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Conservatives fundraise on YouTube lies

It seems Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives just can’t pass up any opportunity to feed the party’s right-wing base and do some fundraising.

The Conservatives are standing in front of microphones and e-mailing supporters spinning a myth that the CRTC is going to police the YouTube and Facebook video uploads of everyday citizens.

If Bill C-10 – legislation updating the long-standing Canadian content obligations of commercial broadcasters for the modern era of Internet streaming - gets caught in this political crossfire, O’Toole doesn’t mind.

Jerry Dias - Open Letter Re: Urgent Need to Order Transit Vehicles from Alstom Thunder Bay

May 5, 2021

SENT VIA EMAIL

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, P.C., M.P., Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health, MP for Thunder Bay – Superior North
The Honourable Doug Ford, M.P.P., Premier of Ontario
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, M.P.P., Ontario Minister of Finance
The Honourable Victor Fedeli, M.P.P., Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Ocean Concrete locks out workers to force concessions

VICTORIA—Members of Unifor Local 114 working at Ocean Concrete in Victoria have been locked out of their workplace by an employer seeking concessions at the bargaining table, Unifor says.

“Shame on Ocean Concrete for locking out workers during a pandemic,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Ocean Concrete has no excuse for these aggressive tactics.”  

National Update #3

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

With the third wave of Covid shutting down meetings and preventing any national bargaining from occurring, we have agreed to a one year agreement with the employer, subject to ratification by the membership. 

May Day marked with workers’ stories

To mark May Day stories from across North America about workers who have found renewed reason for activism in 14 months of COVID-19 challenges.

Nestlé workers on strike in Toronto

May 1, 2021
TORONTO – More than 470 workers went on strike at a Nestlé Canada manufacturing plant in Toronto at midnight Saturday after contract negotiations between Unifor Local 252 and the chocolate company broke down.
"It’s a sad state of affairs," said Eamonn Clarke, President of Unifor Local 252. "We’ve opened the door to precarious work and the company has taken advantage of it, using it to line their own pockets, make more profits and they don’t want to share anything with the workers."

Unifor calls Loblaw ‘appreciation bonus’ an insult to frontline workers

April 30, 2021

Toronto - The announcement of a chump change employee ‘appreciation bonus’ by Loblaw Companies Limited is an insult to workers says Unifor, especially given its departing President took home more than $6 million dollars last year.

“The unmitigated greed of Canada’s largest grocery retailer knows no limits,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “This paltry payment to frontline grocery workers, who are keeping us fed throughout this pandemic, is nothing short of a disgrace.”

Don’t repeat past childcare mistakes

We have a national childcare plan at long last, and we cannot afford to lose it to political games in Ottawa.

It’s just too important.

It has been more than 16 years since the previous Liberal government tried to bring in a national childcare program, only to see Stephen Harpers Conservatives kill it after Jack Layton helped them defeat the Paul Martin government

Information Bulletin #15

Sisters and Brothers,

As we near the deadline for conciliation today at 5pm, the Company has reached out to the Union with a request to extend the process to May 31st 2021. To be clear, we have stood firm on our position since the beginning. We have indicated to the Employer on numerous occasions that until there was significant changes made to their proposals, we were not willing to continue with conciliation and until that happened, our focus would be strictly on the essential service application, which is in front of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.

Unifor statement on May 1 - International Workers’ Day

On May 1, Unifor marks the International Workers' Day - May Day!  

For the second time, workers across the world are marking May Day in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The danger and threat of COVID-19 continues to weight heavy on working people and their communities across the globe.

Over the past 14 months, frontline workers have faced the threat of illness, contagion and death as they have been required to show up to work despite few protections.

Information Bulletin #14

Union Response to Company Rumours

Sisters and Brothers,

It is no surprise that the company is choosing to communicate bargaining topics or so called “rumours” directly with the membership. They do this in every round of bargaining, fishing for information that may give them the upper hand in negotiations. The bargaining team has been as clear as possible in the communications sent out to the entire membership, regarding the topics raised at the table, including concessionary demands brought forward by the company.

COVID bonuses go to the wrong people

This column originally appeared in the Toronto star.

To hear executives at two of Canadas largest retailers and a private long-term care home chain tell it, they did a pretty bang up job handling the pandemic – and promptly wrote themselves hefty bonus cheques to prove it.

Were talking about millions in bonuses, on top of salaries that already put them in the top one per cent.