November/December 2022 cover

The Labour Issue

Each year, Briarpatch publishes a special issue on work and the labour movement. In this year's Labour Issue, you'll find stories on the workers fighting wage theft in Brampton; Indigenous labour history; lessons from the Quebec strikers who won anti-scab legislation; farm workers fighting for sustainable agriculture and conditions; tree planters' reflections on greenwashing; exposing the sheltered workshops exploiting disabled workers; and more.

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  • A copy of Briarpatch's Nov/Dec 2022 issue on a yellow background.
    Magazine

    Keeping justice in a just transition

    by Saima Desai   Nov 1, 2022   3 min read

    As the term “just transition” gains traction with policymakers and fossil fuel companies trying to paint themselves green, the articles in this issue remind us that a just transition means justice for workers, migrants, and Indigenous Peoples.

  • Three portraits are side-by-side. Rana Nazzal Hamadeh, a Palestinian woman, is standing in front of a blurred city landscape. She is wearing a black ribbed v-neck sweater and her long, black hair is tied back in a sleek ponytail. She has a small gold nose ring on her left nostril and she's wearing eyeliner, mascara, and red lipstick. Jessica Johns, a light-skinned Cree woman, stands in front of a blurred fall backdrop and is looking straight at the camera. She has shoulder-length, wavy, light brown hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a navy blue collared jumpsuit accessorized with a black leather bolo tie with silver embellishments. She has a silver, triangular septum piercing and colourful tattoos of plants on her left arm. Randy Lundy, a Cree man, is tilting his head to the right. He has short, black, recently buzzed hair, brown eyes, and a clean-shaven face. He is wearing a grey t-shirt. In the background is a clear blue sky, trees, and a wooden fence.
    Magazine

    “We inhabit a land; the land inhabits us”

    by Sophie Jin   Nov 1, 2022   12 min read

    An interview with the judges of Briarpatch’s 12th annual Writing In The Margins contest: Rana Nazzal Hamadeh, Jessica Johns, and Randy Lundy.

  • A black-and-white digital line drawing of five men in wheelchairs, each of them with someone behind them pushing their wheelchair. Behind them are indistinct figures holding a banner that reads
    Magazine

    How Quebec workers won – and kept – anti-scab laws

    by Liam Devitt   Nov 1, 2022   11 min read

    If anti-scab legislation is to be extended across Canada, the NDP’s best efforts and the Liberals’ reluctant co-operation might not be enough. The history of the Quebec labour movement can show us how to fight for anti-scab legislation.

  • A black and white digital comic with three panels. In the first is four women workers in a factory assembly line. They are all wearing collared shirts, aprons, and bandanas. In the second panel is two workers unloading goods from a ship. The ship is behind them, and they are in the foreground pushing dollies with large rectangular crates on them. The third panel is a close-up of a construction worker suspended in the air. He is wearing a hard hat and a collared shirt. He is holding a rope and grimacing. In the background are half a dozen large buildings.
    Magazine

    Indigenous labour struggles

    by Mike Gouldhawke   Nov 1, 2022   7 min read

    From leading one of British Columbia’s earliest strikes to fighting against low wages and racist bosses, some pivotal moments in Indigenous labour history.

  • A photo of people marching on a road in Brampton. Two people in the front are carrying a large banner that says
    Magazine

    “With our own hands”

    by Simran Kaur Dhunna and Parmbir Gill   Nov 1, 2022   24 min read

    Workers and international students in Brampton are fighting back against wage theft, naming and shaming employers to recover over $250,000 in stolen wages. 12 workers share the lessons they’ve learned in the fight.

  • A digital illustration of two farm workers at work. The farm workers are in the center of the illustration, and both are wearing black rubber books, marine blue pants, and plaid sweaters. They are fist-bumping while holding a crate overflowing with vegetables. Pumpkins, corn, swiss chard, and other vegetables surround them. Plant roots are visible below them.
    Magazine

    Building farm worker power

    by Hannah Kaya and Hannen Sabean   Nov 1, 2022   12 min read

    Across Canada, farm workers are facing hotter summers and extreme weather, while being denied basic labour protections like a minimum wage. The farm workers organizing within the National Farmers Union want to change agriculture’s unsustainable conditions.

  • A digital illustration of a tree planter in a coal mine surrounded by green hills. The sky is blue and cloudy. The tree planter is standing to the left of the image, wearing blue pants, a red and orange shirt, and a yellow hat. They have a beige bag with plants inside slung over their shoulder. They're looking at the coal mine and three of their colleagues at work planting trees in the distance.
    Magazine

    Planting trees in a coal mine

    by Jennie Long and Caleb Cohen   Nov 1, 2022   14 min read

    Reclaiming mines is touted as an essential part of a just transition. But in Teck’s B.C. coal mines, two tree planters were left asking: were they part of reclamation, or greenwashing?

  • A digital illustration. On the left half of the illustration is a desk and folding chair surrounded by beige crates. On the right half of the illustration is a path with sunflowers and a blue sky. The person, who has brown skin and is wearing a red leather jacket, is walking through a revolving door that separates the two halves, exiting into the right half.
    Magazine

    Exiting the revolving door

    by Sophie Jin   Nov 1, 2022   8 min read

    Sheltered workshops for disabled people allow employers to evade labour standards and pay workers below minimum wage, all under the guise of never-ending “training programs.”

  • A photograph of gravestones on the grounds of Huronia. The gavestones are long, thin gray stones with only a number at the top. They are set into a concrete pad close together, nestled next to each other on the ground.
    Magazine

    Class inaction

    by Megan Linton   Nov 1, 2022   15 min read

    Survivors are speaking up about the abuse they endured in Canada’s government-run institutions for disabled people. Class-action lawsuits promise them justice – but can they deliver?

  • The covers or posters of four pieces of media, against a dark blue background: the book
    Magazine

    A reading list on labour’s role in a just transition

    by Joshua K. McEvoy   Nov 1, 2022   6 min read

    A transition to a sustainable economy is a monumental task that will require transformative change. Whether this transition is just, democratic, and reflective of the scale of the crises we face is still to be determined.

  • A photo taken from bird's-eye view. In the center, copies of an alt-weekly newspaper called The Grind are fanned out. The cover of The Grind shows a person standing in a subway station and the words
    Magazine

    The case for large-scale workers’ media in Canada

    by David Gray-Donald   Nov 1, 2022   5 min read

    Unions, union members, and people with access to wealth need to think big about shifting the media landscape in Canada.