Service Employees International Union

Read what happened last week in the Canadian labour movement in rabble's roundup for January 27, 2020.

The union is asking for better wages, paid sick days and safer working conditions.

Ottawa janitor Natalie Guitead works three jobs; moonlighting as a nanny and an event planner to make ends meet.

Canadian janitor Lyle Skrapek talks about injuries, the physical toll working takes on his body, and the invisibility of his job.

The physical challenges of custodial jobs are hard to overstate. Lyle Skrapek says that sometimes at the end of the day, he feels like he has played a game of hockey.

Unions have improved job conditions for many janitors, but spiralling costs of living require people in the low-wage sector to work themselves to exhaustion and forgo time with their families.

Over 4,000 personal support workers walked off the job on Wednesday December 11 to protest for a living wage.