News by subject: LABOUR/PERSONAL ISSUES

Ahead of Ontario's public hearings on Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, over 50 economists across Canada have penned an open letter supporting a $15 minimum wage. The signatories of the letter explain that a higher minimum wage is not only...

B.C. labour leaders attending a rally today in support of CUPE 1816 members heaped scorn on their employer, Pacific Blue Cross (PBC), for targeting their retiree benefits while promoting the company as a progressive benefits provider. With...

Join Kati and Lori Wightman as they attend a blood drive organized by members of the Essex County Library workers union. Kati Wightman, 21, is battling lymphoma and requires transfusions for her fight. She is the daughter of CUPE 2974...

CUPE BC Secretary-Treasurer Trevor Davies will be one of three labour leaders calling on Pacific Blue Cross to abandon its targeting of retiree benefits when CUPE Local 1816 holds a rally on Friday morning at the company's main office....

On behalf of the 3500 members of CUPE Local 1004, including the outside workers of the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board, we send our most sincere condolences to the construction flagger who was viciously attacked and run over yesterday...

Parents, education workers and community supporters should be very proud of their success in getting the provincial government to put an end to school closures in Ontario, says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. "These families and workers never gave...

On June 22, 2017 the Supreme Court of Canada granted the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity and the Women's Leaf Education and Action Fund (LEAF) status to intervene in a pay equity case that is significant for...

As Canada celebrates its 150th birthday, Express Employment Professionals takes a historical look at Canada's labour force and compares the employment landscape in 1867 to today. "From hewers of wood and drawers of water to Canada in 2017,...

Hundreds of hotel and hospitality workers will kick off contract negotiations at a rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel this Thursday, followed by a march down Front Street to the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, where newly-unionized...

Hundreds of hotel and hospitality workers will kick off contract negotiations at a rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel this Thursday, followed by a march down Front Street to the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, where newly-unionized...

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) welcomes the federal government's repeal of anti-union legislation from the Stephen Harper era, and the government's commitment to protect and advance the union and collective bargaining...

With a June 17 deadline for a potential lockout or strike just days away, negotiators for Local 2380 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 2380) urged the Town of Penetanguishene to get serious about negotiating a fair contract with 13...

In what may be one of the largest settlements of its kind for employees who have suffered a workplace breach of Charter rights, CUPE education workers have reached an agreement on "remedy", or financial compensation, with the provincial government....

Canada's unions are celebrating the adoption of Bill C-4, legislation that repeals the former Conservative government's controversial anti-union Bills C-377 and C-525. "Our affiliates and labour activists across the country have organized...

Canada's unions are celebrating today's ratification of the International Labour Organization's Convention 98, The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949. The Convention reinforces the right to collective bargaining and...

With 40,000 new child care and early learning spaces in 10-year funding deal announcement, Trudeau government's plan falls far short of the growing need for a universal child care framework, in Alberta and across the country. "The federal...

In an attempt to have the lawsuit against the Premier and Ministers of Finance and Energy dismissed before even going to trial, government lawyers argued in court today that the three were protected from any wrong doing because they are protected by...

A month-long strike at Canada's largest zoo is one step closer to ending today after members of Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600) voted to ratify a four-year collective agreement. "While we are looking forward...

Local representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are raising concerns that city councillors are about to decide the future of Sudbury Community Arena - and any future replacement arena - without a true picture of the facility's...

While allegations of union "thugs" and employer intimidation are often thrown around, the evidence proves that if anyone is being thuggish, it's employers. The recently passed Bill 17: Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act spurred...

Negotiators for Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600) have reached a tentative agreement with the Toronto Zoo. The tentative agreement was reached early this morning, following nearly 24 hours of continuous...

The United Steelworkers (USW) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are working together to build a stronger voice for Cogeco technicians and customer support workers across Ontario. Cogeco technicians install, repair and...

Municipal workers in Cumberland, represented by CUPE 556, met Monday to ratify a new tentative agreement with the Village of Cumberland. The four-year agreement includes a two percent wage increase in each year of the agreement and minor improvements...

After rejecting their employer's most recent offer, maintenance, information technology and other 'inside' workers for the County of Simcoe, members of Unit 01 of Local 5280 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 5280-01) have voted in...

Unionized workers are less likely than non-unionized workers to struggle with paying bills, according to a study released today by Social Planning Toronto called The Union Advantage: Unions and the Response to Precarious Work Series. The...

Negotiators for Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600), representing the men and women that care for the animals at the Toronto Zoo, have advised Zoo negotiators that they have a new proposal and have requested the Employer...

As the strike by nearly 400 Toronto Zoo workers enters its fourth week, more than a thousand supporters from across the province joined striking members of Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600) in Nathan Phillips Square...

Canada's unions are welcoming today's announcement that the federal government is taking steps to support forest sector workers and communities affected by the United States' imposition of duties on Canadian softwood exports. "The forestry...

As Queens Park gathers at the annual "Celebrate Ontario's Bounty" event to promote the good things that grow in Ontario, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (OFVGA) reacted to the Provincial Government's announcement to raise the...

Despite being lambasted in the media and publicly confronted by injured worker groups over the past year, the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) remains singularly focused on cutting its own costs ? an endeavor it is achieving by cutting...

The new economic report released today from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) confirms what we have been saying for years now - the Ontario Liberal government acted irresponsibly when it sold off shares in Hydro One to balance...

Express Employment Professionals released new survey results revealing how businesses would react to a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour. In a survey of 1,030 North American businesses, respondents were asked, "What action(s) would you...

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) is encouraged by the Government of Ontario's announcement today that it will strengthen the province's labour laws by boosting the minimum wage, mandating equal pay for equal work, increasing...

The Canadian Labour Congress joins workers' advocates celebrating today's announcement that the Ontario government will raise the provincial minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019, and reform the province's employment standards and labour relations laws...

The OFL congratulates the Ontario government on the steps it has taken today toward updating Ontario's outdated labour and employment laws, and on their plan to increase minimum wage across the province. The OFL recognises the collective...

Workplace changes, announced by the Ontario government today, are a long way from rectifying the huge imbalance in our economy that continues to leave workers behind, says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. Thanks to the hard work of thousands...

Ahead of the summer recess of the Ontario legislature, leaders of multiple faith communities hosted a joint press conference at Queen's Park today to call on the provincial government to make decent work legislation a priority in 2017. "As...

Today, labour leaders from across the province gathered to discuss next steps in advance of the government's anticipated reaction to the Changing Workplaces Review, reaffirming their commitment to Ontario workers. From rallying at Queen's...

Working people from across Ontario have shared their lived experiences of insecurity, intimidation, precarity and poverty with the Special Advisors and with their MPPs. While their struggle is reflected in some of the recommendations in the Changing...

Working people from across Ontario have shared their lived experiences of insecurity, intimidation, precarity and poverty with the Special Advisors and with their MPPs. While their struggle is reflected in some of the recommendations in the Changing...

The Ontario Health Coalition is taking a giant teddy bear with the slogan "We Can't Bear to Lose Medicare" to 20 towns from late May to mid June to raise awareness about the threat of health care privatization. Private for-profit clinics are...

As the strike between the Toronto Zoo and Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600) enters its third week, Mark Hancock, CUPE's National President, will join strikers tomorrow on their picket lines. Hancock will arrive...

If North Bay, Sudbury, Kenora, Thunder Bay and Timmins were in the middle of a by-election like Sault Ste. Marie, would their hospitals see a similar funding increase? Asked Michael Hurley president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions...

The long awaited Changing Workplaces Review Final Report proved a major disappointment today when after expecting major reform of Ontario's labour law to make the legal right to join a union a practical reality for workers outside of traditional...

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) supports a number of the recommendations put forward in the Changing Workplaces Review Final Report, released today, but says the Ontario government must go further by enacting bold labour...

With today's long-anticipated release of the Changing Workplaces Review report, the Canadian Labour Congress is calling on the Ontario government to go further than the report's recommendations in order to raise standards for all workers, unionized...

There are many missed opportunities in the long-awaited Changing Workplaces Review final recommendations, says the Ontario Federation of Labour. While the report recognizes the urgent need for changes to Ontario's employment and labour law, it must...

Following a week in which the City of Markham's 'inside' and 'outside' municipal workers gave their bargaining committee a near-unanimous mandate to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve a fair contract, the unit chair for Local 905 of the...

CUPE members are asking how a long overdue report and at great cost to taxpayers, fails to provide the one recommendation it was ostensibly commissioned to deliver - whether or not to close public libraries in 54 communities in Newfoundland and...

Negotiations to settle the week-long strike between Local 1600 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1600) and the Toronto Zoo broke down following the Zoo's refusal to provide any rationale around why they insist on changes to the...