Canada’s unions are marking National AccessAbility Week – May 26 to June 1 – by celebrating the historic passage of Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada, the first national accessibility legislation in Canada. Bill C-81 is expected to receive royal assent in the coming weeks. “Canada’s unions and workers with disabilities are gratified to see federal accessibility…

Following a series of regressive abortion laws passed in several American states, Canada’s unions are expressing solidarity with advocates in the United States who are fighting to protect reproductive rights. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) further commits to protecting our own hard-won gains and to fill the gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada, including…

Canada’s unions welcome today’s announcement lifting U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. “The cancellation of steel and aluminum tariffs is good news for workers,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “Canada’s unions welcome this decision to restore stability and predictability to our economy and to workers’ lives. For almost a year, these tariffs have had a damaging impact on an…

On May 9, 2019, Canada’s Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced a new deferral policy for blood donations from men who have sex with men, effectively reducing the deferral time from one year to three months. This International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT), Canada’s unions are calling for an end to discriminatory policies which perpetuate homophobic and transphobic…

By Hassan Yussuff, as published in the Winnipeg Free Press and in the Toronto Star. The year 1919 was fraught with discontent. Workers in Canada were struggling to make ends meet and inflation had risen by 65% over a six-year span. Men who had just returned from a horrific war in Europe could not find employment; factories were shutting down…

By Hassan Yussuff, as published in The Globe and Mail. It was disheartening to see some of the negative reactions to a recent proposal that free menstrual products should be available in all federally regulated workplaces. There clearly remain a lot of misperceptions and ignorance about the challenges women face every day in the workplace. Access to menstrual products is…

Canada’s unions are marking World Press Freedom Day by calling on governments around the world and here at home to do more to protect the rights of journalists to practice their profession without fear of reprisals, violence or even death. “Far too many journalists continue to risk their lives in upholding a basic cornerstone of all democratic societies: press freedom,”…

April 28 is the National Day of Mourning, a day to commemorate those who have died or been injured as a result of their job. This year, Canada’s unions are calling on employers and governments to do more to protect workers. “One workplace death is already too many. Workers deserve to arrive home safely at the end of their workday.…

April 24 marks the 6th anniversary of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse that killed 1,134 garment workers in Bangladesh. Canada’s unions remain concerned about working conditions in factories where Canadian retailers source their products. “Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporter. Roughly 4 million people work in the country’s four thousand plus factories. Nearly 80 percent of these workers…

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated clearly how we have eleven years to stabilize the planet at a 1.5-degree limit of warming, or face terrible physical and social impacts from climate change. We are already feeling some of those effects, with extreme heat waves and flooding, forest fire seasons that are the worst on record, and…