Unions
Unions | Les syndicats |
NOTE:
This
page is NOT comprehensive, and it doesn't offer very much site content --- that's
because I tend to post union website content to the 'theme' pages on this site
(e.g., Elections/Politics, Health, Women's Social Issues) rather than on this
more general page. The links below will take you to selected unions' home pages,
where you can explore to your heart's content...
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Canadian
Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress is the largest democratic
and popular organization in Canada with over three million members. The Canadian
Labour Congress brings together Canada's national and international unions, the
provincial and territorial federations of labour and 137 district labour councils.With
roots everywhere in Canada, the labour movement plays a key role in ensuring that
Canadians enjoy a quality of life that is the envy of the world.
Canadian
Labour Online is your electronic newsletter
on what's new at the Canadian Labour Congress.
The link will take you to the
latest issue of the newsletter.
Selected site content:
An
Update on Canada’s Two Economies
- Implications for Workers and for Monetary
Policy
June 8, 2007
By Andrew Jackson
Canadian
Labour Congress
NOTE: This is a revised and extended version of the comments
made by Andrew Jackson at a panel on the Canadian economy organized by the Bank
of Canada and the IMF at the recent Canadian Economics Association meetings.
-
incl. * The Hidden Jobs Crisis * Boom and Bust: Resources, Trade and the Manufacturing
Crisis * Manufacturing Matters for Workers * The Poor Quality of New Jobs * Flat
Real Wages * Implications for Labour Market Policy * Implications for the Bank
of Canada
Source:
Relentlessly
Progressive Economics
Commentary on Canadian economics and public policy
An
Update on Canada’s Two Economies
- Implications for Workers and for Monetary
Policy
June 8, 2007
By Andrew Jackson
Canadian
Labour Congress
NOTE: This is a revised and extended version of the comments
made by Andrew Jackson at a panel on the Canadian economy organized by the Bank
of Canada and the IMF at the recent Canadian Economics Association meetings.
-
incl. * The Hidden Jobs Crisis * Boom and Bust: Resources, Trade and the Manufacturing
Crisis * Manufacturing Matters for Workers * The Poor Quality of New Jobs * Flat
Real Wages * Implications for Labour Market Policy * Implications for the Bank
of Canada
Human
Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), Low Earnings and the Working
Poor
Posted by Andrew Jackson of the Canadian
Labour Congress
September 18, 2006
Source:
Relentlessly
Progressive Economics
[A Blog of the Progressive
Economics Forum]
********************************
Raising
Living Standards for the Working Poor: Issues and Solutions
(PDF file - 95K, 11 pages)
July 31, 2006
Andrew Jackson, National Director
Social
and Economic Policy, Canadian Labour Congress
More papers by Andrew Jackson - links to 28 more papers
LINK
- The Canadian Labour Congress Research Newsletter
- incl. New Papers in the
Web (Socially Responsible Investment - Labour Rights: Anti-Scab Legislation -
The OECD Jobs Strategy - Training - Policies to Assist the Working Poor) Worth
Noting (New report from the Canadian Policy Research Network on Canada's adult
education and training system
NOTEs:
1. the "LINK"link above
always points to the most recent issue of the newsletter
2. scroll to the bottom
of the newsletter for links to three earlier issues back to March 2006
LINK
Online Research Newsletter - May 2006 Issue
- incl. New Papers on
the Web - Research by CLC Affiliates - Worth Noting
- Selected content from
this issue:
--- Organizing Low Wage Workers: Performance and Prospects
: the role of unions as part of the answer to the growing problem of low paid
and precarious work.
--- Rowing Against the Tide: The Struggle to Raise
Union Density in a Hostile Environment
--- Current Pension Issues and
Trends focuses on current regulatory issues
--- Why Working Families
Need Public Health Care : summarizes labour's arguments against private health
insurance and private delivery of health care.
--- Private-Public-Partnerships
(P3s) and the Transformation of Government
--- Labour Left Out :
research from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives into the failure of
Canadian governments to protect and promote the collective bargaining rights of
both unionized and non-unionized workers
Source:
Social
and Economic Policy Department
[ Canadian
Labour Congress ]
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Canadian
Union of Public Employees
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
is Canada’s largest union. With more than half a million members across Canada,
CUPE represents workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries,
universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services
and airlines. A strong and democratic union, CUPE is committed to improving the
quality of life for workers in Canada. Women and men working together to form
local unions built CUPE. They did so to have a stronger voice – a collective
voice – in their workplace and in society as a whole.
[A
special thanks to CUPE for allowing me to piggyback onto their mailing list system
(Mailman) - it makes my task of administering my mailing list and distributing
the weekly issues of my
newsletter quite a bit easier. I should mention that I don't share my newsletter
mailing list with anyone, including CUPE, nor does CUPE impose any control over
my work or my views...
March 2006
Gilles]
Some recent content from the CUPE website:
Low
paid work still widespread in Canada (PDF file
- 368K, 2 pages)
November 19, 2007
Despite strong economic growth, historically
low unemployment rates and much discussion about labour shortages, about one in
six of all employed workers in Canada - almost 2.2 million - was still low paid
and earning poverty wages in 2006. This economic brief provides a short overview
of the low wage workforce in Canada by province and demographic group.
Happy Anniversary Universal Child Care Plan --- from the Party Poopers!
One
year later, Canadian families still have no child care solution
Harper Conservatives
celebrate first anniversary of failed plan
July 10, 2007
Monte
Solberg, minister of Human Resources and Social Development, is in Winnipeg today,
holding a celebration of the so-called “Universal Child Care Benefit”.“I’m
not sure what there is to celebrate,” said CUPE National President Paul Moist.
“This plan hasn’t delivered a single child care space.”
NOTE:
check the right-hand margin for 14 links to related websites and articles
Source:
Canadian
Union of Public Employees
Also from CUPE:
Early
learning and child care - It's time
July
13, 2007
The Canadian Union of public Employees (CUPE) has published a new
booklet that makes the case for a universal, high quality, not-for-profit child
care system. The booklet outlines the major issues facing child care workers,
and promotes CUPE's plan to help build a stronger system through organizing, advocacy
and collective bargaining.
Complete report:
Early
learning and child care - It's time (PDF file - 2.5MB, 24 pages)
July
2007
"(...) The Canadian Union of Public Employees believes Canada urgently
needs a high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC) system. Many CUPE members
are parents with young children. They need quality child care so they can work
with peace of mind. More than half of CUPE members are women, and women still
bear the major responsibility for child-rearing."
-----------
Related links from Human Resources and Social Development Canada:
Canada's
New Government Celebrates Giving Parents Greater Choice in Child Care
WINNIPEG,
MANITOBA, July 10, 2007 - Canada's New Government made a commitment to support
Canadian families and give them real choice in child care, and it is delivering
on that promise. Since launching the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) in July
2006, the Government has provided 1.5 million Canadian families with monthly UCCB
cheques of $100 for every child under six years old.
Related link:
Canada's Universal Child Care Plan - "Provides Choice, Support and Spaces."
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Supreme
Court of Canada says collective bargaining protected by Charter
June
8, 2007
Canada’s largest union is hailing today’s landmark ruling
by the Supreme Court of Canada as the Court's most important decision in support
of free collective bargaining in Canada. Referring to the Supreme Court of Canada's
previous refusal to recognize collective bargaining as protected by Canada's Charter
of Rights and Freedoms, Paul Moist, national president of CUPE, stated "In
overruling its own decisions from 20 years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada has
removed tremendous hurdles faced by the trade union movement in this country."
Related Web/News/Blog links:
Google
Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following
search terms (without the quote marks):
"supreme court, collective bargaining"
Web
search results page
News search results
page
Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca
Happy
Anniversary, Conservatives!
January 24, 2007
Well, happy anniversary,
Conservative Government. With all of the effort it's taken us this year to get
used to saying "Prime Minister Stephen Harper", we might have actually
forgotten the promises that got him that title in the first place. Well, we might
have. But we didn't. On this election anniversary, we'd like to make sure you
don't forget, either. So let's revisit the promises Harper made a year ago today,
and evaluate how well each has been kept."
Tory
child care plans fail families
Codeblue for Childcare
January
12, 2007
The Conservative government has shuffled its cabinet and shifted priorities,
but it has some major unfinished business when it comes to child care. “The
Tories haven’t created the child care spaces Canadians need. Businesses aren’t
welcoming their plans for the private sector to create child care spots and parents
have received a taxable $100 towards covering their child care fees. It’s
shameful that this government could call that a success,” said Paul Moist,
national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thirty
Years of Dwindling Minimum Wages in Canada
Nov
6, 2006
The campaign for living wages has gathered momentum with bills sponsored
by NDP members in both the federal Parliament and the Ontario legislature to increase
the minimum wage to $10/hour. The just-released report on Federal Labour Standards
also strongly recommended that the federal minimum wage be reintroduced at a level
that would allow full-time workers to live above the poverty line. Federal and
provincial politicians claim that we can’t afford it. But as Commissioner
Harry Arthurs stated in this report, "This is an issue of fundamental decency
that no modern, prosperous country like Canada can ignore." The real value
of the minimum wage everywhere in Canada is now not just far below the poverty
line, but also far below what it was thirty years ago, as the following CUPE Economic
Brief shows. And contrary to what some politicians and low wage employers claim,
increasing the minimum wage tends to have few negative economic impacts and is
often positive. We can afford it and we should do it.
Complete report:
Thirty
Years of Dwindling Minimum Wages in Canada (PDF file - 147K, 2 pages)
November
2006
Related Links from the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission:
Fairness
at Work:
Federal Labour Standards for the21st Century
HTML
version
PDF version
(1.5MB, 324 pages)
"Commissioner Harry Arthurs was appointed by the Minister
of Labour in October 2004 to review Part III of the Canada Labour Code. Part III
establishes labour standards for workers employed in federally regulated enterprises.
It is administered by the Labour Program of the Department of Human Resources
and Social Development."
Miminum
Wages in Canada: Theory, Evidence and Policy (Executive Summary only)
Morley Gunderson, University of Toronto
Posted October 11, 2006
Source:
Commission
Research Program
Also from CUPE:
Taxes,
Productivity & Competitiveness: It’s Not the Tax Cuts that Matter…
(PDF file - 177K, 6 pages)
Quality public services deliver a more competitive
economy and a better quality of life
September 2006
CUPE Economic
Backgrounder
Economics 101 teaches that, under certain
assumptions, free and competitive markets will lead to the greatest level of good
for the greatest number of people. In this model, taxes, government spending and
regulation interfere with the free market and are therefore bad.
Economics
201 teaches that these assumptions are highly simplistic, heroic and unrealistic;
that “market failures” are pervasive; and that there is an important
role for public spending, taxes and regulation that improve the economy and increase
well-being.
New
report focuses on new forms of privatization
News
Release
March 30, 2006
"Those who follow trends know that new and more
complex forms of privatization have emerged in Canada and around the world. A
new CUPE resource helps you understand and identify these “monsters.”
CUPE’s 16-page paper Developments in Privatization of Public Services provides
details on many new kinds of privatization that now exist. It helps to answer
the question "what is privatization?” by using brief examples that show
how certain kinds of privatization work."
Developments
in Privatization of Public Services (PDF file - 346K, 16 pages)
A
background paper prepared for the Public Services International Workshop on Trade
Union Responses to New Forms of Privatization
March 14 –16, 2006
Ottawa,
Canada
Child care open letter hits 26,000 signatures
February
28, 2006
Momentum is building.
More than 26,000 Canadians have lent their
support to an open letter that urges the prime minister and premiers to honour
the federal-provincial child care agreements signed last year.
* Add
your name to the growing list
Victory
in Saskatchewan as Legislature passes motion on child care
March
17, 2006
Saskatchewan’s legislature has unanimously passed a motion to
support a made-in-Saskatchewan child care plan, and to “express our government’s
dissatisfaction” with the federal Conservatives’ plan to axe child care
agreements signed with the provinces last year.
Related Links:
CODE
BLUE for Child Care
Child
Care Advocacy Association of Canada
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National
Union of Public and General Employees
The National Union of Public
and General Employees (NUPGE) is a family of 15 component unions. Taken together
we are the second largest union in Canada. Most of our 337,000 members work to
deliver public services of every kind to the citizens of their home provinces.
We also have a large and growing number of members who work for private businesses.
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Public
Service Alliance of Canada
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC),
is one of Canada's largest unions. The PSAC is truly a national union with members
from coast to coast to coast, in every province and territory. We even have an
international face with members working abroad in embassies and consulates. Our
membership is diverse and growing. While many of our 150,000 members work for
the federal government or agencies as immigration officers, fisheries officers,
food inspectors, customs officers and the like, an increasing number of PSAC members
work in the private sector in women’s shelters, universities, security agencies
and casinos.
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Canadian
Union of Postal Workers
Our 54,000 members work in large and small
communities from Twillingate, Newfoundland to Tappen, British Columbia. A majority
of members work for Canada Post as rural and suburban mail carriers, letter carriers,
mail service couriers, postal clerks, mail handlers, mail despatchers, technicians,
mechanics, electricians and electronic technicians. But CUPW represents more than
post office workers. We also represent cleaners, couriers, drivers, warehouse
workers, mail house workers, emergency medical dispatchers, bicycle couriers and
other workers in more than 15 private sector bargaining units. CUPW’s
national office is in Ottawa. The union has regional offices in Halifax, Quebec
City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Winnipeg and Vancouver. There are CUPW
locals with elected representatives in over 200 communities across the country.
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Ontario Public Service Employees Union
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation
Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba
Syndicats québécois (...et canadiens, et ailleurs dans le monde)
Federations and Unions on the Internet (extensive list - Canada and US)
AFL-CIO (U.S.)
Global
Unions
World Trade Union Movement’s Web Site
Global Unions is
jointly owned and run by the international trade union movement. Global Unions
is run by 14 trade union organisations – the ICFTU, the eleven International Trade
Secretariats, the European Trade Union Confederation and the TUAC.
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Trends in Union Density in North America (PDF file - 200K, 4 pages) Briefing Note August 2003 "Recent statistics show that the trend toward decline or stagnation in union density in North America is continuing. Union density has been declining or stagnating for the past 20 years despite the resilience of unionization in the public sector, particularly in Canada. This briefing note describes trends in union density in Canada, the United States, and Mexico and summarizes the factors identified in the scholarly literature that are held to account for the decline." The
Rights of Nonstandard Workers: A North American Guide (PDF file -
584K, 36 pages) Source: |
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