November/December 2012

If the trend toward casualized labour is not vigorously fought by labour activists, we can expect the working conditions of all workers to further deteriorate.

Economic development based on resource extraction and other high- impact activities continues at the expense of traditional Indigenous land-based economies. While military, oil and gas, and uranium industry development in traditional Dene, Cree, and Métis territories offers some wage labour, it displaces traditional labour such as hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering.

If decent, full-time work is getting harder to come by, the same can’t be said for internships, whether unpaid or barely paid. From street protests to online campaigns, the emerging intern activism is one part of the wider effort by fresh actors to reformat labour politics for precarious times.

In an era of cutbacks – particularly under austerity reforms like reducing migrant wages to 15 per cent below median regional incomes – a long-simmering migrant health crisis is exploding.

Newfoundland is trying to encourage women to enter the professional trades. It can be a daunting challenge for a field in which women account for only 6.4 per cent of the workforce.

Labour movements were created by the collective dignity and expression of human beings who took risks and action against capital.

In the long term, the fate of CAW-unionized workers is going to depend on their ability to organize unrepresented parts and autoworkers. The wider the wage gap grows between unionized and non-unionized workers, the more concessions CAW autoworkers will have to endure.

If labour is imagined outside of wage work and governmental categories, it gives us the tools to further a more collective struggle against the living legacies of dispossession, colonization, and exploitation.

Will the comprehensive changes to labour legislation that unfold in Saskatchewan be a model for right-wing parties across Canada?

Rethinking the politics of labour in Canada offers a sombre yet honest analysis of the current situation of labour politics

Rock Reject shares the chance to share the stories of the ghosts of Cassiar, tales of inner struggle and political solidarity that are tragic but ultimately hopeful.

Unions need to know more to educate young workers the basic facts about unions: that they lead to higher wages, better working conditions, and more job security.