Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Ryan Hayes and Edward Hon-Sing Wong discuss both the importance of collective action to protect workers' rights, and the strategies which are proving most effective. Hamilton Nolan writes about the increasingly strong case for sectoral bargaining. And Chelsea Nash examines the gig-worker unionization campaign at Foodora which led it to flee Canada rather than being required to deal fairly with its workers.

- Meanwhile, Samantha Melamed points out how people are being pushed into gig work by a lack of other alternatives. And Kait Bolongaro and Shelly Hagan discuss why Canadian farms are having difficulty recruiting the seasonal migrant workers who are normally relied on to harvest crops - though it's worth noting the problems with a sector being structured to rely on insecure labour.

- Rob Shaw reports that John Horgan is both pushing the federal government to implement paid sick leave so that workers aren't pressured to endanger themselves and others, and planning to ensure B.C. workers have that level of income security if Justin Trudeau can't be bothered. 

- David Bernstein reports on the false promise that massive tax breaks for a new Sears headquarters would lead to any sustainable jobs or economic development. And Christopher Reynolds reports on WestJet's demand to be handed the right to lay off thousands of employees without liability even as it's already receiving a 75% wage subsidy to keep people employed.

- Jack Hicks writes about the travesty that is Saskatchewan's current excuse for a suicide prevention plan.

- Finally, Kai Kupferschmidt writes about the factors which result in the "superspreading" of COVID-19 while many infected people don't pass it along at all. Andre Picard notes that while we should turn mask-wearing into a social norm, it's far from the only action we need to take in order to minimize the harm from the coronavirus. And David Fisman points out that the success we've had in limiting the spread of COVID-19 so far means that there's all the more to lose if we abandon the effort prematurely.