Author: derek51b1dbe657

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:   https://rabble.ca/podcast/cupe-cries-for-an-end-to-fascism-in-federal-government/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included CUPW’s announcement that it was moving from an open-ended national walkout to rotating strikes that would allow deliveries to resume.  This follows the announcement by the federal government that Canada Post had been freed-up to end home mail delivery.

CUPW’s media release explained the change-up this way:

“this will start mail and parcels moving, while continuing our struggle for good collective agreements and a strong public postal service…We will continue our fight for strong public services, good jobs, and a sustainable public post office for all Canadians.”

Other stories included two items involving Unifor.  One regarding the Carney government’s US trade negotiations strategy and the other an update on Amazon’s anti-union tactics at the facility in BC that was recently certified by the BC Labour Relations Board. 

And we had updates from the BCGEU as it again announced an expansion of the strike by the province’s civil service.  For a peek behind the scenes of this strike give our podcast interview with BCGEU president Paul Finch a listen.  It’s already one of our most popular pods and after you listen you’ll know why.

But my favourite item of the week was from CUPE which announced, as its national convention was starting, that its membership total had passed the 800,000 mark.  Positive news about or from the movement is hard to find these days, so I would be pleased to see this news even if I wasn’t a former CUPE member and staff.

Something that popped out at me this morning on our Canada news page was the number and variety of jobs on offer by unions across the country.  The Alliance and SEIU seem to be on a bit of a hiring spree as both unions have multiple postings out, but UFCW 401 in Alberta and a CUPE local at the University of Toronto are also looking to fill staff vacancies.

You can find very recent postings for jobs with Canadian unions on our news page where the bright blue JOB tag identifies them.  But to avoid missing any, and also to check out the jobs outside Canada you might be interested in go direct to our jobs page where you can browse them all.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is from Iran where the repression of independent trade unions continues to escalate.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from France where on 2 October unions held a second massive national general strike to protest the neoliberal policies of the national government. More are threatened unless the government changes course.  Which it may do as the French Prime Minister resigned immediately after the strike.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

In 2011 the first H&M retail outlet in Canada was organized in Mississauga, Ontario, where workers voted to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers.

In 1969 when firefighters and police officers went on strike in Montreal, taxi drivers took action on longstanding grievances against the Murray Hill bus company.

And in 1906, at Buckingham, Québec, workers locked out for organizing a union at the MacLaren pulp mill were attacked by company police. Union officers Thomas Bélanger and François Thériault were shot dead.

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 workers in Turkiye, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.  Their unions are asking us all to take a few seconds out of our busy days and send a solidarity message.

So do that.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at: https://rabble.ca/podcast/fighting-for-childrens-education-in-ontario/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included the shocking news that Quebec’s right-wing CAQ government is looking seriously at upending the Rand formula and making dues optional.  The plan, it seems, is to offer union members a kind of smorgasbord of services that they can then select from and pay for.  Or not. 

Workers could, for example, opt to pay for bargaining and representation but not for charitable donations or court challenges.

This is a direct attack on the trade unions of Quebec.  And as we know far too well, when it comes to labour legislation, bad ideas travel fast.

Until this week the CAQ’s plan was under wraps, for obvious reasons.  Stay tuned for how unions in the rest of Canada react.

Some of our other Canadian top stories are smaller in scale perhaps, but just as concerning.  Like one we caught from Ontario that lays out just how easy it is for employers to engage in wage theft and how difficult it is for temporary foreign workers to collect what’s owed them, even with the backing of the Labour Board.

And, of course, we collected lots of news about the Posties return to the picket lines.  By lots I mean LOTS.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from BC where ILWU leader Rob Ashton announced that he’d be injecting some working class politics into the federal NDP leadership race.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is from the US where unions representing workers in the federal public service, already on the back foot after the Trump regime voided unions rights for almost 4 million workers are struggling to cope with the government shutdown.  And, soon, with whatever Plans the White House has for the future of the civil service down there.

If that’s too much bad news for you, take a gander at our top stories from Greece and France where general strikes against neoliberal government policies came off in a big way this week.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included a report from the Trades Women Build Nations conference last week and the CLC’s call for increased investment in care services across the country.  Services almost always provided by women workers.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was one from Newfoundland and Labrador where the Tory candidate for premier in the provincial election had a bad day as a sister from the Marystown Shipyard Alliance grabbed a mic and challenged him in front of a crowd and some TV cameras.

Look for it, it might make your day.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Brazil where unions and their allies have organized a popular referendum to pressure the national government to enact progressive tax reforms and other social justice policies.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversary of a truly historic event.

On the first day of October in 1741, workers at the Royal Shipyard in Québec organized the first recorded strike in Canadian history.  Why this event doesn’t get more attention in what’s left of the labour press in this country escapes me.

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 workers facing down hostile governments and employers in Turkiye, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.  In each case the workers, through their unions, are asking us all to take just a few seconds out of our day to send a solidarity message.

So why don’t you?

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/what-is-a-far-leftist-in-the-us/

I think the federal government’s plans for the post office is generating our first-ever breaking news interruption to the normal flow of my reports.

Look for the Posties’ reaction and updates on the strike the announcement inspired on our Canadian pages in French, English and any other languages where we can find coverage.

Prior to Thursday evening, the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included our latest podcast, an interview with the president of the BCGEU.  It covers, of course, the union’s escalating walkout and how the strikers plan to come out of the current round of bargaining with the government of British Columbia with a win.

It’s worth noting here that our podcast series has had a few interviews with Canadian trade unionists and they’ve consistently been amongst our most popular.  This interview with Paul Finch looks to be no exception.  We’ve already seen some indications that Paul has a following, a fan club even, amongst retired British comrades who listened to the interview within minutes of it dropping.

Follow the link on our main page to give it a listen.

Other stories included the ongoing and now two weeks-old strike by OPSEU members who work at the province’s colleges, what the CLC is looking for from Parliament in the current session, the NSFL’s reaction to proposed changes to the Workers Compensation Act, and what looks like an impending strike by Vancouver Symphony musicians.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is from Italy where we saw strikes in solidarity with the flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza by landing token amounts of food and medical supplies.

The one-day walkouts hit Italy’s largest cities hard with hundreds arrested.

Oddly enough, we’re carrying news of and from the flotilla itself on national news pages scattered across our site. 

Several unions from around the globe are supporting members who are participating.  Some of the best coverage comes from members of the Maritime Union of Australia aboard a sailboat that has joined the flotilla.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included progress or the lack thereof in the ECE strike in Cape Breton.  As in the rest of the world, early childhood education is considered women’s work and their pay and working conditions reflect the gendered nature of their work.  If you get a chance, cheer them.

What’s also common across the country is that these Unifor members have the overwhelming support of the parents with sprogs in the facility.

Another is PSAC’s push for meaningful pay equity action in the federal public service.  The Alliance campaign is starting to generate some favourable editorials in the media and we’re carrying a few of them.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was another Alliance item, this one detailing the ways in which the union works to improve health and safety not just in Canada, but around the world.

We also have items about the hope for safer work for Ontario’s firefighters and the launch of the CLC’s workplace harassment and violence cross-country survey.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from France where on 18 September unions organized a national general strike and protest over the Macron regime’s commitment to neoliberal austerity budgeting, cuts to public services and its refusal to raise taxes on the rich and corporations. In Paris 500,000 joined a protest march. Similar events were held across the country.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

In 1873 the Canadian Labour Union was founded in Toronto. This first attempt to organize a Canadian labour central finds limited support, mainly from skilled workers in Ontario.

And in 1963, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, now Canada’s largest union, was founded in Winnipeg through a merger of NUPE and NUPSE. The union goes on to break new ground in building the labour movement and in organizing women workers.

Finally, and this is a really big deal for us here at LabourStart, 25 September 1995 Canadian unions supporting the Liverpool Dockers Solidarity Campaign participate in national actions using the internet, thanks to Larry Kuehn and his union, the BCTF. This is believed to be the first time the net was used to organize an international labour solidarity action.

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 textile workers in Turkiye whose union is under attack.  The workers are out picketing after facing all kinds of harassment for having the temerity to organize.

Their union, TEKSIF and the global union federation IndustriALL are asking us all to take a few seconds and send a solidarity message.  A link to the campaign page is right up there on LabourStart.org.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

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.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/the-labour-movement-on-the-international-day-for-democracy/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a Globe and Mail article on the movement’s response to the introduction of AI into many more workplaces in many more sectors.  While not a terrible piece, the story reflects a gaping giant hole in the labour movement’s reaction to AI’s arrival.  Which is to say neither it nor the unions it looks at have much if anything to say about how AI could or should be used by unions.  Unlike, say, British unions which are working very hard at figuring how to make AI useful to unions and their members.  In other words, our reaction looks to be entirely defensive and we seem to be working at at not taking the initiative.

Other stories included the launch of a strike by 10,00 full-time support staff in Ontario’s college system.  OPSEU, their union, just a year ago took on the province’s Tory government in a similar province-wide walkout and beat back its plans for Ontario’s liquor stores.  And won.

Speaking of strikes, the BCGEU walkout, as expected, escalated this week with more workers downing tools and picking up picket signs.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from Alberta of all places.  There the Health Sciences Association added to the long list of rejected tentative agreements we’ve seen over the past two years.  The members are cranky and looking for more.  Lots more.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is not so much from Belarus as out of it.

Yesterday the International Trade Union Confederation announced that Aliaksandr Yarashuk and Hennadz Fiadynich have been released from the prison where they were serving 4 and 9 years respectively, for their trade union activities and their union’s opposition to the Lukashenko dictatorship.  While there are no signs of a change to the government’s policy of repressing independent trade unions, the release of these two union leaders was welcomed by the ITUC and the global union federations.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included not a lot this week, other than a retrospective look at the influence Madeliene Parent had on the development of the labour and feminist movements across Canada, but especially in Quebec.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was a piece about the actions of CUPE members, cabin crew on a Westjet aircraft that experienced technical difficulties at an airport on St. Maarten.

A bigger and scarier analysis piece from OHS Canada makes the point that the current governmental enthusiasm for harmonizing regulations seen by those same governments as being barriers to interprovincial trade is going to affect workers in perhaps unexpected ways.  Health and safety legislation and regulations are almost certain to be included and to date workers and their unions have not been given an opening for effective input.

And, inevitably, we carried an article from the Alberta Teachers Association on the rising tide of school violence and its effects on staff and students.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Argentina where pensioners continue to protest the anti-worker policies of the far-right Milei regime as it cuts workers pensions to the bone in a period of high inflation.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

In 1886 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Saskatchewan Division No. 322, is formed in Medicine Hat. It is the first union chartered in what later becomes Alberta.

And in 1945 in Windsor, Ontario, the United Auto Workers began their historic strike against the Ford Motor Company. It lasted for 99 days and leads to the Rand Formula for union security.

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.

Finally, a bit of a shout-out to the Unifor members who drive school buses in and around Windsor Ontario.  I can’t imagine doing what you do every school day and being locked-out is no reward for your hard work. 

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/canadian-unions-started-labour-day/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included statements from several national unions that strongly suggest that there’s a co-ordinated effort being made to push for the elimination of s.107 of the Canada Labour Code.  That’s the provision that the Liberals used, most recently anyway, against the CUPE members at Air Canada.

S. 107 had been largely forgotten until it was resuscitated by the current federal government.  It’s been used against several unions in recent years but the flight attendants were the first striking workers to ignore the feds and carry on with their walkout. 

There example seems to have inspired a bit of a national, cross-sectoral, pushback.

We also carried news of other signs that the movement is pulling itself together.  A good summary of those stories can be found in a CBC analysis piece currently in our top stories section.

Other stories included the BCGEU scalable walkout in BC, and from Alberta news of a settlement in the public service by AUPE while CUPE members in long-term care facilities across the province were out on the streets demanding better wages for care workers.

And, of course, we carried dozens, perhaps hundreds, of stories about Labour Day events across the country.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from The Tyee.  The title says it all:  Why One Young Union Organizer Sees a Brighter Future. 

As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you.  This week’s is from the US where Labour Day was a chance for the USian movement to organize resistance to the Trump regime’s anti-worker agenda.  In case you were disconnected all summer, a perfectly rational response to the news flowing out of the country to the south of us, a half a million workers have had their right to a union stripped from them by executive fiat.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included Lana Payne’s re-election as Unifor’s National President, and a perhaps surprisingly good, because it appears in The Globe and Mail, piece on how women workers have used their unions to improve their lives at work and away from it.

Then again, the authors are Peggy Nash and Julie White so the content is no surpriser after all.

Another nice piece was from the CBC which in the fallout from the CUPE flight attendants strike looked at a other workplaces which rely on the unpaid work of women.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was the release of what is being called a landmark report on the mental health of construction workers and a strike vote by BC nurses that looks to be driven almost entirely by workplace stress issues.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Sao Paulo Brazil where media workers held a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian journalists.  Theirs was just one of hundreds held around the world after a targeted attack on a group of journalists brought the total number killed in Gaza to almost 300.  There’s a bit of a Canadian connection to the story behind this photo:  The same day this demo in Brazil took place, Unifor, which represents many media workers, awarded the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate its Nelson Mandela Award.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

In 1879 coal miners in Springhill, Nova Scotia organized Pioneer Lodge of the Provincial Miners’ Association, later known as the Provincial Workmen’s Association. The PWA went on to become an influential force in the province.

And in 1894 Labour Day was observed for the first time as a statutory public holiday, under a law introduced that year, at the request of unions, by the Conservative prime minister Sir John Thompson.

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.

Finally, a bit of a shout-out to the teaching staff at the Séminaire Saint-François in Quebec.  Their union, the CSN, reports that 98% voted in favour of strike action.

That was on Wednesday and at the time this show was being recorded no lightning strikes or rains of blood have been reported.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.