Several months into each calendar year we reach a date known as Equal Pay Day. This is the average date women have to work into the year to catch up to the wages men made the year prior.
This year Equal Pay Day will be marked on April 4, meaning that women will have worked an extra quarter of a year just to earn what their male counterparts made last year.
TORONTO- Infrastructure, industry and health care investments are welcome in the Ontario budget, but government needs to take the next step and translate spending into good jobs and a stronger public health care system, including workforce development strategies.
"The Ontario government has put much needed money on the table - now they have to finish the job by ensuring that the work is done here in Ontario by Ontario workers. If we are going to build the transit of the future, let’s build it in Ontario,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President.
Members at Unifor MWF-Local 1 at Marine Fabricators in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ratified a new collective agreement that mirrors wage increases won by their counterparts at the Irving Shipyard on the other side of the Halifax harbour, securing nearly 25% in wage increases over the term of the contract.
TORONTO—The Ontario government’s 2023 budget must reinvest in public health care and support workers and critical industries to make better use of recent windfalls, says Unifor.
REGINA—Key public services that working people rely on every day will see little to no increase in service levels from the 2023 provincial budget that earmarks a massive surplus for the Sask Party government’s re-election bid in 2024.
The Honourable Doug Ford Premier of Ontario @email
The Honourable Monte McNaughton
Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development @email
The Honourable Stephen Lecce Minister of Education @email
Dear Premier Ford, Minister McNaughton and Minister Lecce,
More than 1,000 people gathered on March 18, 2023, in Saint-Félicien, Que., for a rally organized by Unifor to raise questions to the provincial government on the upcoming strategy to stop the decline of woodland and mountain caribou populations.
"We are marching today because there is a lot of uncertainty about the plan that the government wants to put in place,” said Daniel Cloutier, Unifor Quebec Director.
The Unifor Local 100 and Council 4000 Bargaining Committees have achieved tentative collective agreements with CN Rail, averting strike action.
Following a round of deadline bargaining, the tentative agreements were reached the afternoon of March 20.
Details of the tentative agreements will be provided during a series of ratification meetings, which will be held at locations across the country in the coming days. Information on the ratification meetings will be communicated once details are finalized.
MONTREAL- Unifor has reached tentative collective agreements with CN Rail, averting strike action.
“These negotiations were fraught with challenges, including demands for concessions by CN,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “With the solid support of the membership, the bargaining committees were able to stand up to this large profitable company and persevere to secure the tentative agreements.”
VANCOUVER—Unifor is reaching out to members and supporters this week to sign a petition to stop the displacement of local fish harvesters on the Pacific coast.
“Canadian natural resources, such as the Pacific fishery, should provide good jobs and benefit working families,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “The federal government is failing coastal communities and the rest of Canada by allowing massive multinational corporations to plunder our communal wealth.”
LONDON—More than 150 auto parts workers at Sodecia Automotive hot stamping facilities in London, Ontario voted to join Unifor last month after a year-long union drive.
“Auto parts workers understand that joining Unifor means driving higher standards of living for workers across the industry,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “Momentum is growing across the sector to join our union as workers look to secure a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.”
The International Day of La Francophonie is a unique opportunity to celebrate our language and its invaluable contribution to the rich diversity of our world. In Quebec and Canada, we cannot mark this event without reflecting on the great responsibility we bear to ensure the promotion and vitality of the French language in an environment that presents many challenges.
A delegation of five Unifor women were honoured to represent Unifor as delegates of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) in New York City from March 6 to 10.
TO: The Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario; The Honourable Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development of Ontario; The Honourable Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry
Dear Premier Ford and Ministers McNaughton and Smith,
Unifor Local 462 members reached a three-year deal with Gesco Limited Partnership in Brampton, Ont.
“The members were seeking to increase wages and ensure job protection due to market conditions,” said Andrew Kellman, the president of Local 462. “Members overwhelmingly voted for this agreement and appreciated the hard work that Unit Chair Larry McIntyre and bargaining committee members Jason Gardner and Val McGraw put into getting them wage bumps.”
TORONTO, MEXICO CITY – Autoworker unions in Canada and Mexico applaud the launch of a trade complaint by the Canadian government to stop labour abuses at a Mexican auto parts facility owned by global automotive supplier Fränkische.
Ontario’s 2023 budget release is set for March 23. Will the Ford government finally invest in strengthening programs and services such as health care and education or continue to create chaos while cutting taxes and privatizing health care?
TORONTO –With the simultaneous decisions from the Competition Bureau and Transport Canada’s public interest review approving WestJet’s acquisition of Sunwing, Unifor remains steadfast that the acquisition must result in increased job quality for workers at Sunwing and WestJet.
Unifor’s 2023 Prairie Regional Council (PRC) focused on the union’s work to build worker power through political fightback, social activism, and tough collective bargaining.
Approximately 150 delegates from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta participated in the three-day council during March 8-10 in Calgary.
Council opened with a welcome from Prairie Regional Chairperson Guy Desforge followed by a blessing from Elder Bruce Starlight and a dance performance by Brown Bear Woman Events.
Two premiers with the most ideologically divergent views in Canada, both recently elected by party members but untested in a general election, tabled their first budget on February 28.
There is a lot to be gleaned from the Eby and Smith budgets about “left” and “right” philosophies and more importantly, the outcomes for working people.
REGINA—Highly qualified union workers at SaskTel should do the work involved in the company’s massive expansion of its fibre optic broadband network into rural Saskatchewan.
TORONTO – Leading up to March break and the busy summer travel season, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) decision to cap flights and the number of travelers fails both passengers and airport workers, says Unifor.
“The GTAA is punishing the traveling public by limiting flights and services as a band-aid solution to airport congestion, instead of fixing the problem by implementing common sense solutions to improve job quality and hire needed workers,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
OTTAWA – On International Women’s Day 2023, hundreds of community organizations from across Canada have signed a statement declaring that gender equality cannot be achieved without supporting, celebrating, and uplifting trans women. Canada has seen rising hate against trans communities, and particularly against trans women, but trans women deserve our respect and care – in addition to concrete government action to address anti-trans hate.
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