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Unifor celebrates Senate passing of anti-scab legislation

A group of people with several holding Stop Scab Labour signs

 

OTTAWA—Unifor is celebrating the passage of anti-scab legislation after Bill C-58 was adopted by the Senate at third reading without amendment.

“This is a watershed moment for Canadian workers as after more than a century of struggle legislation will finally prevent the use of scabs in federally governed workplaces,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Now Unifor will continue the fight to enact strong and meaningful anti-scab legislation in every province and territory to ensure that the bargaining power of all workers across the country is protected.”

Unifor has been on the forefront of the battle to eliminate the use of scab labour, which allows employers to undermine the process of free and fair collective bargaining. The union has been a vocal advocate of Bill C-58 An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012, known as anti-scab legislation.

Last week, Unifor National President Lana Payne testified before the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science & Technology on the urgent need for anti-scab legislation. Payne shared examples of how the use of scabs violated workers’ rights and served to prolong labour disputes in Unifor workplaces, including the recent strike at CN Autoport.

Watch Payne’s Senate Committee testimony here.

“While we believe there was room for further improvement to  Bill C-58, especially the twelve-month period until anti-scab legislation actually comes into effect, today is a victory and it’s one we are going to protect,” said Payne. “The anti-scab legislation received all party support and we fully expect that support to continue as it rolls out.”

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Unifor Regional Directors: Support the Women’s Strike to protect reproductive freedom

On June 24, 2022 Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States of America. This sent a chill through women in Canada, who were shaken by what this would mean for our American sisters and everyone across the country was very worried about what could happen to our rights here in Canada.

Women in Unifor began to mobilize immediately behind the scenes and at the mics in our regional councils across the country. Regional Directors introduced recommendations that were passed at every single council to create a national campaign that received unanimous support.

The national campaign launched in June 2023 at the Atlantic Regional Council and a year later we are now seeing a women’s strike being organized across Canada to  once again to stand in solidarity with our American sisters, but also to ensure that our rights are protected here at home.

Many people feel that we are safe here in Canada, but recent moves by Conservative politicians give us pause and concern. In Spring 2023, Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall  introduced another piece of anti-choice legislation. When it came time to vote – every single Conservative, including Pierre Poilievre, voted to support violating our rights. This led to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada naming every single current conservative member of Parliament as anti-choice.

We have heard many people say that Conservatives are pro-choice, but their voting record shows us otherwise and if we have learned anything it is that their voting record is what we can believe. What matters most isn’t what politicians say- it’s how they vote.

On June 24, 2024, there is a women’s strike that is happening globally in solidarity with everyone in the United States. For the past two years, we have been watching in horror at what has been happening state by state as rights have been rolled back to very extreme measures.

The Women’s Strike has come to Canada in a big way with a grassroots initiative that has jumped into action with organizers setting up marches, rallies and strike actions in cities and towns all across our country on June 24.

They have created a website womensstrikecanada.ca. Please visit to find your local action and find a way to join them to show support.

NOTE that this is not a Unifor strike action and members should report for scheduled shifts and abide by the conditions of their collective agreement.

If you don’t see an event listed in your area, you are certainly welcome to become an organizer. We would love to see our members out there supporting this grassroots important effort, which is about ensuring that abortion remains healthcare in Canada with equal delivery and access to all.

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Unifor signifies Emancipation Day

August 1, a raised fist with chans, Emancipation Day

June 17, 2024

 

August 1 is Emancipation Day.

On this day in 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 took effect, which laid a pathway to freeing enslaved people in British colonies across the globe and here in Canada.

Today, many Black, Indigenous, and workers of colour are still being denied full and safe participation in many institutions and organizations. Unions must be a part of removing any obstacles still in the way of Black, Indigenous and workers of colour and their many other intersections in workplaces, unions, and society.

Emancipation Day is currently only recognized in Ontario, but to make this day a truly meaningful commemoration, the entire country needs to join in. This day also affirms our union’s collective demand for racial justice and, to paraphrase American political activist Angela Davis, enables us to no longer accept the things we cannot change, but change the things we cannot accept.

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New digital ads from Unifor and PSAC target Best Theratronics to bargain a fair deal

A billboard on the roadside

June 19, 2024

 

Unifor and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have launched a series of digital billboard ads directed at Best Theratronics in Kanata, Ont., to treat their workers with respect and get back to the bargaining table with a fair deal.

“This company has ignored our members’ concerns about workplace safety by use of scab labour and continue to have the nerve of proposing a two-year contract, with zero wage increases,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

“These billboards, with our blunt message to treat their workers fairly, is something that Best Theratronics and its owner Krishnan Suthanthiran, cannot ignore.”

The billboard directly faces the Best Theratronics facility in Kanata, featuring an image of Unifor and PSAC members on the picket line.

Earlier this month, both unions sent a joint letter to the Canadian Safety Nuclear Commission (CNSC), expressing their concerns about Best Theratronics using unqualified managers and non-union workers as scab labour to handle safety-sensitive equipment at its. facility, including those containing radioactive material.

More than 50 members of Unifor Local 1541 and PSAC-UNE Local 70369 are on strike at Best Theratronics. Unifor members went on strike May 1, 2024, after the company proposed a two-year contract with zero wage increases, while PSAC members followed shortly after on May 10 with no monetary offer from the employer.

Best Theratronics develops and manufactures external beam therapy units, self-contained blood irradiators, and cyclotrons for hospitals, medical and research facilities.

During the Victoria Day long weekend last month, the company’s owner Krishnan Suthanthiran went on an email rant to workers, saying the company will use contractors to complete work.

“These billboards are bright and loud and bringing attention to all the issues Best Theratronics refuses to address,” said Unifor Local 1541 President Steve LaBelle.

“Our members stand by putting safety-sensitive practices at the highest importance. They also deserve to be able to survive this affordability crisis we’re in with fair wages.”

Unifor members work in the Skilled Trades as certified machinists, welders, sheet metal workers, machining process specialists, calibrators, electronic technicians, electrical and mechanical inspectors at the facility.

PSAC members work as design specialists, production planners and production controllers, expert technicians and many other key positions which are crucial to the drafting, manufacturing and delivery of Atomic Energy-based machines produced by Best Theratronics Limited.

“The company didn’t listen to the membership and the owner doesn’t have the respect for the members, based on the email activities and responses we get,” said PSAC-UNE Local 70369 Mark Booth.

“We placed these billboard signs out here to express to the public why we are here and to go gain the attention of the employer.”

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Sustainable Jobs Act a positive step forward for workers and the net-zero transition

 

OTTAWA—Unifor welcomes Bill C-50, the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act, passing third reading as an important milestone for workers in the transition to net-zero.

“Passing Bill C-50 puts Canada on the right path to creating and sustaining the jobs of today and tomorrow in an economy in transition,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

Bill C-50 was passed by the Senate today following consultations that included a submission by Unifor to the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science & Technology.

“Bill C-50 addresses many of our union’s key recommendations by defining a sustainable job as including trade union representation as well as a collective agreement, and includes fair income, job security, social protection and social dialogue,” added Payne.

The union stressed that the path to net-zero must involve measures that aim to preserve existing jobs in high-emitting sectors by transforming them into sustainable jobs.

“While the Senate chose not enact all of the amendments that Unifor recommended, the Sustainable Jobs Act will help prevent employers from exploiting the transition to contract-flip or push workers out of good-paying, union jobs into low-paying, precarious, non-union ones,” said Payne.