Government and Democracy

Unifor strongly opposes Bell Media’s application to the CRTC to eliminate all regulatory requirements for local news at all of its CTV, CTV2 and Noovo stations across Canada. We will do everything in our power to ensure that Bell Media continues to live up to its legislated obligations to fund and create local news and programming.
 

Unifor applauds last week’s passing of Bill C-18: The Online News Act as an important next step towards supporting local news and Canadian content in the media.

“The government has made it law for digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, to pay their fair share. This is something Unifor members have fought hard for and now we need to make sure it works,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President.

For too many of our members and media workers this has to feel like Groundhog Day. 

News of the proposed merger between Postmedia and Nordstar is brutal on top of the other job losses and cuts in media since the start of this year. 

The sector has been in a continuous and sometimes rapid decline. We at Unifor are deeply concerned about the continued consolidation of our Canadian news media. 

 Our priority is jobs and journalism. 

It’s time this became everyone else’s priority. The media companies. And all levels of government. 

KITCHENER, ON – Front-line hospital workers marched to the office of St. Mary’s General Hospital president Mark Fam on Monday afternoon and delivered a petition calling on management to take a stand against the provincial government’s plan to privatize hospital services.

Bill 124 is back in the courts. The Government’s appeal will be heard by three judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal from June 20-23.

The Government will go first because they are bringing the appeal. That will take most of the first day. The unions will then respond on Wednesday and Thursday.

Unifor’s team is confident and prepared to defend members’ constitutional rights once again. We expect that we will have our turn on Thursday morning.

HAMILTON, ON – Hundreds of hospital staff including nurses, personal support workers and lab technologists rallied today at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton against the Ford government’s plan to contract out hospital services to private, for-profit clinics.

TORONTO-Health care workers, activists, and community organizers rallied at Queen's Park today to deliver the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) Citizens Referendum results, which revealed an overwhelmingly strong opposition to the privatization of healthcare in Ontario. The referendum saw an impressive turnout of more than 400,000 Ontarians, with an astounding 98.4% of voters expressing their disapproval of privatization.

EDMONTON—Losing 11 seats in the Alberta legislature shows a growing number of workers are rejecting the extreme policies of the United Conservative Party (UCP), says Unifor.

“There is one clear trend in tonight’s results: the UCP’s mandate has been significantly reduced,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “While we would have preferred a different outcome it doesn’t change our commitment to standing up for the rights of working people in Alberta.”

WINDSOR—Urgent action is required by the federal government so that construction can resume on the five billion Stellantis EV battery plant in Windsor, Ontario.

“It’s outrageous that tens of thousands of jobs are in jeopardy due to a failure to come to terms on government investment,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “The situation is as serious as it gets. This needs to be resolved immediately to preserve workers’ livelihoods and construction of the EV plant can resume.”