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  • Photo: Pixabay, courtesy of Pexels
There is a somewhat new kid on the insurance block in Canada. Employment Practices Liability insurance, or EPL for short.  It is more popular in the United States, but in recent years, has been making inroads in Canada. In the United...

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  • Photo: "SA teachers to strike today" by publik16 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Some believe that class sizes in Okanagan schools are rigidly limited to a certain number of students: 20 in kindergarten, 22 in grades 1-3, 28 in intermediate split classes, 30 in certain other classes, and so on. This is not...

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  • Photo: "Learning to read" by montessori toolkit is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Last week, we began looking at the ongoing dispute between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the B.C. government.    In 2011 and 2014, two British Columbia Supreme Court decisions sided with the BCTF. Both decisions held that the government’s attempts...

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  • Photo: "IMG_1500" by critical_matt is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
British Columbia teachers are presently without a collective agreement. The issues go back decades. The most recent iteration dates back about 17 years.  Class size and class composition have been key issues. Class composition refers to the number of special needs...

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  • "Himaya" by Souha Nasri is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Today, a story about how a simple act by just one person improved someone else’s life. Early one morning, person A was traveling to work. It was still dark. The streets were quiet. He sat at the traffic light near his...

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  • "Lumber" by Starbug is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Why is the forestry industry suddenly in decline? Does NAFTA 2.0, also known as CUSMA, also known as the USMCA, have anything to do with it? For months now, we have been hearing about declines in B.C.’s forestry industry. Many workers...

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  • The New Westminster courthouse at night. "courthouse steps" by Graham Ballantyne is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
It happens even to law firms.  An employer who fails to handle a dismissal with great care risks being on the wrong side of a stinging judicial decision. This recently happened to a Vancouver based law firm which specializes in “driving law.” The...

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  • Photo: "104:365 - a little justice" by orangesparrow is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Do you assume that a union means greater protection for workers?  Sometimes this is certainly true.  In many cases, however, it is not.   When a union fails to file a grievance on behalf of a unionized worker, or fails to pursue...

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  • Photo: "1984 & Animal Farm" by paul breen is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Labour day is an occasion to consider the plight of unionized workers. George Orwell, in Animal Farm, wrote about hard working farm animals who were treated badly.  Having had enough, they overthrew the humans.  They took over the farm, and renamed it...

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  • Photo: "Canada" by Michel MARIE is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Amendments to the Canada Labour Code become effective on September 1, 2019.  The Canada Labour Code applies to employers in federally regulated industries. This includes banks, telecommunications, and transportation traveling outside provincial boundaries. The amendments arise from Bill C-63, the Budget...

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