Saskatchewan austerity budget | CHS Ontario strike | pay equity | JIBC Bookstore | Transit workers | Emera’s greed | Unpaid taxes | Alberta’s Bill 6 | Cape Breton coal mining | TD Bank

Striking York food service workers win $15 and Fairness
Alia Karim and David Bush, Rankandfile.ca
March 9 2017
On Monday striking York food service workers, represented by Unite Here Local 75, voted to accept their new contract. The workers went on strike for and won a $15/hour starting wage and fair working conditions. Their victory paves the way for workers right across the province to achieve $15 and fairness.
Canadian Hearing Society workers on strike across Ontario
CUPE-Ontario
Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) workers CUPE 2073 have been without a contract for 4 years. After being presented with multiple options for negotiating a settlement that would address their stated concerns, the CHS rejected all offers for settlement, leaving the union with no choice but to commence strike action on March 6. They need your help on the picket line!
Gender pay gap: Women earn 87 cents to men’s $1
Solomon Israel, CBC News
March 8 2017
Canadian women earned 87 cents an hour for every dollar made by men in 2015, according to new Statistics Canada data released Wednesday to mark International Women’s Day.
After NL pay equity vote, strategy needed to address wage gap
CBC News
March 9 2017
Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister responsible for the status of women says she’s proud that all members of the House of Assembly voted in favour of pay equity, and now it’s time to figure out what can be done and how soon. On Wednesday, all 40 MHAs gave unanimous support to an NDP private member’s motion to urge the provincial government to start the process for pay equity legislation.
Resolution reached for JIBC Bookstore employees
BCGEU
March 7 2017
BCGEU members at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) bookstore in New Westminster have voted to accept a new collective agreement with their employer, JM Project Management. After five weeks on the picket line, they went back to work on March 6th.
TD bank employees admit breaking the law for fear of being fired
Erica Johnson, CBC News
March 10 2017
A CBC report earlier this week about TD employees pressured to meet high sales revenue goals has touched off a firestorm of reaction from TD employees across the country — some of whom admit they have broken the law at their customers’ expense in a desperate bid to meet sales targets and keep their jobs. Hundreds of current and former TD Bank Group employees wrote to Go Public describing a pressure cooker environment they say is “poisoned,” “stress inducing,” “insane” and has “zero focus on ethics.”
Cape Bretoners debate environmental, safety and gender merits of Donkin coal mine jobs
Tom Ayers, LocalXPress
March 10 2017
Not everyone was pleased to hear Cape Breton was back in the resource extraction business after the owners of the Donkin mine announced last week that coal was officially being dug out of the ground. While former mine workers and union representatives say they strongly support the mine and the jobs it brings, Madonna Doucette, a social activist who works at the Ally Centre of Cape Breton and is the NDP riding association’s candidate at next week’s Sydney-Whitney Pier nomination meeting, is expressing what many consider to be an unpopular opinion in Cape Breton.
Transit
Gatineau bus drivers’ union says STO suspended vice-president for 3 days
CBC News
March 11 2017
Winnipeg bus driver punched, another punched
Austin Grabish, CBC News
March 11 2017
Nationalism does not equal workers’ power
Gerard Di Trolio, Rankandfile.ca
March 7 2017
Corporate greed
Emera, which owns Nova Scotia Power, boosts CEO pay over $5 million
Paul Withers, CBC News
March 9 2017
The problem with $47 billion in unpaid taxes
Percy Downe, Toronto Star
March 7 2017
Right to strike still a sticking point in Alberta’s Bill 6
Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald
March 7 2017
Alberta’s agricultural community remains broadly opposed to the unionization of farm employees, even as the provincial government moves forward with its plan to give farm workers the right to strike. As part of its workplace safety legislation (Bill 6) for farms and ranches that passed in the legislature in January 2016, the NDP government plans to amend the provincial labour code to remove an exemption that prohibits farm and ranch employees from engaging in collective bargaining or going on strike.
New report debunks the deficit in Saskatchewan: “It’s not as bad as they are saying”
CUPE
March 9 2017
Brad Wall wants public sector compensation slashed 3.5 percent
Stefani Langenegger, CBC News
March 8 2017
Mediations break down between Unifor and Co-op Refinery Complex
Craig Baird, Leader-Post
March 7 2017