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 20, 2025

Second alleged assault at Oak Park High School prompts arrests
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg police made arrests in a second alleged assault at a Charleswood high school, while investigating an attack against a different student who is a newcomer from Ukraine.

'Anger, hopelessness,' as Sask Polytech lays off more than 120 staff: union
CBC
The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union says 58 non-faculty employees have been laid off from Saskatchewan Polytechnic since January, adding to the 66 faculty members who also lost their jobs at the school this year.

Students and Workers Reject Bill 33: Hands Off Our Education!
Globe and Mail
With the imminent return of the Ontario Legislature, students and workers are sending a final message to the government: reject Bill 33. 

How Alberta Teachers Are Winning the Public Opinion Battle
The Tyee
As a strike by about 51,000 teachers enters its second week, the Alberta Teachers’ Association is winning the fight for public support.

College Part-Time Support Staff Bargaining Update #16: Part-time college support staff vote “YES” and deliver strike mandate
OPSEU
The results are in! This week, part-time support staff took a massive step forward in holding our first ever strike vote, and 64% of us have voted “YES”! 

Report points to longer waits, higher fees for Manitoba freedom of information
Winnipeg Free Press
The Manitoba government has been taking longer to respond to freedom of information requests and collecting more money from people filing them, newly released figures show.

Vancouver’s Film and TV Industry is Facing One of its ‘Toughest Slowdowns’. Animators and Visual Effects Workers Are Unionizing to Take Back Control.
PressProgress
Amid pressure from Donald Trump’s tariffs, the threat of artificial intelligence and the disruptive influence of streaming services, Canadian animation and visual effects workers in Vancouver are organizing their workplaces to secure their jobs and raise wages.

Ontario hit NextStar EV battery plant in Windsor with 10 stop work orders over hazards, documents show
CBC
Workers at a massive, publicly subsidized electric vehicle (EV) battery plant project in southwestern Ontario have faced repeated health and safety hazards, including high levels of carbon monoxide, electrical risks and flooded parking lots, according to government records obtained by CBC News.

Striking B.C. public service workers agree to mediation after 7 weeks on pickets
CBC
The union representing 34,000 striking public sector workers says it will enter into mediation over a labour dispute that has threatened the delivery of services in the province.

Ontario labour minister faces resignation calls amid discord between public, private sector unions
CTV News
The minister in charge of Ontario’s Skills Development Fund is facing calls for his resignation from a union leader in the wake of allegations that over $100 million for jobs retraining have been funneled to projects helmed by political allies.

Computer science graduates face shifting job market as AI disrupts entry-level roles
CTV News
Once seen as a near-guaranteed path to a well-paying tech job, computer science is no longer the sure-fire bet it once was for graduates.

Working mothers are paying the price for return-to-office order
CTV News
As companies across Canada enforce return-to-office (RTO) orders for employees, some wonder how to balance their responsibilities, especially mothers who juggle caregiving with their full-time careers.

Quebec union warns omnibus bill could put public sector workers’ safety at risk
Toronto Star
One of the major unions in Quebec is calling attention to an omnibus bill it says could put the health and safety of public sector workers at risk.

Workers in Ontario were shortchanged nearly $200 million in unpaid wages, a new report says: ‘A massive crisis happening in plain sight’
Toronto Star
Alberto Ojeda is still waiting for more than $31,000 a Toronto employer owes him — wages the provincial Ministry of Labour ordered paid more than three years ago. Despite a clear ruling from the ministry and a detailed investigation by an employment standards officer, seen by the Star, the province has yet to recover a cent.

Edmonton care workers try to unionize
Alberta Worker
Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their latest new applications report. In it was an application for union certification.

Biggest US labor unions fuel No Kings protests against Trump: ‘You need a voice to have freedom’
The Guardian
Recovery from a recent surgery for colon cancer will not stop James Phipps, 75, from attending Saturday’s No Kings demonstration in Chicago, Illinois. “I have a burning desire to be a part of the protest.” he said, “because that’s all I’ve done all my life.”

As Kaiser Workers Strike, ‘Not-for-Profit’ Is Sitting on $67 Billion
American Prospect
Forty-five thousand workers at Kaiser Permanente—ranging from nurses to therapists to pharmacists—are on strike across the West Coast and Hawaii, in the country’s largest labor action of 2025, and the largest strike in the U.S. since the October 2024 longshore workers strike. The five-day limited-duration strike comes as workers continue to face major short staffing and wage increases that have lagged behind inflation in some of the country’s highest-cost-of-living areas.

October 17, 2025

Manitoba Government Acts to Protect Democracy and Fundamental Freedoms
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government has introduced legislation that would require any provincial legislation invoking Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, commonly known as the notwithstanding clause, to be automatically referred to the Manitoba Court of Appeal for an opinion on whether the law violates charter rights, Premier Wab Kinew and Justice Minister Matt Wiebe announced today.

Province will consider back-to-work legislation for Alberta teachers if strike continues to drag
CBC
Alberta's finance minister says the province will consider back-to-work legislation if teachers are still off the job when the legislature returns later this month.

McGill faculty association votes to boycott Israeli cultural and academic institutions
CTV News
Teachers and librarians at a McGill University association voted to boycott Israel’s cultural and academic institutions this week as debates continue to swirl about academic freedom.

Sask. Polytech unions say there’s a chill over faculty as over 100 staff laid off since April
CTV News
The number of layoffs at Saskatchewan Polytechnic continues to grow.

Atlantic Canada sees sharp decline in international student enrolment
Globe and Mail
International student enrolment is down sharply at universities in Atlantic Canada this year as the federal government’s cap on the number of study permits it will process takes a toll on the postsecondary sector.

Canada’s postsecondary system must pivot to meet economic challenges ahead, RBC report says
Globe and Mail
The Canadian postsecondary system should consider major changes to meet the economic challenges facing the country, according to a new report from Royal Bank of Canada.

At least 8,000 people rally for public education in Edmonton Thursday
CBC
Vehicle car horns echoed in downtown Edmonton Thursday morning, as some motorists rooted for thousands of educators rallying in the area on Day 11 of the provincewide teachers’ strike.

4 universities reject White House funding deal with attached demands. 5 schools yet to respond
CNN
The battle for academic freedom and institutional sovereignty in higher education continues to play out as another university has rejected a White House offer for expanded access to federal funding in return for agreeing to a series of demands.

Trump administration’s layoffs would gut department overseeing special education, eliminating parents’ last resort
The Conversation
A federal judge on Oct. 16, 2025, paused the Trump administration’s latest round of layoffs, which targeted more than 4,000 federal workers at a range of agencies, including 466 workers at the Department of Education.

Scotiabank lays off staff across Canada as it streamlines costs
Globe and Mail
Bank of Nova Scotia is laying off staff across its Canadian banking unit, part of the lender’s continued efforts to adjust its businesses through its multiyear turnaround plan

‘A bit of a chess match:’ Postal workers union says shifting to rotating strikes part of strategic push to end labour stalemate
iPolitics
Canada Post employees are back on the job after a two-week-long strike, but their union says it will continue to use work stoppages to press for a new labour deal.

Canada pays highly educated immigrants less money than the U.S., study finds
National Post
Canada is “relatively successful” at attracting highly educated immigrants, but their counterparts in the United States earn more and have access to better opportunities, a new study says.

Unions sue Trump administration over social media 'surveillance' program
NBC
Three labor unions represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Trump administration on Thursday over a program that is searching the social media posts of visa holders, arguing that the practice violates the First Amendment rights of people legally in the United States.

More than 100,000 workers prepare to strike in New Zealand
World Socialist Web Site
More than 100,000 public sector workers—including teachers, nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers—are preparing to strike on October 23, in what is expected to be New Zealand’s largest industrial action in more than 40 years.