it’s just a handful or a hundred, no activist is ever satisfied. But you can drop a whole load of frustration if you stop expecting a majority of members to travel to the union hall for a Continue readingBring the Union Meeting to the Members
by Doug Nesbitt Near the end of 2016, new owners took over the Georgian Bay Retirement Home, a private facility in Penetanguishene, the lakeside Ontario town of about ten thousand people. The new owners were Edgecon, a property management and construction company. To manage day-to-day operations, Edgecon brought in consulting company Caymans Staffing Solutions. The Continue readingOrganize! Georgian Bay workers want a union
By Sam Gindin The profound defeat of the U.S. labour movement over the past three to four decades is usually measured by the loss of things that workers once took for granted like decent wages and benefits. A less quantifiable but ultimately more decisive indicator is the retreat from possibilities. By extension, the labour movement’s Continue readingThe power of deep organizing
In part two of our interview with Bob Barnetson, we talk about the state of organized labour in the province, from union organizing to political support for the New Democrats, from the Cold Lake lockout of care workers to the $15 minimum wage. Be sure to read part one of our interview here. Bob Barnetson Continue readingAlberta workers under the NDP, part two
By Jason Ide For a union bargaining team, a contract survey can be one of your most useful tools. But like any tool, it works best for certain jobs, and there are things that it just can’t do. Contrary to what you might think, contract surveys are not the place to start finding out the Continue readingUsing your contract survey to maximum effect
By Alan Hanson, mobilization director for UFCW Local 400 in Washington, D.C. The last time you organized a petition or voted to strike, were any of your co-workers caught off guard by the way the boss reacted? Was someone disciplined—or promoted? Did the CEO send out a misleading letter, or show up on night shift Continue readingInoculate Your Co-Workers against the Boss’s Tactics
By Jesse Cullen Students play an unique and important role in our society (disclaimer: I am a student). By virtue of attending a college or a university, students generate wealth as whole industries and communities are built around post-secondary institutions. Through college apprenticeships, university research, learning, and teaching, students produce social goods such as knowledge, Continue readingStudent unions as a weapon for the working class
By David Bush OPSEU is in the middle of organizing as many as 17,000 part-time college workers right across Ontario. Currently the Ontario labour movement organizes roughly 3,000 to 5,000 new members a year. This union drive is one the most significant and largest in the history of the province. To learn more about this Continue readingInside OPSEU’s historic college worker organizing drive
“Saul David Alinsky has been described as the man you invite into your city to bust up the joint. He’s an apostle of power who hires himself out to the poor and the oppressed. Operating out of a suitcase, he’s been working his beat for thirty years.” Saul Alinsky was a famous “Old Left” community Continue readingWeekend Video: Encounter with Saul Alinsky
by Doug Nesbitt An angry, boisterous crowd of hundreds marched through Brockville, descending upon the downtown constituency office of Bob Runciman, Ontario’s Solicitor General and MPP for Leeds-Grenville. The protesters, most of them OPSEU members on strike against the Harris government, wanted words with Runciman but found his office doors locked. Between speeches and chants, OPSEU Continue readingRebuilding labour in a Tory heartland
From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s the campus anti-sweatshop movement was one of the largest and most prominent student movements on college and university campuses in Canada and the United States. The campaign against sweatshops grew to be a major force within the broader anti-globalization movement. Organizers targeted university administrations which had licensed university apparel Continue readingJust Don’t Do It: Students organizing against sweatshops