On Monday, May 13th, WestJet announced it was being bought out by a private equity firm Onex for 5 billion dollars. This would take WestJet from being a publicly traded company to a private one. WestJet pilots and cabin crew members have unionized all within the past several years. Chris Rauenbusch, president of CUPE Local Continue readingWhat will WestJet’s sale to Onex mean for workers?
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By Emily Leedham On Tuesday, May 14, the majority of Winnipeg Transit drivers, who are members of ATU Local 1505, did not enforce payment from transit riders. This “fare strike” is the first time the ATU has done this type of action in North America. “Well, our members are tired and they wanted some action,” Continue readingWinnipeg Transit drivers’ fare strike ATU’s first in North America
By Andrew Stevens For the first time in generations, international migration has helped to fuel Saskatchewan’s population growth. “Suddenly,” wrote Saskatchewan-based columnist Tammy Robert in Maclean’s in 2017, “Saskatchewan was the place to be — not the place to be from.” Starting in 2007, for almost a decade, a prolonged resource-led boom drew domestic and international migrants, reshaping the Continue readingYellow Vests and Migrant Worker Rights in Saskatchewan
By Tony Leah Did Jerry Dias make a deal to save the Oshawa plant, or did he give in and accept GM’s determination to end vehicle production in Oshawa? Just before Christmas last year, GM announced their intention to close Oshawa, meaning the loss of 5,000 direct jobs involved in the assembly of cars and Continue readingUnifor Settlement with GM: Footprint or Toe Tag?
Winnipeg Transit drivers, members of ATU Local 1505, will take their first job action on Tuesday, May 14th. Drivers will not be enforcing fares tomorrow. Essentially, if you don’t pay, drivers will look the other way. Members of ATU 1505 and community volunteers will leaflet bus stops today to inform transit riders of Tuesday’s job Continue readingWinnipeg transit drivers not enforcing fares on Tuesday
The 1919 General Strike anniversary conference in Winnipeg kicked off on Wednesday, May 8, with labour activists and academics from across Canada congregating at the University of Winnipeg. The intention of the conference was to not only reflect on the lessons of the general strike, but understand where Canada’s labour movement is at today. Specifically Continue readingBoots Riley on labour organizing for social justice
Eric Blanc discusses his new book Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working Class Politics and what lessons it might hold for workers in Canada. Join RankandFile.ca and author Eric Blanc for the public book launch of Red State Revolt on May 29, 2019 at the Worker’s Action Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Order Continue readingWhy the Red State Revolt matters for Canada
By Doug Nesbitt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was given a standing ovation at the 2nd Unifor convention in Ottawa yesterday. But not all Unifor members were cheering on the love-in between the Prime Minister and their national union president, Jerry Dias. There are plenty of Canadian workers already fed-up with business-as-usual and inaction during a Continue readingWhy Trudeau is no friend of labour
On December 2, 2015, Dr. Sean Tucker delivered a lecture at the University of Regina on the Co-Op Refinery Complex’s (CRC) health and safety record. In the last decade, two workers have died and dozens more have been injured as a result of unsafe working conditions at the CRC. Is this just a reality of Continue readingSafety at the Co-Op Refinery Complex