Sudbury Union Hall Blaze - We will bounce back from this tragedy
Over a month has passed since more than 20 firefighters, battling the blaze for 26 hours with millions of litres of water and extraordinary bravery, extinguished the fire that destroyed our historic union hall on Frood Road in Sudbury. ...... more

Provinces guilty of industrial neglect - Ontario and Ottawa must act now
Union activists were generally hopeful of an electoral breakthrough for the New Democratic Party. What occurred was a real achievement for labour’s opposition party: the NDP increased its seat total in the House of Commons from 30 to 37 members. And we’re proud to say that in ridings where more than 2,000 Steelworkers live and work, NDP candidates emerged victorious. But the big gains federal leader Jack Layton was hoping for did not materialize. At the same time, Canadians got the government they’d had before: a Conservative minority unconvinced that the crisis in Ontario manufacturing is anything to be alarmed about and hostile to the sorts of public sector-driven solutions that workers need to protect their jobs, their standard of living and their environment. ...... more

Letter to the editor: Who needs unions? Not rich lawyers
I understand that rich lawyers may not get it (“Unions almost useless in Canada,” September 22), but a lot of working people understand they need unions to fight for many of the things we now take for granted. That includes pensions, severance, company health plans and decent working wages....... more

Iworkers launch new initiative - Steel and partners create association for independent employees
Unions often claim that they don’t only defend their members in certified shops. They are, their leaders and members say, on the side of all working people, the disadvantaged and the exploited. Our union is once again demonstrating that serious action stands behind these ambitious and generous words. In Ontario and Quebec, Steel has teamed up with immigrants rights groups to form the Independent Workers Association (IWA), an organization devoted to defending marginalized employees....... more

D6 strike fund: We did it!
Taking on an employer is sometimes necessary, but rarely easy. Resources are essential. That’s why “the importance of the strike fund cannot be underestimated,” according to Director Wayne Fraser. “Our members need to know that they will be financially supported” when they take that hard decision to step from the workplace to the picket line. “And employers need to know that too,” Fraser added. ...... more

Good Contracts in Tough Times
Ideal Roofing sees notable improvements - Deal ratified at Trenergy Inc. - Wages and worker memorials at Canada Talc - First contract at DB Ontario/AFB Quebec - A sweetener for North Atlantic Refining - Welcome Tank Truck workers - From strike to deal at Babcock and Wilcox...... more

Steel Leads the Way at Ontario Universities
Canada’s most diverse union continues to enjoy advances in a sector generally not considered a next-door neighbour of mining and metallurgy: post-secondary education. ...... more

Winning a voice for staff at Queen’s University
One of the largest union-building campaigns in Canada is taking place in Kingston, Ontario. The drive among some 2,000 administrative, technical and support staff at Queen’s University to join the Steelworkers is taking place against a backdrop of tightening budgets and imminent changes planned by the university’s senior administration. A message from the university’s principal that budgetary problems compel “radical changes” in the way the school does business has been interpreted by many as a warning that staff may be asked to pay the price, in terms of wages, working conditions and positions, of inadequate government funding for post-secondary education. ...... more

Engaging Dofasco workers through the front door
As virtually all District 6 members know, the steel facility in Hamilton officially known as ArcelorMittal Dofasco represents unfinished business for our union. It is not as though we’ve had nothing to do with that company over the years; on the contrary, our relationship with its workers has been a long and effective one, if indirectly so. By this I mean that our presence in Stelco, that other pillar of steel production on the shores of Lake Ontario, has had a great deal to do with driving up wages and conditions in the enterprise now owned by the sector’s largest corporation. ...... more

CIBC workers win
A sometimes bitter Sudbury dispute that drew considerable media attention while revealing the extraordinary tenacity of 62 workers from five branches of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce concluded on October 17 with a victory for the strikers....... more