UM Todaystrike negotiations – UM Today

CTV News: Hard to keep public support for striking Canada Post workers, experts say

Fiona Odlum — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 20:35:18 +0000

Social media posts reflect the mixed opinions, with some people expressing frustration with the disruption and others proclaiming their support for striking postal workers.

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.

BNN: Teamsters challenge minister’s move to resume rail service as CPKC lockout drags on

Fiona Odlum — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 17:53:09 +0000

Rail workers are pushing back hard against the federal government’s move to get them back on the job.

At Canadian National Railway Co., trains began to move again Friday morning as workers started to return to work — even as the Teamsters union issued a 72-hour strike notice against CN shortly before 10 a.m. ET.

And at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., the union representing some 3,300 employees at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., is challenging a directive for binding arbitration issued by Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to the country’s labour board.

Bruce Curran, PhD, associate professor in the faculty of law of the University of Manitoba, joins BNN Bloomberg to share his outlook for the markets.

To read more and listen to Professor Curran’s interview, please visit BNN.

He was also quoted in The Globe and Mail.

Here is another story you may be interested in, it is an opinion piece written by Professor Curran for the Globe and Mail.

CBC Alberta: Railway labour dispute

Fiona Odlum — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:37:56 +0000

Jason Foster from Athabasca University and Barry Prentice with the University of Manitoba join us to discuss the ongoing labour dispute between Canada’s largest railways and thousands of unionized workers.

To listen to the full interview, please visit CBC – Alberta at Noon.

The Globe and Mail: Possible Canadian rail strike could see major halts for agriculture, large retailers

Fiona Odlum — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:42:04 +0000

Business groups say Canada’s railways ship $380-billion worth of goods a year, and they have urged the federal government to take action to prevent costly stoppages. Bulk commodities such as crops and coal comprise much of the freight moving on Canada’s railways. However, the companies also ship high-value products that include autos and containers of consumer goods from Asia.

“People do underestimate the importance of the railways,” said Barry Prentice, a transportation professor at the University of Manitoba. Still, “the average Canadian isn’t going to see very much [impact] because most of what they purchase is delivered by truck. The people who will feel it are people who are shipping commodities, farmers and people working in the forest industries and others.”

To read the entire story, please visit The Globe and Mail.

Winnipeg Free Press: Seine River custodians vote on tentative deal

Fiona Odlum — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 18:40:19 +0000

Labour researcher Adam King said ending temporary hires during bargaining disputes is an important step to address an imbalance in union-employer relations across Manitoba and Canada.

“We have very low levels of strikes now compared to several decades ago and that’s not a sign of peaceful labour relations – it’s a sign that workers’ bargaining power has been seriously undermined,” said the assistant professor at the University of Manitoba.

King said the current set-up undermines workers’ last-resort leverage in bargaining and research shows it disproportionately affects low-wage and racialized workers.

The academic co-wrote a letter to the province with colleagues to lobby for a ban on behalf of their faculty association.