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
Articles
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
“I took every shift I could get, up to 70-hours per week, to make ends meet. With wages that low, this is what you have to do.” Devon Bartlett, Halifax airport worker By Lisa Cameron In September 2019, Justin Trudeau promised “a federal minimum wage of at least $15 per hour, starting in 2020 and Continue readingHalifax airport workers and Trudeau’s broken $15 promise
If you’ll win the wars at home,There’ll be no fighting anymore– Phil Ochs By Doug Nesbitt Remembrance Day is one of the few times each year we all agree upon the importance of learning history. However, the vested interests of certain Canadians have led to some very dangerous myths being built around Remembrance Day. If Continue readingIf we win the wars at home
By Cole Rockarts Today, October 26 2020, hundreds of members of the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE) walked off the job to protest ongoing attacks on health care by Jason Kenney’s government. The key issues include job security against outsourcing, addressing short-staffing, and stopping the privatization of public healthcare. On October 13, Health Minister Continue readingWILDCAT! Major Alberta strike against healthcare cuts
Acadia U study is looking at working conditions in retail, grocery, long-term care, education By Lisa Cameron Work has drastically changed for Nova Scotians during the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of researchers from Acadia University are studying work and health during COVID-19 through the experiences of grocery and retail workers, long-term care workers, and teachers Continue readingNova Scotia job study shows COVID-19 impact on workers
The new spokesperson for the health minister recently worked as a lobbyist for long-term care corporations
She reached out for support to build a union. And only CLAC gave a helping hand. Have you read Part One of this story? By Zaid Noorsumar Laura Borden* was determined to form a union at ParaMed’s Oshawa branch. The working conditions had deteriorated after ParaMed, owned by Extendicare, had restructured and expanded its government-funded Continue readingInside and outside a home care union drive
Conditions in home care were getting worse. One PSW decided to organize a union. By Zaid Noorsumar The drive north from Oshawa to Haliburton County in Central Ontario takes two hours. There were times when Laura Borden* would travel that distance to meet her co-workers – and end up sitting alone at Tim Horton’s. “Sometimes Continue readingShe wanted a union
Estevan, Saskatchewan 1931; RCMP murders 3 in union recognition strike By Doug Nesbitt, Rankandfile.ca editor On September 29 1931, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police murdered three miners in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The miners and their families were striking for union recognition. In 1931, 600 miners in the Souris coal fields of southeast Saskatchewan faced wage cuts Continue readingOur History: Remember the Estevan Miners
By Doug Nesbitt This Labour Day, the new Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole released a video talking frankly about the massacre of jobs in manufacturing, energy and forestry. He says too many are “living in quiet desperation.” In the video, O’Toole attacks not just “big government” for lousy free trade negotiations, but also “corporate and Continue readingBeware the Corporate O’Toole
By Barbara Fletcher I have always been a helper. For over 20 years, I have done the work of a PSW (Personal Support Worker), and I am good at it. I work in home care, the purpose of which is to keep people out of LTC (Long-term Care) and hospitals. It is better mentally, and Continue readingI help them stay in their homes; I want to stay in mine