October 3, 2025

Hey Shift Workers!

Nearly 80,000 workers are already on strike across Canada, with tens of thousands of Alberta public school teachers set to join them. 

Last week, Canada Post workers escalated their strike action to a full work stoppage following the federal government’s announcement that it is demanding significant cuts to the postal service. 54,000 Canada Post workers are now on strike. 

I wrote about the report that’s guiding the government’s demands for Canada Post, and what those demands mean for workers, here. 

This week saw talks between public sector workers and the government break down in two provinces. In Ontario, 10,000 college support workers remain on strike after three days of mediation failed to bring the parties any closer to an agreement. 

The members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union are striking for job security protections in the wake of thousands of layoffs earlier this year.

“It is clear that the plan to privatize and sell off our public college system is well underway,” said Christine Kelsey, chair of the full-time support staff bargaining team, in a statement on Monday. “We’re fighting for a just transition that protects workers and the college communities we support.”

Negotiations also broke down between the BC government and the BC General Employees’ Union. According to the union, representatives for the government arrived three hours late to the bargaining table on Monday with wage offers that are still below inflation. 16,000 public servants remain on strike in BC. 

The number of striking workers in Canada will balloon to over 130,000 if the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) goes ahead with their strike, which is set to begin on Monday. Teachers recently voted down a memorandum of agreement between the Association and the province by 90%.

According to the ATA, teachers have only received a total salary increase of less than six percent over the last decade. No word yet on what form their strike action will take.

In solidarity,

Emma Arkell
Shift Work Editor

Spotlight

Why Canada Post Workers Are Back On Strike

Facing spiralling costs, the government wants to end mail delivery as we know it. Postal workers hope to stop them.

Top Headlines

Members of HSAA attend a Day of Unity rally in Edmonton on October 2. Photo via HSAA.

• A hot-mic moment and concerns about workplace safety derail PC campaign event in Marystown
• Closing of Quebec Amazon warehouses was 'a profound attack on the working class,' tribunal told

• Calgary firefighters get a new contract

• Facing no income for 6 months, these construction workers might have to abandon their Canadian dreams

• Union says Ontario colleges are ‘refusing’ to negotiate terms to save support staff jobs

• With BCGEU negotiations stalled, there's no end in sight for public service strike

• Alberta teacher strike likely as union members vote down tentative agreement

• Quebec wants to reform union system 

• How the Canada Post restructuring and strike could affect the Yukon

• Healthcare professionals rally across Alberta after rejecting tentative agreement

• AMS urges province to recognize graduate research assistants as workers in open letter
  

• Leo Gerard, Who Led a Growing Steelworkers Union, Dies at 78
  

Organizing

BCGEU members on the picket line in Vancouver, BC on September 26.
Emma Arkell/PressProgress.

• Workers at Fairmont Manoir Richelieu join UFCW 501

• Retirement home workers join UFCW 175

All the Strikes and Lockouts We Know About

A strike sign hangs outside of a Canada Post location on Commercial Drive in Vancouver on September 26, 2025. Emma Arkell/PressProgress.

We update this list according to the most recent media reporting and press releases available to us. If you have any information about the status of an ongoing Canadian strike or lockout that we haven't included, please get in touch.

National

Canada Post
CUPW | Start: September 25, 2025

Latest News: Canada Post’s new contract offer to striking workers lays groundwork for major layoffs (October 3)

British Columbia

Squamish municipal workers
CUPE 2269 | Start: October 2, 2025

Latest News: Update: Unionized workers in Squamish start strike with overtime ban and task refusals (October 2)

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musicians
CFM Local 145 | Start: September 25, 2025

Latest News: More Vancouver Symphony Orchestra shows cancelled as strike continues (October 2)

BC public service
BCGEU and PEA | Start: September 2, 2025

Latest News: With BCGEU negotiations stalled, there's no end in sight for public service strike (October 1)

Coast Hotel Victoria
Unite Here Local 40 | Start: August 20, 2025

Latest News: ‘Deeply challenging impasse’: Coast Hotel Victoria responds to union’s boycott (September 28)

Sheraton Vancouver Guildford
Unifor Local 3000 | Start: July 5, 2025

Rogers Communications
United Steelworkers Local 1944 | Start: June 19, 2025

La-kwa-sa-muqw Forestry LP (LKSM)
United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 | Start: June 6, 2025

ENDED: StellerVista Credit Union
United Steelworkers Local 1-405 | Start: April 30, 2025 | End: September 24, 2025

Latest News: StellerVista Credit Union strike ends at Castlegar and Slocan branches (September 24)

Prairies

Heritage Inn Hotels (Moose Jaw and Saskatoon) 
UFCW 1400 | Start: September 5, 2023

Ontario

Timmins Transit
CUPE Local 1544 | Start: September 29, 2025

Latest News: 'None of us want to be here': Timmins Transit workers on the picket lines (September 29)

Blue Line Taxi
Unifor Local 1688 | Start: September 19, 2025

Latest News: Blue Line Taxi drivers go on strike (September 19)

Full-time college support staff 
OPSEU | Start: September 11, 2025

Latest News: Ontario college support staff strike enters week 4 as negotiations break down (October 3)

Titan Tool and Die 
Unifor 195 | Start: August 11, 2025

Latest News: Unifor ordered to end blockade of Windsor factory (October 2)

Quebec

Montreal public transit (STM)
STM-CSN | Start: September 22, 2025

Latest News: Montreal STM strike reaches 6th day, with uncertainty ahead
(October 3)

Rio Tinto 
Steelworkers 7493 | Start: July 10, 2025

Paramedics 
FSSS-CSN | Start: July 6, 2025

Atlantic

ENDED: Munro Academy Early Learning Centre 
Unifor Local 4600 | Start: September 8, 2025 | End: October 2, 2025

Latest News: Early childhood educators and Cape Breton's Munro Academy end strike (October 3)

City of Charlottetown water and sewer services 
CUPE Local 830 | Start: July 29, 2025

Latest News: P.E.I. Supreme Court won't get involved in Charlottetown's ongoing water strike (September 22)

Events

Montreal public transit maintenance workers on strike. Photo via STM-CSN.

• 40th anniversary screening of Final Offer (1985), 2:30pm on October 5 at Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto (free screening!)

• Behind the Seams: Vancouver’s Garment Industry in the 1900s, 12pm on October 9, online (by donation) 

Culture Shift

A still from Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man, directed by Alanis Obomsawin, via NFB.

Tuesday was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I want to highlight two National Film Board documentaries that celebrate Indigenous workers. Both are free to watch on NFB.ca: 

• Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (1986, dir. Carol Geddes) profiles five women who have excelled in a diverse range of fields — fishing, law, education, healthcare and government — and explores how their work has been a source of empowerment while overcoming sexism, systemic racism and the trauma of residential schools.

• Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man (1997, dir. Alanis Obomsawin) documents the camaraderie built between a group of ironworkers from Kahnawake who spend their weekdays doing dangerous, back-breaking work on bridges and skyscrapers in New York. Spudwrench, an ironworker and land defender, recounts his involvement in what was then known as the Oka Crisis.