
$15 & CHANGE: GRADING RETAIL WORKPLACES
By Daniel Tseghay
Retail workers are some of the most precarious, lowest paid, and mistreated employees. Few are unionized and current employment standards leave many unprotected, as Rankandfile.ca detailed recently.
But while the push for legislative changes to protect workers continues, Vancouver Island’s Retail Action Network (RAN) has launched a project, $15&Change: Rate Your Employer, that might help workers in Victoria navigate the industry. It’s a grading system where retail workers can rate their current or former workplace (those they’ve worked at within the last 6 months) based on its treatment of its employees. Read more!
Ontario Public Service workers, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), are being asked to ratify 4-year deals for the union’s 35,000 members in its OPS “unified” and corrections bargaining units.
Presidents of locals from across the province were called to a special “emergency meeting” on June 9, on only 3 days notice, where they were urged by OPSEU officials to ratify the tentative agreements. Read more!
As early as 2004 the TTC has tested and knows full well that the Wilson carhouse has airborne particulate matter tied to the “blowdown” to clean the underside of the revenue cars. The first testing was done at my insistence. The staff member who did this resigned over the company’s reaction. The second result was the same.
There is over 5 times (almost 6 times) the legal limit of heavy metals in the amount of dust circulating in the carhouse. Read more!
By Bob Barnetson
Last week, Alberta passed Bill 17, which made important (but not earth-shattering) changes to the Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code. While there was little public discussion of it, this Act also affected farms and ranches.
Agriculture was brought into the ambit of Alberta’s employment laws in late 2015 (with the passage of Bill 6) but the full effect was delayed to allow for almost a year of consultations. Read more!
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