The annual IBEW hockey tournament will be held April 10 through 12 this year at St. Margaret's Bay Arena outside Halifax. Depending on participation, this will either be a 12- or 14-team event. If you are interested and can organize a Union team, please contact Local 1928 President Jim Sponagle, organizer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We are also looking for donations of swag and refreshments from local businesses, if you have existing relationships that you can leverage.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Jamaican Cultural Association of Nova Scotia are sponsoring an African Heritage Month event at the North End Public Library in Halifax on Thursday February 12. This free forum entitled "The Economics of Migrant Workers" will look at the benefits for, impact on, and support for migrant workers from the Caribbean to Nova Scotia.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada declared the right to strike to be fundamental and protected by the Canadian Constitution. This decision followed on the heels of a January 16 court ruling that said the RCMP and other Canadian workers have the right to unionize to protect their interests.

Friday's ruling came in a Saskatchewan case in which public-sector unions challenged a 2008 provincial law passed by Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party that limited the right to strike by workers deemed by the government to be in essential services, such as jail guards. In the federal jurisdiction, 94% of contract disputes are settled without a work stoppage, according to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “Strikes are always the last resort, never the first resort, in collective bargaining, and the number one objective is always to reach an agreement,” said said CLC president Hassan Yussuff. "Today’s decision levels the playing field for workers by placing checks on the power of governments, as employers, to legislate unfair essential services arrangements that tip the scales in management’s favour,” 

In Nova Scotia, Bills 30 and 37 passed by the McNeil government have been challenged in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court by the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour (NSFL) and several unions. “We sincerely hope the Nova Scotia Government does the right thing and revokes these bills, but if not, that case will proceed to determine if the infringement on the right to strike in those Bills can meet the stringent requirements applied by the Supreme Court of Canada today, “ said Rick Clarke, president of the NSFL. 

This year Canada will be heading to the polls to elect our next Federal Government. The federal election is scheduled to take place on Monday, October 19, 2015 however it could be called as early as this spring. The IBEW National Political Action Committee (NPAC) funded a video of the IBEW First District Staff explaining why they are voting in the 2015 federal election. Feel free to pass along the link to this video and have a look:  http://youtu.be/gLDKkPRfiv8

Let's start a conversation among IBEW members on social media across the country, and draw attention to the importance of every worker voting according to their best interest. 

Our current Federal Government has attacked workers’ rights through back-to-work legislation, removal of Health & Safety regulations hidden in omnibus budget bills, repealing of the Federal Fair Wage & Hours of Labour Act, and by directly attacking workers through legislation like Bill C-377 and Bill C-525. 

Brother Donald Lounds, former IBEW International Vice President (First District, i.e. Canada) died suddenly at Port Orange, Florida, on January 12, 2015, age 73. Brother Lounds spent his adult life in the IBEW, serving on his home Local's (Oshawa, Local 874) executive board for several terms, then as its Business Manager, before joining the First District staff in 1974 where he served in various capacities in Canada for nearly 25 years. Brother Lounds was appointed  VP for First District in 1997 and retired from that post in 2003. He is survived by three children and eight grandchildren. A funeral service for Brother Lounds will be held at the Oshawa Funeral Home on Wednesday January 21 at 11am.