Labour and education in the news
Below are recent news stories on labour and education related issues. Click the headline to be taken to the article. Some may require a subscription. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for article text.
August 21, 2026
Provincial teacher watchdog releases names, details in three disciplinary matters
Winnipeg Free Press
An Interlake teacher with a history of “intimidating” outbursts has been ordered to participate in counselling and study anger-management strategies after he made a child cry.
Winnipeg students will soon ride for free as transit officials prepare for pilot project's rollout
CBC
Free youth transit passes will be available for students in Manitoba's largest city beginning in September, as Winnipeg Transit prepares to roll out a new pilot program at the start of the school year.
Manitoba family is fighting for equal access to education for their blind daughter
CityNews
“Ever since I was born, I had music in me. I have rhythm in my soul. Patsy Cline said it best: ‘We all have rhythm in our souls.’” That’s 12-year-old voice actress and singer-songwriter Jo-Hannah Atchison.
Quebec autistic student denied disability-based French exemption, removed from college
CBC
Against all odds, 18-year-old Henry Gendreau reached his goal of studying animation at a Quebec college.
Province optimistic, education unions frustrated by stall in Ontario teachers' contract negotiations
CBC
Education Minister Paul Calandra says he remains optimistic over ongoing contract negotiations for teachers and education workers, while unions are expressing frustrations over the government's demands and a stall on discussions.
Staffing shortage at northern Ontario school forces students to start year with virtual classes
CBC
Students at an elementary school in Moosonee, Ont., will start the school year with virtual lessons due to a staffing shortage.
Ontario set to open 35 new and expanded schools as teacher negotiations hit impasse
Globe and Mail
Ontario is opening 35 new and expanded schools this fall as negotiations with teacher unions over a new contract have stalled.
Post-secondary students banding together for housing solutions amid affordability concerns (video)
Global News
Student groups in Halifax say their university classmates are struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
The importance of teaching students what AI can’t do
The Conversation
It’s disconcerting to envision human thought becoming redundant or deemed inferior due to advancements in artificial intelligence. But for all its ills, AI cannot be ignored or wished away. It’s here to stay, and I want my students to understand the stakes of becoming too reliant on this technology.
US unions sue over new visa rule for foreign students, journalists
Al Jazeera
A coalition of unions and advocacy groups in the United States has sued the federal government, seeking to block a rule that would limit how long foreign students and journalists can remain in the country without applying for extensions.
Sask. doesn’t have laws against replacement workers in a labour dispute. Why not?
The Leader-Post
The union representing Regina refinery workers is back at the bargaining table with Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL) — and the company has warned that bringing in replacement workers could be an option once again.
Attack on N.B. social worker provokes calls for improved training, recruitment
CBC
Threats and violence are increasing against New Brunswick social workers, who are already suffering the effects of a workforce shortage, their union says.
Quebec paramedics reject tentative deal with government; pressure tactics resume
CityNews
Paramedics who are members of unions affiliated with the CSN have ultimately rejected the tentative agreement reached to renew their collective bargaining agreements. They are therefore resuming their pressure tactics.
BC government bureaucrats receive performance-based salary increases (video)
Yahoo
A number of B.C. government bureaucrats are receiving performance-based salary increases. This comes as the province runs a multi-billion dollar deficit. Travis Prasad explains.
Union says WSIB to axe 600+ jobs and shutter 10 regional offices, including Kingston
Kingstonist
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is closing a number of its offices across the province, including the one in Kingston, resulting in hundreds of layoffs as part of a consolidation of services, according to the union.
Video Game Workers and Allies Rally Across North America Against XBOX Layoffs
Communications Workers of America
Yesterday, hundreds of CWA-represented video game workers, community organizations, and local labor allies held coordinated “Save Our Devs” rallies in the U.S. and Canada to call out layoffs and corporate greed across the industry and to demand fair first contracts across Microsoft’s gaming studios. Last month, Microsoft’s gaming division—now rebranded as XBOX—announced 3,200 planned job reductions across XBOX, with the first phase of layoffs scheduled to impact 1,600 XBOX workers, including hundreds of union members, in early September. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) represents nearly 4,000 video game workers at XBOX throughout the US and Canada.
Airbus is backing down on its push to get workers back in the office after union strikes
Quartz
Airbus has softened its push to limit remote working after union protests, including a series of strikes at its Spanish operations, according to Reuters. Under the revised approach, staff will be permitted to continue working from home an average of two days each week, with the push to impose a stricter one-day ceiling put on hold indefinitely.
Hyundai Motor's union stages first full strike in 10 years over wage talks
Reuters
Hyundai Motor's South Korean union staged its first full strike in a decade on Friday after wage talks stalled, as it seeks a higher retirement age and job protections against artificial intelligence and automation.
August 20, 2026
Ontario Investing More Than $9.8 Million to Protect and Train Workers in Major Canadian Industries
Province of Ontario
The Ontario government is supporting workers’ training and economic growth through the sixth round of the Skills Development Fund Training Stream. Through an investment of more than $9.8 million across six training projects, Ontario aims to help nearly 1,150 workers and jobseekers access training and prepare for rewarding, in-demand careers across major Canadian industries. These projects will deliver specialized training in critical industries, including the skilled trades, construction, manufacturing, transportation and emerging technologies, ensuring Ontario has the skilled workforce needed to stay competitive in the face of U.S. tariffs and deliver Ontario’s $236 billion plan to build the homes, highways, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure that will protect Ontario workers and communities.
Aramark accused of unionbusting
Alberta Worker
Last week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their second new applications report of August 2026, which includes summaries of all applications they received between 2 August and 9 August 2026.
Union calls on federal government to release equity data on public service job cuts
CTV News
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is calling on the federal government to halt workforce adjustments in the public service, saying the job cuts are disproportionately harming women.
Labour board rules Canada Revenue Agency discriminated against employee by denying COVID vaccine exemption
CTV News
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) discriminated against a federal public servant by refusing to grant an exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate based on his religious beliefs, the federal labour board ruled.
Labour bargaining going nowhere: union official
The Chronicle Journal
Frustration is running high for more than 400 Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEPFO) Local 740 workers from Community Living Thunder Bay who are in week 13 of a strike.
Union ties National Steel Car strike to unsafe incentive pay program
Canadian Occupational Safety
More than 1,200 workers at National Steel Car in Hamilton have been off the job since 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 12, after members of United Steelworkers Local 7135 voted by a wide margin to reject the railcar manufacturer's latest contract offer. The union says the vote saw roughly 91 per cent turnout, with about 79 per cent of members casting ballots against the deal.
Wrongful denial of remote work exposes return-to-office shortcomings
Rabble
The government’s one-size-fits-all approach to return to office has been proven to not work, according to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), a public service union representing 80,000 government professionals.
Minnesota Unions Are a Threat to Trump’s Authoritarianism
Jacobin
Federal officers had already been arresting Minneapolis activists for months, but the Trump administration’s sweeping indictments of fifteen union members and leaders in June especially turned heads. The charges are centered around 18 U.S.C. § 372: Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer, allegations that could lead to astounding criminal sentences lasting decades.
Post-secondary students worried over money as school year begins: survey
CTV News
The Saint Mary’s University campus in Halifax is mostly empty at this time of year, but it will soon be busy with students who will return for a new school year – balancing their demanding academic calendars with their finances.
Scrap current bargaining system, high school teachers’ union urges
The Standard
The current bargaining system in education isn’t working and needs to be scrapped, says the head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
Ontario teachers’ union slams ‘broken system’ that they say has stalled talks on new contract
CP24
The union representing Ontario’s secondary school teachers is calling for the repeal of a “broken system” that it says has stalled negotiations weeks prior to the expiration of teacher contracts.
McGill University’s Faculty of Music Forms the Institution’s 8th Faculty Union
COFAM
The Confederation of Faculty Associations of McGill (COFAM) is excited to announce that faculty at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music have organized with majority support to form the Association of McGill Professors of Music (AMPM). As of August 14th, the eighth academic staff union to form at the university was granted certification by Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal.
Cops Love ICE’s New Shock Gloves. Parents Want Them Out of Schools.
Mother Jones
In early August, ICE revealed plans to purchase $20 million worth of electric-shock gloves, manufactured by a company called Compliant Technologies. The gloves work on direct contact with exposed skin and deliver a painful electric charge. Police departments, jails, and even school resource officers across the country have used the gloves for years—though human rights groups like Amnesty International say they’re “readily misused for torture.” Police officers, speaking on Compliant Technologies’ own YouTube channel, repeatedly stated that the shock gloves work because they are “less conducive to lawsuits” than other forms of physical force, and can cause pain but “leave no burn marks or scars.”
August 19, 2026
Manitoba commissioner received 94 complaints about teacher misconduct in first 15 months
CBC
Manitoba's commissioner of teacher professional conduct received 94 complaints and reports in the first 15 months since the role was created, the office's first full annual report says.
Students, teachers discuss the pros and cons of AI in the university classroom
CityNews
The school year is right around the corner, and one of the biggest challenges facing educators is the use of artificial intelligence. AI has evolved so fast that most students now use it on a day-to-day basis to help with their studies, leaving profs with the difficult task of preventing cheating.
Review finds protests that led to TMU student arrests 'symptoms of a deteriorating campus climate'
CBC
Two protests that led to the arrests of Toronto Metropolitan University students last year were "symptoms of a deteriorating campus climate" after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, an external review has found.
‘A culture of silencing’: John Abbott teachers call for better treatment from college’s administration
The Gazette
Dozens of teachers and other faculty members at John Abbott College gathered outside the school Tuesday, calling for better treatment from the administration as the start of the school year approaches.
‘We are going to fight’: Ontario teachers’ unions mull strike action as bargaining talks stall
CP24
With just weeks to go before the start of the school year and without a new collective agreement in place, Ontario’s teachers and education workers say job action isn’t off the table as negotiations hit an impasse.
Most B.C. residents feel AI is impacting education and devaluing degrees
DailyHive
The rise of AI is real, and while there are some out there hoping that the so-called AI bubble bursts, some B.C. residents are worried about how it’s impacting education.
AI in universities: the case in favour
University Affairs
Universities have long organized education around a basic constraint: the scarcity of expert time. To maximally leverage professors, students are taught in large groups using common lectures, readings and assignments. This model achieves scale but sacrifices the individual attention that produces the best learning.
AI in universities: the case against
University Affairs
Generative artificial intelligence based on large language models (LLMs) has become a hot topic of debates in higher education. University administrators, professors, staff and students are now asking practical questions about the dos and don’ts, cans and can’ts, and consequences of AI. What can AI do and not do for teaching and research? What AI platforms are best for doing this or that task? How to ensure data privacy and copyrights? How can we prevent academic dishonesty?
What to Know About the Pentagon’s Crackdown on Universities’ Foreign Research Ties
Time
The Trump Administration ordered 30 universities to audit their foreign research partnerships or risk losing funding.
Manitoba Government Adds 4,725 Net New Health-Care Workers Since 2023
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government has added 4,725 net new health-care workers across the province since October 2023, adding capacity to a health-care system experiencing significant pressure as hospitals and emergency departments care for more patients with increasingly complex needs, Premier Wab Kinew and Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced today at Seven Oaks General Hospital.
Manitoba's NDP says it's added 4,725 health-care workers since being elected
CBC
Manitoba's NDP government says the province has added a net 4,725 health-care workers since the party came to power nearly three years ago.
Flight attendants and pilots have highest risk of dying from radiation-linked cancers, study says
CBC
Flight attendants and pilots are at the highest risk of dying from radiation-related cancers — even more than people who work with radioactive materials, according to a new study.
New research shows that women are overrepresented in public service job cuts
PSAC
Prime Minister Carney’s public service cuts are disproportionately impacting women workers in the federal public service.
Would you turn down a promotion that includes more time at work? A majority of Canadians would
Globe and Mail
Canadians aren’t so sure they want that next promotion.
Employer’s guilty plea leads to first conviction under Saskatchewan’s foreign worker protection law
Canadian Lawyer
The Saskatchewan government has highlighted the conviction of Dyan Jeny Enterprise, an employer, under the province’s Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act, 2013 (FWRISA), making this the first conviction under Saskatchewan’s previous foreign worker protection legislation.
Store accused of making staff pay to work for it
Global News
A Saskatchewan employer and company are facing charges for allegedly making two foreign workers pay to work for them.
‘Boomerang Employees’ Surging—Why Companies Want Former Workers Back
Forbes
The "boomerang employee" trend is rapidly transforming the job market, with a significant rise in former staff returning to previous employers, shedding old stigmas. This shift reflects a cautious hiring environment and workers prioritizing stability or better opportunities. Companies benefit from familiar talent, faster onboarding, and new skills acquired by returning staff. However, a crucial consideration is preventing loyal current employees from feeling undervalued if boomerangs and cultivating a boomerang-friendly workplace.
August 18, 2026
Coalition dismayed after U of M decides not to establish master’s in speech-language pathology
Winnipeg Free Press
A new coalition representing students who stutter, speak with a lisp and struggle with other speech challenges is decrying the University of Manitoba’s decision to shelve plans to train in-demand clinicians.
Les universités craignent que la baisse des étudiants internationaux nuise à la recherche
Radio-Canada
À l'aube de la rentrée, le nombre d’étudiants internationaux est encore à la baisse, et la recherche dans les universités du Québec devrait en subir les conséquences.
12 international students at Calgary protest referred to CBSA office after status check
CBC
A dozen people who took part in a weeks-long international student protest in northeast Calgary have been flagged as "being possibly inadmissible" and, according to an immigration lawyer, could be forced to leave Canada.
Ford government preparing education ads taking aim at teacher unions as contract talks grind to a halt: leaked script
The Trillium
The Ford government is preparing an advertisement taking aim at teacher unions, as contract negotiations with five of them are stalled over a dispute about bargaining rules.
The betrayal of Jewish students needs to end
Globe and Mail
A school that isn’t safe for all of its students is a failing school. There is overwhelming evidence of such failure in two new reports on antisemitism on Canadian campuses. Jewish students are not safe, not even in the classroom.
Is the Houston government about to dismember huge swaths of our university system?
Halifax Examiner
Is the Houston government about to dismember huge swaths of our university system?
The ultra rich are collecting fossils. And that’s bad for science - video
The Guardian
One of the UK’s best fossil collections has been sold overseas in what experts have called a loss to the nation. The collection, which is now on display at the Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi, was gathered on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. As dinosaur fossils sell to private collectors for increasingly large sums, scientists are worried that domestic museums are being priced out of the market, and in turn scientists are missing out on the opportunity to make new observations. To find out how fossils became big business and what it could mean for research, Madeleine Finlay hears from science correspondent Nicola Davis.
Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more
The Guardian
A database of federal law enforcement officer misconduct records. A survey measuring physical, sexual and emotional violence against children and youth. Real-time pollution readings collected by air quality monitors from US embassies around the world.
Wrongful denial of remote work exposes return-to-office shortcomings
Rabble
The government’s one-size-fits-all approach to return to office has been proven to not work, according to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), a public service union representing 80,000 government professionals.
Ford government ignored, 'disrespected' Hamilton youth mental health workers, 2 say after weeks-long strike
CBC
After a 10-week strike, two youth mental health workers in Hamilton say union members are returning to work feeling supported by the community but disrespected by the provincial government.
P.E.I. declines Ottawa's offer to let rural employers hire more temporary foreign workers
CBC
Prince Edward Island is the only Atlantic province that has opted out of a federal measure allowing rural employers to hire more low-wage temporary foreign workers.
WestJet Flight Attendants Have Won A Major Settlement
The Maple
WestJet flight attendants have emerged from their brief strike with a tentative agreement that makes significant gains on one of the airline industry’s most persistent labour issues: unpaid work.
Meta’s Training Camp For Building Data Centers Is An ‘Anti-Union Scheme’ - The Company ‘Promises People A “Fast Track” To A Career In The Trades As Long As Workers Don’t Care About Their Safety, Job Security Or Right To Organize’
WNYLabourToday
Facebook’s Parent Company - Meta, has put $115 million behind its launch of America's Workforce Academy, a free five-week Training Program promising American Heroes, which encompasses basically anyone a guaranteed construction job offer from the contractors who build Meta’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) Data Centers.
Exploitative zero-hours contracts are endemic, TUC says
TUC
Responding to the latest labour market statistics, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Exploitative zero-hours contracts are endemic in this country, with more than 1.2 million people stuck not knowing how much they’re going to earn each week. That’s why the government must deliver on its promise of a right to guaranteed hours for everyone.
August 17, 2026
Manitoba Government Celebrates Opening of 1,075 New Child-Care Spaces Since Late 2025
Province of Manitoba
The governments of Canada and Manitoba are making significant progress creating new child-care spaces for families, with 1,075 new infant, preschool, nursery and school-aged spaces opening in Manitoba since late 2025, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt and Terry Duguid, member of Parliament for Winnipeg South, on behalf of federal Secretary of State for Children and Youth Anna Gainey, announced today.
Manitoba's 'passive' approach to creating child-care spaces needs to change, advocates say
CBC
Advocates say Manitoba's "passive" and "ad hoc" approach to increasing access to child care needs to change in order to speed up progress and meet space-creation goals.
E-learning hub finds home at Brandon University
Winnipeg Free Press
Brandon University has absorbed all the public resources created by a defunct online education hub that promoted free textbooks and coordinated remote learning courses.
Nova Scotia teachers group fears government control over university programs
Winnipeg Free Press
A group representing Nova Scotia’s university teachers says it’s concerned the government is taking more control over which academic programs get funded.
U of R Faculty Association Challenging Pay Dispute (video)
Global News
Queen’s University Faculty Association to hold strike vote
The Hamilton Spectator
Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) members have been in the midst of a vote to authorize a potential strike after 40 days of bargaining with Queen’s University, following the expiration of their previous collective agreement on June 30.
Nova Scotia teachers group fears government control over university programs
CBC
A group representing Nova Scotia's university teachers says it's concerned the government is taking more control over which academic programs get funded.
Lab techs at Dynacare in Winnipeg and Brandon vote to strike
Winnipeg Sun
Lab technicians and technologists at Dynacare in Winnipeg and Brandon have voted 99.7 percent in favour of strike action, though no strike notice has been issued yet.
Labour Force Survey Shows Strong Manitoba Job Growth, Lowest Unemployment in Canada
Province of Manitoba
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey, released today, shows Manitoba recorded the strongest job growth among the Prairie provinces and the second-highest increase nationally, adding 5,900 jobs in July, Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses announced today.
1,200 National Steel Car workers in Hamilton on strike after rejecting contract offer
CBC
Over 1,200 workers at National Steel Car in Hamilton are on strike as of midnight on Wednesday after rejecting a contract offer.
Railroaders across B.C. continue 11-week strike as union rejects CPKC offer
The Northern View
Labour disruption continues for CPKC’s signal and communications department across Canada as union members overwhelmingly reject the railway company’s latest contract offer.
Metro Vancouver unionized workers walk off jobs in parks, water services
CityNews
Metro Vancouver unionized workers have resumed strike action, with employees in parks and water services walking off the job at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Inside the Amazon Decertification Campaign
The Tyee
As Amazon and Unifor approach a first collective agreement for employees in Delta, B.C., the union says the company has been supporting a decertification campaign.
The Odyssey: Amazon’s Desperate Fight to Avoid a Collective Agreement Continues
The Law of Work
Unifor was certified as the representative of employees at an Amazon warehouse in Delta, BC in July 2025. That certification was a result of a remedial order by the BCLRB following a finding that Amazon committed multiple illegal acts in an effort to defeat employees’ attempts to unionize, including deliberately flooding the employee list with artificial employees. The Board ruled that “Amazon’s lengthly and pervasive anti-union campaign” meant a certification vote would not ascertain the true wishes of the employees.
The Union Deal That’s Undermining Gig Workers
Jacobin
In recent months, unions in the United States and Canada have been claiming victory in gig worker organizing. In May 2026, Uber settled its first collective bargaining agreement with drivers in Victoria, British Columbia. Massachusetts has recognized a union representing seventy thousand Uber drivers, constituting what labor leaders describe as “the largest private-sector organizing win” since the United Auto Workers unionized the Ford Motor Company in 1941. This long-standing record has since been outdone again as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)–affiliated California Gig Workers Union was named the “union of record” to represent potentially two hundred thousand app-based drivers in the state, establishing “the largest union of gig rideshare drivers in the world.” Legislation allowing drivers collective bargaining rights has also passed in Illinois. All of this, on the surface, enables the possibility for record numbers of workers to be brought into the labor movement.
Federal surveillance operation targeted progressive groups, unions in Minnesota, documents show
The Hill
Federal agents secretly monitored progressive groups and protesters during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Elon Musk's Tesla Is Ending Sweden's Longest Strike by Buying Out Every Worker Still on It
Yahoo
The longest labor conflict in modern Swedish history is ending, and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) won it without signing a collective agreement. Swedish union IF Metall said Thursday that it will call off its strike against the electric-car maker on Aug. 19. The walkout reached day 1,021 this week -- about 130 Tesla mechanics across seven workshops were covered when the strike began on Oct. 27, 2023, demanding the collective agreement that covers most Swedish workers.
