Canadian politics affecting labor

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Government responds to call for federal task force on sweatshops
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) press release, 11 May 1999. Representatives of labour, religious and non-governmental organizations sit down for the first time with retailers and manufacturers to discuss how to ensure that consumer products sold in Canada are made under humane working conditions (in English and French).
Canada's Supreme Court Rules Secondary Picketing & Leafleting Legal
From a United Food & Commercial Workers press release, 9 September 1999. The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of appeals by two UFCW Local Unions, saying that lower court rulings against secondary picketing and leafleting in their respective jurisdictions were violations of workers' constitutional rights.
Ontario eyes restrictions on union drives. Labour leader warns of ‘war’ over U.S.-style amendments
By Richard Brennan, Toronto Star, 26 January 2000. Labour law amendments expected this fall could restrict union membership drives, change how strike votes are held and allow employers an opportunity to persuade workers not to join unions, Labour Minister Chris Stockwell says.
Unions say firings for unionizing becoming more common under Ontario labour laws
Canadian Press, 22 February 2000. Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, says the root of the problem are changes the Conservative government made with Bill 31 in 1998 to longstanding laws. Those laws had allowed for automatic certification of unions where employers had interfered in an organizing drive.