The Living Wage: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

By Lynne Fernandez Minimum-wage workers are not just teenagers working at fast-food restaurants after school. According to the Manitoba Federation of Labour, 55 per cent of minimum wage earners in Manitoba are adults twenty years and older; 51 …

What goes around comes around: A living wage and worker solidarity

By Lynne Fernandez, Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues There have been some rumblings from south of the boarder that people under 40 may not recognize and that may be only vaguely familiar with others: the sound of …

Manitoba’s NDP: Time to return to its social democratic roots

PDF version by Errol Black and Jim Silver In June 1969, Manitoba elected Canada’s first NDP government and Manitoba’s first social democratic government. The NDP has since become the dominant political party in Manitoba, winning 8 of the …

Dreaming Big Dreams?

PDF version by Jim Silver Congratulations both to the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (SPCW) for raising the issue of the long-standing divide between Winnipeg’s North End and the rest of the city, and to the Free Press …

Inequalities, Trade Unions and Virtuous Circles: The Scandinavian Example

PDF version by Errol Black and Jim Silver In a recent post on this site, Thinking Alternatives, we suggested that the Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – provided examples of more collective, egalitarian and inclusive societies that …

Canadians Deserve “A Budget for the Rest of Us”

PDF version Read the full Alternative Federal Budget. Lire l’Alternative Budgétaire Pour le Gouvernement Fédéral by Shauna MacKinnon As the federal government begins to reveal tidbits about what Canadians can expect in the 2012 federal budget, many of us …

Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms”

by Errol Black and Jim Silver An exhibition of Norman Rockwell paintings – American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell – opened this week at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (the only stop in Canada). It will run until May 20. Rockwell is, …

“Radicals” need to turn up the heat.

By Lynne Fernandez I was listening to the CBC Radio business reporter explaining what was happening at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was impressed by the number of billionaires who were present (I don’t remember …

Connecting the Dots: The OECD report on poverty and Winnipeg’s inner city

by Shauna MacKinnon There has been much progress in addressing the issues facing Winnipeg’s inner city in recent years, but there remain many challenges. This reality frustrates no one more than those individuals working on the front lines …

August 2011 Labour Force Survey – Manitoba Weathers the Storm

Errol Black The August Labour Force Survey was released on September 9th.  Although Manitoba fares better than most, the results are not encouraging. A number of analysts have noted in recent weeks that the lack of growth and job creation …