The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at: https://rabble.ca/podcast/countries-adopt-15-corporate-income-tax-plan/
This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included coverage of CWA Canada’s response to Ubisoft’s announcement that it is shutting down its Halifax operation. The news comes as the union was moving to start bargaining a first collective agreement after a successful organizing drive late last year. And after the company reportedly managed to absorb almost a billion dollars in subsidies and incentives from the federal and Nova Scotia governments.
Other stories included some labour relations predictions from Press Progress for 2026 and an in-depth look at the short and long-term effects of asbestos on a BC mining town. As well, I think I detect a certain level of anxiety in statements from unions, including the CLC, about the upcoming CUSMA trade talks. Not just in the content of them but in the timing. You’d almost think that they are expecting a rough ride this time around.
But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, is from CUPE which this week announced that 30 long-term care homes in Nova Scotia have held positive strike votes and bargaining heats up.
As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you. This week’s is from Greenland where the head of SIK (sorry, I won’t even attempt the union’s full name) held a news conference to forcefully make the point that Greenland and Greenland’s workers are not for sale and not in favour of annexation by the Trump regime.
Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included coverage of efforts being made by several local unions to ensure the safety of their members who work in or have to walk through downtown Winnipeg.
Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was news of a building trade effort to harmonize safety standards for all the trades, how and why Calgary transit workers found themselves on the receiving end of so much violence while at work, and calls from hospital workers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for and end to the workplace violence their members face on an almost daily basis.
LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Indonesia, where unions organized nationwide protests in the last two weeks of December 2025 against a newly introduced government regulation on wages.
The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:
In 2007 the 21,000 members of ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, broke new ground for cultural workers with the first strike in their 64-year history.
And of course it was this week in 1889 that innkeeper Joe Beef of Montréal dies, a legendary friend to the outcast poor and working class of that city. More than 50 unions marched in his funeral procession.
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 trade unionists facing repression in Guatemala, Serbia, Lesotho and in the Netherlands.
If you can take just a few seconds out of your busy day you can add your voice to the thousands of trade unionists around the world who have already sent messages of solidarity and protest.
All our campaigns have been requested by the affected unions, so you know they’re legit and you know that the union thinks our campaigns have an effect or they wouldn’t request them.
So, if you haven’t already, do it; join one or all these campaigns. Just follow the links on our main page.
This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.
Labour News Network 