Category: Labour School

Niall Harney is a researcher and the Errol Black Chair in labour issues at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-Manitoba). In June 2026, he delivered an insightful talk on the modern economic landscape, union activism, and the challenges facing Canadian workers.

As working families across Canada navigate living wage gaps, high inflation, and an increasingly unequal economy, progressive policy research and collective bargaining remain vital tools for social justice.

In this talk, Niall breaks down the current state of Canada’s labour market, income inequality, and public finance, offering a clear perspective on how labour unions can organize effectively to defend worker rights and wrest cost-of-living narratives back toward working-class solutions.

Key Topics Covered in This Presentation:

• The economic forces driving today’s cost-of-living crisis and income inequality in Canada.
• The role of independent progressive research in supporting labour union bargaining strategies.
• Why building strong union activism is essential to countering corporate power, propaganda and political populism.
• Policy solutions and collective action models designed to support workers, protect living wages, and improve public services.

The presentation concluded with several key questions from members of the CCU in the audience.

Drawing upon decades of labour expertise and dedicated advocacy in higher education, Jack delivers an insightful analysis of the current landscape facing academic workers and labour unions across Canada.

In this address, Jack examines the systemic pressure points impacting faculty, researchers, librarians, and academic staff across post-secondary institutions. From Nova Scotia to British Columbia, universities and colleges are grappling with severe provincial funding constraints, rising operational costs, and an increasing reliance on precarious, contract-based teaching staff. Jack outlines how academic staff associations are actively resisting these trends by advocating for fair compensation, sustainable workload limits, and equitable job security for early-career educators.

A primary focus of the talk highlights the imperative to safeguard academic freedom and protect collegial governance within public universities. Jack emphasizes that strong, democratic faculty representation is essential not only for maintaining educational quality, but also for ensuring that research and teaching centres remain free from external commercial or political interference. Through strategic collective bargaining, unions like the Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) serve as a crucial line of defence for higher education as a public good.

Beyond the university campus, this address underscores the vital importance of inter-union solidarity. By engaging directly with the CCU, the country’s largest association of independent Canadian unions, the discussion illustrates how post-secondary labour issues connect to broader working-class struggles across Canada. Whether fighting for workplace health and safety, fair pension plans, or real wage growth amid living-cost increases, building strong alliances across public and private sectors remains key to advancing workers’ rights nationwide.

University of Manitoba Labour Studies professor Adam King spoke to the Confederation of Canadian Unions in Winnipeg about unions and some of the social, class and political divisions that exist between working people.

In this insightful session, Dr. King delivers a critical analysis of the modern labour movement, focusing on the growing rifts and conflicts within the working class across Canada. Over the past decade, economic uncertainty, shifting industrial landscapes, labour market transformations, and evolving political realignments have reshaped how workers view organized labour, public policy, and collective advocacy.

What Dr. King Covers in This Presentation:

• Understanding Political Realignment: An in-depth look at why working-class voters and union members are shifting across the political spectrum.
• Key Economic Drivers: How inflation, wage stagnation, housing affordability, and job security influence worker attitudes and electoral choices in Canada.
• Bridging the Divide: Practical strategies for labour unions and community organisations to build solidarity, overcome polarization, and effectively advocate for all working people.
• The Future of Canadian Labour: Actionable insights into policy reform, collective bargaining, and strengthening organized labour’s voice in federal and provincial politics.

Whether you are a trade unionist, labour advocate, student, researcher, or simply concerned about the future of work and economic justice in Canada, this presentation offers essential context and thoughtful perspectives on one of the most pressing political issues of our time.