“Can we just race down the highway? Rob a bank? Steal from a store? Of course not. How then can the government pass legislation that is against our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?” Danny Cavanagh on legislating postal workers engaged in rotating strikes back to work.

Two clips this weekend, to highlight two film festivals happening this week, one a mini one, the other a full blown festival, and both with an excellent line up. Kampung Tapir, a 17-minute short from Indonesia/Malaysia about migration, is part of this Tuesday’s screening presented by Mayworks’ Canadian Labour International Film Festival. Next we present a trailer for the full length Singing to Myself, about a young deaf woman living in Prince Edward Island and the precocious musician who comes into her life. That is one of the many gems offered by the Bluenose-Ability Film Festival, running from November 29 to December 3rd.  

Some 700 Canada Post workers, who provide mail service in the urban parts of HRM and from Lake Charlotte to Hubbards, walked off the job today. When I visited the picket line on Almon Street I assumed that the job action would be part of a series of rotating one-day strikes across Canada. That’s not the case, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike action in the Nova Local that began on Monday, November 12, 2018 at 8:00 pm will continue until further notice, a media release announces. I updated the article to reflect that change.

He stood up straighter. In a patronizing tone he told me, “I think I know the law. I just have to pay them double time for today…” On her Remembrance Day trip to the Annapolis Valley Judy Haiven explains the law to workers and bosses. Many employees are entitled to a day off with pay, but employers don’t know that, she finds. This is an updated version of a story originally published on November 13, 2017.