The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at: https://rabble.ca/podcast/how-canada-can-fight-the-trump-economic-attacks/
This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included the CLC’s call for a worker-friendly parliamentary session, attacks on BCGEU pickets, CUPE decision to end mediation with Air Canada, and the Steelworkers reaction to the federal NDP’s effort aimed at eliminated the now infamous but until recently little-known s.107 of the Canada Labour Code.
Other stories included a lovely piece by Judy Rebick on rabble with a title that says it all: The Women Are Rising. Her piece provides a reminder of the extent to which the labour movement is increasingly led by and inspired by women workers.
As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you. This week’s is from Australia, where the impact of global heating on workers in a wide range of occupations is reaching the critical point. Arguably, Australia may be a few years ahead of us on the climate front so if you want a peek at our future, read the ACTU report.
Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included Rebick’s article of course but also a neat piece about International Equal Pay Day from UFCW Canada, and a look at what it takes to strike if you’re a Cape Breton childcare worker.
Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was coverage of a FFAW event in St. John’s on the anniversary of the deaths of two fishers that saw the union and family members calling for safer work aboard offshore fishing vessels, and Unifor’s complaint that Calgary airport security screeners are being denied rest and washroom breaks.
LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Ghana, where as a result of the sustained and creative advocacy efforts led by the Domestic Services Workers Union, domestic workers there will soon have access to social protections, a crucial first step towards formalization and decent work for Ghanaian domestic workers.
The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:
This week in 1933 a general strike began in the factories of Stratford, Ontario and spread across the city. Troops and armoured cars were called out and used against the strikers.
In 1913, September saw the creation of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour at Saint John. Today it is the provincial federation in Canada with the second longest continuous history.
And in 1912 Vancouver Island coal miners began what became a two-year strike for workplace safety and union recognition. To defeat the miners’ union, the companies brought in strike-breakers and the province called out the militia.
There are lots more labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages. Look for them and be inspired.
Speaking of inspiration, we are currently campaigning on behalf of Sri Lankan garment workers whose employer announced the shutdown of its only unionized rag shop in the country, in a WhatsApp message to the workers. Adding injury to insult, this was happening as the employer was announcing over £1 billion in profits multi-million pound executive bonuses.
The workers union is demanding that the decision be reversed and that the company honour its collective bargaining obligations.
It takes just seconds to send a protest and solidarity message.
Finally, a bit of a shout-out to 1000 faculty association members at Dalhousie University in Halifax. They’re in the process of returning to work after having been locked-out on 20 August.
This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.
Labour News Network 