4 Things to Know about Women and Homelessness in Canada

By Sadie McInnes Anywhere between 30,000 and 200,000 people are homeless in Canada, with another 1.7 million unable to afford adequate, suitable shelter. Winnipeg in particular has a history of housing shortages and inner-city poverty. In 2015 it …

Work Life Blog: What’s at Stake at Canada Post?

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is currently engaged in collective bargaining with Canada Post. Unlike in previous rounds, the contracts of both the Urban bargaining unit (covering about 42,000 workers) and the unit of some 8,000 …

Inaction Threatens to Stagnate Manitoba Minimum Wage

First published as an editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press July 18, 2016 By Molly McCracken Unless immediate action is taken, 2016 will be the first time in a generation that minimum wage workers will see their wages …

Bill 7: Unfavourable for Manitoban Workers

By Mark Hudson On June 15 the new Manitoba government introduced Bill 7, The Labour Relations Amendment Act, which aims to eliminate the so-called “card-check” system of union certification currently used in Manitoba. Bill 7 would mandate secret-ballot …

BLOG summary: “Energy East: Taking Manitoba in the Wrong Direction”

TransCanada Pipeline’s Energy East pipeline (EE), if approved, will run from Hardisty Alberta to St. John, New Brunswick and will carry bitumen from Alberta’s Tar Sands to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick. A new Canadian Centre for …

Evidence-based policy, wouldn’t that be a change. The case for personal care homes

A version of this article was first published in the Winnipeg Free Press June 8, 2016. By Pete Hudson Budget 2016 pledges $160 million to create 1,200 new Personal Home Care (PCH) spaces. It is to be hoped …

Budget 2016

Don’t let the name of Manitoba’s latest budget “Correcting the Course” fool you: this budget stays the course, at least in the immediate term. It is a status quo budget that continues with many of the initiatives of …

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Budget 2016: the waiting game

By Lynne Fernandez It will take more than one budget – hastily prepared – to fully appreciate the Conservatives’ master plan, but the Throne Speech, a fiscal update and Ministerial mandate letters tell us what we should be …

When does Temporary become Permanent?

By Lynne Fernandez and Nicole Smith Each year up to 400 mostly Mexican workers come to Manitoba under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) to work on local farms. They perform physically strenuous work on vegetable farms and …