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World Day for Decent Work

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Each October 7 we mark the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) with international labour organizations renewing the demand for good pay and working conditions and the call for social justice for workers and our families.

While decent work and dignity for workers should be a given right it remains a goal that we must fight to achieve both around the globe and here at home in Canada. Last week Unifor members gathered to protest at Fiera Foods in Toronto to decry the death of Enrico Miranda, sadly one of approximately 1,000 workers killed annually on the job in Canada. Employed as a “temporary” worker at Fiera for years, Miranda was the fifth worker to lose his life while working at the industrial bakery since 1998.

The lack of regulation of temporary workers in Canada has led to substandard working conditions and the exploitation and abuse of those who are often too desperate to keep their jobs to voice their concerns. This is why Unifor members must speak loudly on their behalf and on behalf all workers. In the coming weeks we will be asking for support as we escalate action against Fiera Foods and the injustice of using temporary workers, with lower pay, few rights and no benefits, to do full-time work.

This year the theme of the World Day of Decent Work is “Investing in care for gender equality.” Investment in care for children, for seniors and in health care will reduce unpaid work by women, facilitate their entry into the workforce, and help to eliminate the gender pay gap.

Unifor has worked to advance gender equality through the union’s advocacy for universal daycare, improved health care funding and paid domestic violence leave here in Canada and through the Unifor Social Justice Fund’s support of international programs.

Today on WDDW, we stand in solidarity with workers everywhere to build a global economy that puts people first. Please share your support of the World Day for Decent Work on social media using the hashtag #wddw19.

In solidarity,

Jerry Dias
National President

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Sask Crown members work to rule in fight against wage freeze

September 28, 2019 – 3:00 AM

REGINA—Employers have called off contract talks after they steadfastly refused to move off of a government-imposed wage freeze.

“Work-to-rule” job action is scheduled to begin Monday at 12:01 a.m., with escalation planned for the end of the week.

“Picket lines are our last resort, but we’ve said from the start that wage freezes were simply not fair,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Considering the Premier gave himself a 2.3% raise this year, Crown workers’ demands are more than reasonable.”

Nearly 5,000 Unifor members from SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SecurTek, DirectWest, SaskWater, and the Water Security Agency will begin the united job action across Saskatchewan on Monday. The job action will look different in every workplace, but workers will perform the minimum standard required to do their job safely. In most cases that involves refusing overtime and ignoring performance targets set by the employer.

If an agreement cannot be reached before Friday, October 4 at 12:01 a.m., Unifor members from all seven bargaining units will commence a strike.

Unifor says that negotiations have been especially frustrating because the rationale for applying the government mandate to the Crowns sector is deeply flawed.

“The government insists that wage freezes are necessary for the provincial operating budget—but that’s not how Crown workers’ wages are funded,” said Dias. “Crowns are self-funded entities, and the government should stop pretending otherwise.”

Dias added “Scott Moe’s salary, on the other hand, does come from the provincial budget.”

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Big telecom companies win court battle in ongoing war with CRTC over wholesale internet rates

The Federal Court of Appeal has issued a temporary stay of a CRTC decision that seeks to force Canada’s biggest internet service providers to provide smaller rivals with access to their networks at new, lower wholesale rates.

Six of Canada’s largest internet service providers, including Bell Canada and Rogers, asked the court on Sept. 13 to overrule an August decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The phone and cable companies argue that the CRTC exceeded its powers and made errors when it decided had they had overcharged Canada’s small- to mid-sized internet service providers under interim wholesale rates set in 2016.

 

Read more here….

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Great Canadian Gaming bets on Oshawa workers

October 1, 2019 – 12:00 AM

TORONTO–Unifor members at Local 1090 have secured an agreement with the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GCG) that will assist General Motors (GM) and auto parts supplier workers in Oshawa to transition to good jobs at three unionized workplaces within the region. The agreement comes in the absence of a government strategy for automotive and parts supplier manufacturing workers that prevents employers from moving jobs outside of Canada.

“Great Canadian Gaming has come through for our members at a critical moment,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “This deal brings us one step closer to preserving the quality of life of hard-working people affected by the GM assembly line closure in Oshawa.”

The agreement comes as Unifor continues to make gains on all fronts with GM and auto parts supplier employers in Oshawa to secure better transition conditions for workers facing job losses. Negotiations to date include securing enhanced severance for parts supplier workers, funding for an action centre that provides workers with resources to secure new employment, and financial support for job retraining. The provisions of the agreement between Unifor Local 1090 and GCG includes preferential consideration of employment for Unifor members at Casino Woodbine, Casino Ajax/Pickering, and Great Blue Heron Casino.

“We’ve laid the groundwork for highly-skilled workers in Oshawa to continue to live in their community and transition to good casino jobs,” said Corey Dalton, Unifor Local 1090 President. “With so much at stake for workers and their families we applaud employers like Great Canadian Gaming who will rise to the occasion.”

As manufacturing jobs move south and overseas, Unifor continues to press political leaders at all levels of government for a much-needed joint strategy to protect workers in the automotive and parts supplier industries.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

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Unifor joins global strike to demand climate justice

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September 27, 2019 – 1:45 PM

Unifor members joined thousands of climate activists across Canada to demand immediate climate action in a historic global strike. Strikes were held across Canada to demand urgent action be taken to address the climate crisis.

Climate change disproportionately impacts workers and youth, whose futures are uncertain without strong government commitments to a just transition to a low carbon economy.

“Unifor is at the forefront of a worker-centered just transition. We have the tools at hand to address the climate crisis while creating good new jobs that prioritize workers,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.

Unifor stands in solidarity with students worldwide, inspired to take action by sixteen-year old Greta Thunberg, who has been the face of the youth movement in recent months. Thunberg made an impassioned speech to the UN in New York on Monday.

“We are on the brink of planetary disaster – we call on all levels of government to act immediately,” said Naureen Rizvi, Ontario Regional Director at the rally in Toronto. “We have to tame corporate greed and work together to put workers at the centre of economic transition.”

Unifor sees the transition to a low carbon economy as an opportunity for broad green job creation and vows to fight for displaced workers to ensure that no worker gets left behind.

Strike organizers have issued a series of demands, calling for Indigenous rights and sovereignty; collective effort to maintain and protect land, water, and life; government commitment to reduce emissions; universal public service and infrastructure, and more. See their demands here.