Canada

On Tuesday, smoking was banned both inside and outside of Quebec's 18 prisons. Just before midnight on Thursday, 30-50 prisoners rioted and set fire to a wing at the Orsainville detention centre near Quebec City. This was met by a statement from Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis the morning after, stating that prisoners would be allowed to smoke outside.

Workers were locked out on Wednesday after refusing a 25% cut in wages and 20% cut in benefits. Ledco Ltd., which makes parts for GM, Ford and Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday evening.

The workers, members of local 1251 of the public service union have been striking since January 10th; pay negotiations broke down at the end of November and no new negiotiations were scheduled.

Workers voted in favour of action by only 52% although pickets were out and observance was high. Picketers attributed the close vote to the time of year. Only one of the five branches in Sudbury was open with managers running a scab service.

Over half of UQTR's teachers participated in the vote, only 25% are needed for the vote to count as legitimate. With many teachers on sabbatical or working at other campuses the turnout was considered by the union to be ver encouraging.

"In the coming days women would take their place side by side with men, not as dependents or inferiors but as equals. Thus there would be better relationships based on fundamental love and affinity. This strike was part of the great movement for the emancipation of women.

The strike was voted on by the student groups involved in ASSÉ (Student Solidarity union association) in protest at the planned increases which would amount to 30% over five years.

Workers are protesting against the two-tier pension system that the company, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, is trying to impose on new workers. Workers had already accepted a freeze on benefits to allow the company to make up pension shortfalls.

The workers are also demanding a salary increase and there are further non-financial demands.

Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers in northern Alberta, Canada Wildcatted on Monday September 24th. Mail delivery was cut off in Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Nisku, Edson, Hinton and Delton Depot in Edmonton. The strike action was in response to Canada Post offering a select group of employees at two depots in Alberta a 35% raise while bypassing the vast majority of Rural and Suburban Workers.

The One Big Union was founded a mere two months before it was baptized by the Winnipeg General Strike. The founding Convention was held in the Calgary Labour Temple (which still stands today, though it has been converted into a Chinese Restaurant).

In May of 1919 a heat wave crossed the province. Edmonton had reached temperatures of 85 degrees. Like the heat wave a mood of union militancy was in the air across Alberta, indeed across Western Canada. A strike wave would soon erupt sweeping the West like a prairie fire.

The story of the Battle of Ballantyne Pier can be traced back to 1912 when the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), began organising amongst waterfront workers in Canada, and alongside the Lumber Handlers’ Union in Vancouver.

The region's 4000 carpenters are asking for a rise equal to that earned by metal-workers earlier in the summer. According to Martyn Piper of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ) some 20 issues have been resolved during negotiations and that the only disagreement is over a wage increase.

In Canada the mining group Inco has been forced to cancel deliveries as a strike by 3300 workers at its Sudbury Mine in Ontario. Workers have been on strike for a week after negotiations on a new contract broke down.

Maintenance workers from the CSN union at the Montreal Transport Society (STM) went on strike after management's new four-year contract offer contained a 1 year pay freeze followed by 2% rises in each following year, with inflation this is a estimated wage decrease of 3.6% in real terms*. Workers voted to end the action after a week, but are still refusing the contract offered by management.

Hamilton police smashed the glass on a door to gain entry to the Queensdale and Upper Sherman Avenue branch to end the occupation an hour after it began at 3 p. m. yesterday.

CBC.ca reported that the dispute flared up again after union members rejected a tentative deal struck in February to end a 15-day walkout.

United Transportation Union workers in Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia began rotating strikes late Tuesday to force Canada's largest rail carrier to return to the bargaining table.

The Guelph Mercury reported that auto workers at Guelph Products Collins & Aikman went on a wildcat strike Saturday to support workers at a Toronto plant pushing for severance pay for 200 laid-off workers.

Nearly 75 of the Guelph plant's staff walked off the job around 3:30 p.m. and management barricaded the turnstile entrances with chains and steel bars so the workers couldn't re-enter.

The strike concerns chargés de cours, who are teachers who are employed part-time to teach specific lessons. They are not permanent employees and are paid significantly less than permanent full-time teachers.

Workers barricaded doors at the Collins & Aikman plant in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, yesterday. The factory produces floor, acoustic systems and cockpit modules for cars.

200 workers have been laid off at the plant since it filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but they have not been paid severance pay. The company claims that its US arm won't release the funds.