Benefits a striking point in city of Toronto labour talks | Uber is not the answer to Winnipeg’s transport woes | Largest public sector union denounces Liberal sick leave plan | Workers at Crown Royal plant vote in favour of a strike | Walking the picket link in Sydney, Cape Breton | What union drive at Vice Canada means for the future of journalism | Chronic understaffing of BC’s nurses: the campaign and its challenges
Benefits a sticking point in city of Toronto labour talks
February 5, thestar.com
The city and union representing 28,000 workers say they are working hard to negotiate new contracts to avoid a strike or lockout, but after months of talks, employee benefits remain a major sticking point.
Uber not the answer to Winnipeg’s transport woes
February 5, rankandfile.ca
Ride-sharing service Uber wants into the Winnipeg taxi market. Looking past the marketing facade, Uber isn’t innovative or inevitable. Uber is in fact deregulation of the taxi industry, modernized using smart phone applications and an aggressive expansion campaign.
Largest public sector union denounces Liberal sick leave plan
February 5, ipolitics.ca
The Public Service Alliance of Canada is denouncing the Liberal government’s plan to reform sick leave for government workers, saying it mirrors the controversial plan put forward by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.
The PSAC President Robyn Benson says her union expected a new government to bring a new proposal to the bargaining table when negotiators met this week for the first time since the election.
Workers at Crown Royal plant vote in favour of a strike
February 3, cbc.ca
Workers who produce Crown Royal and the award-winning Crown Royal Northern Rye whiskies voted unanimously on Wednesday in favour of a strike.
Walking the picket line in Sydney, Cape Breton
February 3, rankandfile.ca
Sydney, Cape Breton, has always been a union town, and it shows, says local Chronicle Herald reporter Tom Ayers.
Ayers, who has worked as a Cape Breton reporter for well over a decade, and has been with the Herald for two years, is on strike. With his two colleagues he can be found walking the picket line on George Street most mornings.
What union drive at Vice Canada means for the future of journalism
February 2, nowtoronto.com
Amid fevered debates about the future of journalism in Canada, a union drive at Vice Canada is signalling that young journalists have a vision for digital-first media outlets – most of them branches of American-owned companies – that are growing and very profitable yet are not easy places to work.
Chronic understaffing of BC’s nurses: the campaign and its challenges
February 2, rankandfile.ca
While there’s been an increase in the number of trained nurses in B.C., the jobs have yet to materialize. Understaffing, long work hours, unexpected overtime, frequent on-call shifts, and shortages in key areas are increasingly common. The chronic understaffing was even an issue that sent the province and the BCNU to arbitration. Of equal importance is that an estimated 30 per cent of all working nurses are casual employees, or about 7,000 across the province. This is the highest ratio of casual nurses in Canada.
Air Canada, CALDA, sign collective agreement
February 2, labour-reporter.com
Air Canada and the Canadian Airline Dispatchers Association (CALDA) recently signed a new contract.
The 12-year collective agreement — subject to ratification — covers Air Canada’s flight dispatchers based at the airline’s Operations Centre near Toronto Pearson International Airport.