This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included the release of Unifor’s guide to supporting migrant worker members, more developments in the debate regarding Quebec’s Bill 3, proposed legislation that would segment union dues into ‘mandatory’ and ‘optional’ portions, and a piece from Briarpatch on the history of organizing at the Canada Goose factories in Winnipeg.
Other stories included signs that a crab prices dispute is coming in Newfoundland and Labrador, and lots of speculation about the content of CUPW-Canada Post tentative agreement and what the unconventional end to the strike means.
But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from CWA Canada which marked the 15th anniversary of The Story Board, a blog site the union has been hosting for freelancers since 2010. The Story Board is a great example of an organizing and service tool for precarious workers. Take a gander at it when you have a moment even if you’re not a freelance journo.
As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you. This week’s is from Amnesty International, which just released a detailed and damning report on the extent to which the global garment supply chain depends on South Asian women garment workers remaining non-union.
Read it and weep. It’ll make you a winter nudist.
Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included just a smattering of union statements marking the International Day for the Elimination of Gender Violence.
If you just quickly scanned our health and safety page or if your union’s website carries our safety newswire this week what would have jumped out at you is the number of stories from public transit unions. In four provinces three unions representing bus operators are raising alarms about a wave of health and safety concerns ranging from verbal abuse to assaults with weapons.
Take a step back and you’ll see that the problem is global.
On a somewhat cheerier note, LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Switzerland where on 18 November 25,000 workers marched through Lausanne as Swiss unions organized protests and short strikes across the country to demonstrate their opposition to government austerity policies.
The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:
In November of 2000 workers at a McDonald’s restaurant in Montreal gained union recognition.
And in 1921 a Maternity Protection Act, introduced by a labour member, was enacted in British Columbia. It allowed women to apply for six weeks’ unpaid leave before giving birth. It also prohibits the employment of mothers for six weeks after.
Speaking of inspiration, we are currently campaigning on behalf of trade union activists facing down hostile governments and employers in Guatemala, Serbia, Lesotho, the Netherlands, Türkiye, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
These are all people being persecuted, even facing imprisonment or worse, for doing what you and I do every day. So take a minute and show your solidarity by sending the requested message.
Finally, a bit of a shout-out to all the folks in Alberta who have been organizing recall petitions as a response to the provincial government’s use of the Notwithstanding Clause to end the ATA strike this fall.
This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.
Labour News Network 