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."
TORONTO - As the province continues to deny workers permanent paid sick leave, Unifor takes to the skies above the Greater Toronto Area with a bold message to Premier Doug Ford.
TORONTO—ORNGE air ambulance paramedics will announce strike vote results on Sunday May 2, 2021, as they renew their demand that Premier Doug Ford remove the wage cap imposed by his government and allow them to negotiate fairly so they can continue serving Ontarians.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford must stop politicking and immediately act on the final report of Ontario's Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission calling for a minimum daily care standard of four hours of hands-on care per resident.
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.”
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 Harper’s Conservatives kill it after Jack Layton helped them defeat the Paul Martin government
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.
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.
TORONTO – Following today’s provincial announcement, Unifor is once again asking the Ontario government to introduce permanent, employer-paid sick leave that meets the needs of workers.
Ontario's auditor general Special Report on Pandemic Readiness and Response in Long-Term Care says due to years of governments neglecting systemic concerns, the government was not prepared or equipped to handle the issues created by the pandemic.
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.
Ontario conservative’s weak proposal for an expanded Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) does not meet the need for paid sick days amid mass death and continued COVID-19 spike, Unifor says.
This column originally appeared in the Toronto star.
To hear executives at two of Canada’s 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.
We’re talking about millions in bonuses, on top of salaries that already put them in the top one per cent.
Unions representing 175,000 workers serving on the frontlines of this pandemic re-iterate demand that the Ford government support workers
TORONTO, ON – Today, SEIU Healthcare, Unifor, and CUPE, unions representing 175,000 healthcare workers across Ontario, are concerned that the Ford government in Ontario has introduced a Bill to regulate personal support workers (PSWs) without also providing the urgent supports they need right now as they continue to fight the pandemic.
The 1,100 workers have been without a collective agreement since December 2018.
Unifor is warning the federal government that back-to-work legislation is contrary to the principles of fair and free collective bargaining. Legislation of this nature always gives the employer the upper hand, and Unifor calls on the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) to return to the bargaining table and negotiate with the workers and their union.
As Unifor prepares to mark the National Day of Mourning on April 28, the union is calling for immediate government action to provide pandemic protection for workers.
TORONTO – Unifor calls on Premier Doug Ford to exempt ORNGE paramedics from Bill 124, including the law’s wage restraint provisions, to avoid a possible strike and allow them to bargain fairly. "The road to avoiding a strike vote is respecting paramedics and resolving this issue starts and ends with Doug Ford," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
On April 28, our heart-felt condolences are extended for the tragic loss of life occurring across the country due to workplace injury and occupational disease, especially during the heightened safety concerns of this COVID-19 pandemic.
We remember:
Leonard Rodriques, Local 40 Mike Patterson, Local 2002
In a panel discussion on Zoom, U.S. and Canadian workers discussed how many of the same systemic problems of capitalism are fuelling both the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
