Dear Sisters and Brothers,

At 1:00 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012, the labour movement and community groups will hold a mass Day of Action against austerity cuts at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

(LONDON, ON) -- According to the Ontario Federation of Labour, today’s announcement by Caterpillar Inc. that it will close its London Electro-Motive Diesel plant two months after locking-out employees came as no surprise. Every worker should be concerned about the Harper government’s failure to protect Canadian jobs and interests.

Ontario, 1950 was still an ugly and dangerous era with active colour bars to employment, housing and education. Segregated schools, restricted neighbourhoods, collusion by governments of all levels in favour of the status quo and a justice system that actively supported pernicious racism were common features of daily life. Add to this, of course, the social mores of allowable harassment, contempt and often open threats, and those of you alive during this era will remember it well.

Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today on the critical issue of retaining childcare centres in the Region of Peel.

(TORONTO) -- Frustrated by Premier Dalton McGuinty’s broken promise to reduce tuition fees, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) will be joining students today for a massive rally to drop tuition fees. OFL President Sid Ryan is calling on the province to scrap its boutique “tuition rebate grant” and replace it with an across-the-board tuition fee reduction that would reduce upfront education costs for all students.

(Mississauga, ON) – A quick response from parents, the Brampton-Mississauga and District Labour Council, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), the OFL, the CLC, affiliates and scores of community allies put the brakes on a rushed vote by Peel Region Council to close 12 public child care centres.

In November, OFL convention delegates voted to support KI First Nation’s struggle against unwanted exploitation of its land by mining companies. Chief Donny Morris, one of our honoured guests, spoke to convention and met with numerous union heads, politicians, policy makers, faith communities and activists while he was there. At issue for all of us is God’s Lake Resources and the continued refusal of the provincial government to recognize and respect KI’s protection of its and sacred and ceremonial areas.

(MISSISSAUGA, ON) -- OFL Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison will join Peel parents at a community meeting this evening and make a deputation at Thursday’s Peel Region Council Meeting to call for a delay in the closing of all 12 regionally operated child care centres.

(LONDON, ONTARIO) -- With thousands and thousands of union and community members arriving in London today to support locked-out workers at Electro-Motive, CAW President Ken Lewenza is repeating his call for the company to get back to the bargaining table.

(LONDON, ONTARIO) -- With thousands and thousands of union and community members arriving in London today to support locked-out workers at Electro-Motive, CAW President Ken Lewenza is repeating his call for the company to get back to the bargaining table.

(LONDON, ONT.) -- Thousands upon thousands of union and community members will take part in a mass rally, calling on U.S.-based Caterpillar to end the lock-out of its nearly 500 workers and for the Harper government to put jobs before tax cuts. Community members are already expecting the demonstration at the London’s Victoria Park to be the largest public rally the city has seen in decades.

(LONDON, ONTARIO) -- With thousands already signed up to board nearly 70 buses to London, and thousands more planning to travel by car, Saturday’s rally against Electro-Motive Canada and its parent company Caterpillar Inc. is expected to be the largest ever to take place in London.

(TORONTO) -- The Presidents of the Provincial and Territorial Federations of Labour are calling on Canada’s Premiers to reject an irresponsible Federal Conservative “plan” for healthcare. In an open letter from the labour leaders to the Premiers, attending a meeting of the Council of the Federation in Victoria today, the Premiers are asked to stand up and support Canada’s most important social program: universal healthcare.

We are now only nine days away from the massive action in London to support CAW Local 27 and I am urging you to get your members out to this critical event. Buses are filing up and thousands are already confirming their participation but we must ensure it’s a huge turnout given the nature of the attack.

Canadians knew as they headed into 2012 that the job outlook was bleak, but the lockout of 465 workers at a diesel plant in London sets a grim new standard.

(TORONTO) -- Five years ago today, The Honourable Mr. Justice Archie Campbell released his final report on the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak that swept Ontario in 2003, killing 44 people and infecting more than 330 others. Almost half the victims were health care workers.

Police must enforce new safety law
Employers must get the message 'If you kill a worker, you go to jail'

(LONDON, ON) -- The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison and Executive Vice-President Irwin Nanda will join CAW Local 27 members on the picket line on Monday, January 9 at the London, Ontario plant of Electro-Motive Canada (a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc.). The Officers will be marking the start of the second week of the lock-out by bringing news of the OFL’s province-wide effort to mobilize thousands of workers for a massive London Day of Action against Caterpillar.

(LONDON, ON) -- The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) today issued a call to workers across Ontario to mobilize for a massive rally in London, Ontario on Saturday, January 21 to oppose Electro-Motive Canada (a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc.) and its attack on decent paying Canadian jobs.

(TORONTO) -- Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan today declared that Ontario’s labour movement will mobilize to help the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) stop scabs from crossing picket lines at Electro-Motive Canada’s London plant. Workers from across Ontario will prepare to flood the picket lines at the locomotive plant if called upon by the CAW.

(TORONTO) -- Christmas Eve marks the second anniversary of the scaffolding deaths of four Toronto construction workers and a renewed demand for the use of the criminal code to punish those whose negligence results in a worker’s death.

Saturday marks the second anniversary of the 2009 Christmas Eve scaffolding deaths of four Metron Construction workers and the irreparable harm to a fifth, the lone survivor, Dilshod Marupov. The company, its owner Joel Swartz and two executive officers face four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

(Toronto) – Injured workers, their families and friends will be outside KPMG headquarters on Friday, December 23rd, insisting that the consulting firm is the ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ for recommending that the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board drastically cut compensation to workers who have been injured on the job.

(TORONTO, ON) – Just two days before International Migrants Day, the Government of Canada has finally ceded to public pressure and granted live-in caregivers “open work permits” that will grant them the freedom to seek new employment while waiting for permanent residency. While this is an important victory in challenging the abuse and exploitation that foreign caregivers often face at the hands of their employers, it also serves to underscore the need for Canada to grant full labour rights and protections to all migrant and temporary workers.

Tomorrow, we mark the most important statement ever to be formulated by the United Nations with a commitment to champion it. As the Harper government continues its assault on the most meaningful aspirations of Canadians and residents, it has been left to the labour movement and progressive organizations and activists to ensure that “inherent dignity” and “the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” become a reality.

See the full declaration with all articles

Housing is urgently needed in Attawapiskat. Work with the community and build it now. Basic infrastructure is also lacking and needs to be attended to now. A school is urgently needed. Replace the makeshift portables on the toxic land that is making the children sick and do it now.

In a unparalleled attack on sexual health services for Toronto's immigrant women, the Ford administration's Core Services Review is considering a massive cut of $200,000 to the Immigrant Women's Health Centre. The 22.5% cut to its already modest budget will hobble one of Canada's leading lights in the delivery of critical health care services and impair access for thousands of immigrant women.

December 6, 2011 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and marks the 22nd anniversary of the Montréal Massacre, in which 14 women were singled out and murdered at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal because they were women. This senseless act of violence against women shocked our nation and became the catalyst for collective action to end violence against women.

December 3, marks the United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities. According to the United Nations, persons with disabilities make up an estimated 15 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the global population is directly affected by disability, as care-givers or family members.

(TORONTO) – Canada’s largest labour federation is demanding that Ontario respect Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation’s moratorium to protect their sacred burial sites and lands from desecration by mining companies. Ontario has allowed exploration company God’s Lake Resources to stake claims directly on top of sacred KI burials. The company has dismissed KI’s concerns as rhetoric, indicating that they intend to continue exploration at the site in December.

(TORONTO) -- More than 1000 delegates representing over one million Ontario workers and 51 unions showed their resounding support for hotel workers’ determination to organize unions at three Ontario Novotel hotels owned by French hotel giant Accor.

(TORONTO) -- More than a thousand workers and participants from Occupy Kingston, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Montreal, St. Thomas and Toronto will march on Bay Street at 11:30 a.m. today to condemn the greed of Canada’s financial sector and the impunity with which it has accumulated wealth at the expense of 99% of the population.

Sign on to support KI First Nations struggle and demand the provincial government respect land and cultural rights

(TORONTO) -- Delegates at the OFL Convention have just voted to adjourn until later this afternoon to give support to Occupy Toronto protesters. A first arrest has just been made and union members are concerned about any infringements of democratic rights.

(TORONTO) -- Tumultuous applause, standing ovations and cheers reverberated throughout the convention hall with announcement of the new team that will lead Ontario’s labour movement for the next two years.

(TORONTO) -- Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan has rejected the latest report from the Mowat Centre Employment Insurance (EI) Task Force. “I was dumb-founded to see that the report has focused on little more than a Pay Day Loan scheme for unemployed workers in precarious and non-standard work, instead of modernizing EI to meet their needs,” said Sid Ryan.

(TORONTO) -- Amidst cheers and shouts of solidarity, OFL convention delegates have just unanimously voted to march to St. James Park at 4:30 p.m. today in support of Occupy Toronto participants.

(TORONTO) -- The OFL will hold its 11th Biennial Convention, starting 9:30 a.m., Mon., Nov. 21, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, 123 Queen Street West, Toronto. With registration at more than 1500 delegates, 600 more than the previous convention, it is one of the largest in the 54-year history of the federation.

Reports have surfaced that earlier today, and under your orders, Toronto Police officers distributed eviction notices to Occupy Toronto activists at St. James Park, ordering them to vacate the park and threatening to remove them forcefully should they not comply by 12:01 am.