Tag : Better Pay and Benefits

Canada’s unions are calling on the federal government to extend income support for unemployed workers until at least the end of 2021 or they will soon face a ‘benefits cliff’. The numbers of workers who are currently facing the prospect of an end to their benefits this March are staggering: 844,000 workers were receiving the Canada Recovery Benefit in late…

OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) welcomes today’s federal government announcement that it will extend the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), introduce much needed reforms to Employment Insurance (EI) to provide better protections for the country’s unemployed workers including the introduction of a minimum floor on benefits, and provide 10 paid sick days. Millions of people have been relying…

OTTAWA – Canada’s unions welcome the expansion of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which will come as a relief to the millions of Canadians who can’t yet return to work. “This is very good news for the millions of Canadians who still don’t have a job they can go back to and were growing concerned about paying their bills,”…

Canada’s unions are marking International Workers’ Day this year by launching a new campaign to bring attention to the vital contributions of essential workers and to advocate for better treatment. “There are 4.9 million workers across the country who have been deemed essential, and many of them have been struggling to make a decent living for years,” said CLC President…

April 4, 2020 marks the day women’s median earnings in Canada finally catch up to men’s median earnings from last year. This year, Equal Pay Day takes place with the backdrop of an unprecedented test for workers, their families and the economy: the COVID-19 pandemic. “It takes 16 months for women’s median earnings to catch up to what men make…

Today, on the twelfth annual World Day for Decent Work, Canada’s unions are calling for a federal task force on care work and care jobs in Canada. The World Day for Decent Work is a global day of action for trade unions around the world. The theme for 2019, Investing in care for gender equality, recognizes that work in the…

Canada’s unions are recognizing June 8 as Collective Bargaining Rights Day by celebrating the labour movement’s long and proud history of winning important gains at the bargaining table, a legacy that improves the economic realities for all Canadian workers and their families. “Collective bargaining allows working people to take part in fundamental decisions affecting their lives and, through collective action,…

On December 1, 1911, The American Magazine published a poem with the title “Bread and Roses” for the very first time. Over the next few years, it would become an anthem of the trade union movement, linked to the struggle for social justice and equality. Now a favourite anthem of the labour movement around the world, James Oppenheim was inspired to write…

On September 29, 1931, coal miners from nearby Bienfait gathered with their families, along with several hundred other miners and their families, to parade through the streets of Estevan in order to draw attention to their strike. The RCMP confronted them, attempting to block and break up the procession, then opened fire on the crowd. Three miners were killed and…