Precarious work is now the new norm, United Way report says

Precarious employment is here to stay, a new study shows, and Toronto’s new economic reality impacts everyone from the working poor to the middle class.

The research confirms United Way and McMaster University’s groundbreaking 2013 findings that fewer than half of workers in the GTA and Hamilton are in permanent, full-time jobs.

Canada's January Unemployment Rate Drops To 6.6% On Part-Time Job Gains

OTTAWA -- A surge in part-time work last month helped the Canadian economy add 35,400 net new jobs, a change that nudged the unemployment rate down to 6.6 per cent.

Statistics Canada's latest labour-market survey says the country lost 11,800 full-time positions in January, while it gained 47,200 part-time jobs.

Toronto library strike: Job security the big issue again

The library workers’ decision to walk off the job surprised even the left-leaning councillor who leads the library board’s labour relations committee.

“I really thought they would stay at the table,” said Councillor Sarah Doucette, an opponent of Mayor Rob Ford. She called the strike, which forced all 98 branches to shut down, “the last thing” she had expected during weekend negotiations.

The talks collapsed Sunday over the issue of job security. Fortified by a library-loving public, union president Maureen O’Reilly is gambling that a strike will pressure the city into protecting a greater number of workers from potential future job cuts.

Under the collective agreement that expired on Dec. 31, no permanent library worker could be laid off in the event of outsourcing or technological changes. The city’s outdoor workers enjoyed similarly ironclad protection.