From Turkey to the Philippines, this is what solidarity looks like

In Turkey, teachers’ union leaders were released from house arrest. In the Philippines, union leaders who were sacked for their activism, were all reinstated. In Azerbaijan, security police raised the question of international support being shown to jailed union leaders while interrogating an activist.

What do these headlines all have in common?

These were all the results of LabourStart campaigns this summer.

Today, I’d like to update you with the extraordinary stories of these workers’ struggles. And to ask for you support.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Union leaders punished for their solidarity with students – and released following our campaign

In March this year, the teachers’ union in Turkey showed solidarity with pro-democracy protests by university students.

The regime’s response was swift: union leaders were placed under house arrest and faced other repressive measures. The union approached us through their global union federation, Education International. And we launched a campaign.

As we learned from the union a few days ago, “Within a short time, thousands of people joined the campaign, expressing their support for Eğitim Sen (the teachers’ union). This international campaign, which has continued for over three months, alongside national public support, has undoubtedly played a significant role in pushing back against the oppressive policies targeting our trade union. As a result, the judicial control measures imposed on Eğitim Sen’s leaders have been lifted.”

I’m delighted to share this good news with you and to pass on what the union’s leaders wrote to us:

“We extend our heartfelt thanks, first and foremost, to the LabourStart platform; to our global federation Education International (EI); to the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE); and to dozens of international trade unions and confederations from North America to Latin America, from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region. We are also deeply grateful to every individual and institution that has stood in solidarity with us. International trade union solidarity continues to be a powerful source of strength in our struggle against all forms of pressure and interference targeting democratic principles and trade union rights.”

I can tell you honestly that getting a message like that — well, it’s the whole point of what we do here at LabourStart.

And that was not the only message we received like this recently.

Massive win for workers making the clothes for Lululemon

Just a few days earlier, we learned workers in the Philippines, who were making clothes for Lululemon, had won a huge victory, assisted by a one of our online campaigns.

Here are just some of the things they told us that they won:

  • All five terminated union leaders were reinstated, with full back wages from the date of their termination.
  • The current disciplinary scheme will undergo review with the aim of crafting a new disciplinary policy in consultation with the union.
  • The company commits to fully respect employees’ freedom of association and will make sure that this is clearly conveyed to all its employees.
  • As a concrete step in this commitment, a labour education seminar on trade unionism will be conducted and attended by all rank-and-file employees of the company.

And that’s just part of a long list.

Not every campaign ends that way.

Azerbaijan’s security forces express concern about our campaign

But even when we don’t get everything we want, the campaign matters.

For example, a few weeks ago we closed down a campaign we’ve been running in support of jailed trade union leaders in Azerbaijan. Those brave individuals remain in jail and we are committed to doing everything we can to fight for their freedom. When we asked the union what, if anything, the campaign achieved, here is what they told us:

“The campaign received widespread attention, going viral in the news and drawing significant public interest. It even reached state-level awareness … [one of our members] was questioned about it during her interrogation while in detention this past April.”

From Turkey to the Philippines, LabourStart campaigns make a difference. And by supporting those campaigns, you make a difference.

To continue this important work, we need to ask for all of you to donate — and to encourage your trade union to also donate.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Please click here and give what you can. Every donation matters.

Our global network of tens of thousands of trade unionists like yourself — we’re making a difference, every day.

As our Turkish friends wrote in their message, “Long live international solidarity!”

Thank you so much for being part of this.

Eric Lee
LabourStart

Philippines: Victory for workers at Lululemon contractor

Dear comrades, allies, and friends in the labor movement,

We are glad to update and report to you that the negotiations between Metrowear Two management and the Union (OMEGA – PIGLAS) have achieved key gains in our new agreement, including:

  1. Our five (5) terminated union leaders were reinstated effective June 23, 2025, with full back wages from the date of their termination.
  2. The current disciplinary scheme, especially the 35-point demerit system, will undergo review with the aim of crafting a new disciplinary policy in consultation with the Union.
  3. The Company commits to fully respect employees’ freedom of association and will make sure that this is clearly conveyed to all its employees.
  4. As a concrete step in this commitment, a labor education seminar on unionism will be conducted and attended by all rank-and-file employees of the company. Management and the Union will coordinate on the attendance, date, time, and venue of the seminar. Furthermore, DOLE and the Union will lead the conduct of this labor education.
  5. Management and the Union will work to conclude the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on or before July 30, 2025. Additionally, amendments to the ground rules of the negotiations will be made with the aim of accelerating the process. Both parties agree to negotiate in good faith throughout the CBA talks.
  6. The Company has assured its commitment not to close the factory and will exert its best efforts to scout new orders to shorten the forced leave period and ensure the continued operation of Metrowear Two. The Company also commits to balancing orders between the two Metrowear factories.
  7. Regarding the temporary forced leave, the Company will provide the following subsidy packages or assistance to all affected employees:

a) P125.00 per day financial support starting from the 8th day of forced leave until they are recalled to work;

b) Full payment of social benefit premium contributions and health insurance for the entire duration of the forced leave, shouldered by the Company;

c) 25 kilos of rice (one-time release on the last working day);

d) An advance on the 13th-month pay amounting to Php 6,000.00, to be given on the last working day;

e) The remaining balance of the 13th-month pay for the year shall be based on gross income, including daily financial assistance (i.e., gross salary + P125.00 daily allowance).

This is a substantial win for us, and we want to extend our deepest gratitude for your steadfast support during our recent labor dispute with Metrowear Two. Your solidarity played a vital role in helping us reach this resolution.

This victory is not just for our members—it’s a testament to what’s possible when workers and communities unite against injustice. We couldn’t have done it without your support, and we are proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with you.

However, the fight is not yet over. We still need to push for the reinstatement of Alan Esponga, the union president of another Sport City factory—Globalwear Inc. For OMEGA – PIGLAS, the next major challenge is negotiating a strong CBA this July.

At this stage, we are pausing all further actions. We remain watchful but hopeful that ongoing efforts will lead to fair and constructive engagement.

As we move forward, we remain committed to strengthening our movement and fighting for better conditions for all workers. We’ll continue to share updates and look forward to supporting your efforts as well.

With solidarity and thanks,


Dennis S. Derige
Visayas Coordinator
SENTRO CEBU

Last survivor of the Second Narrows bridge collapse to mark anniversary at memorial event

Ironworker Lucien Lessard, now 96, still remembers falling from the bridge on June 17, 1958

Lucien Lessard was working on the bridgedeck when the Second Narrows bridge (now known as the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge) collapsed on June 17, 1958. 

“The bridge came out from underneath our feet and I was just following the locomotive from the deck down to the water. When I hit the water, I don’t really exactly remember. I was running out of air,” said Lessard. “When I came out of the water, I was lost. I was stunned. I saw some debris floating. I managed to float until a boat fished me out.” 

Lessard dealt with a number of serious injuries, but with 19 workers dying in the incident, he felt lucky to survive. He eventually returned to complete the project.

“I had a broken leg, a broken arm and plenty of bruises. They put me in the back of a pickup and took me to North Vancouver hospital. I spent three or four months there.”  

Now, 67 years later, Lessard continues to remember that day and honour the lives that were lost at the annual Ironworkers Bridge Memorial event, organized by Ironworkers Local 97. The event will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th at New Brighton Park in Vancouver. Proceedings will begin at 1 p.m.

B.C. Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside will be in attendance at the event and will share remarks in remembrance. 

Ironworkers Local 97 business manager Doug Parton said it’s important for today’s ironworkers, and all tradespeople, to remember these kinds of workplace disasters.

“This isn’t just about remembering a tragic day. It’s about showing respect for the people who lost their lives building this bridge and making sure we never forget the cost of cutting corners on safety,” said Parton. “Every year, we come back to this site to honour them, and to remind ourselves why the work we do has to be done right.”

Ironworkers Bridge Memorial – 67th anniversary

Tuesday, June 17th

1:00 p.m.

New Brighton Park, Vancouver

LabourStart Segment Script for RadioLabour Episode of 06-06-2025.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/canadas-nurses-will-say-no/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a piece from CUPE about a bill just passed into law in Quebec that allows for the privatization of the province’s electricity generation and distribution system.  This is an even bigger deal in Quebec than it would be elsewhere as the creation of Hydro Quebec back in the 1960’s was a huge point of pride.  Hydro became cheaper and more reliable and electrification spread to rural areas that had been ignored as unprofitable.  In some ways Hydro Quebec symbolized the Quiet Revolution.

Inevitably we also carried news of union reactions to the new USian tariffs, the Posties’ attempt at resolving their strike using arbitration, and why unions in Ontario are wigging-out over the Tory government’s Bill 5 and Bill 6 and why the rest of the country should be watching carefully.  If the dictatorial powers the Tories have given themselves are sustained by the courts it is hard to imagine the UCP and the Saskatchewan Party not copying them.  At least those two provincial governments.  At least.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was also my favourite global top story:  the announcement by the New Brunswick Federation of Labour that delegates to its convention had voted to impose a hot cargo edict on military equipment destined for Israel.

Why it’s my favourite is complicated, but a big part of my reaction is due to the long and proud history the province’s longshoreworkers have for giving effect to the principles of international solidarity.

International Longshoreworkers Association Local 273 in St. John most recently refused to load armoured fighting vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia.  And most famously in 1979 its members designated nuclear equipment and materials being shipped to the military dictatorship in Argentina by the Trudeau government.  Their action had a practical effect on the dictatorship’s plans for civil and military nuclear programmes but it was of huge symbolic value to those fighting for the return of democracy there.

And when they won that struggle the new government of Argentina honoured the local union with its Orden de Mayo, the highest award given by the Argentine government to citizens of another country for courage, honour and solidarity.

So, yeah, it’s a big deal.

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 Saudi Arabia where a coalition of unions from 36 countries is taking on the government of Saudi Arabia over the widespread abuse of migrant workers.

Over on our Women Workers page Canadian stories this week included a piece from Press Progress about the work being by the City in Colour Cooperative in BC to better understand the unsafe and exploitative working conditions many racialized immigrant women face, and how unions can better support them.

The short summary is well worth reading if only because it will make you want to listen to the half hour audio interview.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was the announcement by UFCW Canada that the union is taking on Health Canada over pesticide exposures suffered by farmworkers and more threats against the PSAC members tasked with culling an ostrich flock in BC infected with avian flu.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from India where one of country’s largest unions, the Self-Employed Women’s Association, is confronting police and courts over the abuse suffered by a Dalit domestic worker.

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 1987, in British Columbia, 250,000 workers walked off the job in a one-day general strike against restrictive labour laws introduced by the Social Credit government. The legislation was repealed when the New Democratic Party returned to power in 1992.

In 1986, in Edmonton, meatpacking workers struck against wage and pension rollbacks. One of their slogans was “Gainers makes wieners with scabs”. There were more than 400 arrests before an agreement was reached in December.

And in 1935 hundreds of unemployed men boarded boxcars in Vancouver, beginning the historic On-to-Ottawa Trek to protest conditions in the relief camps run by the Department of National Defence.

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.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

LabourStart Segment Script for RadioLabour Episode of 30-05-2025.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/unifor-no-to-exporting-jobs-south/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included, of course, lots regarding the state of post office bargaining and the start of a residential construction walkout in Quebec.

We also carried news of a joint statement coming from teachers union leaders from across the country.  The statement highlights two critical issues:  teacher retention in the face of increased and increasing workloads and job-related stress, and the continuing spike in workplace violence and harassment targeting teachers that has gone on for so long now that it can’t really be called a spike.

And, of course, we carried a bunch of union statements as they reacted to the Speech From the Throne.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.  It’s a call for profound labour law reform targeting private sector workers and their unions. 

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 Myanmar where a truly global effort by unions inside and outside Myanmar, supported by the global union federations and the ITUC, is being made to evict the military dictatorship and release from prison thousands of trade unionists.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was a piece from The Tyee making the argument for workplace temperature limits across BC, and by extension the country, as climate heating continues to exceed predicted values.

Also from BC we had a number of stories about the threats directed at Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff as they gear up to cull an ostrich flock infected with avian flu.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Panama where two union leaders have been jailed and another is claiming asylum in the Bolivian embassy in Panama City.

Their crimes?  Mobilizing workers to oppose, with huge demonstrations, the privatizing of social security benefits and an agreement with the Trump regime that will see USian troops stationed along the canal.

Despite the repression strikes and demonstrations like the one in the photo continue.

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 1919 coal miners in Drumheller, Alberta went on strike for recognition of the One Big Union after they voted overwhelmingly to leave the United Mine Workers of America.

Also in 1919 thousands of workers in Calgary and Edmonton walked out in solidarity with their Winnipeg counterparts.

And in 1927 The House of Commons approved a limited old age pension plan. To qualify, Canadians had to be 70 years of age, pass a means test and they had to live in a participating province.

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.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

LabourStart Segment Script for RadioLabour Episode of 23-05-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:   https://rabble.ca/podcast/what-no-federal-labour-minister/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included CUPW’s announcement of a ban on overtime as negotiations with Canada Post continue.  Watch for the corporation’s response.  Remember that CUPW’s strike last year was a rotating walkout that would not have shut down the postal service; it was the post office’s lockout that did that.

We also carried the story behind the successful organizing drive at an A&W restaurant in BC, the opening days of the CSN’s challenge to Amazon’s decision to close its Quebec operations after workers at one warehouse organized, and the end of the Lifelabs strike in British Columbia.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from Quebec City, my home town, where the CUPE members who load and unload ship’s in the city’s harbour returned to work after a lockout that not only lasted 987 days but which is widely credited with contributing to the CLC and NDP’s long-standing campaign to ban scabs in federally-regulated workplaces.  That campaign finally saw no-scab amendments to the Canada Labour Code after decades of effort.

The best bit?  Workers from several unions formed a guard of honour to welcome them back to work.

As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you.  This week that story is a survey of the repression experienced over the last 20 years by teachers union activists in, of all places, Iran.  A country almost as intolerant of independent trade unions as is North Korea.  But still they organize….

Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week included the fight by nurses who work at Hydro Quebec’s remote worksites to win a first collective agreement and what a possible strike would mean for the CUPE members who work at generating stations in northern Quebec.  And a piece from the building trades in BC complaining that the new requirement for flush toilets at work locations still isn’t being universally enforced.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Baghdad, where on May Day the Preparatory Committee of the General Union of Platform Workers was officially formed within the Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (FITU).

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 1975 a general strike brings out 100,000 protesters after police bludgeon striking workers at United Aircraft in Longueuil, Québec. Later, a new provincial government banned the use of strikebreakers in that province.

And in 1921 the Communist Party of Canada was founded at a three-day meeting in a barn in Guelph, Ontario. The party achieved its greatest influence in the 1930s and 1940s organizing unemployed workers and industrial unions, and in struggles against war and fascism.

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, is your dream job a staff position with a union?  On our main page is a link to our jobs listings page where you’ll see openings at unions around the globe.  If you’re looking for work with a Canadian union or perhaps one of the global union federations be sure and check it out.

LabourStart hosts online solidarity actions at the request of unions around the world.  This week we’d like to highlight urgent appeals for online solidarity with trade union activists in Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Belarus.

If you can spare just a few seconds you can do your part in struggles like these by sending a solidarity or protest message.

Look for details on our site.

Before I go, a quick shout out to the news website Alberta Workers and to some workers doing unusual and interesting work in Edmonton.  AW brought us the news that indoor skydiving facility workers in Edmonton are organizing with UFCW.  Next time you’re in the neighbourhood, drop in.  😊

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

LabourStart Segment Script for RadioLabour Episode of 16-05-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/work-overload-is-destroying-the-physical-and-mental-health-of-workers/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included the movement’s reaction to the new federal cabinet, Unifor on the news that Honda is at best delaying its EV investments in Ontario, an end to a months-long lockout of the CSN members who work at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, and the good and cheering news that workers at five Starbucks shops in Ontario have ratified first collective agreements after organizing with Steel.

We also carried news of what’s going on in Alberta.  There’s a lot, even now, after the CUPE schools strikes.  Some of it is historic and much of it will have an impact nationally, so check out our Alberta page.  To do that click on Canada on a news item on our main page and then on Alberta wherever it appears.  Or on Nova Scotia, or PEI or…you get the idea.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was from Ontario where CUPE members in the education sector are calling out the provincial government on systemic understaffing.  These are the same folks who faced down the same government in an illegal strike that threatened to engulf the entire province so this should be fun to watch.

As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you.  This week that story is Palestine.  Gaza to be specific.  The stories say it all so I won’t even try.

This week’s LabourStart podcast is an interview with Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour.  Gil was interviewed by LabourStart’s Co-ordinator in Canada, Pat Bulmer, about the AFL’s Solidarity Pact initiative and what unions are facing in Canada’s most conservative province.

Coming in at about 25 minutes it’s our longest-ever pod and you’ll hear why when you listen to it.  Our most popular podcast ever is Pat’s interview with Mark Hancock, National President of CUPE, about the Montreal Declaration, and so we have high expectations of this one.

On our Working Women News page you’ll find stories from around the globe in 9 languages.  But not a one from Canada.  C’mon, Canadian women workers are doing stuff, we’re just not reading about it.  If you have a story send it along and we’ll follow up.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week is an account of life as a migrant worker and the discovery of lead in a provincial government building in Alberta.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from New Zealand, where a right-wing government has introduced legislation to roll back pay equity rights for women. Unions are calling it a ‘declaration of war on women workers’. Protesters, like the healthcare workers in the photo, were marching in towns across the country all of last week.

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 1872, 1500 workers in Hamilton, Ontario took to the streets under the banner of the Nine Hours movement to demand a reduction in working hours.

In 1940, this week saw Emma Goldman, the veteran feminist, labour and anarchist organizer, die in Toronto. A memorial service was held at the Labour Lyceum on Spadina Avenue. She was later buried with the Haymarket Martyrs in Chicago.

And of course, we and the rest of the labour movement marked the start, this week in 1919, of the general strike called by the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council that brought out 30,000 workers in support of unions in the building and metal trades. The city came to a standstill for six weeks in one of the major labour struggles in Canadian history.

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.

Before I go, a quick shout out to all the AUPE members, that’s the Alberta Union of Public Employees, who work for the government of Alberta.  Well done on the strike vote and all our solidarity in what’s coming.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

Brampton Transit Workers Reach Strong Tentative Agreement

Brampton, ON – After a strike threat, Brampton Transit Workers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1573-Brampton, ON, have reached a tentative agreement with the transit agency yesterday afternoon.

The deal was reached only weeks after the more than 1,400 Union members threatened to strike after overwhelmingly rejecting a previous contract offer from Brampton Transit that had significantly reduced wages from their previous offer, while also adding new concessions. In March, as contract talks stalled, the Union members voted to authorize a strike if necessary. The two sides returned to the table, but talks once again broke down.

“We are pleased to announce that after negotiations yesterday afternoon, Local 1573 has reached a tentative agreement with Brampton Transit,” said ATU International Vice President Ken Wilson.

“The transit agency recognized the important role our members play in the community by putting forth a contract with wages and benefits that put our members on par with transit workers in the Greater Toronto Area.”

“Our members’ unwavering unity is the reason we have a tentative agreement they should be proud to vote on,”

said ATU International President John Costa. “Our members now have a pathway to the middle class for the essential public service they provide. This agreement represents our efforts to ensure that transit workers across Canada are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Local members are expected to vote soon on the deal at a ratification meeting. Details of the settlement will not be shared with the media or public until it is presented to the Union’s membership.

If you care about workers’ rights, you’ll want to know about this.

International Union Rights is a unique journal that brings together the latest news, views and information on trade union rights worldwide, featuring expert contributors covering key issues in an accessible format. It is published by the International Centre for Trade Union Rights.

Focussing on trade union rights in an international context, and with contributors from around the world, IUR has won a global audience of trade unionists, legal practitioners and academics.

Editions scheduled for 2025 will focus on: trade unions and whistleblowing; trade union rights in the US and Europe; and trade unions and migrant workers.

IUR and Labourstart are pleased to offer 20% discounts to all new subscribers for 2025.

Click here to order

Every subscription will include a free copy of ICTUR’s new 2025, full-size (A1) world map wall poster of trade union rights. This not only looks great on a union office wall but is also a wonderful resource for trade union education. Developed by ICTUR with trade union education specialists and legal experts, the maps show the state of union rights worldwide at a glance, and make it easy to get a perspective on complicated global union rights issues.

New subscribers will receive three print editions of the journal and ICTUR’s World Map of Trade Union Rights wall poster, for just £24 (inclusive of worldwide delivery costs).

Every subscription purchased supports the work of both LabourStart and ICTUR.

Click here to order your subscription today.

Thank you!

LabourStart Segment Script for RadioLabour Episode of 09-05-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/pension-surplus/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a piece on the organizing efforts of the Women of Steel around mental health in and out of the workplace, more evidence that the Alberta Federation of Labour is becoming a key component of the organized opposition to the UCP government in that province, and statements from several unions of Red Dress Day.

We also carried news of the potential impact of a new round of USian tariffs on Canadian films.  Who knew that Guy Maddin was a threat to US national security?  Cronenberg now, that’s different.  His films are a threat to something, that’s for sure.  But Maddin, Egoyan and Polley?

And, of course, our volunteers are following the CUPW negotiations and we’ve got more than a few stories about the chances of another post office walkout at the end of May.

As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you.  This week that story is from the ITUC which marked the defeat of fascism in Europe with a call for resistance to the global coup being effected by billionaires.  Authoritarian, business-friendly, to put it mildly, regimes are replacing political democracies.

Kinda makes you wonder whether we should be marking the end of WW2 in Europe as the defeat of fascism or as the start of a truce that just ran out.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week were, inevitably it now seems, several stories about workplace violence in healthcare. One is a piece about the increased security coming to hospital emergency rooms in Newfoundland and Labrador as a result of a series of vicious attacks on healthcare workers, another is about the MGEU pushback in Manitoba where paramedics are burning out even faster than usual as a result of what the union calls “unbelievable levels of violence”..

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week isn’t often Canadian but as a Canadian is our photo editor and as that Canadian is me, you all get to hear about our photo of the week in each episode.

This week we carried a shot from Nepal where the Teachers Federation is campaigning to force the government to implement education legislation it committed to over two years ago.

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

This week in 1972 Saskatchewan’s NDP government  brought in an Occupational Health (and Safety) Act, considered the first of its kind in North America. It included the right to information about workplace hazards, to participate in safety decisions and to refuse unsafe work, all unprecedented in North America.

And also in 1972, leaders of the Québec Common Front went to jail for defying back to work laws during the April general strike. More than 300,000 public sector workers participated in work stoppages and occupations that brought the provincial government back to the bargaining table

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, is your dream job a staff position with a union?  On our main page is a link to our jobs listings page where you’ll see openings at unions around the globe.  If you’re looking for work with a Canadian union or perhaps one of the global union federations be sure and check it out.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.