Alberta Labour Clash, Blue Jays at Work, Cautious Compensation Trends

In this episode: Amazon’s union negotiations, cautious compensation trends, fresh EDI insights, the Blue Jays’ impact on workplace culture and other topics.

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1. In British Columbia, workers at Amazon’s Delta facility (YVR-2) represented by Unifor, are starting to negotiate their first collective agreement with the company | Speed-ups and workload dominate discussions at Amazon bargaining table | Unifor 
2. Labour leaders in Alberta are pledging an unprecedented response after the provincial government invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to end a three-week teachers’ strike involving over 50,000 educators | Labour leaders vow ‘unprecedented response’ as Alberta uses notwithstanding clause 
3. The Manitoba government has added 832 new teaching positions since October 2023 | Province of Manitoba | News Releases | Manitoba Government Adds 800 Teachers in Two Years 
4. Eckler’s 2026 Compensation Planning Survey, based on responses from 504 Canadian organizations, reveals a modest national average base salary increase of 3.3%, down from last year’s 3.4% | Eckler Compensation 
5. Workplaces across Canada are tapping into the electric buzz of the Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff run to boost employee engagement — win or lose | OK Blue Jays, let’s boost engagement | HRD Canada 
6. A new survey from Toronto Metropolitan University reveals that the majority of Canadian workers still view equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives positively despite media chatter about backlash | Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Backlash? What Canadian Workers Really Think - Diversity Institute - Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)