February 29 2008:     http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=626

Quebec’s well-deserved reputation as having the most progressive labour laws on the continent has taken a hit after a recent Quebec Court of Appeal ruling determined that Wal-Mart Canada Corp. did not transgress the province’s Labour Code when it closed down a store shortly after employees became the first to earn union accreditation in North America. (Keep reading…)

A Socialist Project e-bulletin …. No. 85 …. March 1, 2008 ______________________________________________________ (Keep reading…)

Special to Globe and Mail Update
February 22, 2008

When Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove makes new pronouncements, they carry weight both within and beyond the labour movement ˜ even when, as has recently been the case, they seem to undermine what Canadian unions have always stood for. What, then, to make of his defiant declaration, in response to the permanent two-tier system negotiated in the United States, that this is “one automotive import that won’t cross the border into Canada” in bargaining this fall? (Keep reading…)

Globe and Mail February 21, 2008

TORONTO — The Canadian Auto Workers will not accept wage cuts, union leader Buzz Hargrove declared Wednesday, even as a United Auto Workers local at a Magna International Inc. plant in New York began voting on a new contract that does exactly that, underlying the stark contrast between two of the largest unions in the battered North American auto industry. (Keep reading…)

Canadian Dimension magazine, January/February 2008

For a while it looked like the 2007 CUPE national convention was going to be a placid affair. As in 2005, the majority of delegates voted in favour of increasing the representation of women on the National Executive Board. But once again, nothing will change because the vote was not quite sufficient to break the two-thirds threshold required by CUPE for constitutional changes to be adopted. (Keep reading…)

Canadian Dimension magazine, January/February 2008

Collective bargaining is a complex process. It requires assessments of relative power and strategic considerations that are usually only fully appreciated by the people directly involved. As such, we are reluctant to comment on the decision of the Canadian Autoworkers Union to agree to the Framework of Fairness Agreement (FAA) with Magna International Inc. The high public profile of the agreement, however, and the statements of CAW representatives that this agreement could be extended to other employers compel us to comment. (Keep reading…)

While democratic unionism may seem outdated in an age where labour bosses in finely tailored suits hobnob with the wealthy and influential, democracy nonetheless remains the foundation upon which the working class achieved the gains it enjoys today. Moreover, unions – insofar as they emerged as institutions governed by laws the workers lay down for themselves – stand in contrast to an authoritarian economic system which they neither created nor controlled. It was only through this conscious and self-determined activity that workers achieved the solidarity to challenge the power of the capitalist system. Unions exist as a concrete example of what solidarity can achieve and what participatory democracy can be. (Keep reading…)

The Province November 27, 2007

The biggest challenge facing B.C.’s trade unions are grey and balding heads among the rank and file. (Keep reading…)

Winnipeg Free Press Nov 25 2007

TIMES had caught up with the sprawling brewery in the town of Barrie, an hour’s drive north of Toronto. Canadians were drinking less and less beer, especially the traditional mass-produced brands. So Molson, the biggest of them all, closed the brewery and sold the property. (Keep reading…)

Globe and Mail November 2, 2007

When they announced their recent deal, Buzz Hargrove of the Canadian Auto Workers and Frank Stronach of Magna International looked a bit like the uneasy new in-laws Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in Meet the Fockers. Maybe it was the casual garb: jackets, no ties. But it was unclear who was the Focker and who was the other guy. When in doubt, check the language. Frank Stronach had it all his way. (Keep reading…)