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Partner Organizations
Canadian Labour Institute
SANDBAGGED
Topic
SOME HALIFAX COUNCILLORS LIKE THE IDEA OF A LIVING WAGE. But not enough to actually make it a reality.
The councillors’ ended their three year dalliance with the possibility of a living wage ordinance for the HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) May 12 when they agreed to bury it alive in a mushy bit of mumbo jumbo about a “social policy framework.”
GUINEA PIGGED
Topic
ASKING WORKERS TO BE OUR GUINEA PIGS IS ONE THING. Giving them no choice in the matter is quite another. But that’s the reality many thousands of our workers now face.
Our first instincts to combat COVID-19 were good. We shut down all “non-essential” work. This turned out to be particularly good for workers in high-risk jobs. Now we want to get back to work. We want to begin with workers in high-risk jobs. This is not so good.
REFINERY IRONY
Topic
THE IRONY IS STUNNING AND INFURIATING. No co-op does that. No company that calls itself a “co-operative” absolutely, categorically, adamantly, perversely refuses to co-operate. But the Federated Co-operatives Limited in Regina did, and does.
OPINION
Topic
CHAPTER 2I:
TEMPORARY WORKERS ARE DYING
Enrico Miranda was killed on the job September 25 2019
DOUG FORD DIDN'T KILL ENRICO MIRANDA. But he didn't do all he could to make his death less likely, either.
CATCH 22
Topic
Rick Woodburn, negotiating team member and Perry Borden, president of the Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association
WHEN IS A WORKER NOT A WORKER? When you work as a crown attorney in Nova Scotia.
On the one hand, the government of Nova Scotia acknowledges the Crowns have a right to strike. On the other hand, the government has moved to restrict, or outright refuse, to allow its lawyers to exercise that right.
STRIKING DIFFERENCE
Topic
WORKERS KNOW THEY ARE THEIR OWN BEST FRIENDS. That’s why they go on strike, says Jane McAlevey. That’s why 49,000 UAW (United Autoworkers Union) members went on strike September 16, she says.
“Workers learn to strike and have the confidence to strike by watching other workers strike and win,” says McAlevey, a union organizer, author, and scholar at the University of California at Berkeley’s Labour Center.
Lethal lies
Topic
Glad to be alive: Matthew Linnitt with his two sons
MATTHEW LINNITT HAD TO RUN FOR HIS LIFE AND LIE ABOUT IT. It was the only way he could save himself and his job.
Matthew was working on an oil well in northwestern Alberta in May 2016. He was left alone. He shouldn’t have been. He thought the well was properly capped. It wasn’t. A geyser of toxic sour gas spewed out of the well. He searched for the site’s emergency breathing equipment. There was none. He ran for his life.
SIMPLY CRIMINAL
Topic
Sam Fitzpatrick
SAM FITZPATRICK’S COMPLAINTS DIDN’T SAVE HIM. Sam was killed on the job on February 22, 2009. He was crushed to death under a huge bolder. He had warned his bosses something like that might happen just the day before.
KEEPING ‘EM DOWN
Topic
SOME OLD PEOPLE ARE WORTH MORE THAN OTHERS. At least that’s how the provincial paymasters in Nova Scotia see it. That means some of the workers who care for the elderly in the province will get a promised cash award and some won’t.
Nursing home workers will get a PSA (Public Service Award) cash payout—residential care workers will not.
UNIONS YES
Topic
CANADIAN UNIONS CAN MAKE THEMSELVES GREAT AGAIN. They will have to go back to the future to do it. That’s the message in the latest research paper from the Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights (CFLR).
