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.
February 27, 2026
Manitoba Government Announces Budget Day
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government will present the 2026-27 provincial budget on Tuesday, March 24, Finance Minister Adrien Sala announced today.
Manitoba Government Increases Venture Capital Tax Credit to $30 Million
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government is taking action to stimulate private investment and accelerate the growth of early‑stage and scaling companies by increasing the Small Business Venture Capital Tax Credit to $30 million from $22 million, Innovation and New Technology Minister Mike Moroz announced today.
Manitoba's provincial budget to be released March 24
CBC
Manitoba's NDP government is set to present its budget on March 24, under the spectre of an increasing deficit.
As Manitoba prepares for next wildfire season, concerns rise around staffing vacancies
CBC
Manitoba wants to fill at least the same number of seasonal positions to battle wildfires in the province this year as in 2025, but there are concerns about filling all the jobs and making sure isolated communities have the resources they need to respond.
Former Diageo workers speak out on deal that keeps Crown Royal on shelves
CBC
As workers filed out of Diageo's Amherstburg, Ont., Crown Royal bottling facility for the last time on Wednesday, some expressed anger — not just at the company that put them out of work, but at the provincial government for not following through on a promise to pull Crown Royal off shelves if the plant closed.
CUPE 500 calls on Winnipeg City Council to reject GFL garbage contract
CUPE
Winnipeg’s largest union says that Winnipeg City Council needs to go back to the drawing board on the Request for Proposals, RFPs, for garbage and recycling services.
Ten years after Phoenix and public service capacity continues to erode
Rabble
The Phoenix pay system marked its tenth anniversary on Monday, a moment labour leaders say should remind the government of the risks associated with deep cuts to public services. First launched in 2016, the Phoenix pay system promised to modernize payroll for federal public servants. Instead, the system was plagued with errors, affecting millions of workers and costing taxpayers billions.
Migrant farm workers’ class-action suit against Canadian government certified
Toronto Star
An Ontario court has cleared a major hurdle for migrant farm workers to pursue a Charter challenge against Ottawa for systemic racism and discrimination.
Block lays off nearly half its staff because of AI. Its CEO said most companies will do the same
CTV News
Block, the company behind Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is cutting its staff by 40 per cent. The reason: “intelligence tools,” according to a letter to shareholders by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
“Hacking” Or Union Organizing? Airline Sues Two Pilots Over Employee Data Access
Live and Let's Fly
Regional airline SkyWest Airlines is suing two of its former pilots, alleging they hacked into the company’s internal computer system and extracted the private personal information of thousands of coworkers in an effort to unionize fellow pilots.
US court will not block Trump from ending union bargaining for federal workers
Reuters
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected a bid by unions to block President Donald Trump's administration from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to engage in union bargaining with U.S. agencies, reversing a lower court's ruling.
Consumer Protection Workers Survived DOGE Attacks through Quick Mobilization
Labor Notes
Federal workers and unions have proven to be a bulwark defending the rule of law and vital public services during President Trump’s second term. Our union at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a case in point.
St. James-Assiniboia School Division proposes nine per cent tax hike
Winnipeg Free Press
St. James-Assiniboia School Division is proposing a nine per cent hike in education taxes to make “minor improvements” next fall.
Threats against 11 Winnipeg schools a ‘hoax,’ police call it ‘deeply concerning’
Global News
Winnipeg Police are raising the alarm about a “deeply concerning trend” after responding to nearly a dozen calls for service regarding threats targeting schools throughout the city, all of which they say have turned out not to be credible.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University's president is absent — and no one is saying why
Vancouver Sun
Kwantlen Polytechnic University is dealing with the unexplained absence of its new president for the past several weeks.
Laurentian board quietly approved 11% raises for its president, provost last fall
Sudbury.com
Minutes from a closed October meeting have revealed 11-per-cent pay raises were approved last fall for Laurentian University’s two most senior leaders, its president and provost, information that’s only coming out now, despite the passage of five months.
Student union say OSAP cuts, tuition increases disproportionately affect Lakehead University
CBC
The Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU) says changes being made to Ontario’s post-secondary funding will have detrimental effects on students at both its Orillia and Thunder Bay campuses.
Education minister investigating reports of IDF soldiers speaking at Jewish schools in Montreal
The Gazette
Calling the situation “extremely concerning,” Quebec’s Education Ministry says it is looking into two Montreal Jewish schools that invited soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to speak to students.
February 26, 2026
Winnipeg School Division proposes 9.3 per cent tax increase
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba’s largest school division has tabled a draft budget that raises local property taxes by upwards of nine per cent.
Why AI is creating stress for teachers
CTV News
While artificial intelligence can help create efficiency in the classroom, a new report is showing it’s also a source of stress for some teachers.
School board takeovers raise alarm for labour unions
TBNewsWatch.com
Local teachers' unions and other labour groups are working to bring attention to the possibility school board trustees could be sidelined by an administrator appointed by the Ontario government, or perhaps replaced with an entirely new governance model.
Western University mentorship program aims to reshape belonging for Black nursing students
CBC
When Safeyyah Raji looks out at her nursing class at Western University, she sees possibility — but also responsibility.
N.B. faculty, student unions call for halt to proposed post-secondary education cuts
CBC
Groups representing post-secondary education faculty and students are warning against government proposals to cut funding for higher education in the province.
Funding Inequities and the Threat to Specialized Art and Design Education
OCADFA LinkedIn - The Cost of Conformity
My return to OCAD University this summer after two years at @NSCAD [Nova Scotia College of Art and Design], has been a bit more jarring than I originally assumed it would be. The financial and political landscape of both institutions were far more similar than anticipated, yet the organizational cultures differed drastically.
Peter MacKinnon: University of Alberta should be applauded for resisting affirmative action
National Post
Proponents of EDI too often overlook or downplay its essential feature: it is discriminatory and contrary to section 15(1) of the Charter and its equivalent in provincial human rights codes. Promoting diversity sounds better than practicing discrimination, but the two have gone hand in hand in our universities and other public settings. As the Post’s Tristin Hopper observed: Canadian universities have engaged in race-centric hiring and admissions, and in some cases, race-segregated student spaces and events.
NYU Professors Vote to Strike After Bosses Stonewall for Months
The American Prospect
An overwhelming majority of New York University contract professors voted to strike late Friday night, after more than a year of waiting for administrators to finish bargaining a first contract in good faith.
The Union That Doesn’t Like Confrontation
PressProgress
When Edmonton Strathcona MP and NDP leadership candidate Heather McPherson introduced a bill to ban “company unions” in the legislature last month, she singled out one union in particular: the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC).
Tears, hugs outside Crown Royal plant after Amherstburg, Ont., workers complete last shift
CBC
There were hugs, tears and frustration outside the Diageo Crown Royal bottling facility in Amherstburg, Ont., as workers left the plant for the final time Wednesday afternoon.
N.S. Social Workers Act repealed without notice, consultation: college
CBC
The Nova Scotia government's move to repeal the Social Workers Act was done without notice or consultation, according to the province's social workers regulating board.
IAM Union and Air Canada Begin Contract Negotiations
IAM Union
The IAM Union has officially launched a new round of contract negotiations with Air Canada, marking the start of discussions following a 10-year agreement and what union leaders describe as a critical moment for members.
Workers Need More Paths to Join the Labor Movement
Labor Notes
It shouldn’t be so hard for workers to join a union. Nearly half of non-unionized workers in the U.S. say they would join a union if they could. Yet only 1 in 10 belongs to one, and that number continues to fall.
US weekly jobless claims increase marginally as labor market stabilizes
Reuters
The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits increased marginally last week and the unemployment rate appeared to hold steady in February amid a stable labor market.
Why your coworker is pretending to be so busy
Business Insider
When Taylor Goucher was in the military, he used to joke with colleagues about a lieutenant colonel who would scan the parking lot at the end of the day to see whose cars were still there.
Number of young people in UK not in work or education rises closer to 1m
The Guardian
The number of young people in the UK not working or in education has risen closer to a million, figures show, as a government adviser warned that society’s expectation of each generation doing better than the next was “now being broken”.
February 25, 2026
Windsor Park Collegiate cancels in-person classes Wednesday because of ‘concerning threat’
Winnipeg Free Press
Citing “a concerning threat made against the school,” Windsor Park Collegiate is cancelling in-person classes Wednesday.
‘Pushed every boundary’: student teachers wowed at U of W conference
Winnipeg Free Press
Student teachers stepped to the front of the class at a University of Winnipeg conference that featured a record number of research presentations and an international twist.
Winnipeg's Pembina Trails School Division proposes near-10% mill rate increase
CBC
Craig Stahlke worked at the Pembina Trails School Division for more than four decades, and has spent the past four years on its board of trustees, but he can't recall the last time the Winnipeg division considered such a sizeable mill rate increase.
With Ontario’s student-loan reforms, universities must now fight for their very lives
Globe and Mail
What is a university degree worth? Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants prospective university students and their parents to ponder that question before committing to any program.
There’s no U in team
The Globe and Mail
Alicia Gilmour’s final season with McGill University women’s rugby didn’t feel like a season at all.
N.B. universities defend their value amid ongoing discussions about possible cuts
CTV News
New Brunswick universities are in discussions with the Susan Holt government about what impacts the province’s financial situation might have on their operating grants.
Slowly killing research at Memorial University
The Independent
Selling underused university buildings is not, in itself, a bad idea. Signal Hill was never a campus. No classes were taught there, and no research that I know of was conducted there. Faculty who wished to use the space had to rent it, like anyone else. If its sale helps stabilize Memorial’s finances, so be it. One can only hope the proceeds are reinvested in the buildings most of us actually use—before they quite literally fall apart.
St. John’s University Decides To No Longer Recognize Faculty Unions
The Torch
St. John’s University will no longer recognize the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) or the Faculty Association as representatives of its faculty, according to an email from Rev. Brian J. Shanley sent to the university faculty, including professors, administrative assistants and other staff members on Feb. 19.
N.B. government floats idea to merge universities to reduce post-secondary department
CTV News
A government document listing 16 ideas on ways to save New Brunswick money within the post-secondary education department is creating concern on university campuses, although some feel much of the list is out of the question.
The War on Student Speech
Inside Higher Ed
Mohsen Madawi arrived for an interview with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester, Vt. on April 14 of last year with dreams of becoming an American citizen. Instead, he left in handcuffs.
Academic freedom concerns spark a surge of professors joining AAUP teacher union
Yahoo news
Two university professors were fired the same week in September - one at Texas A&M and another at Texas State - shortly after they each drew conservative outrage on social media.
Trump administration steps up efforts to scrutinize foreign funding of universities
Reuters
The Trump administration is stepping up work to uncover what it sees as malign foreign influence at U.S. colleges and universities, officials said on Monday as they announced that the State Department would assist the Department of Education in that effort.
Why are so many academics in the Epstein files? It’s not just about money
The Guardian
The Jeffrey Epstein story is often told as the intersection of two obsessions: sexual abuse and money. The recently released emails certainly contain significant evidence of both. But after more than two decades as a professor at Harvard, Cornell and Cambridge, I am most struck by the limitation of that frame – in part because it fails to explain why academics show up so consistently in these files.
Strike action underway in RM of Tache
Winnipeg Free Press
Strike action is now underway in the Rural Municipality of Tache after operating engineers in the RM walked off the job on Monday morning.
Man charged after driving through picket line in Taché
CBC
A man has been charged with assault and assault with a weapon after RCMP say a union leader was "pushed" by a truck at a picket line in Taché on Monday.
Vote to grey-list St. Boniface Hospital reflects concerns about safety for nurses and patients: union
CBC
Nurses at St. Boniface Hospital have voted in favour of grey-listing the facility — a decision their union says comes in the midst of ongoing concerns about violence, inadequate security measures and staffing pressures at the Winnipeg hospital.
Court to decide on WestJet settlement with female flight attendants
Radio Canada
Under the $4.5-million settlement, WestJet would admit no liability.
Canadian Union of Postal Workers set to vote on tentative deals in spring
CP24
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says its members will hold a ratification vote on tentative agreements with Canada Post between April 20 and May 30.
Canada’s ethnic and racial wage gap rivals it’s gender gap — but gets a fraction of the policy attention
The Conversation
Canada has spent decades confronting the gender pay gap, enacting legislation and building public awareness around the fact that women earn about 84 cents for every dollar men make. That gap persists because of systemic barriers, and is wider for women who face multiple forms of discrimination.
Sam Altman defends AI’s energy toll by saying it also takes a lot to ‘train a human’
The Guardian
The OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, has tried to ease concerns about how much power is used by artificial intelligence models by comparing it to the amount of energy required by human development.
Largest nurses strike in New York City history ends as holdout workers ratify contract
ABC News
The largest nurses strike in New York City history ended this weekend when the last holdouts in the 41-day labor action overwhelmingly voted to ratify a contract and agreed to return to work, officials said.
