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.
March 3, 2026
Bell to ring this fall at new French middle school in St. B
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba’s francophone school division is opening a new middle school in St. Boniface this fall.
Private French school to make the grade in Winnipeg this fall
Winnipeg Free Press
A francophone couple has founded a first-of-its-kind private school in Manitoba as demand for French education hits record levels.
Ontario investigated 900 allegations of OSAP fraud last year, government says
Globe and Mail
Ontario undertook more than 900 fraud investigations into its student assistance program last year – although provincial officials declined to say what came of the probes.
Ontario teacher, education worker unions call for contract talks to start early
Global News
Contracts for Ontario’s teachers and education workers expire at the end of this summer and their union leaders are calling on the education minister to start the bargaining process early.
Bill 33 risks making education 'privilege for the few,' warns student union
InnisfilToday
The Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU) is expressing serious concern following the Province of Ontario’s announcement of major changes to post-secondary funding, including the end of the domestic tuition freeze, a restructuring of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), and the pending regulatory impacts of Bill 33.
AI-cademy 2026: Making Artificial Intelligence Work for Higher Education
HESA
There have been some quite amazing developments in AI in higher education recently. Ethiopia announced plans to open Africa’s first AI University. South Korea widened its network of universities providing “AI digital intensive programs for employees” to 38. It also announced a competition to establish 10 AI Innovation Graduate Schools. In Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission has told all universities that they need to change their curricula so that all students take one AI-related course as a condition of graduation (Kazakhstan did something similar last summer). India has taken two big steps, one to open the first-ever specifically “quantum AI” university in Andhra Pradesh and also allowed another public university to act as a full AI testbed.
The 100x Research Institution
Free Systems
For the past few months, I’ve been running an experiment that felt both thrilling and vaguely unsettling: could I automate myself? And what would that mean for the future of academic research like mine?
Worried about freedom of speech? Then what’s happening at the Open University should terrify you
The Guardian
The west is in the midst of the most serious assault on free speech and academic freedom since the heyday of McCarthyism seven decades ago. For years, we were told the danger came from the left: oversensitive students, censorious activists, no-platforming zealots. Yet the most aggressive and successful campaign to police speech in our public institutions is being waged by cheerleaders of a state currently committing genocide.
Round-up: UCU workers fighting the erosion of universities
Socialist Worker
At Northumbria University, Newcastle, education workers are striking all of this week.
Manitoba health minister urged to boost minimum staffing ratios at personal care homes
CBC
The Manitoba government is facing pressure to require personal care homes to increase staffing levels to address heavy workloads and the effects on care residents receive.
Civil service vacancies alarming: union
Winnipeg Free Press
One of Manitoba’s largest unions is raising concerns about civil service vacancies as the province’s budget day nears.
Prosecutors Seek $1-Million Fine in Rare Worker Fatality Case
The Tyee
More than 13 years after one pipe layer was killed and another injured while replacing a Burnaby storm sewer, their employer is in court for a sentencing hearing.
DeSousa: Equity data on job cuts is crucial to protect hard‑won gains
Rabble
A Black member told me earlier this month that Black History Month often feels “too short for everything we carry and everything we give.” Their words have stayed with me as I hear similar reflections from workers across the country.
Florida now close to dealing death blow to public worker unions
Yahoo
A labor union bill backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Koch-backed Freedom Foundation that opponents say represents “the final nail in the coffin” for Florida unions is headed for the Senate floor.
Argentina’s top union sues to halt President Milei’s sweeping labor overhaul
CityNews
Argentina’s largest trade union group on Monday filed a lawsuit to block a sweeping labor reform promoted by President Javier Milei and aimed at radically altering labor relations in the South American country.
March 2, 2026
U of T investigating dean of dentistry over claims of antisemitic course materials
CityNews
The University of Toronto has launched an investigation after claims that the dean of dentistry shared course materials that included antisemitic and anti-Israel imagery.
Laurentian University staff union president wants a new vote on executive pay hikes
CBC
The president of Laurentian University's staff union wants a new vote on salary increases for executives at the Sudbury school.
Post-secondary students push back amid Ontario's OSAP overhaul
London Free Press
Switching schools. Driven into debt. Dropping out.
GTA students to walk out, rally in protest of Ford’s OSAP cuts this week
CBC
This week, many high school and university students across the GTA will take action by marching, walking out or rallying in protest of the Ford government’s recently-announced reductions to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP.)
Canadian universities ink partnerships with Indian counterparts during Carney’s visit
Globe and Mail
Canadian universities signed 13 partnerships with counterparts in India Saturday during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit – part of a new talent and innovation strategy to deepen educational links between Canada and the subcontinent.
McGill, Concordia drop battle against Quebec tuition hike for out-of-province students
Globe and Mail
Quebec’s two major English-language universities will no longer fight a tuition hike for out-of-province students intended to reduce the number of anglophones in Montreal, putting an end to a years-long dispute.
Modest operating increase for Alberta universities in $9.4 billion-deficit budget
University Affairs
Alberta’s post-secondary institutions will see a slight increase in funding in 2026-27, despite the province delivering a $9.4 billion deficit in its budget tabled Thursday.
SFU Contract Workers Sounded the Alarm on Abuse. Nothing Changed
The Tyee
Nouha Ishaq said when she first started her job preparing food at Simon Fraser University in 2005, coming into work didn’t feel like a fight.
Amazon illegally imposed a wage freeze on unionized employees in B.C.
Rabble
Amazon illegally imposed a wage freeze on unionized employees, according to a ruling by the B.C. Labour Relations Board. Warehouse workers in Delta B.C., represented by Unifor, did not receive their scheduled wage increases at the end of 2025. The complaint filed by Unifor said the employer blamed the union “coming in” for the wage freeze.
N.S. Supreme Court strikes down former Liberal government’s wage restraint legislation
CBC
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has struck down landmark legislation former premier Stephen McNeil’s government used in an effort to restrain wage increases for public sector workers as it attempted to balance the provincial budget.
Union urges federal government to halt early retirement program for public servants
CBC
The federal public service’s largest union has filed official complaints asking the government to "cease the unilateral implementation" of its early retirement incentive program until its parameters are negotiated with the union.
Replacement workers hired to get North Bay-area school buses back on the road during driver strike
CBC
Some school buses are back on the road in the North Bay, Ont. area amid an ongoing strike by drivers because the company has called in replacement workers.
AFL plans provincewide protest against UCP government May 29
Yahoo
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is organizing a provincewide day of protest to fight back against what it describes as “an increasingly radical and undemocratic agenda” being imposed by the UCP government.
Quebec invites over 2,500 skilled workers to apply for permanent selection
CIC news
On February 23, Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration (MIFI) held immigration selections across all four streams of its Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ).
Quebec company charged with hiring 21 unauthorized foreign workers
Global News
The Canada Border Services Agency says charges have been laid against a Quebec company that hired several unauthorized foreign workers.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backs a new bill targeting unions; those who support him won't be affected
CBS
In 2023, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 256, a measure designed to attack public sector unions by making it harder for them to collect dues, while simultaneously forcing them to show that at least 60% of their members were paying their dues. Any union that failed to meet that 60% threshold faced a decertification vote.
Japanese companies are paying older workers to sit by a window and do nothing—while Western CEOs demand super-AI productivity just to keep your job
Fortune
As corporate America and Europe drag workers back to five days in the office and squeeze for ever more efficiency, Japan is quietly paying thousands of older employees to show up, sit down, and do almost nothing at all.
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.
