Description: The United Food and Commercial Workers union has taken out full-page newspaper ads addressed to Loblaw Executive Chairman Galen Weston Jr. on the eve of possible strikes in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Source: CBC Date: 09/28/2013 Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-superstore-workers-poised-to-strike-1.1872134 Related links: Text of open letter to Galen Weston Jr. Winnipeg Free Press story Global News story… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Chapter 1 – Introduction
Foreign service workers, federal government reach tentative agreement
Description: The federal Treasury Board and the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers have reached a tentative agreement following a long-running strike. Source: CBC Date: 09/27/2013 Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/striking-diplomats-make-pay-gains-in-tentative-deal-1.1869907 Related links: Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers Statement by Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board Globe and Mail story Earlier update Public… Read more »
PSAC rejects Canada Post’s final offer
Description: The Public Service Alliance of Canada has refused a final offer from Canada Post, saying it would create a two-tiered workplace that would “pit worker against worker.” Source: Canadian Labour Reporter Date: 09/19/2013 Link: http://www.labour-reporter.com/articleview/18869-psac-will-not-accept-canada-posts-final-offer Related links: PSAC press release Canada Post statement Collective agreement Globe and Mail story from May Questions for discussion:… Read more »
Unifor leader says it’s time to ‘stop playing defence’
Description: Jerry Dias, the new leader of Unifor, says it is time for unions to go on the offensive. He promises to spend 10 per cent of the newly merged union’s revenues on organizing and increasing membership. Source: The Globe and Mail Date: 08/31/2013 Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/newly-elected-unifor-leader-says-he-is-taking-labour-movement-on-the-offensive/article14063604/ Related links: Unifor Canadian Press story Globe story on… Read more »
US fast-food workers strike for higher minimum wage
Description: Despite protests by fast-food workers around the U.S., Congress appears to have little interest in increasing the minimum wage. Source: CNN Date: 08/30/2013 Link: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/29/politics/minimum-wage-congress-obama/index.html?iref=allsearch Related links: New York Times editorial The minimum wage in Canada Toronto Star column CBC story Questions for discussion: Give a brief description of the reasons U.S. fast-food workers… Read more »
Steelworkers, TWU to merge
Description: The United Steelworkers union, which represents 225,000 Canadian workers, and the Telecommunications Workers Union, which represents 13,000, have tentatively agreed to merge – the second large private-sector union merger of the year. Source: CBC Date: 08/30/2013 Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/08/30/steelworkers-telecommunications-union-merger.html Related links: Union media release Canadian Press story Canadian Labour Reporter story The United Steelworkers The… Read more »
Unions good for local economies, CLC report argues
Description: A Canadian Labour Congress report says unionized workers earn an average of almost $5 an hour more than their non-union counterparts, pumping more than $78 million a week into local economies. Source: Ottawa Citizen Date: 08/21/2013 Link: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Higher+union+wages+pump+extra+money+into+local+economy+labour+congress+says/8818168/story.html Related links: The CLC report CBC story Winnipeg Free Press story Dr. Ian Lee Windsor lawyer… Read more »
Tribunal considers bad faith bargaining claim
Description: The Public Service Labour Relations Board is considering a complaint from the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers that the federal government’s Treasury Board bargained in bad faith in a dispute involving foreign affairs officers. Source: The Toronto Star Date: 08/21/2013 Link: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/21/foreign_service_strike_likely_to_drag_on_as_labour_tribunal_reserves_decision.html Related links: CBC story Earlier story Public Service Labour Relations Board… Read more »
Unions merge in hopes of reversing decline
Description: With organized labour on the defensive across the country, the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada are merging to create a 300,000-member union called Unifor. Source: The Globe and Mail Date: 08/08/2013 Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/unions-political-calculus-with-numbers-come-power/article13678660/ Related links: Unifor CAW CEP Financial Post story CTV story Questions for discussion: Who… Read more »
Decentralized I.R. jurisdictions create ‘complex landscape’
Description: Daphne Taras, dean of the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, says Canada has “the most decentralized labour relations in the world.” Source: The Globe and Mail Report on Business Date: 04/11/2013 Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/canada-competes/daphne-taras-labour-codes-are-behind-the-times/article11046376/?cmpid=rss1 Related links: “Why Canada can’t compete” Canadian Chamber of Commerce competitiveness report (pdf) “Labour laws and regulations… Read more »
