workers rights

Illustration of a row of small businesses including a barber shop, coin laundry, bookstore, and farmer’s market.
4 min 0 1690

An alternative perspective on small businesses

Peak Web May 14, 2025

Small businesses contribute to local economies by offering unique products, innovations, and creating job opportunities. In Canada, they employ over five million people throughout the country and make up nearly 98% of all businesses. However, the narrative around small businesses often focuses on the owners, and ignores the employees.  CEOs and small business owners have some key differences. CEOs are often chosen by a Board of Directors, which is made up of investors who oversee a company’s entire vision. Small business owners are those who create and manage a business at a smaller scale, and tend to be more “hands…

Continue reading Read more
This is an image of a worker in a field of vegetables. They are carrying a box over their shoulder filled with the goods they have gathered, as they walk away from the camera. There are other workers in the distance who are also gathering vegetables.
4 min 0 2468

Canada’s agricultural worker program violates migrants’ rights

Peak Web September 21, 2023

On September 8, The Peak attended a talk discussing Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). The panel was hosted by the SFU School of International Studies. The talk was moderated by professor Gerardo Otero and joined by a panel of…

Continue reading Read more
A TSSU sign which reads, “Love your teacher, disrespect scabs”
4 min 0 1834

SFU’s response to the TSSU picket lines has been poor

Peak Web June 29, 2023

As an international student, I tend to stay at the edges of certain aspects of Canadian life. I’ve strayed away from having an opinion about politics, healthcare, or worker’s rights, not because I don’t care about any of those things,…

Continue reading Read more
Six people forming a picket line with two people in the front holding an orange bucket as a drum. The location is at AQ Shrum Science building.
6 min 0 1972

TSSU members form picket line in labour action

Peak Web June 22, 2023

As of June 12, the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) has gone on strike, with an overwhelming 94% vote to take this action. Leading up to the strike, teaching assistants (TAs) began their labour action by refusing overtime pay for…

Continue reading Read more
A photograph of SFU’s Academic Quadrangle.
2 min 0 1397

The Teaching Support Staff Union votes in favour of strike action

Peak Web May 8, 2023

With a vote of 94%, the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) has decided in favour of taking strike action to improve working and learning conditions on campus. The TSSU represents over 3,500 workers “who teach and conduct research at Simon…

Continue reading Read more
an empty computer lab
3 min 0 2378

Automation should help workers, not harm them

Peak Web November 12, 2022

In the 20th century, economist John Keynes correctly predicted that automation in the industrial sector would continue expanding and threatening jobs, which we’re currently seeing in North America. In some ways, Canada’s shift towards automation parallels the transition towards cleaner…

Continue reading Read more