News roundup, 13 Feb 2026

- While the American labour movement had what was considered a breakthrough year in 2024, with over 1,600 workplaces holding unionization votes, this is far short of the movement's successes even two decades previously, much less the mid 20th century. Worse, overall union density in the private sector remains at an abysmal 5.9% of the workforce, compared to around a third in the 1950s. There are fears that this could lead to a "death spiral" where weakening unions are less able to score wins, making them less relevant to the needs of workers, and so forth. Unless a great deal changes the left in the US - and perhaps a lot of other countries - is going to face the unthinkable prospect of having to move ahead without the labour movement.

- Gallup will no longer track the approval ratings of the president, something they've tracked for nearly a century. When asked if pressure from the White House had anything to do with it, a company representative simply said "this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities". Of course, this is probably not false; their research goals and priorities probably include still being allowed to conduct research, albeit maybe not on the president's popularity.

- To the surprise of few, there has been a torrent of disinformation about trans people following the Tumbler Ridge massacre. Far-right pundits, and even supposed news outlets, have been claiming that there's an "epidemic" of violence by trans folks - and once those stories are out there, debunking them can be hard. In the words of Jonathan Swift, "falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it".

- A proposed bylaw in Winnipeg would prohibit protests within 100 metres of schools, hospitals, and cultural centres in the city. There would be an exemption for "legal labour activities related to a dispute or collective bargaining", however activists are naturally wary. Councillor Evan Duncan, who introduced the proposal, says it's to protect "potentially vulnerable populations" served by those locations; it's widely suspected that this comes in response to pro-Palestinian protests that were held near synagogues. On the one hand, conflating Jewish worship with the policies of Israel is problematic; on the other hand, I've seen allegations that at least one such protest was in response to a synagogue hosting someone who was promoting the sale of seized Palestinian land in the West Bank, which if true sounds like fair game for protesters (I'd like to see confirmation of that claim, though, since while it sounds believable it could also be disinformation).

- Jeffrey Epstein apparently purchased 330 gallons of sulfuric acid in 2018, about a year before his last arrest. 

News roundup, 18 Nov 2024

- The principal of an Ottawa high school has apologized after a song in Arabic, "Haza Salam", was played at a Remembrance Day ceremony. The song's title translates, roughly, as "This is Peace"; many were outraged, however, and claimed that it was "hurtful to the Jewish community", despite the fact that the song's lyrics apparently make no mention of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Of course Pierre Poilievre has jumped on that bandwagon in a big way. Poilievre is also outraged at the fact that Toronto's ceremony included a land acknowledgement and made mention of the discrimination against the No. 2 Construction Battalion, an all-black regiment, during WW1. He has vowed to dismantle what he calls a "woke" culture and replace it with a "warrior" one, so his response to these matters is not a big surprise.

- The topic of free public transit is a popular one among some urbanist types. Interestingly, though, the experience in many places has not been as favourable as you might expect. According to this DW report, the removal of transit fares in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, while increasing ridership, actually reduced the proportion of commuters who used it, and car use increased by 5%. Apparently free transit tends to replace walking and cycling rather than driving, while making transit more crowded and thus less attractive to commuters. There is also a perception among many that free transit makes transit less safe by attracting the "wrong" type of passengers. Whether that perception is fair is a fair question, but largely irrelevant - unfortunately it's perception, rather than reality, that determines people's decision to use transit. What needs to be done is to increase the frequency and reliability of transit, as well as perceived safety - and to make it more expensive and less convenient to drive. I would suggest additionally that reduced fares could be beneficial for lower income folks while not encouraging people to take the bus frivolously.

- A Trump-appointed judge has struck down a rule imposed by the US Department of Labor that would have increased overtime eligibility for some 4 million American workers (many of whom foolishly just voted to reelect the guy who appointed the judge). I guess they don't mind if Trump hurts them so long as he hurts black people more.

- With the federal Liberal government caving in to populism and capping international student enrollment earlier this fall, post-secondary institutions across the country are concerned about the impact on their revenue stream. The University of Winnipeg has implemented a hiring freeze as a result.

- In response to the Ford government forcing the removal of bike lanes, the City of Toronto plans to erect signs telling commuters to blame Doug Ford for any increase in congestion that results. Council was quite divided on the matter, though, with suburban councillors opposing the move.

News roundup, 8 Nov 2024

- Manitoba premier Wab Kinew is trying to be optimistic about the province's prospects for dealing with the incoming Trump administration, including the proposed 10% tariffs that Trump wants to impose on all imports. Disconcertingly, the best thing he could come up with was to point out that we have a lot of minerals critical to the American defense industry. Also disconcertingly, I can't think of anything better to shelter the province's economy. Meanwhile, Quebec premier François Legault is calling on the federal government to "act quickly" to secure Canada's borders, as he expects migrants fearing deportation from the US to attempt to cross the Canadian border in large numbers. And south of the border, California governor Gavin Newsom has convened a special session of the state legislature to call for increased funding for legal defenses against the anticipated actions of the incoming administration.

- Manitoba's legislative session has wrapped up for the year. The government successfully passed several significant pieces of legislation, including landmark changes to labour law (a ban on replacement workers and changes to make it easier to certify a union) as well as rules restricting the sale of machetes. Controversially, the labour provisions were included in the omnibus budget bill, something often done by governments of all stripes but seen by many as a way of avoiding scrutiny.

- One move by the Kinew government has to do with changes to the certification of teachers. Most controversial is the removal of the requirement for education students to have a minimum of six credit hours in mathematics. The Tories are opposed, of course, but more notably, University of Winnipeg mathematics professor Anna Stokke, who was among those who petitioned for the requirement to be introduced in the first place in 2015. University of Manitoba professor Martha Koch disagrees with Stokke, claiming that better math education in teachers sometimes leads to worse outcomes; it's worth noting, though, that Koch is a professor of education, not mathematics; I'm more inclined to believe what Stokke says about the actual level of math knowledge that she sees in her students than whatever pet education theory Koch is drawing on. Having said that, loosening the requirements might be helpful in alleviating the shortage of teachers; nonetheless, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and this might be one of those occasions where the Tories are right about something.

- The Quebec government is considering legislation to force medical graduates to reimburse the government for the cost of their education unless they practice in the province for a yet-to-be-determined period of time. The government has expressed a willingness to use the notwithstanding clause in order to avoid constitutional challenges; one constitutional lawyer thinks this would not work, though, since mobility rights are guaranteed in a section of the Charter not covered by the clause.

News roundup, 15 Aug 2024

- Canada's two main railways, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) are both in talks with their unions, and a strike and/or lockout is expected if they don't have a deal by the 22nd of August. The impact on industry in Canada as well as in the US could be dramatic.

- WestJet expects flight cancellations "for the foreseeable future" after 16 of their aircraft, representing some 10% of their entire fleet, were heavily damaged in a hailstorm in Calgary earlier this month.

- A new political party called the "Canadian Future Party", billing itself as a "centrist" party for "politically homeless" voters, has just been launched. The thing is, Canada already has a centrist party - it's called the Liberal Party. The interim party president is a former Conservative Party activist, which gives a clue to how they claim to position themselves; a moderate centre-right party might seem "centrist" if you think of the Liberals as "left". In any case, though, I don't see this party going anywhere of significance.

- Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American dual citizen who was arrested on a family visit last January, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason. The "treason" in this case consisted of donating $51.80 to a charitable organization that says it is focused on humanitarian aid and disaster relief; the Russians claim, though, that the organization provides arms to the Ukrainian military.

- Winnipeg has long been known as the "Slurpee capital of the world" despite not having suitable Slurpee weather for a sizeable chunk of the year. The reason is likely the fact that we have a huge number of 7-Eleven locations; up to ten of them could be facing closure in the near future, though. The chain attributes this to increased theft cutting too much into profit margins. Some folks in this Reddit thread, though, think that this might just be cover for questionable franchising decisions, especially given that some of the closing locations are almost new.

- Moosomin is a small town on the Trans-Canada just west of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. The town is trying to resist the global trend of declining small-town and rural populations by paying people $30,000 to move there. I guess if you had a full-time remote job that could be attractive.

- The organizers of Texas' State Fair are prohibiting guns on the fairgrounds following a shooting at last year's event. The state's attorney general is not pleased with this, and is threatening to take them to court if they don't reverse their decision.

News roundup, 29 March 2024

- Officials have abandoned hope of finding any more survivors from the hapless construction crew that was on the Francis Scott Key bridge when it collapsed. Meanwhile the next priority is to clear the remains of the bridge so that shipping can resume. As to how long that could take, an engineering professor said "I'd be shocked if it's weeks, but I don't think it'd take a year." That's a lot of uncertainty.

- The Kinew government in Manitoba has cleaned house at Efficiency Manitoba, removing nine out of the ten board members appointed by the Tories. They have also restored the standard 1 to 1 supervisor to apprentice ratio in the trades, a move welcomed by Manitoba Building Trades as well as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but condemned by the Winnipeg Construction Association. In addition they're tinkering with the credits for property taxes, in order to shift a bit more of the burden onto high value properties. On the downside, though, they have joined the chorus of provincial leaders calling for an end to the carbon tax. Don't get me wrong, I kind of understand why they're doing it (the right has been very successful at making carbon pricing politically toxic) but I wish they'd have pushed for a more creative approach to the problem than simply doing away with the tax. Like if you're concerned about the cost of living, why not hit the PST, and if that costs too much in revenue, hike the carbon tax to compensate? That would keep average costs around the same but make greener products cheaper while making more polluting products more expensive, and I'd like to think the public could be sold on that idea, but maybe not. Or maybe there are administrative barriers that aren't obvious except to insiders in finance ministries, I dunno.

- School boards in Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa are suing Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok, alleging that they are harming students' mental health. I wish them luck (it's almost certainly true, after all). I have to admit that this is one of the very few issues on which I find myself in agreement with Ron DeSantis, at least in principle (the devil is always in the details with something like this, though, and DeSantis isn't someone I'd count on getting it right with something like this).

- The judge who issued the gag order prohibiting Donald Trump from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors did not include himself or his family on the list. No doubt he had to do it that way to avoid any perceived conflict of interest, but it's no surprise that Trump is taking full advantage of that omission.

- The city of Richmond, California now has only one remaining local news website, the Richmond Standard. It's owned by Chevron, which has a huge presence in the city and seems to get away with a lot of shenanigans as a result.

- Former US senator Joe Lieberman has died. Hopefully No Labels will follow.

- A Boston Dynamics robot dog used by the Massachusetts State Police was shot during a standoff.

News roundup, 1 March 2024

- The Center for Renewing America, a think tank with ties to Donald Trump, is overtly calling for a Christian nationalist revamp of government. Funny thing is, Christian nationalists are really getting their knickers in a knot about the fact that someone had the audacity to report on this.

- A lawyer who has previously worked with Trump says that the former president is very embarrassed about his inability to come up with the bond money in the E. Jean Carroll case. Assuming Trump is actually capable of shame, it would make sense that not being as rich as he's supposed to be would be the thing to bring it on. Potentially even better news, though, is the fact that his party is worried about their fundraising prospects for the fall election.

- A bill working its way through the Kentucky legislature will, if passed, do away with many basic rights that workers have, including the right to lunch and rest breaks, the right to overtime pay if you work seven days in a row, and the right to be paid for the time taken to get to a job site. It also decreases the statute of limitations for the violation of whatever remaining rights workers have.

- A report commissioned by the City of Winnipeg has concluded that the repairs necessary at Portage and Main would cost some $73 million if the present pedestrian-free configuration is to be maintained, as well as creating several years of traffic disruption that would likely be far worse than any disruption that might result from reopening it to pedestrians. Faced with this, Mayor Scott Gillingham now says that he favours reopening it and closing down the underground concourse, which the report says would cost only around $60 million. Suburbanites who only encounter the intersection on their commutes will not be happy, but oh well.

- A community meeting on Toronto's cycling plan was held in the suburban district of Etobicoke (the Ford brothers' home turf), hosted by the local city councillor, Stephen Holyday. The meeting devolved into chaos after a presenter went into an unhinged anti-cyclist rant, to a chorus of cheers from the audience, and then said "Personally, I'd like to run them [cyclists] over". Reportedly city staff were berated at the meeting as well, and some members of the general public who attended were also a bit uncomfortable with these antics. Despite this, Holyday apparently made no attempt to stop the speaker from rousing the rabble. Everything I hear about Etobicoke, in fact, makes it sound like the worst that Canadian suburbia has to offer.

- A group of young adults who got lost while trying to find the party to which they'd been invited in rural New York state turned into the wrong driveway. The resident of the property, like any good red-blooded rural American would, opened fire with a shotgun as the vehicles were leaving, killing a 20 year old passenger in one of the vehicles. Unfortunately for him, the victim was a white girl, and he was therefore convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison.

- A number of Indians who answered an ad from a Dubai-based recruitment agency thinking they were going to get jobs in the UAE learned to their dismay that they had been duped into joining the Russian army and sent to Ukraine instead. Well, I guess they both begin with U...

Some interesting employment data

Apparently employment has now risen to pre-recession levels. But there's a catch:

All the jobs lost during the recession in Canada have now been recouped, a feat that suggests the labour market has repaired itself in a mere four quarters, much faster than in previous recoveries.

But a closer look at Statistics Canada data shows the quality of the labour market has deteriorated by many measures compared with the pre-recession scene.

Manufacturing, traditionally a source of higher-paying work, now sits at a 34-year low. Contract jobs are proliferating, and part-time jobs have been added at a faster clip than full-time work.

The average duration of unemployment is longer than it was a year ago, even as some new jobs are being created. Nearly a third of people working part time are doing so involuntarily, meaning they'd rather be full time. Hours worked remain below the previous level, suggesting many people are still feeling their incomes squeezed.

From the Globe. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is likely to continue for some time. Thanks to peak oil, energy is going to become more and more expensive for quite some time to come, and the money to pay for that is going to come out of workers' pockets long before it comes out of profits. This is doubly true given that the worker's first line of defense -- unions -- are decidedly out of fashion these days.

What are the prospects for a resurgence in the union movement? The thing is, globalization has given management a potent threat - namely, to close factories and move their operations overseas if unions ask for something outrageous such as a living wage. This could change soon, however, again due to peak oil. As transportation costs make it less practical to manufacture stuff offshore, the old threat of "we'll pack up and do our manufacturing in China" will be a lot more expensive to follow through on. So maybe a resurgence of the labour movement is possible. Let's hope so, because I think we're going to need it.

Workers at 32 Toronto hotels vote to strike

Just in time for the G20 summit:

Just three weeks before the G20 summit, workers at 32 Toronto hotels have voted 94 per cent in favour of authorizing a strike if negotiations break down.

“If we do not reach an agreement, we intend to take a strike action on June 24,” Paul Clifford, president of Unite Here Local 75, said Thursday.

However, Clifford said that workers at only one hotel – the Novotel on the Esplanade – would actually go on strike, even though a third of the unionized hotels are currently in negotiations. About 100 workers at the Novotel are Local 75 members.

Local 75 does not want to disrupt the city during the summit of world leaders, he said.

From the Star. If I was them, I wouldn't have any compunction against striking at all 32 hotels; the G20 is already disrupting the city in a huge way, so why not stick it to them? Of course, the government would probably declare hotel workers an essential service and legislate them back to work if that happened...

Some comments on those green shoots

We're hearing everywhere that the economy is now recovering. Hugh McFadyen and his motley crew are using this as ammunition against the Selinger government, saying that there's no reason to run deficits any more, because the recession is supposedly over. Now technically that may well be true, since recessions are generally defined solely in terms of the overall growth rate of the economy. And there have been gains in jobs lately, too -- but what sort of jobs are they? Armine Yalnizyan at Progressive Economics has some comments:

Forget total employment numbers, it’s the types of jobs coming back that count.

There is a shadow side to this recovery that may undo it in the end. Uncertainty is fast becoming the new normal in the labour market, and that has long-term implications for aggregate demand, household indebtedness, and the rate of defaults on mortgages and credit cards.

The latest Labour Force Survey results show that — though there are still 253,000 fewer jobs than when the recession began in October 2008 — employment growth continues its slow path upward. As Erin Weir noted on Friday, this month’s rising head count is driven by part-time jobs.

By March 2010 there were 47,800 more part-time jobs than when the recession began, but we are still down 300,000 full-time jobs. That mirrors another shift from stable to unstable jobs: more temporary jobs, fewer permanent ones.

And that's based entirely on "pure" economics, and doesn't take into account the fact that oil is likely to get a lot more expensive soon. Throw in that element and things could get quite unpleasant indeed.

Rush Limbaugh on the West Virgina mine disaster

His comments are predictable:

Limbaugh often attacks unions. On Friday he attacked the union for not making sure safety concerns were addressed in the mining disaster in West Virginia. Unfortunately for Rush and the miners there is no union. The present boss advanced by busting the union some time ago. Maybe Rush should be blaming the boss for the lack of action on safety concerns. From this site. You would think that Rush would have the funds to hire a few researchers to get facts straight. Maybe he figures this will just get him more publicity. Maybe he is like his comrade Glenn Beck who came out an said that he did not give a crap about the political process. Entertainment and making money is what is important.

From here, via captainsblog (in a comment to a Blaque post).

Food for thought

This speaks volumes about the world we live in: