PHOTOS: Edmonton labour lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at yesterday’s technical briefing on the NDP Government’s new labour legislation. (Photo: CBC) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, and Alberta Liberal interim Leader David Swann and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, both of whom supported introduction of the
Continue readingTag: labour relations
Alberta Politics: Don’t look for dramatic change to Alberta labour laws in revisions NDP will likely introduce this week
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). Below: Labour Lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Dave Cournoyer, Wikimedia Commons.) Alberta’s New Democratic Party Government is expected to introduce changes to the province’s main labour relations laws this week, quite possibly on Wednesday.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few hints about coming NDP workplace law reform in minister’s speech to Alberta Federation of Labour
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at the Alberta Federation of Labour Convention in Edmonton yesterday. (Photo: Dave Cournoyer.) Below: AFL President Gil McGowan and Labour Code review chair Andrew Sims. As you might expect, Labour Minister Christina Gray got a very warm welcome from delegates to the Alberta Federation
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Big changes coming to academic faculty, graduate student and postdoctoral bargaining rights in Alberta
PHOTOS: Could we someday see scenes like this one at Boston University in 1979 at an Alberta University? The late Howard Zinn, author of the People’s History of the United States (banned in Arkansas), is visible, quite naturally, I suppose, near the front on the left. (Photo from the Boston
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta finally moves, cautiously, toward reforming labour laws, more boldly to ban cash-for-blood transactions
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at her news conference yesterday morning. Below: Labour lawyer and respected labour relations specialist Andrew Sims and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman at her news conference yesterday afternoon (Twitter). No sooner asked than answered, Alberta’s NDP government announced a plan yesterday morning to consult with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Something for the NDP to think about: How about bringing Alberta’s labour laws into the 20th Century? (Never mind the 21st)
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray. Below: Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, Athabasca University Labour Studies Professor Bob Barnetson and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The CBC says the province’s businesses are “spooked.” The Chamber of Commerce is deeply worried by the prospect of “sweeping reforms.” Naturally,
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Embedding neoliberalism in Greece: the transformation of collective bargaining and labour market policy in Greece during the Eurozone crisis
(2016). Embedding neoliberalism in Greece: the transformation of collective bargaining and labour market policy in Greece during the Eurozone crisis. Studies in Political Economy. Ahead of Print. doi: 10.1080/07078552.2016.1249129 Source: Embedding neoliberalism in Greece: the transformation of collective bargaining and labour market policy in Greece during the Eurozone crisis Filed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose blames NDP for a sensible labour relations practice implemented in 2013 by Alison Redford’s Tories
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Alison Redford was welcomed to the annual convention of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees by AUPE President Guy Smith in October 2012. And what does the Wildrose Party make of that? Below: Former Tory Premier Ralph Klein…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cue the crickets: Where are the media warnings Canada Post bosses are ‘holding the country to ransom’?
PHOTOS: Locked out postal workers in a past dispute in Halifax (HalifaxMediaCoop.ca photo). Below: St. Albert resident’s illegal “Restore door to door” sign (CBC photo), Controversial Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra, CUPW President Mike Palecek, an…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Insightful Parkland Institute study of how media covers workplace injuries helps put yesterday’s tragedy in perspective
PHOTO: An Alberta Occupational Health and Safety officer on the job. (Government of Alberta illustration.) Below: Athabasca University labour relations professors Bob Barnetson and Jason Foster, authors of a new study on how media coverage distorts our…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Deplorable Wildrose attack on new government negotiator offers a glimpse of what party leaders really think
PHOTOS: Kevin Davediuk, whose appointment as a senior public sector negotiator by the Alberta Government was announced on March 9. (Screenshot of Global News broadcast.) Below: Recently retired Canadian ambassador to the United States Gary Doer and the…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Athabasca U report on moving IT staff to Edmonton area helps explain motivation for space discussions with City of St. Albert
PHOTOS: The road to Athabasca, well back in the day. Too far for Information Technology professionals to consider travelling nowadays? Below: The Athabasca University headquarters, which if I’ve got this right would be just to the right of where the …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tories’ Senate gambit shows Harper still runs the party and the party still holds Parliament in contempt
PHOTOS: The Senate chamber, empty, as it should be. Below: Stephen Harper, apparently still the de facto leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Conservative Opposition…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hints of Sun news-management style emerge in plans for Edmonton’s combined Postmedia newsrooms
PHOTOS: “Well, Fred, they used to wrap the grocery flyers in these things. They were called ‘newspapers.’” Below: Gerry Nott, senior Postmedia functionary, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister most hated by the Canadian newspaper ind…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy New Year! In 2016, let’s improve workplace safety, forgive student loans and pull the plug on daylight savings
PHOTOS: Happy New Year! Wouldn’t 2016 be a great time to start allowing the sale of beer, wine and liquor in safe, clean and unionized Alberta grocery stores? Below: Saskatchewan CCF Premier Tommy Douglas and Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson, w…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former Tory labour minister and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk enters the farm safety fray with ‘Bill 6 Taskforce’
PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk in the summer of 2014 when he was running for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Below: A group of farmers and their supporters unhappy with Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Worker…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sorry Wildrose, but recall legislation has no place in a representative democracy
PHOTOS: A man with a pitchfork at a protest by a group of farmers and their supporters in front of the Alberta Legislature this week. We’re going to chalk this up to over-enthusiasm, but if someone had brought a pitchfork to a labour rally, you can c…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 6 Update: With the NDP in damage control mode, has the storm passed?
PHOTOS: The crowd outside the Westerner Centre in Red Deer, photo grabbed from the Twitter feed of Mary MacArthur, the Western Producer’s Alberta correspondent. Below: Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier. Alberta’s…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind the ‘Fuddites,’ Alberta needs Bill 6, although Bill 6 needs fixes
PHOTOS: NDP Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson chats with anti-Bill-6 protesters in front of the Legislature on Friday. Below: The crowd of protesters at its zenith and members of the Legislative Press Gallery interviewing a turkey, not for the first time,…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 6, Alberta’s new farm safety legislation, will be a test both for the NDP Government and the Wildrose Opposition
PHOTOS: Down on the Alberta farm, successive Conservative governments have made sure farm animals had more rights than farm workers. Below: Alberta Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, who may be about to fix this. It’s an embarrassing blot on the record of successive Progressive Conservative governments
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