From 2000 to 2011 the corporate tax rate was slashed from 28% to 16.5%. As of January 1, 2012 it fell another 1.5% to 15%. What's been the value to Canadians? Let Finance Minister Jim Flaherty know he's got his priorities for the next budget all wrong. Send a letter today!

About two dozen HEU members at Lake District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake were called into urgent action last Friday night when a devastating explosion ripped through the village’s Babine Forest Products sawmill.

Leaked documents related to the ongoing Canada-European Union trade negotiations show that Canada and the provinces have failed to protect drinking water and wastewater services from trade rules that would encourage and lock in privatization, says CUPE and the Council of Canadians. Harper’s message to the EU, say the organizations, is that Canada is “open for business” to big European water firms who see public water services as a barrier to their investment opportunities.

Today’s release by the CLC of a study on corporate Canada’s balance sheets, shows not only a trend in declining real investment but also a rising involvement in financial markets. Non financial corporations are not only hoarding cash they are also using cash flow to buy up positions in financial assets. As a complementary note [...]

Windsor Star photo. Hangout today at 3 pm ET on Via Rail. Note that you will need a Google+ identity. Also note that you will need a fairly new computer with one of the following operating systems -  Windows XP+, Mac OS X 10.5+, or Linux. The hangout va deroule, dans la plupart, en anglais. Agenda: 1) Strategic considerations 2) Basic message 3) Actions Hangout location: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107410133753245160111 On Jan. 20, the day Bloomberg News reported on the...

The long-promised public day surgery centre in Regina would do far more to expand surgical capacity than the use of for-profit surgical clinics. That’s the message in CUPE’s new television ad, Build it, which airs today in Regina.

It didn’t take long for the newly elected government to show its true colours. Months after taking office in September 2010, the government instructed the departments to immediately trim 1% from their budgets and prepare for a two per cent reduction every year for the next 3 years. Finance Minister, Blaine Higgs, set the tone saying that these steps were not enough. In January, the minister had already slashed government expenses by $42.9 million.

The CLC today celebrated Corporate Tax Freedom Day – defined as the day on which corporations have paid their share of all government taxes.  It featured a race of mechanical pigs to a trough full of cash – with the pigs wearing the colours of leading Canadian corporations with large cash reserves. Watch the video. [...]

A new study by David Macdonald of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) takes a look at the three waves of cuts to federal programs, staff, and operations since the Harper government came into office in 2006. And he finds that these cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment.

To change from the sand in our sensory table and to add something new, today we had “snow” in our kindergarten room.  We filled a large tub with cottonballs.  I sprinkled a little bit of silver glitter on the cottonballs to make it sparkle like snow.  We added small mittens, pine needles, pine cones and small shovels. [...]

Today’s IMF economic update further downgrades growth projections, including here in Canada where growth in 2012 is forecast to be just 1.7%, down from the IMF’s September forecast of 1.9%.  That is well below the just released Bank of Canada forecast of 2.0%, and clearly implies rising unemployment. On fiscal policy they say: Countries should [...]

To all affiliates,Friends, as you may be aware despite Walmart being the biggest employer in America, it has been reported that workers employed by Walmart subcontractors are being subjected to unfair and unjust working conditions.We understand that warehouse workers who unload goods within the Walmart supply chain, are working on occasion for less than minimum wage, are not compensated for overtime, have no health insurance, holiday or sick days and are often contracted through...

To all affiliates,Friends, as you may be aware despite Walmart being the biggest employer in America, it has been reported that workers employed by Walmart subcontractors are being subjected to unfair and unjust working conditions.We understand that warehouse workers who unload goods within the Walmart supply chain, are working on occasion for less than minimum wage, are not compensated for overtime, have no health insurance, holiday or sick days and are often contracted through...

Across Canada, students and supporters are mobilizing to hit the streets on February 1, to call for a high-quality post-secondary education system that is equitable and free of financial barriers. Learn more and find an event in your region.

Via Rail fire sale? Passenger trains from Union Station in Toronto connect to Vancouver and Halifax. Other destinations include Rivière-du-Loup, Washago and Unity. (CP24 picture)There are suggestions that Canada’s national passenger train system could be replaced by privately operated cruise trains.  But cruise trains are not the same as public passenger trains.  While the private sector can be a valuable partner in enhancing our national passenger rail system, we must beware of any...

Progressive economists have advocated expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to boost demand and create jobs, given the high rate of unemployment. By contrast, employers and conservative commentators complain of unfilled vacancies and labour shortages, emphasizing policies to increase labour supply and labour mobility. Today’s new Statistics Canada survey of job vacancies sheds fresh light on [...]

CUPE is encouraging Toronto-area members and others to attend a vigil, forum and feast in support of Leonard Peltier. The event will be held on Monday, Feb. 6, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Services and supports for at-risk children and youth and their families in the remote Northern communities are thread bare and understaffed, say the front-line staff at the agency focused on the well-being of children.

If you are interested in attending Labour Council meetings in your area, please contact the local at the numbers on the top of the document.  Affecting fundamental grassroots change at the community level is possible through working with your local Labour Council!

The Diamond Sutra of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, the oldest dated printed book in the world, found at Dunhuang, from 868 CE. Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging. In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by pressing and drying to make paper. Since the invention of the...