I’m a teacher in Saskatchewan and my provincial government is trying to send me back to work to a room crowded full with the normal number of kids a building with 100s of people using the same few toilets with no safety measures in place and no extra funding to make it safe I want Continue readingEducation worker speaks out about reopening
Saskatchewan
by Emily Leedham Regina refinery workers have been locked out since December 5, 2019. This short video provides a recap of the struggle to the present, including the scab camp: a ticking COVID-19 time bomb. Sign the petition to shut down the scab camp here.
Editor’s introduction The following letter was received by Andrew Stevens, a Regina city councillor and co-founder of Rankandfile.ca. It was first shared publicly on Facebook. It relates to the scab camp established at the Co-op Refinery in Regina in which the employer has locked out refinery workers for over 100 days. Stevens writes of the Continue readingRN says Co-op Refinery scab camp “a disaster waiting to happen”
What do the prairie budgets say about the values of our provincial leaders? In a time of such uncertainty, how can we formulate a vision of a society that values people over profits? Joel French, Simon Enoch, and Lynne Fernandez discuss the Prairie budgets and what they mean for workers’ futures. AUPE asks for immediate Continue reading2020 Prairie Provincial Budget Review
by Emily Leedham As the Co-op Refinery’s unionized workforce enters their third month of a lockout, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL) is expanding on-site camps for replacement workers. Unifor 594 refinery workers have been fighting rollbacks to their pensions and savings plans. “If they’re bringing in extra camps to house these workers, it’s for one reason, Continue readingCo-op’s weak OH&S fines highlight labour laws stacked against Unifor 594
by Emily Leedham “I will always stand with Saskatchewan and the great people that reside across this great province.” Evidently, this statement from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe doesn’t include 750 oil refinery workers who have been locked out for nearly two months by Federated Co-operatives Ltd. for trying to save their pension and savings plans. Continue readingUnited We Rollback Pensions: Refinery lockout exposes right-wing hypocrisy
by Emily Leedham “Cops are towing vehicles, threatening arrests, FYI. Gate 7.” my friend Geoff* texts me. “Oh shit,” I texted back, getting up from the couch to find my ski pants. I was staying with friends in Regina, Saskatchewan to cover the Co-op Refinery lockout where around 750 refinery workers – members of Unifor Continue readingDance Parties, Personal Growth, and Police: Three Days with Locked Out Regina Oil Workers
by Emily Leedham In a move that shocked trade unionists across the country, the Regina Police Service arrested Unifor National President Jerry Dias and thirteen other Unifor members at Gate 7 of Regina’s Co-op Refinery Complex on Monday, January 20, 2020. About 730 refinery workers, members of Local 594, have been locked out for the Continue readingLabour unites around Unifor 594 after arrests at refinery lockout
Today on Rank & File Radio, an update on the Unifor 594 lockout at the Co-op Refinery in Regina, which is entering its second month. The workers were on the picket line throughout Christmas and New Year’s.
Alison McIntosh, Research Manager at the Parkland Institute breaks down Alberta’s new austerity budget from the United Conservative Party government. A short excerpt from the Chicago Teachers Union podcast CTU Speaks with CTU Chief of Staff Jennifer Johnson explaining the core issues 25,000 Chicago teachers are out on strike for. Lori Bossaer from the Saskatchewan Continue readingFrom Chile to Chicago to Calgary, it’s the same austerity
ATU Canada has sponsored an audio documentary called Still Waiting for the Bus: The Unnatural Death of Prairie Intercity Transit, made in partnership with Winnipeg-based documentary producer and RankandFile.ca editor Emily Leedham. This documentary explores the impacts of losing the Saskatchewan Transportation Company and Greyhound bus services in Western Canada. It also interrogates the claims that Continue readingATU demands a national public intercity transit service
About 5,000 workers for six Crown corporations and one Crown agency, who are all members of Unifor, went on strike Friday morning, October 4th. Later that day at 4 PM, Unifor members rallied outside of the Saskatchewan Party convention, including local national Unifor leadership Simon Enoch, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Continue reading5,000 Unifor Crown workers on Strike in Saskatchewan