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.

October 2, 2026

Dynacare lab workers essential, Manitoba Labour Board rules
CBC
Dynacare workers provide essential services in Manitoba that must be maintained during a strike or lockout, the provincial labour board has ruled.

Dynacare workers provide essential services that must be maintained during strike, labour board rules
Winnipeg Free Press
The Manitoba Labour Board has ruled Dynacare workers are essential employees and their services must be maintained during a labour dispute.

100 days on strike: the next move is up to the Bank
PSAC
“For 100 days, workers at the Bank of Canada have been on the picket line fighting for a fair agreement and respect. They have shown solidarity and incredible determination. Our members have put solutions on the table, but the Bank refuses to end this strike.

How AI Is Changing Entry-Level Jobs And The Skills You Need To Be Resilient
Forbes
You did everything right: You landed the top internships and were an A+ student. But after four grueling years, you don’t work at your dream job and you spend your days sending out hundreds of applications, hoping for a reply. You look at the current job market and start to wonder, will AI replace entry-level jobs?

Guidance counsellor's comments during sex ed talk blurred personal, professional boundaries: lawyer
CBC
A Winnipeg high school guidance counsellor who gave a sex ed presentation where he told students they were going to "talk about f--king" and shared details about his own sex life should have to do further training, Manitoba's teacher professional conduct commissioner says.

Retired guidance counsellor defends explicit 2025 sex-ed presentation to high school football team in disciplinary hearing
Winnipeg Free Press
A retired guidance counsellor is defending his use of vulgar slang and personal sexual experiences during a grades 11 and 12 health class as an attempt “to teach a different kind of masculinity.”

As international student numbers tumble, domestic postsecondary enrolment rebounds
Globe and Mail
The number of Canadian students enrolling in colleges and universities is growing at the fastest pace in more than 15 years, but that’s barely enough to fill the gap left by Ottawa’s clampdown on international student admissions that has left some schools’ finances in tatters.

Ontario raises ‘serious concerns’ about three career colleges in report
Globe and Mail
Ontario government officials who inspected three career colleges found evidence suggesting third parties were completing the coursework – sometimes entire courses in one day – and a few students who couldn’t name their school or program, they alleged in reports filed in court.

Why Canadian academics shouldn’t boycott U.S. conferences
University Affairs
On Sept. 9, University of Ottawa political science professor Daniel Stockemer argued in University Affairs that, as Canadians, we should not spend taxpayers’ money to attend American conferences. This, he argued, was a way to push back against the trade dispute. As a Canadian from immigrant and working-class roots, I know a bit about how people’s livelihoods are at stake as a result of tariffs. But stopping trips to the U.S. won’t make a dent in that issue.  

12 Jewish teachers file human rights complaints against Ontario school boards and teachers’ unions
CTV News
Twelve Jewish teachers have filed human rights complaints against four Ontario school boards, including the Toronto District School Board, and two teachers’ unions.

Steelworkers union calls for immediate government action, questions if Stelco layoffs were ‘truly unavoidable’
Hamilton Spectator
The head of Canada’s largest steelworker union is demanding Ottawa “immediately” review whether the U.S. owner of Stelco broke its past commitments as the steelmaker prepares to lay off hundreds of employees as early as next week.

Should Workers Get to Bargain on AI?
The Tyee
There’s an argument playing out at bargaining tables across the province.

Violent protests in France over state of education lead to closure of nearly 400 schools
CBC
About 400 schools in France are expected to remain closed on Friday after student protests over education-related grievances ‌turned violent in some places.

Portugal Public Sector Strike Closes Schools as easyJet Crews Walk Out
Index Box
Over 350,000 public administration employees in Portugal are affected by strikes organized by three CGTP-affiliated unions scheduled for this Friday. Education has seen the most noticeable impact, with numerous schools forced to close because of insufficient staffing.

October 1, 2026

Manitoba Government Returns to Legislature With Focus on Affordability and Health Care
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government is working to make life more affordable, strengthening health care, improving public safety and growing Manitoba’s economy, government house leader Nahanni Fontaine announced today, as the third session of the 43rd legislature resumes.

Minimum wage hikes set to begin across five provinces
Winnipeg Free Press
The minimum wage is going up in five provinces.

Eliminating short-term sick notes ‘big step forward’: Doctors Manitoba
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba doctors will no longer be required to issue sick notes for short-term employee absences due to illness or injury, starting Thursday.

Employees in Manitoba no longer need sick notes for short absences
Globe and Mail
Employees in Manitoba no longer need to provide a sick note when missing work for a minor illness or injury.

City of Montreal architects’ union files strike notice
CityNews
Architects working for the City of Montreal will go on strike for two days, on Oct. 13 and 14.

Hydro-Quebec, 2 unions in court over flags on a fence
CTV News
Hydro-Quebec and two of its unions are fighting in court over union flags that were displayed on the company’s fences.

Union Says Employer is Relying on Decades-Old Law Prohibiting Ontario Healthcare Workers from Striking
Press Progress
The union representing workers at a chain of for-profit long-term care homes in Ontario is accusing the company of intentionally delaying bargaining and relying on decades-old legislation that forbids healthcare workers in the province from striking.

US labor market firming amid historic low layoffs
Reuters
New applications for US unemployment benefits drifted close to 57-year lows last week and layoffs decreased in September, suggesting labor market stability persisted even as employers remained cautious about boosting hiring.

Amazon Is Deploying AI to Spy on Its Workers and Bust Unions Before They Form
Truthout
The 18^th-century notion of the panopticon — a circular prison design with a guard station in the middle, allowing a single officer to enforce discipline by keeping watch over all the prisoners — has become real in the 21^st century through AI-driven surveillance against workers: It’s the Amazon warehouse.

EPA union sues Trump administration to restore collective bargaining contract
The Guardian
The union representing more than 8,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a lawsuit against the agency and administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday alleging the agency illegally terminated the union’s collective bargaining agreement.

Almost 40,000 residential school records will be destroyed. Not all survivors think they should be
CBC
WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.  Geraldine Shingoose says she suffered a heart attack while testifying about the abuse she experienced at residential school.

AI agents tried to hack Library and Archives Canada website, research firm says
CBC
AI agents tried to hack into a Canadian government website, an artificial intelligence research firm said Wednesday, casting the effort as a failed hacking attempt, while Canada said there were no indications its systems were compromised.

Northern Manitoba college offers new Cree-language degree program
CBC
University College of the North is hosting a first of its kind in northern Manitoba – a post-secondary degree in Cree.

Student protests rage across France as PM holds crisis meeting
Globe and Mail
Attackers doused a headteacher in petrol and started fires in at least two schools on Thursday, officials said, as increasingly violent student protests raged across France against staff shortages and dilapidated buildings.

Higher education is becoming the newest playground for billionaires
Business Insider
Ken Griffin's latest bet? South Florida's higher education.

Belief that college is very important hits new low, poll finds
Washington Post
Americans’ belief in the importance of higher education has hit a low point amid increasing concerns about the high cost of college.

September 29, 2026

Manitoba Living Wage Update 2026
CCPA
For 2026, the Winnipeg living wage is increasing by $0.54 to $20.31 an hour, while living wages for Brandon and Thompson are increasing by $1.18 and $0.84, to $17.40 and $18.73 an hour, respectively. That corresponds to increases of 2.7 percent in Winnipeg, 7.3 percent in Brandon, and 4.7 percent in Thompson. Rising food prices were a major driver of living wage increases in all three living wage cities, with price increases of just under 4 percent. Higher transportation costs were also a contributing factor increasing at or near 3 percent.

Hourly wage needed for Manitoba families to meet basic needs is on the rise: policy group
CBC
The hourly wage needed for a Manitoba family to cover their basic living expenses increased in three of the province's largest cities this year, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says.

Cost of living front and centre as Manitoba legislators set to return Tuesday
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba politicians return to the house Tuesday for a sitting that is expected to focus on affordability, but will begin with questions surrounding the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.

Alberta ‘failed’ Cargill workers amid COVID-19 outbreak with inaction, overconfidence: report
CBC
A report released Monday says a number of factors converged to produce a “preventable tragedy” in which two workers and four close contacts died after a massive COVID-19 outbreak at Cargill’s beef processing plant in High River, Alta., in 2020.

Hamilton steel plant to lay off hundreds of workers as U.S. tariffs prompt 'survival' move
CBC
Stelco Holdings Inc. said on Monday that it plans to idle part of its Hamilton plant in order to "ensure the survival" of the company, as U.S. tariffs squeeze its sales.

Union: CDC Lost a Third of Its Workforce in One Year
Mother Jones
A new report by the American Federation of Government Workers has documented a staggering level of staff attrition at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the first year of the Trump 2.0 administration. The nation’s premier public health agency lost a third of its workforce from March 2025 through April 2026, the union says.

A large-scale strike has swept across France: over 170 protests have taken place across the country
UKR Media
A nationwide strike by public sector workers is taking place in France on 29 September. Over 170 demonstrations and rallies are planned across the country. Civil servants are demanding pay rises and increased funding for public services ahead of the presentation of the draft budget for 2027. Teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters and employees of other public sector organisations are joining the protests.

Teacher loses Manitoba certification over inappropriate contact with student at Chinese school
CBC
A teacher has been stripped of her certificate to teach in Manitoba after she had inappropriate physical contact and exchanged private social media messages with a Grade 8 student while working in China last year, a disciplinary panel says.

Teacher barred for ‘repeated boundary-crossing conduct’
Winnipeg Free Press
A disciplinary panel has ordered the cancellation of a Chinese-Canadian teacher’s certificate because of her “repeated boundary-crossing with a student” during her tenure at an international school with local ties.

Orange Shirt Day project fits students to a tee
Winnipeg Free Press
On the eve of Orange Shirt Day, hundreds of black T-shirts will be handed out to teenagers at Elmwood High School — and there wasn’t a mixup in the clothing procurement process.

London faces ‘unprecedented job cuts’ as teacher’s union considers strike: OSSTF president
CTV News
Potential job action for four Ontario teachers’ unions could have far reaching consequences in London and beyond.

TAs vote in favour of strike
The Ubyssey
CUPE 2278 members have voted with 95.4 per cent in favour of going on strike. This result gives the union power to call a strike any time within three months and with 72 hours notice.

Parliamentary committee urges stronger support for research in French
University Affairs
A House of Commons committee tasked with studying the allocation of federal research funding is urging greater efforts to support scientific research and publication in French. 

University of Guelph pledges action after out-of-control homecoming parties
Globe and Mail
The University of Guelph says it hopes to prevent future unsanctioned homecoming events after off-campus street parties spiralled out of control on the weekend, leading to multiple arrests and sending about 60 people to hospital.

Ontario extends affordable child-care program, but not to $10 a day
Globe and Mail
Ontario and the federal government have agreed to extend the national affordable child-care program in the province for another four years, but it comes with no promises of further lowering the fees parents pay.

An Ontario school board says education is inherently racist. Its own data says otherwise
National Post
At a recent staff meeting at an elementary school in the York Region District School Board (YRDSB), a presentation reportedly asked teachers to accept that, “The institution of education is an instrumental tool for maintaining and furthering the ideology of white supremacy. It is not the responsibility of people with intersecting marginalized identities to prove this. I will engage in dialogue about how we dismantle the structures and systems of white supremacy rather than engage in debate about whether these lived realities exist.”

Postdoctoral workers union stages practice picket in anticipation of strike
Columbia Specator
Columbia’s postdoctoral workers union held a practice picket at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Monday afternoon, spotlighting demands for annual raises and a score of other disagreements in preparation for a potential strike on Oct. 21.

U.S. prosecutors reopen alleged Cornell University gang rape case after accuser files lawsuit
National Post
U.S. prosecutors reopened an investigation Monday into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University following claims the elite college failed to properly punish the men involved.

Thousands of staff at top UK university to begin five-week strike action
Independent
Around 3,000 staff members at the University of Edinburgh are set to launch five weeks of industrial action over £140 million in spending cuts and compulsory redundancies.

September 28, 2026

Province hires 17 psychiatrists to work in Winnipeg, Selkirk
Winnipeg Free Press
The province has hired 17 psychiatrists this year in an attempt to alleviate pressure on hospital emergency rooms.

Unhappy Dynacare staff refuse OT shifts; doors could be closed at clinics with Saturday hours
Winnipeg Free Press
Some Winnipeg Dynacare sites normally open on Saturday were closed last weekend, and may continue to be because staff are refusing to pick up overtime shifts after they were forced back to work amid a labour dispute with the company.

Manitoba law used to halt Dynacare strike clearly problematic, union says
CBC
A hearing to determine whether Dynacare workers are essential is within the law, but it shouldn't be, their union says.

Unions have new leverage, not less, under Liberals' new major projects bill: jobs minister
CBC
Though organized labour is pushing back against the Carney government's latest major projects bill — which aims to amend a controversial portion of the Labour Code — Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says unions will have new leverage, not less, under the proposal.

Incoming Air Canada CEO's current airline engaged in 'anti-labour' behaviour, says Canadian union head
CBC
The union representing Air Canada pilots says it is concerned about what it calls a "retaliatory and anti-labour" action by Scandinavian Airlines — which is currently run by Air Canada's next CEO.

Bill C-39 Poses An Existential Risk To Strike Rights
The Maple
Last week, the federal Liberal government tabled legislation that would dramatically expand the role of the state in collective bargaining and entrench a mechanism it has used repeatedly to terminate lawful strikes without a vote in Parliament.

Ottawa strikes a better balance on labour
Globe and Mail
The Carney government’s proposed labour law reforms target a serious problem: the increase in disruptions to critical industries such as airlines, ports and railways. Ottawa is taking heat from labour advocates, but the changes are a sensible measure to rebalance the interests of federally regulated employers, employees, and the public.

Bleeding bananas: Over 28,000 people call on Chiquita to end exploitation on supplier plantations
Public Eye
28,241 people joined a virtual protest organized by Public Eye to denounce labor rights violations at Chiquita’s suppliers in Guatemala. Faced with the multinational’s silence and inaction, the mobilization continued today outside Chiquita’s headquarters in Etoy, in Switzerland’s Vaud canton, where representatives of Public Eye and activists handed over the petition signatures to the company's sustainability director. Against a backdrop of blood-stained bananas, our message was simple: “Chiquita Basta!” 

Faculty at Western University voted in favour of a strike mandate (video)
CTV News
Officials with Western's faculty association say members voted 92 per cent in favour of further job action if necessary. Listing wages, benefits, sustainable workloads, and protection against AI among their top priorities.

Students left in limbo after Canada’s biggest language school abruptly shut its doors (video)
CBC
After filing for bankruptcy and abruptly cancelling all classes, the International Language Academy of Canada took down signage at its Vancouver campus this week. Students remain in limbo, and some say they were told that they wouldn't get refunds on the thousands of dollars spent on tuition.

DFA Members Cast Vote of Non-Confidence
Dalhousie Faculty Association
The DFA membership recently cast a vote of non-confidence in the Dalhousie leadership, specifically the President, Provost/VP Academic and the Chair of the Board between June 2024 and July 2025. A total of 592 members voted (representing 52.8% of our total membership). Of those who voted, 71.62% said they did not have confidence in Dalhousie's leadership. A letter was sent to the President Kim Brooks, Provost/VP Academic (Acting) Brenda Merritt and Board Chair Cheryl Fraser.  It calls for greater transparency, accountabilty, decision-making that supports the academic mission of the university, and increased communications with the DFA. You can read that letter here.

‘Our members want fair, negotiated contracts’: All major Ontario education unions are holding strike votes in November
Now Toronto
Every major education union in Ontario will be holding strike votes in November as talks with the province are currently stalled.

Harvard Graduate Students Union Begins Strike Authorization Vote
Harvard Magazine
The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW) announced this week that it would open a strike authorization vote on Monday, threatening to renew a 40-day walkout that ended in June without a contract. Union leaders spent the summer negotiating with the University, but in a statement released Thursday, HGSU-UAW president Evan Lemire, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, accused Harvard of “stonewalling tactics.”

Decades of fossil fuel influence paved way for Trump’s assault on university research, study says
The Guardian
Recent attacks on US universities by the Trump administration have built on decades of efforts by libertarian donor networks, fossil fuel companies and conservative thinktanks to reshape university governance and increase outside influence, according to a new study.

September 25, 2026

Governments of Canada and Manitoba Support Workforce Training in Industrial Data Literacy and Applied AI in Aerospace and Manufacturing
Province of Manitoba
The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing $500,000 in the AeroTrace Workforce Pilot program to train workers on the use of digital traceability, production data and applied artificial intelligence (AI) in the aerospace and manufacturing sectors, federal Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu and Manitoba Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses announced today.

‘Anti-worker’ status change for Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers voted down
Winnipeg Free Press
A controversial change of status for Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers, which some feared could leave them with lower pay and fewer benefits, has been rejected.

Unionized workers at Metro produce centre in Laval, Que., ratify new deal
Yahoo
A months-long strike at Metro's Laval, Que., fresh produce distribution centre is coming to an end after workers ratified a new collective agreement.

CUPE will defy Bill C-39’s unconstitutional limits on the right to strike if passed
CUPE
The national executive board of Canada’s largest union, CUPE, has passed a unanimous resolution vowing to defy the Liberal government’s Bill C-39 limiting the constitutional right to strike if it is passed unamended through Parliament.

Ontario hospital plans to cut hundreds of jobs amid province-directed budget plan
Global News
Hamilton Health Sciences is planning to eliminate more than 400 jobs, a move it is directly tying to provincial marching orders to balance budgets that have seen other hospitals across the province make similar cuts.

Fifteen ER nurses leave Ontario hospital over overcrowding, safety issues, union says
Globe and Mail
More than a dozen emergency room nurses have resigned from a hospital in the Greater Toronto Area over the past two months, owing to unmanageable patient volumes and an unsafe work environment, according to a provincial union.

Labour bill will test limits of Canada’s power to quash strikes: experts
CTV News
Labour experts say the Liberal government’s latest major legislative push will test the limits of Ottawa’s power to intervene in collective bargaining when economic interests are at stake.

The Rising Left Can’t Ignore Labor’s Ongoing Crisis
Jacobin
As the Trump administration stumbles from scandal to scandal and worries over artificial intelligence reach a fever pitch, there seems to be little relief in sight for working-class Americans confronting a stubborn cost-of-living crisis. The failure of both Republicans and Democrats to advance real solutions to the affordability crunch has opened the door to hopeful socialist election victories, including Zohran Mamdani’s triumph in New York last year and several left-wing wins in congressional primaries this summer. Yet organized labor by and large has continued its long retreat, and the prospects of significant national policy change still look remote.

A Union Feud Shouldn’t Sink California’s Billionaire Tax
Jacobin
America’s already threadbare welfare state is on the brink of total collapse. Over the next ten years, national funding for Medicaid, whose benefits 81 million Americans rely upon, will be cut by about $1 trillion. States that expanded Medicaid access under the Affordable Care Act will be hit especially hard. More immediately, in just a few days, on October 1, and again on January 1, various new requirements for Medicaid eligibility will be instituted. This means that receiving and maintaining insurance will suddenly become much more difficult for millions of Americans.

The Video Game Industry Is Brutal. Now It’s Unionizing.
Mother Jones
By 6 p.m. Sunday, the union had already run out of the colorful pins representing each bargaining unit—all 7,000 of them—as people kept coming up to congratulate them. When members had already packed up, people were still on the convention floor, talking and trading the pins.

More than 20,000 council staff to be fired and rehired in plan branded 'shockingly deplorable'
SkyNews
More than 20,000 Glasgow City Council staff will be fired then rehired under new contracts after talks to resolve a long-running equal pay dispute between the local body and trade unions broke down.

UK defence industry to offer tens of thousands of job opportunities
MorningStar
Tens of thousands of young Britons will be offered employment and work experience with some of the UK's biggest defence firms as part of an agreement between the government and defence industry.

U of W marks 10 years of Indigenous education requirement
Winnipeg Free Press
The University of Winnipeg is collecting course outlines, historic concerns about systemic racism on campus and related records to mark the 10-year anniversary of mandating Indigenous studies.

Teachers in Ontario’s French school system set to vote on strike mandate
Winnipeg Free Press
Ontario teachers in the French school system are set to vote in November on whether to give their union a strike mandate.

‘Africa hasn’t decolonised education enough’: how world’s youngest continent can unlock potential
The Guardian
African governments need to shake off the legacy of colonialism and underfunding if their education systems are ever to harness the vast potential of the continent’s young talent, says the public health expert Dr John Nkengasong.

What civil rights enforcement cuts mean for students with disabilities – fewer staff, closed offices, longer waits
The Conversation
Felicita Piñón weighed just 1 pound at birth. She was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy that requires her to use a power wheelchair, and she also has learning and emotional challenges. Yet despite these obstacles, Felicita, now an eighth grade student, is just like any other happy, active teenager who hasn’t let her disability limit her. She also did something remarkable that’s not typical of most teens – in 2025, she testified against a school voucher bill at the Texas Capitol.

Meloni accused of ‘running scared’ with cap on foreign children in classrooms
The Guardian
The Italian government has been accused of ramping up divisive rhetoric to try to court far-right voters ahead of next year’s general election after it passed a decree aimed at capping the number of newly arrived migrants in classrooms and banning the burqa and niqab in schools.