On Thursday, August 22, Manitoba’s health care unions underwent a massive shift, with CUPE becoming the largest health care union in the province over MGEU. As mandated by the PC government’s Bill 29, the Health Care Bargaining Review Act, health care workers were required to vote whether to remain with their present union, or join Continue readingPallister’s forced health care votes shakes up MB union numbers
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On June 28, Bill 9, The Public Sector Wage Deferral Act received royal assent and came into effect in Alberta. The bill affects approximately 180,000 public sector workers and 24 collective agreements across the province, and delays wage arbitration negotiations for public sector unions until after October 31, 2019. The impact of Bill 9 on Continue readingBattling Kenney’s Bill 9
LGBTQ workers continue to face discrimination and unemployment at higher rates than the population as a whole. Nine percent of LGBT people in the United States are unemployed, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute, compared to 5 percent of the entire U.S. population. And 27 percent have limited access to adequate food, compared to 15 percent. Continue reading50 years after Stonewall: LGBTQ Workers Seek Equality
On Monday, August 19, Lethbridge City Council voted down a motion 6-3 calling for the provincial government to cut funding for a supervised consumption site called ARCHES. This came after community members in Lethbridge and across Alberta organized to send letters to city council and rallied outside city hall the day of the vote. Kym Continue readingA Victory for Lethbridge’s Supervised Consumption Site
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) Economic and Budget Outlook review has identified planned government spending savings that come via (1) announced program changes (program cuts like the government’s cut to OHIP+), (2) announced efficiency targets (identified areas where the government hopes it will find savings without service cuts), and (3) cuts that have not yet been Continue readingFord plans many more healthcare cuts
If you were to believe Jerry Dias, president of Unifor Canada, you’d conclude the Northern Pulp issue is easily resolved. 350 direct jobs will be lost if the Northern Pulp plant in Pictou County closes, and 2,700 full time spinoff jobs will also be gone. That was the message Dias delivered at a press conference Continue readingNorthern Pulp and Unifor
On July 31, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) filed for conciliation after 10 days of bargaining with the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA) and the provincial government. RankandFile.ca spoke with Laura Walton, President of CUPE’s provincial bargaining agent, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), to discuss bargaining so far and the Continue readingBargaining stalled for Ontario’s education workers
It has taken years of persistence and an army of warriors but it is finally happening – the conspiracy of silence around the hazardous work environment at the Peterborough General Electric plant is unravelling. The documentary Town of Widows aired on CBC on Thursday August 8, 2019, providing national exposure to finally put an end to Continue readingTown of Widows
On April 23, 2013, a local television crew shot footage of cracks in the Rana Plaza factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The building was evacuated, but the owner of the building declared it safe and told workers to come back the next day. One Walmart supplier housed in the building, Ether Tex, threatened to withhold Continue readingBangladesh Accord gets a lifeline while workers organize wildcat strikes
Dan Comeczko is a sawmill worker on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and one of the many workers on strike against Western Forest Products. The strike is being organized by United Steel Worker’s Local 1-1937, made up of many former locals from the now dissolved International Woodworkers of America. Comeczko agreed to be interviewed with James Continue readingVan Island sawmill worker talks strike & concessions
Sawmill workers across Vancouver Island have been picketing for a fair contract with Western Forest Products since the Canada Day long weekend. The strike by 3000 members of United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 is in opposition to WFP’s proposed clawback of holidays, pensions, seniority rights and many other contract areas. The workers are also striking for Continue readingForestry Workers Down Saws to Stop Cuts
Some 60 protesters came out the afternoon of July 24 to picket the two entrances to Halifax’s historic Citadel Hill, the location of a fundraiser for the provincial Liberal party. Fight for 15 activists reminded fundraiser attendants and tourists alike that poverty in Nova Scotia is rampant, and that our minimum wage is one of Continue readingFight for $15 pickets Nova Scotia Liberals’ fundraiser