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.
July 10, 2025
E-school budgets $200K a year to combat cheats in AI age
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba’s largest online high school is budgeting $200,000 annually to proctor tests — $12 per student assessment — to discourage cheating.
Ontario college sector facing one of province’s largest mass layoffs, union says
Globe and Mail
Ontario colleges have been shedding thousands of jobs over the past year in what is being described as one of the largest mass layoffs in the province’s history by the union that represents most college faculty.
New numbers reveal 10,000-plus Ontario college layoffs, 600 programs cancelled or suspended over past year
Toronto Star
In what’s being described as one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario’s history, more than 10,000 college faculty and staff have been let go and more than 600 college programs suspended or cancelled over the past year. The total figures, being made public for the first time, highlight the deep impact of an ongoing financial crisis fuelled by falling international student enrolment and allegations of institutional mismanagement.
Here’s what the endowment tax in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ may mean for your college tuition
CNBC
The “one big beautiful” tax-and-spending package President Donald Trump signed on Friday included several significant changes for higher education — among them, an increased tax on the endowment income of the nation’s top colleges.
Student loans are about to get worse
Vox
University tuition in the United States is notoriously expensive — so much so that Americans currently have over $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. But now, the routine process of taking out student loans has been overhauled as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week.
Canada’s unions warn against austerity
Canadian Labour Congress
Prime Minister Carney’s instruction to cabinet to identify deep operational savings is a dangerous step in the wrong direction, one that puts critical public services and the workers who deliver them on the chopping block.
Sask. health care workers protest in downtown Regina over wages and working conditions
CTV News
Health care workers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) gathered outside a downtown Regina hotel, voicing their frustrations over the ongoing contract negotiations between the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Care Organizations (SAHO).
‘Trust is gone’ after lengthy Canadian Hearing Services strike, some deaf clients say
CTV News
In early June, Jessica Sergeant waited five and a half hours for a sign language interpreter to arrive at her Ottawa hospital room while she had a cardiac emergency.
Canada’s 2025 Shift: Rising Wages Amid Layoffs & Immigration Slowdowns
Immigration News Canada
Canada’s economy is at a pivotal moment. As wage growth accelerates, unemployment rates rise, and post-secondary institutions face unprecedented challenges, the nation grapples with the fallout of global trade tensions and domestic policy shifts.
What the Second World War can teach us about the value of DEI
Globe and Mail
What can Second World War teach us about today’s workplace? Everything – if we’re paying attention.
U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly decrease
Globe and Mail
The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting employers may be holding on to workers despite other indications of a cooling labor market.
31 construction workers reach safety after partial collapse of Los Angeles industrial tunnel
ABC News
Thirty-one construction workers inside a huge industrial tunnel in Los Angeles made it to safety after a portion of it collapsed Wednesday evening, an outcome officials called a blessing after they initially feared much worse.
Federal agencies can resume mass layoffs, Supreme Court rules
Government Executive
Federal agencies across government can resume laying off their employees en masse after the Supreme Court reversed a court order that barred those reductions, with several agencies likely to move swiftly to start cutting staff.
July 9, 2025
The price is not right (yet): $10-a-day child care falling short of target
CCPA
This, our tenth annual child care survey, is likely to be the last of its kind as Canada moves rapidly toward much lower, set child care fees. With the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care plan’s next fee reduction milestone—average $10-a-day fees for all children aged 0 to 5—coming up in April 2026, we wanted to take stock of how close (or far) parent fees are from meeting that target.
Ottawa set to miss 2026 deadline for establishing $10-a-day child care: report
Winnipeg Free Press
Ottawa is expected to miss its 2026 deadline to implement $10-a-day child care services across the country, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said in a new report published on Wednesday.
Dalhousie faculty vote in favour of strike action ahead of conciliation talks with university
Global News
A majority of Dalhousie University faculty say they’re in favour of a strike as talks resume this week with the school’s Board of Governors.
Most of Nova Scotia's universities are in the red. Here's why, and what's next
CBC
Nova Scotia's universities are planning cuts, program reviews and tuition increases to grapple with budget shortfalls over the coming year.
10,000 Ontario college layoffs, 600 programmes scrapped: Canada education is hurting, and there may be an India connection
WION
Canada higher education crisis: Indians and other international students are slowly removing Canada as a favourite destination for higher education, and the country is feeling the pinch now. The Trudeau-era crackdowns on immigration, including on international student visas and work permits, have contributed to a crisis in Canada's higher education system. Many colleges are laying off staff and rolling back several programmes.
Coalition against cuts in Quebec education network grows, petition nears 150,000 signatures
CTV News
Discontent over budget cuts in education is continuing steadily as the coalition grows and the petition on the National Assembly website nears 150,000 signatures.
AI is driving down the price of knowledge – universities have to rethink what they offer
The Conversation
For a long time, universities worked off a simple idea: knowledge was scarce. You paid for tuition, showed up to lectures, completed assignments and eventually earned a credential.
$725K Settlement in University of North Texas Academic Freedom Case
Reason
Here's a summary of the underlying legal issue, as reported in Jackson v. Wright, decided in 2022 by Judge Amos Mazzant (E.D. Tex.):
Trial Over Free Speech on Campus, and Trump’s Student Crackdown, Begins
New York Times
A federal judge in Boston on Monday took in the opening salvos of a trial expected to cut to the heart of several of the most divisive issues in U.S. politics, including President Trump, Israel and free speech on college campuses.
Rogers refuses to return to bargaining table; continues to undermine Abbotsford workers’ right to strike
USW
Rogers Communications continues to refuse to return to the bargaining table with striking workers in Abbotsford, B.C., choosing instead to bring in managers from Alberta and other parts of British Columbia to do the work of unionized employees who have been exercising their legal right to strike since June 19, 2025.
Hamilton water workers reach tentative deal with city after nearly 3 month strike
CBC
The near three-month strike by 54 Hamilton water workers may now be over, as the city and the union representing those workers reached a tentative agreement Monday.
Cape Breton unionized construction workers on strike to restore pandemic concessions
CBC
Unionized construction workers in Cape Breton went on strike Monday, looking for wage increases after making what they call "substantial" concessions during the pandemic to keep the industry working under difficult conditions.
Unions warn public service will be ‘bearing the brunt’ of federal government’s savings plan
CTV News
Unions representing federal workers say Canadians will bear the cost of expected cuts to the public service as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government prepares to tighten the belt and find savings in day-to-day operating costs.
Montreal slashes jobs in bid to save $50 million, sparking union backlash
The Gazette
The City of Montreal is eliminating around 200 administrative positions as part of a cost-cutting plan it says will save $50 million annually.
July 8, 2025
Canada Post, union say still no date for offer vote: ‘Chaos and confusion’
Global News
It has been more than three weeks since the federal jobs minister ordered a vote by Canada Post workers on the “final” contract offer by the Crown corporation, but there is still no set date for that to happen.
Liberals will need to rethink their promised budget cuts
CCPA
The Liberal campaign platform promised big public sector “productivity” savings, but if you compare it to federal data, a concerning picture emerges. Some key highlights:
How the Liberals are eroding workers’ Charter-protected rights
Canadian Dimension
In mid-June, Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hadju asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to conduct and oversee a vote. The voters are to be Canada Post office workers. They are to decide, as individuals, whether they want to accept the last offer made by their employer to their union. Their union had rejected it. If the employees, despite their union’s stance, accept the employer’s offer, a death blow will have been struck against the union. If, as one would hope is more likely, they support their union and reject the offer, Hadju will likely refer the matter to the CIRB which—as its track record indicates—will decide that the impasse cannot be resolved and that an arbitrator should settle the dispute. The union will thus have had its right to strike aborted. I expect the minister to express her and the government’s disappointment that it had to come to this, even though this outcome was engineered by that government.
Amazon workers stage demonstration on first day of Prime Day
CityNews
Amazon workers in Montreal will demonstrate outside the Quebec Labour Minister’s office to denounce what they have called “inaction” on the part of the provincial government in “holding Amazon accountable for mass layoffs and failing to provide support for workers’ transitions,” according to a press release.
Porter Airlines Pilots Set To Join ALPA, Currently Largest Non-Unionized Carrier In Canada
Simple Flying
Porter Airlines is currently the largest airline in Canada to not have its pilots represented by a union. This could soon change, as a growing push for unionization has led to a vote among the carrier's pilots. The airline, which is based at the alternative Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport, might soon have to change its approach to labor relations. If enough pilots submit their cards and pay their fees in favor of unionizing, then they could soon see representation by the Air Line Pilots Association, currently the largest pilot union in Canada.
Common Dreams
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put 144 employees on leave after they signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration's "harmful" policies.
UK bosses to be banned from using NDAs to cover up misconduct at work
The Guardian
Bosses in the UK will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence employees who have suffered harassment and discrimination in the workplace as part of the government’s overhaul of workers’ rights.
No of Italian workers to fall by 700,000 in 5 years - UPB
ANSA
The number of workers in Italy is set to drop by 700,000 over the next five years due to the nation's declining birth rate and its ageing population, the head of the Parliamentary Budget Office (UPB) told a hearing of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the demographic transition.
BHP ordered to pay workers an average $30,000 more after defeat in landmark labour hire ruling
ABC
Mining giant BHP has been defeated in a landmark test of the federal government's "same job, same pay" laws and ordered to pay 2,200 of its Central Queensland coal miners an average of $30,000 more.
Pulling plug on WSD’s Virtual School ‘no big loss’
Winnipeg Free Press
Online learning in Manitoba has largely reverted to its pre-pandemic state following the closure of the Virtual School.
New 104-space daycare to be built at Cape Breton University
CTV News
A new child-care centre with 104 spaces is coming to Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S.
‘It’s just bots talking to bots:’ AI is running rampant on college campuses as professors and students lean on the tech
Fortune
AI use is continuing to cause trouble on college campuses, but this time it’s professors who are in the firing line. While it was once faculty at higher institutions who were up in arms about students’ use of AI, now some students are getting increasingly irked about their professors’ reliance on it.
$118M in Tennessee K-12 funding is held up in Trump federal funding review
Chalkbeat
More than $118 million for Tennessee schools and educational programs is in limbo after the Trump administration froze federal funding last week that had been approved by Congress.
Florida’s higher ed makeover: Attacks, resistance and all-out war — with DeSantis leading the charge
Florida Trident
In Florida, and across America, higher education is facing unprecedented attacks — affecting what subjects can be taught, how university presidents can be ousted, whether various institutions will lose federal funding and if diversity and inclusion offices are even allowed to exist.
The Trump administration pushed out a university president – its latest bid to close the American mind
The Guardian
Under pressure from the Trump administration, the University of Virginia’s president of nearly seven years, James Ryan, stepped down on Friday, declaring that while he was committed to the university and inclined to fight, he could not in good conscience push back just to save his job.
Mass dismissals of Education Department civil rights complaints prompt concern from former officials
Politico
The Education Department dismissed civil rights complaints at such a rapid clip this year that former officials and advocates are concerned about a core agency function amid Trump administration plans to make deep staffing cuts.
July 7, 2025
NDP government spent $94K promoting school nutrition program expansion
Winnipeg Free Press
The Kinew government spent more money promoting its universal school meal program this year than it did feeding students in some small divisions.
Who’s afraid of academic freedom?
University Affairs
Academic freedom is at the heart of universities’ missions, but political polarization around the world has made it a prime target for some groups and governments. Canada is not immune.
‘The American system is being destroyed’: academics on leaving US for ‘scientific asylum’ in France
The Guardian
It was on a US-bound flight in March, as Brian Sandberg stressed about whether he would be stopped at security, that the American historian knew the time had come for him to leave his home country.
Advocates express alarm over ED’s civil rights complaint dismissals
Politico
The Education Department’s civil rights arm is dismissing complaints at a rapid clip, prompting concern from former officials and advocates about its function amid staffing cuts.
How Republicans’ Endowment Tax Will Hurt Higher Education
The Nation
When President Trump first signed a bill in 2017 eliminating the tax-exempt status many private university endowments enjoyed, Rep. Kevin Brady—the key congressional Republican overseeing the tax code rewrite as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee—said the goal of the new tax was “pretty simple: It encourages colleges to use their major endowments to lower the cost of education.”
The Trump administration pushed out a university president – its latest bid to close the American mind
The Guardian
Under pressure from the Trump administration, the University of Virginia’s president of nearly seven years, James Ryan, stepped down on Friday, declaring that while he was committed to the university and inclined to fight, he could not in good conscience push back just to save his job.
Accessibility minister will keep her job after comments about sign-language interpreter: Manitoba premier
CBC
Premier Wab Kinew said Manitoba's accessibility minister will remain in her position after she apologized for swearing into a hot mic about sharing a stage with a sign-language interpreter.
WSIB, union say they've reached tentative deal
CBC
More than a month after talks broke down and workers hit the picket lines, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU) say they have reached a tentative agreement.
Members Always Have a Voice: Why Canada Post is Misleading You Into Thinking You Don’t
CUPW
In its recent communications about the upcoming forced vote, Canada Post has said: “This vote gives employees the opportunity to have a voice, especially as we begin to implement needed changes for the postal system.”
Fall of Hudson’s Bay will spur change for workers, labour groups, lawyers hope
BNN Bloomberg
When Hudson’s Bay employees rallied in front of two of the iconic retailer’s properties in late May, days before the retailer closed its doors for good, they knew there was no hope of saving their jobs.
Quebec paramedics on strike with essential services maintained in the province
CityNews
Some 3,300 paramedics who are members of CSN unions have been on strike since midnight on Sunday. They have been without a collective agreement since April 2023 and hope to “put pressure on the Treasury Board (…) to reach a collective agreement settlement,” stated a press release issued Sunday morning.
Strike could happen in August if 10,000 flight attendants are without deal in Canada
inSauga
Some 10,000 flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge who are seeking a new collective bargaining agreement could be in a legal position to strike on Aug. 16 “at the earliest,” their union says.
Common Dreams
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put 144 employees on leave after they signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration's "harmful" policies.
NHS bosses fear fresh strikes in England as resident doctors seek 29% pay rise
The Guardian
Hospitals are bracing for a fresh round of strikes by resident doctors seeking a 29% pay rise, amid warnings that stoppages could lead to hundreds of thousands of appointments and operations being cancelled.
French workers strike over reduced remote work: 'If I don't have the option, my life is completely dedicated to the company'
Le Monde
A breath of fresh air. When remote working became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, Thibault (not his real name), age 46, found a better balance between his professional and personal life. "It allowed me to see my children when they woke up in the morning and to put them to bed at night, which makes a huge difference. And the burden of looking after the children was no longer solely on my wife. If I don't have remote work, my life is entirely devoted to my company from morning to night, including the commute," said the employee of the French banking giant Société Générale, which rebranded as SG in 2023. On June 27, he was one of many who went on strike to protest the bank's announcement of reduced remote work. On Thursday, July 3, as called by unions, he, like all employees, was asked to come "on site" wearing a green ribbon to show his resolve.
July 4, 2025
Manitoba Government Makes It Easier To Invest In Health Research
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government is launching a new clinical trials office to fast-track health research and announcing the new Research Improvements Through Harmonization in Manitoba (RITHIM) project to grow Manitoba’s bioscience sector, Innovation and New Technology Mike Moroz, Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses and Advanced Education and Training Minister Renée Cable announced today.
Manitoba seeks to grow innovation, investment in bioscience sector
Winnipeg Free Press
The province is launching a new clinical trials office to fast-track health research and creating an initiative to grow Manitoba’s bioscience sector.
Wilfrid Laurier University's Centre for Indigegogy has permanently closed
CBC
Wilfrid Laurier University's Centre for Indigegogy closed for good on Tuesday.
Academics call on Ottawa to speed up Palestinian student visas
CTV News
A group of Canadian academics is calling on the federal government to speed up approvals of student visas for Palestinians after two students who were accepted at a Canadian university died before they could leave the region.
Tension at Montreal college worse after Quebec’s investigation
CP24
A recent Quebec government investigation into the climate at two Montreal junior colleges may have had a chilling effect on teachers, according to the director general of one of the schools.
‘Hacktivist’ steals data of 2.5M Columbia University students, employees and applicants in politically motivated cyberattack
New York Post
A seasoned “hacktivist” reportedly stole sensitive data from more than two million Columbia University students, applicants and employees in a targeted cyberattack officials believe was politically motivated.
Smartphone bans in Dutch schools have improved learning, study finds
The Guardian
Bans on smartphones in Dutch schools have improved the learning environment despite initial protests, according to a study commissioned by the government of the Netherlands.
Kicking the tires on a career driving school buses
Winnipeg Free Press
Summer break may be in full swing, but Manitoba’s largest employer of school bus drivers is ramping up recruitment to tackle a chronic workforce shortage.
Highest-paid City of Winnipeg workers revealed in report
CTV News
A City of Winnipeg report shows that the former chief of police and CAO were among the highest-paid city workers in 2024.
Calling prison labour ‘rehabilitaiton’ is misleading, advocates say
Rabble
A new short documentary film highlights the realities of incarcerated workers in Ontario and Canada more broadly. Working for Freedom, created by Ottawa filmmaker Conor DeVries, follows a woman who has been incarcerated at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre multiple times where she worked in the sewing room. Ottawa Prisoner Legal Supports requested her name be omitted from the article due to employability concerns.
UPS to offers voluntary buyout packages to its US drivers
Reuters
Parcel giant UPS said on Thursday it will offer voluntary buyouts to its full-time U.S. drivers as part of the largest network reconfiguration in its history — a sweeping overhaul that includes cutting 20,000 jobs and closing 73 facilities.
July 3, 2025
U of W governance concerns cited
Winnipeg Free Press
Twelve days after a University of Winnipeg board member resigned in protest over governance concerns at the cash-strapped campus, his ex-colleagues approved a balanced budget that rests on continued austerity measures.
Alberta teacher strike talks continue into summer
Shootin the Breeze
Despite multiple discussions, Alberta teachers remain closer than ever to strike.
Skilled scientists at these government agencies are quietly being let go, union reps say
PBS
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged that scientists are not part of his workforce reduction efforts. But many scientists recruited for their expertise at the nation’s top health agencies have either already lost their jobs or are expecting to, according to interviews with employees and internal documents reviewed by PBS News.
Trump administration freezes over $70 million in federal funds for Oklahoma education
The Oklahoman
The Trump administration is indefinitely withholding more than $70 million in federal education programs meant for Oklahoma students and educators, including money for teacher development, English learners, after-care programs and migrant children.
University of Alabama professors face backlash, fear of losing funding under anti-DEI law, lawyer says
AL.com
A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit alleging that anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) law signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last year violates the constitutional rights of professors and students.
UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics, report finds
The Guardian
UK universities have failed to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research, according to a report.
York Region paramedic shouldn't have been fired over Israel comments: union, law experts
CBC
The Centre for Free Expression is calling for the reinstatement of a York Region paramedic whose union says she was fired over a social media post criticizing Israel's military operations in the Middle East.
B.C. labour board certifies Victoria Uber drivers’ union, a first in Canada, says UFCW
CTV News
Uber drivers in B.C.’s capital have successfully unionized, achieving “the first union certification of its kind for Uber drivers in Canada,” according to UFCW Canada.
Canada's youth job market slumps most among world's major economies
Financial Post
Young Canadians are facing a labour market that has deteriorated faster than in any other major advanced economy.
Thousands of women who take maternity leave lose jobs despite legal protections: report
Globe and Mail
Arina Kharlamova was a freelancer when her first child was born. She found balancing work and a new baby so stressful that she sought out a permanent job before getting pregnant a second time, so she could access maternity leave.
Cuts to Canada’s public service leading to overwork, burnout, and worsening conditions for workers
PSAC
The recent results of the 2024 Public Service Employee Survey paint a picture of the growing strain put on federal public service workers who are being asked to do more with less as job cuts and uncertainty continue to impact workers. Public service workers say they feel stretched to the breaking point, and the survey results from more than 186,000 workers indicate that there have been no substantive improvements to many of the systemic issues reported by workers.
Microsoft to lay off 9,000 workers in latest round of job cuts
CBS News
Microsoft is laying off just under 4% of its workforce in a new round of job cuts, the company said Wednesday.
Amazon robots are on course to outnumber its human workers
FreightWaves.com
E-commerce conglomerate Amazon is celebrating the deployment of its one-millionth robot as the company continues to advance its automation efforts.
Amazon Workers Defy Dictates of Automation
Labor Notes
Amazon delivery stations are being outfitted with robots across the country, leading to fewer workers and speedup for the workers that remain. Workers have reacted with defiance at the delivery station where I work.
White House tries to calm industry worries over migrant workers amid aggressive deportation campaign
CNN
As the Trump administration has doubled down on its hardline immigration agenda, behind the scenes senior Trump officials and the president himself have grappled with the consequences of that crackdown against a key portion of the workforce: migrant workers.
In labour-starved Japan, workers land another bumper pay hike
Reuters
Japanese companies agreed to raise wages by an average 5.25% this year, their biggest pay hike in 34 years and the third straight year of robust growth as they grapple with severe labour shortages and seek to shield workers from inflation.
Greek unions speak out after government pushes for 13-hour workday
MSN
The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) responded with an angry statement to the Labour Ministry’s intention to extend working hours to up to 13 per day for the same employer.
