By Mike Parker and Martha Gruell Membership meetings are not simply places for members to get information and cast votes, which could also be accomplished through newsletters and mail referendums. Meetings should give members a sense of power by bringing them together. They can see and feel that they are not alone, that others have Continue readingHow to make union meetings interesting and useful
union democracy
By Alexandra Bradbury As of July 1, the challengers for Teamster leadership are officially nominated. Now their supporters are out seeking votes among the union’s 1.3 million members. Ballots will be mailed October 6 and counted November 14. The result will depend on how many hours volunteers spend leafleting at workplace gates—and how many phone Continue readingTeamsters United one step closer
by Chris Gosse H.D. Technician ILA local 1953M Crane and Hoisting Engineer OE local 955 Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers are amongst the most highly trained and skilled workers in pipeline, dam, wind energy, mining, offshore oil, and critical infrastructure projects. Across Newfoundland and Labrador, some 2,200 IUOE Local 904 members Continue readingNL Operating Engineers exercise democracy in tough times
By Chris Grawey, CUPE 4207 member and Vice-President Niagara Regional Labour Council for Niagara South I attended my first Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Convention in Toronto last week as a young worker delegate representing the Niagara Regional Labour Council. The convention was an eye-opening experience that revealed the good, the bad, and the ugly Continue readingOFL Convention 2015: The good, the bad, and the ugly
By Alexandra Bradbury Tensions over whether unions should join, oppose, or sit out the Black Lives Matter movement are drawing long-overdue attention to the simmering racial divides inside labor. “Our brother killed our sister’s son,” AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka said last summer after police officer Darren Wilson shot teenager Michael Brown, son of a Food Continue readingHow to Start Talking about Race in Your Union
by Tara Ehrcke Just one year ago, BC teachers returned to class from what was the longest teacher strike in Canadian history. Teachers, upset with over a decade of deteriorating funding and particularly with large and complex classrooms, were unwilling to accept a contract offer which simply maintained the status quo. In one of the Continue readingThe rise and fall (?) of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation
By Gerard Di Trolio Noted sociology professor and long time labour movement activist Stanley Aronowitz has written a critical and accessible analysis of the labour movement in the United States. In The Death and Life of American Labor: Towards a New Workers’ Movement, Aronowitz surveys the decline and mistakes of the labour movement in the Continue readingBook Review: The Death and Life of American Labor
By Wael Afifi, PSAC Analyst and Unifor Local 2025 Vice-President, Human Rights I recently had an opportunity to watch Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night), a 2014 joint Belgian-French-Italian production starring Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose), who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Sandra, a Belgian working mother Continue readingFilm Review: Deux jours, une nuit (Two days, One Night)
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is holdings its convention this May 4-7 in Toronto. It is also the union’s 50th anniversary. CUPW was founded in 1965 by an incredible wildcat strike against an oppressive employer, horrible working conditions and a failed employee association. Fifty years later, the union is facing enormous challenges as Continue readingInterview with Mike Palecek, CUPW presidential candidate
R&F.ca has launched its Spring fundraising drive. Our goal is to raise $6,660 by May 1, 2015. Click here to find out how you can donate. Ongoing tension between CUPE members and the USW puts pay equity project at risk By Shannon Clarke When United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1998’s pay equity team decided to unionize this Continue readingState of the unions
Call for chapter proposals There are many untold stories about women’s labour education in North America. If you are interested in writing a manuscript about a women’s-only school, course, or program, within one union or involving many, please consider sending an abstract for a chapter to the editors, Cindy Hanson and Adriane Paavo. Interested contributors Continue readingWomen’s Labour Education and Leadership Programs
By Hassan Husseini At a time when the right is escalating its attacks on workers’ rights across the country, labour leaders seem to be a lot more interested in parochial turf wars than the deteriorating conditions of the working class. There is no place where this turf war is more pronounced than at the Ontario Continue readingDivided Ontario labour in need of a revolt