By Robert Devet Striking Covered Bridge workers in Hartland, New Brunswick, are making little headway with their employer, a staunch union buster. An all-out effort to persuade consumers to boycott the potato chips he makes may bring him to his senses. Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW) Local 1288P have been out Continue readingFight for fairness at New Brunswick’s Covered Bridge Potato Chips
UFCW
By Andrew Stevens Workers at the Best Western Seven Oaks Inn in Regina have been walking the picket line since December 28. In a show of solidarity, at least a hundred supporters joined the strike on the evening of January 6. Despite the support, however, Seven Oaks is still operational, even though workers and union Continue readingSolidarity with UFCW 1400’s Seven Oaks workers
By Marion Pollack The Salvation Army’s mission statement identifies respect as a core value, which includes a commitment to promote the dignity of all persons. According to its website, the Salvation Army helps one person at a time, believing that each person is infinitely valuable and equally worthy. Yet often, the Salvation Army’s organizational values Continue readingRespect begins at work: a short labour history of the Salvation Army
By Sonia Singh After years of pressure to accept wage concessions, workers at Canada’s largest grocery chain are finding their voice. Contracts expired July 1 for 28,000 workers in 119 Loblaws stores across Ontario. Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 1000A, 175, and 633 bargained together in solidarity. Events took a couple of dramatic turns. Continue readingGrocery workers find their voice
Loblaws is pressuring its New Brunswick workers to scab in Ontario The following is a message from Patrick Colford, New Brunswick Federation of Labour president. Colford reports that Loblaws is pressuring its non-union Atlantic Superstores employees in New Brunswick to scab on striking Loblaws workers in Ontario. It is reported that Loblaws is threatening Continue readingFresh produce, dirty scabbing: The Loblaws model
by Dave Shaw PSAC Atlantic Region organizer Tuesday, Sept. 16 saw an unusual, unique, and long awaited meeting of the minds occur. Prompted by outreach and discussions by PSAC and SEIU, an idea was formed in late spring 2014 that perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider a conference of organizers from across the country Continue readingSharing Organizing Strategies, Building Power
By Gerard Di Trolio Thomas Mulcair would have you believe that free-trade agreements (FTAs) between developed countries are a good idea. “I don’t mind being beaten out by a competitor on the manufacture of steel if they have labour rights, environmental rights and we’re on an even playing field,” Mulcair told The Record in Kitchener-Waterloo Continue readingCanada-Korea Free Trade Agreement is a bad deal for workers
Over the course of a decade Brooks, Alberta, transformed from a socially conservative, primarily white town to one of the most diverse places in Canada as immigrants and refugees flocked to find jobs at the Lakeside Packers slaughterhouse. Centring on the 24 days of the first-ever strike at Lakeside, 24 Days in Brooks is a nuanced Continue readingWeekend Video: 24 Days in Brooks
BC teachers | Bill C-377 | Montreal pensions protest | Saskatoon transit lockout | Alberta pension bills | Nova Scotia’s Bill 37 | US Steel bankruptcy | Richmond IKEA lockout | Cornwall wildcat strike | Winnipeg municipal workers | Calgary parks privatization BC Teachers’ strike BC Teachers’ Strike – Lessons Learned Tara Ehrcke, Staffroom Confidential Continue readingRankandFile.ca Labour News Update: September 22, 2014
The constellation of Canada’s temporary foreign worker programs and the role of advocacy organizations like the Immigrant Workers Centre – An interview with Enrique “Kike” Illanes A RankandFile.ca series on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program By Andrew Stevens Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and its oldest iteration, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), is once Continue readingForeign workers and labour organizing in Quebec
An interview with Pablo Godoy By Samantha Ponting At this June’s Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) Semi-Annual General Meeting, a motion was served from a Toronto local calling for the CFS to take a position in opposition to the Temporary Foreign Workers’ Program (TFWP), noting that “the Temporary Foreign Workers Program has grown infamous for Continue readingBroadening the Debate on Precarious Work