Adam King, assistant professor in the labour studies program at the University of Manitoba, said governments rarely impose votes to settle labour disputes and usually do so only when bargaining has gone on for a very long time. A simple majority is usually needed to pass the vote, he said.

“The reason that it’s rare is because it’s quite controversial,” King said. “Unions, of course, do not like it. They consider it to be a form of government interference.”

To read the entire conversation, please follow the link to The Canadian Press.

“I was drawn to UM’s Labour Studies Program because I knew I would be off work for a lengthy time, and completing this degree would give me the best chance of returning to my career in a capacity that my body could tolerate in the future,” said Breddam. She hoped to leverage on the program’s field placement – which includes research experience – to eventually transition into a role that offered better accessibility options within her field.

She found a home in labour studies and became heavily involved with the Labour Studies Students’ Association, serving as president for two consecutive years. “The highlight of my time with LABSSA is the lasting friendships that have been formed within our small community,” she shared. “I am proud to graduate with four past and present council members this spring and excited to see what they accomplish next.”

Breddam took further leadership roles outside of campus – as Chair of the Provincial Council of the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities and a board member of the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties. She also completed the prestigious United Nations Young Leaders Immersion Program, which culminated in a one-week experience in Geneva, Switzerland. “This experience solidified my desire to tackle human rights issues from a labour rights perspective by demonstrating how intrinsically interconnected the world of work is with all other human experiences,” said Breddam.

Breddam shared that these achievements did not come easily. She found herself regularly navigating ongoing accessibility challenges and advocating for herself to address the barriers she faced on campus. She fondly recalls that she found support in the Labour Studies Program. “My experience within labour studies was exceptionally positive,” she said. “When you have a disability, you unfortunately must consistently prove your need for accommodation because our society is hyper concerned about the few who might abuse the system. The professors in the Labour Studies Program take the approach that students know their needs best. They demonstrated time and time again that they prioritize removing barriers over gatekeeping and showed kindness. They truly made me feel welcome.”

Her advice to UM students and grads who are facing accessibility barriers is to be mindful of the emotional burden they are carrying and share it with others. “When requesting accommodation, it’s crucial to recognize that you are best equipped to determine what you need for success, but that doesn’t imply you’ll have all the solutions,” said Breddam. “Surrounding yourself with encouraging voices can significantly impact your ability to identify opportunities to alleviate and address accessibility barriers.”  Her message to the UM community is to expand and deepen campus accessibility practices. “Accommodations aren’t just about wheelchair accessible classrooms or having a quiet place to write an exam. It’s also the little things like making sure someone puts the doorstop in before I get to class so I don’t need to ask for help opening the door, allowing me to leave 10 minutes early or be 10 minutes late because it takes me longer to wheel across campus between classes, and using short sentences and plain language on exams because dyslexia makes reading long complicated paragraphs more difficult,” explained Breddam. ”Without this support, I would not have had the energy to spare to fight for accessibility changes on campus.”

As for the future? Breddam has been accepted to Brock University’s MA program in social justice and equity studies. “I am truly excited about this opportunity. Not long ago, I couldn’t envision myself completing a bachelor’s degree, and now I’m a graduate and move on to graduate studies,” she said. “My goal is to enhance my skills in policy development and research through this program and apply them in an NGO that focuses on labour rights, or within Canadian unions and labour groups.”

Learn more about the Labour Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts.

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UM Bisons are at the centre of it all, making a difference here in Manitoba and around the world. 3058 degrees were awarded at Spring Convocation 2025 (over 620 are from the Faculty of Arts), bringing the total number of UM graduates to 4200 so far this year. Many of these new alumni will stay in Manitoba, supplying high-demand skills to the labour market and contributing to UM’s $7.3 billion economic impact on our community.

“Some of the things that Amazon is widely known to do, they can’t do in Canada and particularly in Quebec,” he said. “For example, in the United States, they force workers into what are called captive audience meetings, where they make them attend these mandatory meetings where they tell them all the things that are wrong with unionization and why they shouldn’t. You can’t do that in Canada.”

To read the entire article, please follow the link to Financial Post.

Adam King, an assistant professor in the labour studies department at the University of Manitoba, said online discourse doesn’t tell the whole story.

“It takes very little effort to post a comment on a story, but it takes much more to show up to a picket line,” he said.

On the picket lines King has seen in Winnipeg, “CUPW has received lots of support,” he said, from the labour movement and the public.

To read the full story, please follow the link with CTV News.

The Canada Post strike has entered its second week, with no resolution in sight yet. Though a federal mediator is attempting to broker a settlement between the Crown corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, reports suggest the parties remain far apart.

The strike began on Nov. 15 after Canada Post workers failed to reach an agreement with their employer. The union is seeking wage increases, secure pensions and safe working conditions, but the strike is about much more than just the pay and benefits of postal workers.

Read the article in French at La Conversation and in English at The Conversation.

Dr. Adam D.K. King, a labour studies professor at the University of Manitoba, tells Global News that is a “ridiculous position.”

“It takes a certain degree of mental gymnastics to characterize interfering with collective bargaining as a pro-worker position,” he says.

To read more about this story, please visit Global News Winnipeg.

The beginning of October meant the wage grew 50 cents to $15.80 per hour.

The increase is part of a formula set out by provincial law that ties minimum wage increases to the rate of inflation during the previous calendar year.

“That just means as the cost of goods and services that we buy, like housing and groceries go up, the minimum wage goes up by the same overall percentage,” said Jesse Hajer, an economics and labour studies associate professor at the University of Manitoba.

To continue reading the story, please visit CTV Winnipeg.

Adam King, assistant professor in the labour studies program at the University of Manitoba, said the COVID-19 pandemic has radically shifted how employers hire and how potential employees view jobs.

“Post-pandemic, for the first time, employers are having to compete for workers rather than the other way around,” he said.

To read the full story, please visit the Winnipeg Free Press.

Over the past years, activists have made important gains in the effort to provide people who menstruate with adequate and free supplies.

In Canada, all washrooms in federally regulated workplaces must have period supplies. In Manitoba, period supplies are offered to students in all public schools in a three-year initiative through a corporate partnership and charitable donation.

Further from home, Scotland became the first country to make period products free to all in 2020, and more recently, to our south, Minnesota’s initiative to make menstrual products free in schools has made headlines.

Yet, despite these advances, menstruation continues to shape lives in negative ways and diminish opportunities for many of those who experience it. Providing free supplies in some places — while necessary in the movement towards equity — is only part of the story.

To read the full story, visit The Conversation Canada. 

Unions trying to organize at Amazon workplaces across Canada are facing a series of hurdles, including legal challenges and alleged anti-union tactics from the e-commerce giant.