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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 in Their Own Land elicits sympathy for white workers but fails to identify the class forces responsible for their plight.