Sorry to hear of the passing of Leo Gerard, former head of the Canadian and International Steelworkers' Union. I had the pleasure of meeting Leo several times. He was one of the smartest and toughest, but also kind people in the labour relations world. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Interesting discussion here about whether Canadian human rights legislation should include "political opinion/belief" as a prohibited ground. cfe.torontomu.ca/events/shoul... In Canada, some form of political opinion is protected everywhere except: Ontario, Alberta, Nunavut, Sask, and federal.

We buy a handful of Toronto Maple Leaf games a year thru someone with season’s tickets. Golds about 25 rows up behind Leaf bench. This year, a single ticket to the Edmonton Oilers game costs $675, face value. Montreal is $550 each. Cheapest: Ducks, Red Wings: $290. Nuts.

One of my favorite conferences to crash as a Canadian. Easy way to catch up on developments in U.S. work law. Alas, there’s a no-visit USA policy in effect for at least 4 years. (Maybe COSELL should consider visiting Canada during the Trump years!)

Postal workers have been on strike for months but hardly anyone has noticed. The union doesn’t think a full on walk out will help its members so it has been pushing for binding arbitration. Govts almost never order arbitration when the employer doesn’t want it. www.thestar.com/business/sus...

Perhaps one of my Alberta labor law friends can explain this complaint. It alleges the teachers’ union violated the Labor Relations Code by telling the public something the employer thinks is untrue. How could that be a Code violation, even if true? edmontonjournal.com/news/provinc...

Reminds me of the time, in 1939, that Supreme Court of Canada chastised Mr Christie for persisting in complaining about being denied a beer because he was black. After all, the servers were polite in their racism, so what’s the problem. The SCC ruled the bar could be racist. canlii.ca/t/fsmgg

This week’s Long Saturday Walk TM was a special treat, through my favorite park, the wild Hamstead Heath in North London. Turned into a 16 km doozy.

Made it to Oxford, where in typical fashion it is pouring. But it’s still beautiful. Thanks to Prof Anne Davies for putting me up at the ridiculously beautiful Brasenose College. Did the obligatory walk to Hogwarts this morning.

Returned to the London School of Economics with my comrade in arms Prof Ruth Dukes today, where we both did grad studies more years ago than we want to mention! Ruth is also the proud recipient of rare and priceless Law of Work swag. 1/2

Heading to London on @AirCanada soon. Flight’s an hour away. Are the flight attendants already working but not being paid for that work?

Labour Law Exam: If it’s true that Air Canada flight attendants earn less than the minimum wage when you include unpaid work, why can’t they just file complaints under the Canada Labour Code for violations of the minimum wage laws? www.thestar.com/business/air...

No big surprise that Air Canada flight attendants voted down the proposed settlement. The way the deal was structured there was an incentive to do so. The proposed deal that is rejected goes into effect except wages go to arbitration. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/w...

Today my Saturday Long Walk TM has left me lost in a forest in Cambridge with no obvious back to civilization. Usually I listen to an ebook, but today I’m listing to this fascinating podcast about Kawhi Leonard, who was paid $28 million to do nothing by a corrupt scam company!

New by @UMontreal Labour Law Professors Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, Anne-Julie Rolland, & Gilles Trudeau, breaking down #Bill89, Quebec's latest attack on freedom of association & the right to strike: What Does Quebec’s Bill 89 Mean For the Right to Strike? lawofwork.ca/what-does-qu...

New by @UMontreal Labour Law Professors Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, Anne-Julie Rolland, & Gilles Trudeau, breaking down #Bill89, Quebec's latest attack on freedom of association & the right to strike: What Does Quebec’s Bill 89 Mean For the Right to Strike? lawofwork.ca/what-does-qu...

What Does Quebec's Bill 89 Mean For the Right to Strike? https://lawofwork.ca/what-does-quebecs-bill-89-mean-for-the-right-to-strike/

Example of how unionized workers improve working conditions of other workers. Collective bargaining improvements in one situation feed back into other labour relations systems and influence outcomes there. There are spillover effects. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My son’s first university classes have been canceled by @DalhousieU’s extremely unusual decision to lockout full-time faculty represented by @dalfacultyassoc Lockout now two weeks long. Time to get back to the bargaining table and hash out a deal!

Where is the US labor movement in the Trump resistance? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

International Labour Organization adopts Canadian concept of “dependent contractor” as category of worker that is more like an employee than an entrepreneur.

@DalhousieU‬⁩ proposed arbitration to end its lockout of profs ⁦‪@dalfacultyassoc‬⁩ declined But story points out that arb proposal was only for wages & union had to drop everything else. Proposal is for show, so Dal can say “we offered arb but union is unreasonable” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Building fascism, Step 5: Eliminate effective independent unions, one of the only institutions capable of resisting oligarchs and fascists.

Humans are so stupid. Adopt policies that produce vast inequality, resentment, anger. Result: authoritarianism, war. Announce inequality is bad & fuels authoritarianism, war. Adopt policies that promote wealth distribution, voice. Turn against these policies. Produce inequality, etc Repeat.

“We never used to tolerate such high levels of compensation and inequality,” @marclee.bsky.social said. “Now we do. We’ve just been beaten over the head with it for a number of years.” @policyalternatives.ca #inequality www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com/national-new...

Every country has angry people and mentally tormented people. The U.S. isn’t special. The difference is in the US these people can buy guns like they’re buying fishing rods. This will never change.

New Post on Substack: "So Long Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, We Hardly Knew You" I discuss how Section 107 requires the Minister to believe that ordering the end of strikes will "promote settlements." It is now clear that the opposite is true. thelawofwork.substack.com/p/so-long-se...

When I teach the history of prohibited grounds in human rights law and how new ones are recognized as social attitudes evolve, I ask what ground is coming next. I say “how about AI”? Nervous laughter ensues. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Wrapping up vacation. In final night in #PrinceEdwardCounty it looks like a mountain range out beyond Lake Ontario.

Government overreach in labor relations in Canada inevitably produces a counter movement. In law, SCC finally recognized constitutional rights to collective bargaining & strike (after denying these rights exist for decades) only after BC & Saskatchewan govts passed ridiculously restrictive laws.

Found this beaut! Circa late 1980s, I’m on right with the hair. This is from Vancouver Province during national midget (U18) championships. I was on Mississauga Tomahawks. The BC team had the Gait bros & we had John Tavares. 3 of greatest lacrosse players ever in that game. And me! We lost.

Dear fellow Canadians, Don’t buy American- made products and then none of this matters. Best, DD

Carney government’s decision to intervene in Air Canada flight attendants’ strike backfired with public, new polling suggests Canadians overwhelmingly sided with flight attendants over Air Canada and Mark Carney’s government – including Carney’s own supporters

Working on research that traces historical cycles: Wars, fascism lead politicians to recognize crucial importance of democracy at work, collective bargaining to fight inequality, alienation. Then politicians forgot historical lessons & pursue market liberalization til inequality, fascism returns.

Unions do more than just improve wages and benefits. They build stronger communities and strengthen democracy. A new report from @epi.org shows that where unions thrive, communities thrive. Imagine what we could achieve if more people had a voice at work. www.epi.org/publication/...

Rare example of a Canadian university locking out professors at Dalhousie, starting this morning. Workers don’t get paid during a lockout and since classes don’t start for a couple of weeks, university figures it can put pressure on profs now. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

For those saying “union leaders should have been thrown in jail” for defying order that Air Canada flight attendants return to work, Curious as to what punishment should be ordered against @amazon executives who fired 4500 workers in Quebec to punish them for unionizing. Jail?

Any labor lawyer could have come up with clever idea of using s. 107 of Labour Code & the Notwithstanding clause to block the constitutional right to strike. What distinguishes current federal Liberals & Doug Ford Conservatives is they actually thought unions would just passively play along.

I told @nytimes that I doubt this government will try the s 107 trick again. “Labour has drawn a line in the sand” But that doesn’t mean governments will stop blocking strikes. Back to work legislation has always been part of Canadian labor law landscape. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/w...

BTW, the proposed settlement includes substantial increases to ‘ground pay’—payments for time when planes on ground. CUPE claims it is North American leading in this respect. Unclear how government’s new study of unpaid work in airlines will relate to the deal.

Discussion for labor law class: How might #AirCanada dispute have played out differently had: - govt announced early on that it would NOT intervene so parties need to sort it out. Or - govt ended strike/lockout by back-to-work legislation rather than controversial s 107?

This is a short, must-read thread if you want to understand what happened over the last few days with flight attendants in Canada.

Now, onto Dalhousie’s lock-out of professors that is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Obviously a lockout in late August is intended to put a fire under negotiations before students arrive. No point in profs striking in August when they have little leverage. September is another matter.

Not to get all academically, but we teach & learn in labor relations/labor law classes that the Canadian labour relations System is result of a complex balancing of many factors over decades. Pull on a string & the System responds, sometimes in unanticipated ways. 1/6 🧵

I have a growing suspicion that there are in fact multiple William Kaplans. It’s the only explanation for how he gets so much done. Prove me wrong. www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

#AirCanada returns to bargaining table after it realizes government’s attempt to ban strikes isn’t working. Tentative deal reached. Who could have predicted that parties would bargain seriously if strike/lockout threat is real? www.thestar.com/business/fli... www.thestar.com/business/fli...

Meanwhile, in other labour relations news, Dalhousie intends to lock out professors this week. Pretty rare for a university to lock out professors in Canada. My son is flying Air Canada to Dalhousie next week. What could go wrong? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Yes! End the stupid plastic water bottle sales for good! No one wants to be buying $10 plastic bottles of water but we are constantly bombarded with them by the corporate machine. Go Neil! www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

The Liberal’s rogue use of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code is the impetus for the ongoing Air Canada dispute: ICYMI, I explained the controversy about s 107 last year in this post: “The Mysterious All Powerful Section 107: A Liberal Love Story lawofwork.ca/the-mysterio...

Sooooo. Did I miss anything exciting today?