Canadian Postal Workers Have Hit the Picket Lines
With 95% backing for strike action, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is taking on Canada Post over wages, pensions, and a fight for the future of public services.
13 Articles by: Adam D. K. King
Adam D. K. King is an assistant professor in labor studies at the University of Manitoba. He writes the weekly labor newsletter “Class Struggle” at the Maple.
Rail Giants Score Another Win Against Workers
After months of tense negotiations, Canadian rail companies enlisted the government to block a strike, shutting down railworkers’ fight for safer conditions and better hours. The federal intervention sets a troubling precedent for future union talks.
Ontario Booze Workers Strike Against Privatization
Striking Ontario public alcohol store workers won a new contract with job protections and modest wage increases. However, their future remains uncertain as privatization plans threaten their jobs and public revenue.
Quebec’s Common Front Strikes Are a Blueprint for Labor Power
Quebec’s public sector witnessed an unprecedented winter of discontent as the Common Front coalition, uniting four major unions, took to the streets. Separate unions brought the total number of workers involved in these historic strikes to well over a million.
The UAW Has Modeled Rank-and-File Democracy. The Canadian Auto Union Should Match It.
In recent autoworker bargaining, the UAW and the Canadian union, Unifor, won groundbreaking deals. But Unifor should seek to match the UAW’s level of rank-and-file engagement going forward.
A Strike Surge in Manitoba is Challenging Wage Repression
Workers in Manitoba, Canada, the home of the historic Winnipeg General Strike, are striking to fight against wage repression. This resurgence of working-class strength will impact the province’s upcoming election.
Striking Canadian Grocery Workers Went Toe to Toe With Fat Cat Bosses
After launching a monthlong strike this summer, union grocery workers in Toronto have ratified a contract that improves wages, enhances benefits, and sets a major precedent for the sector.
While Canadians Struggle, Energy Corporations Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank
Interest rate hikes have brought Canada’s cost-of-living crisis to a fever pitch. And while workers are feeling the squeeze, energy corporations are reaping superprofits.
Ontario’s Hidden Wage Wins Should Be Recognized as Union Victories
While the past two years have posed challenges for Canadian union members amid soaring inflation, unions in Ontario have secured remarkable wage gains that have largely gone unnoticed.
British Columbia Just Gave Us More Proof: Card Check Helps Union Efforts
Card-check unionization, reinstated by British Columbia last year, proved highly effective, with a 59% surge in union certification applications and a vast majority resulting in new bargaining units. It’s indisputable: card check is a huge boon to labor.
Canada’s Health Care Crisis Is in Large Part a Labor Crisis
In several Canadian provinces, burned-out health care workers are leaving in droves, a result of wage suppression and attacks on workers. The fight for labor rights is key to fixing Canada’s health care crisis.
Trudeau’s Liberals Will Require Pressure to Make Good on Their Anti-Scab Bill
Canada’s Liberals are promising to introduce anti-scab legislation next year as part of an olive branch to the New Democratic Party. Unions and the Left will need to hold the Liberals’ feet to the fire to ensure that the legislation has teeth.
Strangers and Enemies
Strangers in Their Own Land elicits sympathy for white workers but fails to identify the class forces responsible for their plight.