This closed door deal is a wishful shortcut to building union power, and Uber most likely knows it. A deal like this could be used to undercut organizing efforts that can build the kind of union that really threatens Uber and their ruthless exploitation and subversion of workers’ rights.

Unions are calling for the Ontario government to reverse a pandemic policy that allows hospital workers to return to work while infected with COVID-19 if a facility's staffing situation becomes dire.

"We believe that this whole concept is a dangerous threat to the well-being of hospital patients and to those hospital staff who are healthy," Michael Hurley with the Canadian Union of Public Employees said at a news conference on Thursday.

Over the last year, Uber has made its goals very clear: they want to enshrine worker precarity into law. They have lobbied the Ontario government to create a third category of worker that would prevent gig workers from unionizing and collectively bargaining their rights and wages and could lead to the gigification of more work. We would like to see and analyze the agreement between UFCW and Uber, but remain committed to supporting Gig Workers United in their grassroots organizing efforts. The best future for app-based workers is full employment rights. Period.

What is the real state of the world economy? This webinar will assess the relative strengths of the two most important protagonists, China and the USA. As the rift between them deepens with the threat of direct military confrontation looming, propaganda has virtually replaced hard facts. Rumour and speculation are swirling about the USA’s post-COVID recovery whilst allegations that China is suffering a ‘slowdown’ are hard to distinguish from simple Cold War hype. At stake also are the social systems of the two economies, as the USA still struggles to throw off the pandemic by opening the vaults to Big Pharma, whilst China reigns in its property speculators and private technology companies ,and goes ever more green, at the same time ambitiously recentring its economy in response to the USA’s aggressive trade and technology restrictions. Our panel’s three experts will dissect the war of words and detach facts from flimflam.