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1. Anti-union Bill C-377 stalls in the Senate
Labour critics have long worried that the Harper government would do anything to severely limit the power of unions and, for a short while, it looked the Conservatives were going to get their chance.
Bill C-377 would have increased scrutiny of unions financial information by the Canadian Revenue Agency, requiring them to submit detailed statements for expenditures over $5,000 — a much lower amount than is currently required.
Though the bill unsurprisingly passed the scrutiny of the House of Commons, it faltered in the Senate where Conservative Senators raised criticisms that were shared by many commentators.
In the end, 16 Conservative Senators voted with Liberals to send the bill back to the House of Commons. Not only was it a win for labour unions, but it also was one of the first signs that relations within the Conservative party were not as rosy as Stephen Harper would lead us to believe.
2. CAW and CEP merge to become Unifor
The old adage says that there is strength in numbers. The leaders of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union took that to heart, announcing a mega-merger between their two unions to form the largest private sector union in Canada.
The new union, called Unifor, came to life over the Labour Day long weekend. Led by youthful new president Jerry Dias, Unifor promised to become a union that would lead common front causes and make organizing young workers priority number one. However, questions still remain going into the new year about how the young new union will use the energy from its founding to really start organizing new members.
3. Fast food and retail workers rise-up
Once the domain of bored teens looking to make some cash after school, fast food restaurants and retail stores are now the only full-time option for many workers. But unlike other full-time jobs, workers make just the minimum wage — if that — and struggle to make ends meet. Yet until this year, it was difficult to get their struggles on the national agenda.
That changed when news broke in November that a Wal-Mart in the United States was running a food drive to provide Thanksgiving dinners to its own staff members. It was also reported that employees at McDonalds were encouraged to break their food into smaller pieces to feel fuller after eating.
Enough was enough for many of these workers. On December 5, fast food and retail workers staged mass walkouts across the United States — the biggest walkout this year — and Wal-Mart workers staged protests on the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday. After these actions, these workers don’t plan to be forgotten again.
4. Rana plaza collapse
On April 23, an eight story commercial building located in the suburbs of Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,129 and injuring over 2,000.
A garment factory supplying goods to Canadian line Joe Fresh, amongst others, was among the businesses within the office tower.
The images broadcast throughout the world — including the now famous one of two workers found in one last embrace — drew attention to the dangerous working conditions faced by workers throughout Bangladesh and other countries, proving to be an all too brutal reminder of the true cost of cheap labour.
Since then, labour activists worldwide have been working to ensure the workers and families affected by the collapse are compensated for their losses. Another movement has sprung up to get corporations, unions and other interested parties to sign on to the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh — moves that are far overdue, especially for the 1,129 who lost their lives.
5. Youth unemployment and precarious work starts making headlines
This year the rest of the world finally began to take notice of something that Gen Y had been saying for a long time — that they are getting screwed.
A report published in October showed that youth unemployment in Ontario was at an all time high, while a number of media reports focused attention on the constant cycle of precarious employment that young people, and others, are caught in.
In response, union leaders and politicians have taken up the cause. Jerry Dias told rabble.ca during an interview that “young people have been completely betrayed by Canada,” and promised to make it a priority issue during his tenure as president of Unifor.
A series of bills have been introduced at both the federal and the provincial level that have the potential to transform the regulation of internships and other precarious forms of employment – that is, if they can actually pass the scrutiny of their respective governments.
Photo: flickr Kevin Walsh
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