These are the documents released to the Unifor membership in July 2022 relating to an investigation into a complaint about (former) Unifor National President Jerry Dias’s alleged breach of the union’s Code of Ethics. We have also included a 29-page copy of the Investigation Report which we were able to access a few days after Continue readingUnifor docs: Investigation Report & NEB minutes
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Editor’s Note: This is a revised version of an earlier article. We’d like to make clear that Scott Doherty, Naureen Rizvi, and Lana Payne are not implicated in the kickback scandal and were not investigated for a breach of Unifor’s Code of Ethics. Unifor documents are available for download here. By Lee Gilchrist On July Continue readingReleased Unifor docs still keeps Dias Scandal under wraps
By Alia Karim, Kevin Brice-Lall and Taylor Welsh On June 30, over 330 e-commerce logistics workers in a Hudson’s Bay Company warehouse in Scarborough, Ontario, won their nine-day strike for wage increases, retro pay, and no concessions. In battles they posted on Twitter, the strikers turned away trucks and scab buses trying to get into Continue readingHow Scarborough warehouse workers defeated HBC
By Lee Gilchrist After a five-month strike ending on March 29, unionized workers at the Lennox & Addington Interval House in Napanee, Ontario thought the long, grueling battle was over. Management and the union’s lawyer hammered out a return-to-work protocol, and the six strikers returned to work on April 29. Then, management fired each one Continue readingUnion-busting escalates at Napanee women’s shelter
In the latest instalment of the Work in the West interview series, Professor Charles Smith discusses the broader implications of the 2019/2020 Co-op Refinery lockout for the labour movement in Saskatchewan, including the privileging of property rights over workers’ rights, the Wagner model of industrial relations in Canada, and the use of the courts as Continue readingLocked Out: Charles Smith on the 2019-2020 Co-op Refinery lockout
In the latest instalment of the “Work in the West” podcast, former Unifor Local 594 president Kevin Bittman opens up on the 2019-2020 lockout at the Co-op Refinery in Regina. In this episode, he reflects on the implications for labour solidarity, the role of government in private-sector strikes, and the future of labour in the Continue readingLocked Out: Kevin Bittman on the 2019-2020 Co-op Refinery lockout
by Emily Leedham After two weeks of pressure from the Oshawa community, General Motors announced yesterday it would re-open a portion of the plant to manufacture one million masks per month for health care workers. Former Oshawa GM workers and health care workers held a joint-press conference on Thursday, April 9 demanding the Oshawa complex Continue reading“A great first step”: Workers respond to GM Oshawa plant conversion for PPE
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.
by Emily Leedham You can’t pay while staying six feet away. So cities across Canada are implementing free public transit and back door boarding to encourage social distancing and curb the spread of COVID-19. Free transit reduces operator interactions with riders entering and exiting the vehicle and limits operator exposure to infection. Free transit also Continue readingCities across Canada implement free transit to curb COVID-19
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 On Wednesday February 5, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. CEO Scott Banda gave a shout out to United We Roll, the group responsible for last year’s well-publicized but small convoy to Ottawa claiming to defend oil and gas workers. “…I kind of noticed that United We Roll was here as well,” said Banda. “Thank Continue readingStrange new allies for FCL CEO Scott Banda
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