Seventeen years after losing her council job due to needing endometriosis surgery, Michelle Dewar’s campaign for paid menstrual leave gained 50,000 signatures in a week, reports ELIZABETH SHORT

THE three-million-strong Canadian Labour Congress (CLC — the umbrella body for Canada’s unions) took a landmark decision at its Congress last week, as 4,000 delegates attending the virtual meeting voted for a new leadership after unions formed the Team Unite coalition to oust the current leadership.
Unions in the CLC have been unhappy with the leadership of Hassan Yussuff, who they say had grown too close to Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and had failed to deliver on policies that would benefit working people.
They accused Yussuff of backing the Liberal government’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau for a top position at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — a decision which outraged unions that were not consulted.

TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger

This is a remarkable set of hop hip, salsa, reggae, soul, cumbia and traditional Mexican music finds TONY BURKE

New releases from Madalitso Band, Gabriel da Rosa, and Femi Kuti

A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens