Stephen Harper loves them not: union organization curbed by anti-labour bill

Published December 17, 2014

Looks like it’s time for unions to put back on their “Stephen Harper hates me” buttons. On Tuesday, the anti-labour Bill C-525, designed to make it harder for unions to organize and represent workers, was passed by the Senate — despite containing obvious errors. The bill was rushed through after recent back-to-back hearings at a Senate committee. […]

Rights at work: who wants to go back to 1946?

Published February 27, 2014

The Globe and Mail’s editorial board is pleading with Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak to pursue his idea of allowing union members to opt out of paying for activities not directly related to collective bargaining. The conservative-minded newspaper chimed in with an editorial on Thursday after Hudak renounced the most controversial part of his […]

Canada’s latest labour minister just like the old one

Published February 6, 2014

That was fast. Just as news broke Wednesday that the union representing 3,000 workers at Canadian National Railway Co gave strike notice, meaning a strike could begin as early as Saturday, the Conservative government served notice it would be tabling back-to-work legislation. Labour Minister Kellie Leitch stood in the foyer of the House of Commons to […]

The real story behind latest Conservative attack on labour

Published January 30, 2014

The Conservative government’s ongoing attack on unions — “a key driver in the creation of the middle class” — has reached a new milestone. Bill C-525, the anti-union private member’s bill tabled by a Conservative backbencher and backed enthusiastically by Stephen Harper and his cabinet, cleared a major legislative hurdle Wednesday night, when the bill passed Second Reading in the House […]

Welcome back, Harper

Published January 26, 2014

Now that the House of Commons is back in session after an extended winter break, watch to see how the Conservative government handles problems they’ve created and fights they’ve picked. 1. Stephen Harper’s bagman Will Senator Irving Gerstein stay on Harper’s good side, despite being knee-deep in the Senate spending scandal and cover-up in the […]

Did Ontario Tories really just double down on “right to work” agenda?

Published January 21, 2014

Ontario Tory leader Tim Hudak raised eyebrows when he released a jobs plan last week that didn’t include any reference to “right to work” legislation. Making union dues voluntary is popular in some conservative circles, especially in the United States. It weakens unions so they can’t bargain or organize effectively. Hudak had been talking up […]