Working Life

If Danielle Martin tells you that single-payer is more popular in Canada than ice hockey and the Royal Mounted Police, trust me, it’s worth believing this doctor from the North—Bernie Sanders does, inviting her to stand with him when he recently unveiled his single-payer, “Medicare for All” plan. Martin is a clear, smart advocate for […]

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    Those of you with long memories may recall when Caterpillar declared war on the UAW, provoking a long, bitter strike in the 1990s (is there any strike that isn’t bitter?). Well, here it comes again, this time seeking the hides of Canadians: Caterpillar late Sunday locked out about 420 union workers at a train-locomotive […]

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  When many people voted for "change", they embraced the idea that the parameters and language of our policy debate had to be altered. Nowhere is that more evident than on the topic of trade. Now, there is legitimate concern that the president may not live up to his rhetoric when it comes to so-called […]

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   It’s a typical refrain when it comes to health care or labor rights…"If we only live in Canada…" And there is a lot of truth to that–we would have a single-payer type health care system and it would be easier to organize unions. But, when it comes to the behavior of The Beast of […]

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   Well, Wal-Mart has a union…but not in the U.S…across the border, and only because a judge imposed the union on the Beast. Shows you what a slightly better legal system can do for union organizing. Here’s what The Wall Street Journal has today: An arbitrator has imposed a contract on a Wal-Mart Canada auto […]

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    No, I haven’t turned this into a sex advice column (hmmm…maybe the readership would skyrocket? Memo to NW–put on "to consider" list). From way back during the fight over NAFTA, there was an interesting–and, for some, uncomfortable–alliance between "left" and "right." The "left" saw NAFTA as a disaster for workers and the environment, whereas […]

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I think this one got under the radar screen and wasn’t picked up by the media here or in Canada but the Beast of Bentonville got slapped by the Canadians a few weeks ago. Here’s the press release from Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board: Wal-Mart to pay fines totalling $500,000 for multiple Workplace Safety […]

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In Canada, it’s a different story when it comes to trying to form a union–at least workers have some belief that the law might stand by them. On Friday, the labor board in Quebec told Wal-Mart it had to stop initimating workers who were trying to organize a store in a suburb of Quebec. Of […]

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