By Michael Mcdonald, Canada Post PO5 forklift driver, St. John’s Canada Post has framed this narrative that they are losing money… well, I guess if you say something enough, people will start to believe it is the truth even though it is not! I believe it’s unfair that the crown corporation can state that it Continue readingA worker’s opinion on Canada Post’s false narratives
Articles
By Mason Godden On September 21st, 124 retired trade unionists, activists, and various friends, allies, and families of the labour movement congregated inside the Unifor union hall on 12th Street in New Westminster, British Columbia. The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical, and Allied Workers (CAIMAW). If the name Continue readingCAIMAW’s 60th anniversary
By Doug Nesbitt Slavery was legally abolished in most of the British Empire and what is now Canada on August 1, 1834, although exemptions were made for the British East India Company until 1838. Emancipation Day, August 1, has been celebrated among black communities in Canada since the 19th century. Emancipation Day was officially recognized Continue readingAugust 1 is Emancipation Day in Canada
By Doug Nesbitt “We have to be fast like a robot. So we say we’re not robots,” says a former Amazon worker, Ibrahim Al Sahary, ahead of Amazon’s big discount “Prime Day” scheduled July 16 and 17. Amazon Prime Day and other Amazon sale periods are notorious among Amazon warehouse workers for speed-ups, cancelled breaks, Continue readingBeyond the Beachhead: Unionizing Amazon in Canada
“Under capitalism the working class has but two courses to follow: crawl or fight” – JB McLachlan By Doug Nesbitt Today is Davis Day in Nova Scotia. William Davis was a coal miner shot and killed June 11 by company police during the 1925 Cape Breton coal miners’ strike. The miners were fighting against a Continue readingThe Origins of Davis Day, June 11
By Anthony Marco, OSSTF member Here’s why I will be voting AGAINST the upcoming OSSTF proposal to use arbitration as a tactic to prompt more effective bargaining with Ford’s Conservatives. I will be voting against the proposal even though I acknowledge that THIS TIME it could likely result in a better wage deal for OSSTF Continue readingArbitration tactic a mistake, says OSSTF member
In the early hours of July 6, 2013, a parked Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway train’s brakes failed. Crewed by a single person, the train was carrying oil cars and derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic. The resulting explosion killed 47 people and the downtown was completely destroyed. Three railway workers were dragged through Continue readingRemember Lac-Mégantic!
By Andrew Stevens Sunny ways are back in Saskatchewan. Manufacturing sales are up, exports are growing, oil production and mineral sales have increased,[1] and the provincial government raked in a $1.2 billion surplus.[2] We’re even seeing the population rebound after some years of stagnation. But what does this mean for the average worker? Well that Continue readingAn economic snapshot of Saskatchewan (from labour’s standpoint)
By Deanna Allain Member of the Union of Taxation Employees Local 00014 (PSAC) As a young worker new to the workforce, I never imagined I would be lucky enough to be a union member, and I certainly never expected to experience a strike firsthand, let alone a general strike, 155,000-members strong. I don’t take that Continue reading“Back to the table” says PSAC member
By Lee Gilchrist On October 25, City of Winnipeg workers in CUPE Local 500 ratified a tentative agreement recommended by their bargaining team. The union negotiating committee’s email to members on October 25 announced that the deal was ratified by 75 percent of members, although how many members voted was not disclosed. Some members have Continue readingCost of Living Crisis: Fight or Crawl?
By Doug Nesbitt During the infamous inflation crisis of the 1970s, Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals imposed strict wage controls on workers in late 1975. The federal government created a handpicked corporate-aligned “Anti-Inflation Board” to impose below-inflation wage caps on collective agreements across the private and public sectors. Unions organized a million-strong one-day general strike in October Continue reading1970s Inflation Crisis: When Trudeau hammered workers
By Ben Sichel What gives unions their power? On the surface, the answer is simple: strength in numbers. A single worker has little power to negotiate wages or resolve conflict with an employer, but a united group of workers does. This is the union movement’s foundational and most important principle. But often, it can feel Continue readingBuilding an organizing union