For second time in 2 months, CP oil train derails and burns

Vol. 84/No. 8 - March 2, 2020
Derailed Canadian Pacific oil train burns near town of Guernsey, Saskatchewan, Feb. 6.

MONTREAL — A Canadian Pacific oil train derailed, crashed and burned near the small community of Guernsey, Saskatchewan, Feb. 6, the second time this has happened there in two months. With toxic smoke spewing into the air 80 people were…


Quebec aircraft refuelers strike over pay and safety

Vol. 84/No. 4 - February 3, 2020
Aircraft refuelers in Quebec, on strike against Swissport Canada, and other unionists rally at company offices in Montreal Jan. 15 demanding higher pay and adequate on-the-job training.

MONTREAL — “Our main concerns are safety and wages,” Tony Digenova, International Association of Machinists Local 2301 chief steward,  told the Militant  on the picket line at the Montréal-Trudeau International airport Jan. 9. He is one of 108 aircraft supply…


CP’s oil train wreck raises specter of new Lac-Mégantic

Vol. 83/No. 48 - December 30, 2019

MONTREAL — Two weeks after 3,200 Canadian National Railway workers carried out their Nov. 19-26 strike targeting unsafe conditions pushed by the bosses, a Canadian Pacific crude oil train derailed and caught fire Dec. 9 near the town of Guernsey…


CN rail workers ‘strike for safety’ won broad backing

Vol. 83/No. 46 - December 16, 2019
More than 50 Teamster rail strikers picket Canadian National headquarters in Montreal Nov. 26 before tentative agreement was announced. Now debate over contract begins before vote.

MONTREAL — Following a Nov. 26 tentative agreement between Teamsters Canada Rail Conference officials and Canadian National Railway bosses, the 3,200 CN conductors, including yardmen and yardmasters, returned to work Nov. 27 after an eight-day “strike for safety.” The workers…


‘Strike for safety’ at CN wins widespread support

Teamsters union announces tentative agreement
Vol. 83/No. 45 - December 9, 2019
Rail workers picket CN headquarters in Montreal Nov. 26 shortly before tentative agreement announced. Fight for safety for workers and surrounding communities was at center of strike.

MONTREAL — “I believe that this strike is important for my safety as well as the community,” conductor Yohan St-Amant told Militant worker-correspondents bringing solidarity to the Canadian National Railway picket at the rail yard in Shawinigan, Quebec, Nov. 23.…


Back CN rail workers, Asarco strikers fights!

3,200 Canadian National rail workers strike for safety
Vol. 83/No. 44 - December 2, 2019
Canadian National rail workers picket in Brampton, Ontario, Nov. 19, part of strike for safety.

MONTREAL — Carrying Teamsters union placards and homemade signs saying “Strike for safety” and “We’re tired of being tired,” more than 3,000 Canadian National Railway train conductors, trainpersons and yard workers went on strike across the country Nov. 19, bringing…


‘The stewardship of land and labor falls to the working class’

Vol. 83/No. 38 - October 21, 2019

MONTREAL — Pierre-Luc Filion, Communist League candidate in the Montreal riding of Longueuil-St. Hubert, and Steve Penner, CL candidate in the federal riding of Papineau in Montreal, and a number of supporters went to the “climate crisis” rally here Sept.…


Joyce Meissenheimer was ‘on right side of history’

Vol. 83/No. 29 - August 12, 2019
Joyce Meissenheimer speaks at 1980 British Columbia New Democratic Party convention, wearing button defending Pratt Three, three women workers fired by Pratt & Whitney aerospace factory after Canadian rulers’ political police told bosses they were communists.

MONTREAL — “Joyce Meissenheimer had so much confidence that she and those she fought alongside were on the right side of history,” explained Communist League leader Beverly Bernardo at a July 20 celebration of the life of Meissenheimer, a 54-year…


Quebec taxi, Uber drivers need union to fight boss, gov’t attacks

Vol. 83/No. 17 - April 29, 2019
Montreal taxi drivers protest government deregulation bill April 5. Placard says, “22,000 families in bankruptcy.” Uber, taxi drivers need union to fight moves to pit them against each other.

MONTREAL — For weeks now, taxi drivers throughout the province have mounted protests in their thousands against the push by the Quebec government to deregulate the taxi industry. This would abolish the permit system, which restricts the number of cabs…


Locked out Quebec aluminum workers reject bosses’ ultimatum

Vol. 83/No. 13 - April 1, 2019

After 14 months picket lines remain up at the massive ABI Becancour, Quebec, aluminum smelter after locked-out members of United Steelworkers Local 9700 voted down the latest concessions contract. An overwhelming 82 percent of the strikers voted “no” at a…