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MAKE ‘EM PAY
Topic
Juan Servantes fought against being cheated and won
JUAN SERVANTES WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE 'EM PAY. When Domino's Pizza didn't he complained. It got him fired. He complained some more. It finally got him the $28,144.55 he always said the fast food giant owed him.
The father of six from Mississauga delivered pizzas for Domino’s for over four years. Domino’s did not pay him minimum wage or any benefits. Juan knew this was wrong and said so.
Protest and Joy
Topic
From the Labour movement to the Civil Rights movement–music has been a key tool for social activists throughout the years. Two of our writers, Mike Martin and Skip Hambling have listed their top ten protest songs. Check out their lists and vote on which one has the best list! You can tell us your favourite protest songs by leaving them in the comments below.
LOCK ‘EM UP
Topic
David Dooey, associate professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations
DAVID DOOREY WANTS TO LOCK UP BAD BOSSES. The associate professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University says it just might get them to treat their employees better. Nothing else seems to.
UNIONS MATTER #9
Topic
Women do better
Women do better when they are in a union—way better.
They earn, on average, $6.89/hour more than non-union women because their unions negotiated fair wages and work hours.
There were 2,425,000 women union members working all across Canada in 2013.
Union women make up 32.6% of all women workers
NO DUMBELLS
Topic
Dahlia Alie is part of a union drive involving more than 1,000 GoodLife Fitness employees in Toronto
THE GIG LIFE INCLUDES A UNION. Workers at Goodlife Fitness are proving it.
There are more than 12,000 of them. They work as group fitness instructors and personal trainers in more than 300 Goodlife locations from coast to coast. They have already won a $7.5 million class action lawsuit to collect back pay from Goodlife. Their union drive continues to build momentum.
DEADLY PATTERN
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Workers hold vigil to mark the death of worker killed on the job
ONCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THAN ENOUGH. IT WASN’T. Another worker has been killed on the job at a Fiera Foods operation in Toronto. The fourth at a Fiera Foods consortium operation since 1999.
UNIONS MATTER #8
Topic
When Indigenous women in Canada were fighting to establish an inquiry into 2,500 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada they had two groups of allies:
- Human Rights groups and
- Trade Unions.
The Canadian Labour Congress was one of the first to support an inquiry and they were honoured by Indigenous women at a ceremony when the inquiry was announced.
NO BOGART
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“YOU COULD CALL IT ‘REEFER MADNESS’, SAYS SMOKEY THOMAS. “Premier Ford wants to let just anyone set up shop to sell cannabis in Ontario. His plan is reckless and shameless. It exposes our youth to needless risk; plus, it's a payoff to his business buddies of millions in profits from cannabis sales.”
NAILED
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Nhlanhla Dlamini shows where nail hit him
SHAWN WADE HYNES SMILED AS HE PULLED THE TRIGGER. That’s the way Nhlanhla Dlamini remembers the moments just before a 3.5 inch nail ripped into his skin and punctured his lung on September 19.
Nhlanhla, a 21-year old black man believes Hynes meant to harm him. Hynes, a 43 year-old white man, says it was an accident.
CLASS WORK
Topic
“LABOUR HISTORY DOESN’T EXIST,” SAYS JIM WARREN. There is just history. None of it happened without working people. But that’s not how we choose to teach history in our schools.”
Jim Warren is co-author of On the Side of the People: A history or labour in Saskatchewan and a professor of political science at the University of Regina. He says the history taught in our schools is “a Walt Disney version of reality.”
