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Employees call Scarborough Chapters closure union busting, Indigo says it’s a business decision

Employees of a Chapters bookstore in Scarborough are accusing Indigo of union busting after the company told employees it’d be closing the store in January, which was one of three unionized locations in Toronto.

Victoria Popov, a part-time employee and union steward at the store, says about 30-40 people will lose their jobs due to the closure on Jan. 27. The store has been open at Kennedy Commons mall for 24 years. In a statement, Indigo told CBC Toronto the store was closed after a standard business review that factored in profitability and says the company is working to support employees.

But Popov says staff feel unsupported by the Canada-wide chain. She says employees have been transferred to other locations after previous store closures, but a transfer was denied for everyone at the Scarborough store.

“We think we’re being made an example of for being unionized and for demanding better wages,” she said. “I think they want to show other stores: ‘This is what will happen to you if you dare step out of line.'”

Victoria Popov, a part-time employee and union steward at the store, says about 30-40 people will lose their jobs due to the closure on Jan. 27. (Jason Trout/CBC)

Indigo’s operations have been in the headlines over the past year, last fall there was a shakeup in the executive ranks that saw president Peter Ruis promoted to CEO, while founder Heather Reisman was bumped up to executive chair. Then the company was hit by a cyberattack in February and Reisman retired completely in the aftermath. In September, Ruis resigned after less than a year as CEO and Reisman returned as chief executive.

Prior to the cyberattack, the store said it was on track for a profitable 2022-2023 — but it ended up losing $50 million on the fiscal year as a result.

Evidence needed to prove union busting: lawyer

Michael Lynk, professor emeritus of law at the University of Western Ontario, says he’d need to see more evidence to definitively call the store’s closure an act of union busting. He says employers can close a unionized store if it is a pure economic decision.

He says the union could file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to accuse Indigo of committing an unfair labour practice.

“When a union accuses an employer of committing an unfair labour practice, the onus actually reverses, the onus is

The Globe’s most-read business and investing stories of 2023: Livable cities, Alberta’s pension plan, mortgage costs and more

High inflation. A complicated interest rate cycle. Alberta’s controversial pension plans. Netflix’s password sharing crackdown. Canada’s most livable cities. Rising mortgages payments. Recession fears. It’s safe to say that there has been no shortage of news this year.

In the final weekly digest of 2023, we’re taking a look back at The Globe’s most-read business and investing stories of the entire year. Get caught up on the biggest stories that resonated with readers on a variety of topics from housing, debt, critical minerals and more.

‘We’re barely making it’: Eight Canadian stories reveal the pain of soaring mortgage costs

Colin Tran wants to purchase a home, but can’t afford high mortgage costs. Instead he’s saving using the new First Home Savings Account.JASON FRANSON/The Globe and Mail

In a year of high inflation and housing unaffordability, Canadian homeowners were especially feeling the squeeze of interest rates. Irene Galea spoke to Canadians facing difficult decisions in order to continue paying off their loans. They’re deferring retirement, cutting back expenses and worrying about how they will cover their next mortgage payment. Some are even lengthening their mortgage amortization, stretching out the duration of their payments from 15 or 25 years to 30 years or beyond to keep their payments down. These are their stories.

Opinion: Netflix’s desperate crackdown on password sharing shows it might fail like Blockbuster

This photo shows a logo for Netflix on a remote control in Portland, Ore.Jenny Kane/The Associated Press

When Netflix announced in February that it would crack down on password sharing, Canadians users were left questioning whether it was still worth paying the subscription fee. In a column for The Globe and Mail, Ken Birch, director of the Institute for Technoscience and Society at York University, raises the question of whether the move – and Netflix’s business model and monetization strategy – is viable in the long-run. He writes: “Netflix is facing a self-defeating cycle with its subscription changes.” Fast forward to the end of the year, Netflix has reported strong third-quarter results and increased its subscriber base – sending shares surging.

The 100 most livable cities in Canada

One of The Globe’s popular stories of the year in general was the inaugural ranking of Canada’s 100 most livable cities. The data-driven list places an emphasis

U.S. schools turning to online therapy due to few counsellors

Trouble with playground bullies started for Maria Ishoo’s daughter in elementary school. Girls ganged up, calling her “fat” and “ugly.” Boys tripped and pushed her. The California mother watched her typically bubbly second-grader retreat into her bedroom and spend afternoons curled up in bed.

For Valerie Aguirre’s daughter in Hawaii, a spate of middle school “friend drama” escalated into violence and online bullying that left the 12-year-old feeling disconnected and lonely.

Both children received help through telehealth therapy, a service that schools around the country are offering in response to soaring mental health struggles among American youth.

A pair of Miami Arts Studio students hug as others walk between classes, on World Mental Health Day, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, at the public 6th-12th grade magnet school, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Now at least 16 of the 20 largest U.S. public school districts are offering online therapy sessions to reach millions of students, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In those districts alone, schools have signed provider contracts worth more than $70 million.

The growth reflects a booming new business born from America’s youth mental health crisis, which has proven so lucrative that venture capitalists are funding a new crop of school teletherapy companies. Some experts raise concerns about the quality of care offered by fast-growing tech companies.

As schools cope with shortages of in-person practitioners, however, educators say teletherapy works for many kids, and it’s meeting a massive need. For rural schools and lower-income students in particular, it has made therapy easier to access. Schools let students connect with online counsellors during the school day or after hours from home.

“This is how we can prevent people from falling through the cracks,” said Ishoo, a mother of two in Lancaster, California.

Ishoo recalls standing at her second-grader’s bedroom door last year and wishing she could get through to her. “What’s wrong?” the mother would ask. The response made her heart heavy: “It’s NOTHING, Mom.”

Last spring, her school district launched a teletherapy program and she signed up her daughter. During a month of weekly sessions, the girl logged in from her bedroom and opened up to a therapist who gave her coping tools and breathing techniques to reduce anxiety. The therapist told her daughter: You are in charge of your own emotions. Don’t give anyone else that

TikTok Sleuths Are Obsessing Over the Case of Nancy Ng, Who Vanished

29-year-old Nancy Ng disappeared on October 19 at a retreat in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.
She went kayaking and never returned, leading authorities to think she drowned.
But her family isn’t convinced, and TikTok sleuths have been sharing every update.

Nancy Ng disappeared on October 19 at a retreat in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, and TikTok is keeping up with every update.

Ng, a 29-year-old school assistant from Southern California, had gone on vacation to a yoga retreat and was reportedly kayaking on the lake when she vanished.

Authorities believe she may have drowned, though her family and friends are unconvinced, The Independent reported. As of December 4, Ng has not been found and her case remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, TikTokers have been sharing every new interview with witnesses and notices from police. Videos with the hashtag #NancyNg have amassed 36 million views on the platform.

Ed Choi, for example, who has almost 500,000 followers, has been reporting on Ng’s disappearance since November 5, with his videos regularly hitting hundreds of thousands or over a million views.

In his first video, he addressed some “really shady” circumstances around Ng’s case, including some comments by Chris Sharpe, the leader of the search-and-rescue team hired by Ng’s family.

According to ABC7, Sharpe said he was having trouble getting witnesses to come forward or speak to him, and that his team had searched most of the lake and not found anything.

“For me, this is now becoming a criminal investigation because the witnesses who were there at a material time are not being forthcoming,” he told the outlet.

Choi, and others, have since made videos reporting on every update about Ng’s disappearance, including when a video of her kayaking was released, and when the last person thought to see Ng alive, named Christina Blazek, came forward.

The rise of armchair sleuths

True crime content is huge on TikTok, with videos about historic cases regularly racking up millions of views. But internet sleuths have also played an increasing role in mysteries that unfold in real-time.

For example, when van life influencer Gabby Petito went missing in August 2021, social media was flooded with information about her disappearance, and theories about what may have happened to her. Some content played a part in getting her case

Business of fashion: Here are 10 things shaping the industry

Climate change and AI could have the biggest impact on the fashion sector.

The 2024 outlook for the fashion industry can be described with one word: “uncertain”. This is the word most often used by industry executives, who are completely divided over the prospects of their fields of expertise, according to the latest State of Fashion report by The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company.

There might not be a clear pathway as to what lies ahead, but the report lined up the ten most important things that are going to shape the next 12 months of the industry, based on global surveys of fashion executives and consumers.

Industry growth is projected to slow to 2 to 4%, helped by a rebound in global tourism and the opportunities presented by generative artificial intelligence.

Taking a closer look at the market

However, the global industry seemed resilient in recent years, in Europe and in the US, as consumers’ appetite to shop for fashion was diminishing in the second half of 2023, the industry had to face slowing sales and uneven performance.

Mainly due to fragile consumer confidence in key markets of the US, Europe and China, the report forecasts slower growth for the next year, with year-on-year retail sales between 2-4%. The luxury segment is expected to see the fastest growth, between 3% and 5%.

“The fashion industry once again demonstrated remarkable resilience in 2022. The luxury segment in particular propelled growth through price increases, partially offsetting the weaknesses of other segments,” said Senior Partner at McKinsey Achim Berg.

Meanwhile, foreign travel is expected to give a boost to fashion sales. Global travel is expected to jump 10% above pre-pandemic levels, and 80% of surveyed shoppers from the US, UK and China plan to shop for fashion while on holiday, so plenty of opportunities for brands to re-engage international shoppers in 2024.

More than half of the industry expects to raise prices while cost pressures are predicted to abate.

Influencer marketing — an industry currently worth more than $21 billion — is likely to shift, insights indicate that people increasingly prefer influencers with less polished but more authentic content, interest in celebrity status could be wiped away by relatable and authentic influencers who are fun.

Climate crisis’ $65 billion risk to the industry

After numerous extreme weather events in 2023, climate change presents the biggest short-term threat to the