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 6, 2026
Manitoba Government Introduces Legislation to Improve Safety for Cannabis Store Workers
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government is introducing Bill 56, which would amend the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act to improve safety for workers in cannabis stores, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe announced today.
Province aims to keep cannabis workers safe
Winnipeg Free Press
New legislation introduced Monday will allow cannabis stores to remove window coverings in an effort to improve safety for employees.
Essential workers ruling raises questions
Winnipeg Free Press
Ever been to a Dynacare clinic? Most of us have been. It’s an amazing demographic and ethnic slice of the city we’ve become. Old patients. Young patients. New arrivals. Long-time Canadians. People who know the ropes — others who are startled by the crowds and the noise and the lockstep forward motion of professionals doing what they have been trained to do. It seems, all at the same time, both chaotic and diagnostic, as names of patients are steadily called out and thousands of tests are performed.
Coalition to Rally for Return of 50-50 Transit Funding
ChrisD.ca
A coalition of labour, environmental and community organizations is calling on the Manitoba government to restore the province’s 50-50 transit operating funding agreement.
Quebec Superior Court to hear the unions’ case on Pay Equity Act
CTV News
Starting Tuesday, the Quebec Superior Court is expected to hear the merits of a challenge to certain provisions of the Pay Equity Act, a law enacted by Quebec to comply with a 2018 Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
Labour unions rally outside Sheehan’s office over back-to-work bill
SooToday
Local labour unions demonstrated in front of MP Terry Sheehan's office this afternoon in opposition to pending back-to-work legislation.
It took 4 years, but a Capitol Hill office finally has a union contract
Politico
Four years ago, California Rep. Ro Khanna’s staff voted to unionize — one of a handful of Democratic offices that sought to ride a wave of organizing momentum during then-President Joe Biden’s administration.
MUNACA’s Campaign Exposes the McGill Administration’s Greed
The McGill Daily
The McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), a union with a staff of roughly 1,700 people, represents McGill’s administrative, clerical, and technical support staff, as well as nurses and health professionals. On August 31, after months of negotiation with McGill, MUNACA launched the “Facts are Facts, McGill” campaign in response to the inequitably distributed wage growth across staff positions.
Vancouver’s school support workers vote 97% in favour of strike action
Global News
The union representing support staff at Vancouver’s public schools has voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike action in a labour dispute with the school board.
Protest planned at University of Calgary over residential school event
CTV News
Protesters plan to gather at the University of Calgary on Tuesday, calling for the university to strip Tom Flanagan of his professor emeritus title following a campus event questioning whether Canada’s residential school system constituted genocide.
Canadian workers using genAI at less than half of U.S. rate: report
HRD
Canadian workers are using generative AI on the job at less than half the rate of their American counterparts, and the federal government's new AI strategy will not close that gap on its own, according to a commentary published Monday by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).
The Great Reinvention Of Higher Education Is Already Underway
Forbes
For decades, higher education leaders have weathered cycles of uncertainty: economic downturns, political shifts, changing federal priorities and the resulting fluctuations in enrollment. Most eventually gave way to recovery. But what colleges and universities face today feels different.
Hundreds of schools in France blockaded in biggest day of student protests so far
CBC
Students, teachers and parents marched in cities across France on Tuesday and protesters blockaded hundreds of schools, in the biggest day of action in a wave of demonstrations demanding the government tackle understaffed and dilapidated classrooms.
How dilapidated are French schools and how bad is inequality in the education system?
The Guardian
Hundreds of French high schools have been barricaded by teenagers and forced to close and hundreds of people have been injured amid clashes with police in the biggest youth protest movement in decades over the state of French lycées, where 15- to 18-year-olds are taught.
October 5, 2026
Thank Manitoba’s teachers by investing in students
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba’s students are settling into a new school year. Whether you graduated in 1986 or 2006, today’s classrooms look very different from the ones you remember.
Manitoba censures nurse for inappropriate behaviour with students, another for bashing regulator on podcast
CBC
Manitoba's nursing regulator has separately censured three nurses, for improperly accessing someone's medical records, for inappropriately touching students and for making "false and defamatory statements" about the regulator on a podcast.
University of Toronto launching $100-million scholarship fund to attract PhD students
Globe and Mail
The University of Toronto is launching a $100-million scholarship fund for PhD students that will double the pay of recipients and help the school compete for bright minds at a time when elite U.S. universities are under attack by the Trump administration.
The education system’s failing report card
Globe and Mail
Canada received a devastating report card last month, showing how academic test scores are collapsing and the country’s education system is failing students.
Ex-defendant apologizes to Steven Galloway as defamation trial set to begin
Globe and Mail
A high-profile defamation trial of several people novelist Steven Galloway says perpetuated false sexual-assault allegations against him is set to begin Monday.
US judge blocks Trump administration from publishing names of universities' foreign donors
Reuters
A federal judge has blocked the US Department of Education from publicly disclosing the names of foreign donors who provided thousands of gifts to universities throughout the country, saying the institutions had supplied the information on the understanding it would be kept confidential.
Labor Watch: Strikes Begin to Simmer While Contracts Remain Stalled
Inside Higher Ed
More than 100 University of Michigan graduate employees walked off the job Thursday to protest the university’s latest contract proposal, which the union says does not meet the increasing cost of living, provide adequate protections for international workers or address rising class sizes.
Schools shut as student protests shake France
DW
France's education minister has announced the partial or total closure of up to 500 schools across the country on Monday. This is in response to more than a week of protests by students nationwide demanding reforms in education. The protests have seen clashes between police and students and thousands have been detained.
Dynacare workers deemed essential doesn’t solve the problem: Union
CityNews
Dynacare workers have now been deemed essential in Manitoba, meaning lab services must continue during a strike or lockout, but the union says the ruling doesn’t solve the issue at the heart of this dispute.
Stellantis says tariffs, consumer demand driving weeks-long layoffs at Windsor plant
CBC
Global carmaker Stellantis says tariffs and consumer demand in North America are driving weeks-long layoffs at the company's plant in Windsor, Ont.
More young Canadians are relying on multiple sources of income
Globe and Mail
Akarshi Sharma has a full-time job in the tech industry. But she paints nails and streams video games for extra cash on the side.
MPs to debate economic and labour bill, plus new plans for national defence and security procurement
Globe and Mail
Parliamentarians are back in Ottawa, where debate is set to continue on the government’s 243-page economic and labour bill, with plans to introduce legislation focused on national defence and security procurement.
Should Workers Get to Bargain on AI?
The Tyee
There’s an argument playing out at bargaining tables across the province.
Safeway workers in Alberta avoid job action: union
CityNews
A union representing Safeway workers in Alberta says employees have accepted a new five-year deal with the supermarket’s owner, Sobeys.
Trump Insists Canada Has 'Big Unemployment.' Here's What the Data Says
Time
President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that Canada has an issue with its unemployment rate as he criticizes America’s northern neighbor amid the ongoing trade war.
