R&F.ca Weekly Update
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- Published on Friday, 27 May 2016 03:15
- Written by editor
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VOICES OF SASKATCHEWAN'S PRECARIOUS WORKFORCE

By Denise Leduc
In the 1970s a person working full-time making minimum wage would live 10 per cent above the poverty line. Today, that same person would be living approximately 12 per cent below the poverty line. In the past few years the Fight for 15 and discussions around living wages and a guaranteed basic income have been advancing dialogue about workers’ wages and economic fairness.
In 2015, 70 per cent of the people living in poverty in Canada were employed. Many of these people were taking on second or third job just to try to make ends meet. Read more!
CLASS STRUGGLE AT PEARSON AIRPORT
By Tim Heffernan
The following is an interview with Sean Smith, Mobilization Co-ordinator with UNIFOR 2002 and a representative of the Toronto Airport Workers Council. The interview was conducted in April 2016.
Tim: Tell me about the issues facing workers at Pearson Airport.
Sean: Well, what’s unique about airline workers (and) that few people realise is that as the neoliberal era took off in the early 80s, the first part of the federal government that they privatized was Air Canada in 1987. Read more!
LEFT BEHIND DURING MATERNITY LEAVE: GOVERNMENT CLAWBACKS IN BC
By Daniel Tseghay
Gilary Massa worked for the Ryerson Students’ Union in Toronto. When she was laid off in December, she was in the middle of her maternity leave. So she filed a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, saying they fired her to save money. She’s one of many. Even though Ontario workers are entitled to year-long maternity leave, many are still fired while on it. Often the justification is some kind of restructuring. They weren’t fired, the employer will argue. Their job just no longer exists. Read more!
WHY $15 MATTERS FOR ONTARIO'S UNIONS
By David Bush
In the spring of 2015, a coalition of labour and community groups launched the $15 and Fairness campaign in Ontario. The campaign was shaped in part by the Ontario governments’ Changing Workplaces Review, a full-scale review of both the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and the Labour Relations Act (LRA) announced in February of 2015.
These circumstances meant unlike the Fight for $15 campaigns in the United States and in other parts of Canada the campaign in Ontario has taken the form of demanding a raise in the minimum wage and improving the laws and regulations governing workplace relations. Read more!
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