Lori Theresa Waller

What if we forget about being vegan, and just buy mostly vegan food?

Vegan Challenge — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 10:27:43 +0000

Want more coverage of industrial farming, animal welfare and the environment? Support rabble.ca today!

Every year as Earth Week approaches, I cringe in anticipation of the "go green" drivel that is sure to abound. If I'm not careful, I might thoughtlessly pick up one of the newspapers littering the seats on the bus and be bombarded with appeals to save the earth by buying an LED lightbulb, a low-flow showerhead or some other nifty green product that, in its use, would reduce my ecological footprint by approximately 0.00001 per cent.

Women's words: Five great quotes from Women's Forum 2013

rabble staff — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:57:53 +0000

Monday, November 4, 2013

This year's Women's Forum brought together another wonderfully diverse group of women who shared on diverse topics such as revival of Indigenous women's leadership roles and barriers to employment.

"Fellow feminists," was how Niki Ashton greeted the crowd at Women's Forum 2013, held earlier last week in Ottawa. It was a fitting address; the women who joined her on stage throughout the day were passionate, they were fiesty and they didn't shy away from using the f-word.

Well over 100 people attended the forum, now in its second year. Ashton, the forum organizer, made headlines in 2008 when she became the second youngest woman ever elected to the House of Commons.

Eat local, find community: Ottawa's urban food projects bring neighbours together

Eat Local — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 15:38:15 +0000

The first day of rabble's Eat Local! food and sustainability challenge found me on my back step with a hammer, clumsily smashing open black walnuts collected last fall from a tree in Ottawa's Dominion arboretum and then forgotten in my freezer.

It's a shame I didn't have a nutcracker, and even more of a shame that I was working on this task alone, because I believe that the best part of this last decade's upsurge of interest in local food is its potential break us out of individualist mode and bring us together with our neighbours. A turn towards local food can re-connect us not only to the seasons, soils and plants of our home region, but also to each other.

Cause for celebration this May Day: Marginalized workers find new ways to get organized

rabble staff — Wed, 01 May 2013 06:25:39 +0000

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The recent mass walkouts by fast food and retail workers in New York and Chicago made international headlines and ignited a lively discussion of alternative organizing forms.

The recent mass walkouts by fast food and retail workers in New York City and Chicago made international headlines and ignited a lively discussion about the alternative organizing forms being adopted by America's growing ranks of non-unionized, poverty-wage workers.

Labour news this week: Bangladesh factory collapse kills hundreds; EI protests to kick off week of action for workers' rights

Labour News — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:43:30 +0000

Up to 1,000 killed in yet another Bangladeshi sweatshop disaster

A breathtaking body count of up to 1,000 is the expected result of Bangladesh's latest garment factory disaster, this time a collapsed building. While that number of fatalities would be unprecedented -- making it the worst industrial accident in the country's history -- such "accidents" are par for the course in Bangladesh's decrepit garment factories that pump out products for Western retailers from JC Penney to Wal-Mart.

Labour news this week: IMF behind decline of workers' rights, says ITUC; migrant workers shot in Greece; Porter suing union

Labour News — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:50:41 +0000

Report slams IMF for suppressing collective bargaining rights globally

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been a key driver behind the breakdown of workers' collective bargaining power worldwide since 2008, says a report from the International Trade Union Confederation released o Wednesday.

A few good recipes and words of advice from a veteran vegan cook

Vegan Challenge — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:44:40 +0000

Having followed a mostly vegan diet for almost 20 years and having worked in a couple vegetarian restaurants, I've got a few tips and recipes under my sleeve that I'd like to share with my colleagues during their Vegan Challenge week.

First, my advice:

- Don't have time to cook? You'll probably get the most vegan bang for your buck at restaurants that serve Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian, or Mexican/Central American food. It's usually easy to find several dishes on the menu that are vegan, or that can easily be made vegan by asking them to hold the cheese -- but will still taste great.

Saskatchewan prepares to gut labour laws with Bill 85

rabble staff — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:19:08 +0000

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Saskatchewan is about to dramatically overhaul its labour legislation. You wouldn't know it, though, from reading mainstream news coverage.

Saskatchewan is about to dramatically overhaul its labour legislation, transforming it from one of the most progressive jurisdictions in Canada in terms of worker protection to one of the most regressive. You wouldn't know it, though, from reading mainstream news coverage.

The national media's near-total silence on the soon-to-be adopted Saskatchewan Employment Act, now being sped through the legislature as Bill 85 by the ruling Saskatchewan Party, is a bit puzzling given the unprecedented nature of many of the bill's reforms.

Labour news this week: RBC temp foreign worker backlash forces promise of reform; second major blow to EI recipients kicks in

Labour News — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:16:33 +0000

Backlash on RBC temporary foreign worker case forces government promise to reform program

Will Ontario act on Law Commission's advice to address precarious work crisis?

rabble staff — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:00:37 +0000

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A "landmark" report on precarious work released last week by the Law Commission of Ontario gives academic confirmation to what workers' advocates have been saying for years.

A "landmark" report on precarious work released last week by the Law Commission of Ontario gives academic confirmation to what workers' advocates have been saying for years: that an increasing proportion of workers in Ontario (and Canada, for that matter) find themselves stuck in insecure, temporary or part-time jobs that put them barely above the poverty line. And that regulatory loopholes and shoddy enforcement of employment laws are leaving these workers vulnerable to burnout and abuse.

Labour news this week: ILO condemns Canada Post back-to-work law; Ontario Law Commission reports on precarious work

Labour News — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:55:14 +0000

Canada Post back-to-work legislation unjustifed, finds UN labour agency

The UN International Labour Organization has found that the back-to-work legislation the federal government imposed on striking Canadian postal workers in June 2011 was an unjustified violation of the right to strike.

The agency's review says that "the Government should have limited its intervention to guaranteeing compliance with the negotiated minimum services."

From New York to Hong Kong: Striking workers shut down fast food joints, ports and schools

derrick — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:20:06 +0000

Friday, April 5, 2013

In the U.K., Parliament and the press are in a tizzy over leaked documents from the nation's biggest union discussing a co-ordinated general strike being planned.

Hundreds of New York City fast-food workers, fed up with poverty wages and abusive working conditions, walked off the job this Thursday, demanding minimum pay of $15 an hour and the right to organize and collectively bargain without fear of retaliation. The strike echoes a similar walkout that took place in the city last November and exemplifies how low-wage non-unionized workers across the U.S. are organizing to fight back against exploitation.

Ten intriguing facts about income inequality, unionization and labour rights

rabble staff — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:51:46 +0000

Friday, March 29, 2013

Our labour reporter breaks down a report released this week by the Canadian Foundation for Labour rights.

Unions are greedy. Unions destroy the economy by prompting companies to move overseas and driving up public debt with their exorbitant salary demands. Unions just want to take as much of the pie as they can get for their members, leaving less for everyone else. So the story goes, if you're a crass free market fundamentalist or, say, a Sun News pundit.

Labour news this week: public service workers call out killer cuts; feds' budget lukewarm on jobs; pension plans overhauled

Labour News — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:58:59 +0000

More public-sector workers ringing alarm on killer cuts to services

This week has seen another round of warnings from health and social service workers who say cuts to public services are endangering peoples' lives and safety.

In Ontario, CUPE is pointing to inadequate staffing in the province's nursing homes as a factor behind recent incidents in which residents of long-term care homes were beaten, and one killed, by fellow residents. The union is calling for a legislated minimum care standard that all long-term care homes would be required to meet, to prevent future tragedies.

Little cause for workers to celebrate in federal budget

rabble staff — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:19:03 +0000

Friday, March 22, 2013

As expected, the federal Conservative government's budget for 2014-15, released Thursday, provided little in the way of new spending to improve employment in Canada.

As expected, the federal Conservative government's budget for 2014-15, released Thursday, provided little in the way of new spending to improve employment in Canada. There is a few million here, a few million there for job training programs, but overall it is an austerity budget with very little direct job creation.