When the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and its labour allies seemed to be moving toward a general strike, Premier Doug Ford jumped to beat the news.
"The wealthy 'jet set' is responsible for most of the flights and the highest carbon emissions," said one participant, "and nothing is being done to stop them."
More than 500 environmental and social justice campaigners on Saturday occupied the runway and blocked private jets from taking off from a major airport in the Netherlands to call attention to the highly-polluting travel practices of the uber-rich in the face of runaway climate catastrophe.
"The government managed to unite the entire labour movement in an effort to repeal Bill 28 and protect the Charter rights of workers across Canada.”
A union representing tens of thousands of education workers in Ontario called off planned strike actions on Monday in exchange for the Doug Ford government promising to rescind legislation that imposed a contract and made going on strike illegal.
Over the past several decades, governments in Canada have intervened in labour disputes on behalf of employers with increasing frequency. In recent years postal workers, teaching assistants, college instructors, pilots, healthcare workers, and others, have had their collective bargaining rights trampled by back-to-work legislation passed at both the provincial and federal levels.
For this strike to be successful, unions across Ontario and Canada will need to offer more than strong words.
To borrow a phrase from Mark Hancock, the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Doug Ford government in Ontario has gone “full nuclear” and suspended the Charter-protected rights of the provinces’ lowest paid education workers to collectively bargain and strike.
Website editor: the second short video below is worth watching - "Heating and eating: can cost of living and climate protesters join forces?"
Oct. 26, 2022
As the crackdown on our freedoms intensifies, the list of our national ailments seems endless. But there’s one issue that can prise things open
Before we decide what needs to change, let’s take stock of what we have lost. I want to begin with what happened last week. I don’t mean the resignation of the prime minister. This is more important.
BC ordered Coastal GasLink to ‘cease’ variations from approved work plans. The company insists it hasn’t broken any rules.
Coastal GasLink maintains it’s not in violation of a compliance agreement it signed with the province aimed at reducing watershed damage along its pipeline route.
But the B.C. government ordered it to “cease” activities that violate the agreement on Oct. 14.
