Tag: RadioLabour

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a push from CUPE to build support for bill C-247 which would eliminate the vile s. 107 of the Canada Labour Code, and a nice analytical piece from The Tyee demonstrating the knock-on effects of the recent, very strategic BCGEU strike and predicting that we’ll see more of the same from BC nurses and teachers in the not-too-distant future.

Other stories included statements and actions in support of striking USian Starbucks workers from several unions here in Canada, coverage of a StatsCan report detailing the wage gap for trans and non-binary workers, and, the kind of story you’d think we wouldn’t being, a report from CUPE of a town employee and local union president in Newfoundland and Labrador who had been sacked because he had the temerity to exercise his right to participate in a local election.

But my favourite item, really many items but forming an obvious pattern, among our Canadian stories, was from Nova Scotia, where CUPE members at home after home after long-term care home are returning wildly positive strike votes as healthcare unions in the province gear up for a tough round of bargaining.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is from Portugal where on the 11^th the two trade union centres joined together to mount a hugely successful general strike against a smorgasbord of austerity policies affecting all but Portugal’s rich.  Choosing this story to mention was a tough call because as I write this, a similar national general strike is underway in Italy.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included an angering report from the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia on the ways in which the labour rights of migrant women workers are trashed in Novas Scotia.  Most of the women surveyed were working in the province’s agriculture and seafood industries.  Interestingly but not surprisingly, the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal just reached similar conclusions and we are carrying a CBC story with all the vile details.

And, making the painful point that co-workers can be hazards in the workplace, Shannon Welbourn had a piece in The Conversation on gender-based violence in the building trades that one of our volunteers picked up.

Last but not least, we carried a large number of statements from unions large and small on and about the 6^th of December.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was a piece from CUPE on the UCP government’s failure to protect care workers in Alberta, even in the aftermath of a worker’s death.

But the biggie on the safety front were appeals from unions representing retail workers aimed at consumers, that’s you and me, asking us to not go from trade unionist to workplace hazard when shopping for gifts in the run-up to Christmas.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Bangladesh where last week 1500 garment workers were made homeless when the Korail ‘slum’ in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, was devastated by a fire. Their union, the National Garment Workers Federation, is raising money to provide for their immediate needs and to assist in rebuilding.

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

In 1921 J. S. Woodsworth, a Methodist minister arrested during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre. Re-elected five times, he is a founder, in 1932, of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

In 1970 The Royal Commission on the Status of Women released its report. Many of the 167 recommendations relate to the status of women in the workplace, including pay equity and access to childcare, education and training.

Not all inspiring history has to come to us from the distant past.  In 2023 A seven-day general strike began in Québec, led by a common front among union federations and involving more than 500,000 workers. With broad public support, the mobilization won strong wage increases and other gains.

There are lots more labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages.  Look for them and charge your batteries.

Or listen to our latest podcasts.  One’s an interview from the USA on the complicated labour market governing the lives of women migrant workers there.  The other is the first of our 60-second quickie pods and it focuses on Lee Cheuk-yan, the jailed leader of the Hong Kong Trade Union Confederation, whose trial starts next month.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/steelworkers-endorse-rob-ashton-for-ndp-leader/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a whole lot of scary news from Quebec.  There the CAQ government is attacking the labour movement in two ways, with two pieces of legislation.

First, a new law gives the Minister of Labour the power to end a strike or to force a partial return to work without special legislation.

Second, Bill 3 splits union dues into two categories: ‘principle’ and ‘optional’.  Unions will need to account for how each penny is spent and workers will have the options of paying or not paying to support those activities that the government, not the workers through their union but the government, decides are optional.

Leaving aside the inescapable conclusion that this move is straight from the US ‘right to work’ playbook, the accounting nightmare alone will cause problems.

And those are just the two biggies.  There’s lots more.  Our current Canadian top story is an excellent explainer from Press Progress.  Look for it.  Bad ideas travel fast, even if you don’t live in Quebec you need to know what’s headed your way.

Other stories included the Steelworkers’ endorsement of Rob Ashton for federal NDP leader.  Ashton is a dockworker and a union member for over 30 years, the National President of the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Canada.  The Steel announcement cites Ashton’s plans for decent work as a ley plank in his platform.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was the really excellent news that the Operating Engineers is the new home for hundreds of Alberta workers who left CLAC, the Christian Labour Association of Canada.  Some of the coverage makes the claim that this is the largest single ding the Clackers have ever taken.  If true let’s hope it’s not so for much longer.

This week’s international story of interest is from Hong Kong.  What wasn’t noted in most of the coverage of the horrific apartment buildings fire there last week was the fact that many of the dead were domestic workers, all of them women, and that the surviving workers are now unemployed and at risk of deportation.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included a stunning report from the Social Planning Council of Toronto on the extent to which migrant women workers subsidize homecare in Ontario.

Or at least that’s how the report describes it.  My take would be that these women are the target of a huge wage theft operation run by for-profit homecare contractors with the encouragement of the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Another was about some good news from BC where the HEU-CUPE has reached a spectacular agreement with BC’s NDP government.  How spectacular you ask?  This spectacular: More than 5,000 unionized workers in eligible long-term care and assisted living facilities will transition to the provincewide Facilities Collective Agreement over the next two years, giving them higher wages and improved benefits.

As with Ontario homecare workers, the affected care staff are overwhelmingly women and a large proportion are migrants.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was PSAC’s take on an arbitration award won by the Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association.  The arbitrator ruled that the death of a Sudbury firefighter qualified as an accidental death under his collective agreement. The award found that the employer violated its obligations by purchasing an Accidental Death & Dismemberment policy that excluded coverage for suicide, despite the well-established recognition that PTSD is an occupational illness for firefighters.

The Alliance is right, this is a biggie and deserves to be tabled at every joint health and safety committee table everywhere.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from India where on 27 November the country’s trade unions staged nationwide protests after the government of India unilaterally implemented four labour new codes without any consultation with workers’ organizations. The new codes have been condemned by unions and their allies as anti-worker.

And we released a new episode in our podcast series last week.  In it we interview Pawel Rudzki.  Pawel has not worked for the Albert Heijn supermarket chain for some two months now. An exemplary worker, never late, with a spotless record, he was bullied and lied about, given warnings he could not reply to — and then summarily sacked. His union, the FNV, together with UNI Global Union, has been campaigning for his reinstatement claimning that he was sacked for his success in organizing migrant workers and not for any performance problems.  Pawel is the subject of a major campaign on LabourStart – click here to learn more and show your support.  In this interview, Pawel tells his story in his own words — and ends with a message about the importance of solidarity.

The labour movement’s history is what our current struggles are built on and so it’s crazy that this week we marked the anniversaries of absolutely no events in the movement’s history.  Get in touch if you know of a past event that we can add to our database.

Finally, a bit of a shout-out to Luc Boissonneault, president of CUPE 1638.  At a meeting with the Quebec Minister of Labour over the provincial government’s attack on the labour movement he very publicly invited the Minister to attend a local union membership meeting to see what real democracy looks like.

This after the Minister admitted to not knowing that many of “democratic reforms” being imposed on unions were already in place.

Here’s hoping we get to carry the video of the meeting sometime soon.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

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 15^th 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.

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included coverage of the hearings at the Quebec labour tribunal where Amazon is facing charges of union-busting stemming from its decision to close its warehouse operations in that province after workers at one location organized.

The case reminds me of similar charges for similar reasons after workers at a Walmart store in Quebec organized some years ago.

Major testimony so far has come from the company president.

The workers union, the CSN, is pouring resources into the hearings, good on it.  Watch for updates as we’ll be posting everything we see.  Hearing dates run into next summer.

Other stories included a Manitoba Labour Board decision that found a construction company illegally fired a worker who preferred the Carpenters Union over the Christian Labour Association of Canada or CLAC, as any reasonable worker would.  Looking over the coverage of the decision it looks to me as though the company was doing what it could to maintain a cosy relationship with CLAC rather than have an aggressive union elbow it aside.

This week’s global story is from the US where Labour Notes is calling for more support from US workers and their unions for organizing efforts in Mexico.  It makes the obvious but also too often ignored point that international solidarity has concrete benefits for all and isn’t charity.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included a summary of a  new survey from the Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen (OBCT) which shows that while more women are choosing careers in the skilled trades, many continue to face systemic barriers that affect recruitment and retention in the sector.   The story contains a link to the full report.

Another was from rabble and lays out the potential harm women workers in the federal public service will experience as layoffs hit just as the positive results of a decades-long push for pay equity for federal government workers is going to kick-in.

And we had a story about an innovative anti-gender violence programme, a collaboration between the White Ribbon Campaign, the Steelworkers, and the CFL Players Association.

The CFLPA is in the habit of coming up with some really interesting programmes.  A union worth keeping an eye on.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was yet another call for an effective response to workplace violence in schools.  This time it came from CUPE and was specific to Ontario, but it could have been any other union in any province or territory.  Or just about any other country, as you’ll see if you give out health and safety news page a quick scan.  Australia for instance.  Or Kenya.  Violence aimed at public-facing workers is a global epidemic.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is of protesters from five major unions marching outside the Malaysian Parliament, urging the government to take decisive action against employers accused of engaging in widespread union-busting.

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

In 1925 three thousand workers at shoe factories in Quebec City went on strike when the employers announce reduced rates of pay. When the workers agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration, they won a favourable result, but the employers refused to accept the decision.

And in 1929 at Onion Lake, in Northern Ontario, two Finnish-Canadian lumber camp union organizers were seen for the last time. When the bodies of Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen were found under the ice in the spring of 1930, they were buried as martyrs to the labour cause.

A quick personal note: a few years ago I was in Thunder Bay and an old CUPE comrade took me around town for an informal labour history tour that included not only the Finnish Labour Temple, and, of course, the Hoito, but the monument in a local cemetery, paid-for by Labour Council, in memory of Viljo and Janne.

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, in this week’s podcast Eric Lee spoke with Amalie Hilde Tofte from the trade union Styrke in Norway.  They’re the sponsors of the annual Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights, what’s often referred-to as the Nobel Prize of the global labour movement.  Amalie talks about the background to the prize, some of the winners in recent years, and how one applies. We even learned who Arthur Svensson was.

LabourStart is currently campaigning on behalf of a Guatemalan union leader, garment workers in Lesotho,  Serbian air traffic controllers, and a Dutch migrant workers union organizer.  In each case a union is asking that we all send a prepared solidarity message, something that will only take a few seconds out of your busy day.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/heather-mcphersons-fight-against-company-unions/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a reaction to the latest Statistics Canada update to its ongoing “Quality of Employment in Canada” publication.

No surprise, there’s a direct relationship between income and other forms of inequity and sectoral unionization rates.  Or, to put it simply:  more union, more equality.

Other stories included UFCW’s take on an IUF, that’s the global union for food and hospitality workers, conference that aims to provide decent work for foodworkers in Canada, and a interesting piece from Briarpatch on a subject not much studied: building local unions in rural communities. 

You’ll also see a series of articles from a variety of sources about the Montreal transit strikes and how the new and very, very scary Quebec legislation limiting the right to strike played and continues to play a role in the CUPE and CSN bargaining strategies. On their own none of the stories qualified as a top story so to follow the thread click on ‘Quebec’ and read forwards on the provincial page on our site. You can toggle between official languages or just clicking on ‘all languages’ to get the whole sordid story.

As LabourStart is a global organization I like to highlight at least one non-Canadian story for you.  This week’s is from South Korea and at first glance seems a little wacky.  It’s about the organizing drive mounted by K-pop idols, which this old Canadian takes to mean stars. 

In the organizing committee’s own words, the idols are organizing because they “suffer from industrial accidents, death from overwork, and mental illnesses while undergoing long-term training, filming, and overseas activities. However, they are excluded from industrial accident compensation insurance, the four major social insurances, and the Workplace Harassment Prevention Act because they are not recognized as workers.”

Works for me.  All the best to them.

Over on LabourStart’s Working Women pages stories from Canada included a piece on USW’s five-day Women of Steel: Developing Leadership course that ran in Ontario last week and more on the NSFL’s election of two women, one of them Black, to lead the fed as President and Secretary-Treasurer.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was the BC government’s decision, after years of pressure from unions, to limit the ability of employers to demand sick notes, what effect a lack of universal sick leave will have on us, again, this year as flu season approaches, and Unifor’s fight to have charges laid after a picket line assault.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week, which you can catch on our main page until Monday, is from Madagascar where the,  Firaisan’ny Sendikan’ny Mpiasa eto Madagasikara (FI.SE.MA.) was central to the protests that swept that country in October, leading to the departure of the country’s President.

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

In 1983, in British Columbia, three months of protests to defend union rights and social services reached a critical turning point as teachers prepared to join a massive mobilization led by Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition.

Either this is a slow week in Canadian labour history or we’re missing some important events.  Know of a labour history item we should include?  Send it along.

It’s been a busy week for our campaigns volunteers.  We’ve two new ones for you.

Dutch union FNV asked us to generate some global solidarity for one of its activists who has played a critical role in organizing migrant supermarket workers and who has been targeted for harassment by his employer.  This is a big deal as clearly the company is aiming to make an example of him and frighten all migrant workers away from organizing.

The other new campaign results from a request from the Public Services International, the global union for public sector workers.  PSI affiliates in Canada include CUPE, PSAC and NUPGE.

Their campaign, on behalf of Lesbia Xiomara Conde Pacheco, General Secretary of the National Union of Legislative Workers (STOL) in Guatemala, aims to pressure the Guatemalan Congress to reverse its decision to not recognize her recent election to the top position in her union, apparently because they think her too militant.

Must be nice to be a government and have the power to decide who you want to deal with as an employer, eh?

Takes just a few seconds to send the requested solidarity messages.  And, really, how many of us have something more important to do with that time?  Hell, take your phone with you to the washroom if that’s what it takes.

Finally, a bit of a shout-out to

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.