By Doug Nesbitt As COVID-19 took hold through the spring of 2020, it ravaged the elderly, particularly those in congregate settings such as long-term care homes. By late spring, it was apparent that the infection and death rates in Ontario’s long-term care homes were among the worst in the world. Of all COVID-19 deaths in Continue readingPutting the long-term care profiteers out of business
Articles
“Work in the West” Podcast Series Interview participants wanted! With support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Drs. Shelagh Campbell and Andrew Stevens at the University of Regina, are facilitating a webinar and podcast series that focuses on the state of work and employment in Western Canada. This is an opportunity for Continue reading“Work in the West”: interview participants wanted!
By Lisa Cameron on behalf of the Halifax Workers’ Action Centre Workers at Wynn Park Villa, a long-term care home in Truro, Nova Scotia, are getting close to winning major workplace improvements. Less than a month since the abrupt termination of Tevin Crawford, a former long-term care nurse at the facility, the workers of Wynn Continue readingAfter nurse is fired, Truro long-term care workers go for union
Editor’s note: The author has been kept anonymous for privacy reasons and to prevent identification by the employer Most people I know would pinpoint mid-March 2020 when COVID-19 changed life as we know it. For myself, as a part-time worker at Shoppers Drug Mart, there were signs of what was to come over a month Continue readingPandemic Diary of a Shoppers Drug Mart worker
By Doug Nesbitt With files from Dan Darrah In a new press release, Uber has proposed new changes to “reinvent independent work” in Canada. Called “Flexible Work+,” Uber claims it will start paying into individual benefits, while calling upon provincial governments to make changes to policies to improve work conditions. Gig Workers United— a union Continue readingUber launches new union-busting offensive in Canada
Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions of sexual harassment. Names with an asterisk (*) have been changed to protect the privacy of some individuals interviewed. An investigation by Cole Rockarts Over the course of the past six years, at least six women have documented accounts of sexual harassment within the Winnipeg labour movement. Among the Continue readingSexism in Winnipeg’s labour movement
By Alice Chen & Zaid Noorsumar Part 6 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA The Ontario Personal Support Worker Association (OPSWA) is one of the only associations representing Personal Support Workers in the province. It has a president, but it has no governing board because OPSWA is in fact governed by its parent body, the Continue readingOPSWA’s governance structure: A family affair?
By Zaid NoorsumarPart 5 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA In late February 2021, the Globe & Mail reported the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association (OPSWA) had 49,000 members. If this is to be believed, then the association represents about a third of the province’s 130,000+ PSWs. According to the news media – which has Continue readingDoes OPSWA really represent 49,000 members?
By Zaid Noorsumar Part 4 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA Most Personal Support Workers I have spoken with support the demand for self-regulation. The consensus is that a regulatory body would standardize educational requirements, establish benchmarks, and hold workers to account when they make mistakes. The Ontario Personal Support Workers Association (OPSWA) has been Continue readingOPSWA, self-regulation and the Ontario PC Party
Articles The Justice for PSWs strike and OPSWA “betrayal” OPSWA and its corporate friends Time to care? OPSWA’s inconsistency on LTC care standards OPSWA, self-regulation and the Ontario PC Party Does OPSWA really represent 49,000 members? OPSWA’s governance structure: A family affair? Blocked: OPSWA and its critics OPSWA’s social media misinformation Introducing the investigation The Continue readingThe Ontario PSW Association: A Special Investigation
By Zaid NoorsumarPart 3 of our Special Investigation into OPSWA In November 2020, the Ontario Progressive Conservative government finally committed to restoring a minimum care standard in nursing homes. The government’s decision was a response to intense criticism and months of activism by healthcare workers, their unions, family members of nursing home residents, and other Continue readingTime to care? OPSWA’s inconsistency on LTC care standards
Food courier Alexander Kurth discusses how Foodora workers in Toronto organized a union Introduction to the gig economy By Jordan House and Paul Christopher Gray The “gig economy” and the spread of app-based work have become prominent topics of conversation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foodora, an app-based food delivery company, has become particularly notorious Continue readingGig Workers, Unite! Inside the Foodora union drive