They’re called McJobs: Low wage, low prestige positions with little chance for advancement and high turnover rates. Most often associated with the fast food industry, workers are at the whim of their managers when it comes to number of hours and time of shifts. Unions are strongly discouraged, and employees have been fired for attempting to organize them.

Today, for the second time, the McJob workers are fighting back. In New York City, several hundred fast food workers are striking, demanding higher wages and the right to form unions.

The first protest was held on November 29, 2012, and saw 200 workers from establishments such as Wendy’s, McDonald’s, KFC and Taco Bell holding an organized strike, with demonstrations held across the city. This time, they expect the turnout to be twice as high.

Although their issues are not necessarily identical to Canadians’ (we have higher minimum wage and our healthcare is covered by the government), the issue is still one that reverberates here. Many young Canadians, fresh in the workforce and clutching expensive diplomas, are cobbling together multiple McJobs at $10.25 an hour just to make rent. The fear: Is there really a way to move from the fast food world to the corporate world?

The world continues to change, with outsourcing pushing many manufacturing jobs overseas and the chasm between the haves and have-nots growing more pronounced. If today’s young workers don’t make a stand, their adult lives and the lives of the next generation may be very different from the one their parents experienced.

Are you ready to take a stand?

Ten years after the film Finding Nemo swam into our hearts Disney/Pixar is announcing that our favourite fish will be returning for a sequel.

The sequel, to be called Finding Dory, will centre around the adventures of the amnesiac Blue Tang who helped find lost baby Nemo in the first movie. Ellen DeGeneres is set to reprise her voice role and director Andrew Stanton will also be returning to spearhead the sequel.

It’s a wonder that it took a fish as forgetful as Dory this long to get lost.

The film will take place roughly a year after the events of the first film and will feature many returning characters including Marlin and Nemo.

Unfortunately the film won’t be hitting theatres until November 25th, 2015, but the good news is that the movie is in production — and this gives fans plenty of time to get in line for opening weekend.

The 72-year-old Speaker of the House turned Minority House Leader is as much of a fixture in the landscape of American politics as the Lincoln Statue or the Washington Monument. Seeming to break barriers with everything she does (first female Minority Whip, first female Speaker of the House) it comes as no surprise that in her lifetime of devoted public service she has never shied away from promoting and empowering women in politics.

In a recent interview with Salon she explains that the biggest issue facing feminism today is the lack of women in politics.

“We need to have women in elected positions to make their voices heard and to get policy improved,” says Pelosi. “But the missing piece all along has been affordable quality childcare … If we’re going to unleash the intellect, the determination and courage of women, the clarity of thinking of women, onto the world, we need affordable quality childcare.”

The interview also touched on her thought about Malala, the Violence Against Women Act, and a few fun questions, like her love of chocolate and her favourite female heroine:

“I’d say Nancy Drew, because when I was a little girl I read those books, and it was always fascinating to me that her name was Nancy. I didn’t really know too many other Nancys except for my mother. And I can just see the books in the library and on the shelves in our home. Her moxie, her courage, and her curiosity were quite remarkable. It was quite remarkable when you think about it, that those books were written about a girl all that time ago. And they still have salience when I read them to my grandchildren.”

Join the conversation by Facebooking or tweeting at us to let us know who your favourite female heroine is.

Oh boy. Time to take a look at your Lulus.

The Vancouver based yoga clothing retailer is set to lose millions of dollars (some are predicting up to $20 million in losses) this week with a recall of up to one fifth of their inventory over, um, an issue.

The company released a statement saying: “We have determined that certain shipments of product received from our factories and available in store from March 1, 2013 do not meet our technical specifications. The items affected are certain styles of women’s bottoms in our signature black Luon fabric. The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women’s black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards.”

So these yoga pants were essentially see-through.

Lululemon yoga pants have long been a gym favourite and, let’s face it, people wear them even when they aren’t at the gym too. They usually fit just right and show off your assets. Unfortunately, if you’re one of the people who purchased them this March, they could be showing off a bit too much of your ass-ets. Yikes.

Let us know what you think on Twitter and Facebook. Will you stay true to your Lulus? Will you be a little extra careful about your coverage in yoga pants from here on out?

Action star actor, metal band rocker, and all around celebrity super-mom Jada Pinkett Smith has sounded off on how she feels young men and women in the entertainment industry are torn apart by the media, making references to the current spat of troubles for Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Taylor Swift, not to mention the off colour joke made by The Onion at the expense of 9-year-old Oscar nominee Quevenzhané Wallis.

Read her full statement below:

“It is as if we have forgotten what it means to be young or even how to behave like good ol’ grown folk. Do we feel as though we can say and do what we please without demonstrating any responsibility simply because they are famous? Is it okay to continually attack and criticize a famous 19 year old who is simply trying to build a life, exercise his talents while figuring out what manhood and fame is all about as he carries the weight of supporting his family as well as providing the paychecks to others who depend on him to work so they can feed their families as well? Does that render being called a c*** by an adult male photographer as you try to return to your hotel after leaving the hospital?

Or what about our nine year old beautiful Oscar nominee who was referred to as a c*** as well? Or what about being a young woman in her early twenties, exploring the intricacies of love and power on the world stage? And should we shame a young woman for displaying a sense of innocence as she navigates through the murky waters of love, heartbreak, and fame? Are these young people not allowed to be young, make mistakes, grow, and eventually transform a million times before our eyes?”

Supportive, understanding, beautiful… Can you be our mom?

Join the conversation below and by tweeting us @womenspost or liking us on facebook.com/womenspost to let us know what you think. Is the media being too cruel to our young female and male stars?

How could I forget my first steps into a newsroom? Granted, it wasn’t anything spectacular — the community newspaper’s basement office had more funky smells than it did natural light — but it was everything I had hoped it would be and more. The hustle bustle of reporters on the go, the phone ringing off the hook, the sound of the printer spitting out copy; this was where I was meant to be.

I remember submitting my first story and being called aside by my editor. Was I about to be commended for a job well done? Accolades on my first story? Am I the best young reporter she’s ever seen?

Nope. I was awful.

Thankfully that editor had a clear vision of what needed to be fixed and the patience to explain it to me in a learning environment.

My next article was a little better, and the next one a little better than that. Between each attempt at journalistic excellence there was a whole lot of listening, shadowing and note taking. Each day was a new lesson in what needed to be done and what mistakes to avoid, and I am thankful to have had the experience.

Today in my working life I apply more things that I learned from that group of reporters than I do anything I learned out of a $300 university textbook.

I’ve come a long way since that conversation over my first story. I’ve been around the block and back and keep a copy of CP Style on my nightstand. I’m in a position now where I could possibly be the one teaching some kid a thing or two.

I recently set about putting together an internship program and was surprised to learn that there is some distrust around the idea of internships. While I viewed my editors as teachers and the newsroom as a classroom, some young and inexperienced people hoping to break into their industries view internships as exploitative.

Blogger Andrew Langille believes in the value of internships for young people.

“Internships are an important tool in the school-to-labour market transition,” Langille toldWP, although he numbers among those who believe that unpaid internships are about exploiting free work from young people rather than skill building and educational experience.

The difference between my hopes for an educational internship program and the views of exploitation set out by detractors may lie, it seems, in how faithfully businesses follow the spirit of the educational internship.

Currently there are a handful of rules set out by the Ministry of Labour, who regulate internships in Ontario, which aim to differentiate an intern from an employee. For example, interns can’t be doing work that a paid employee could be doing — a rule that seems obvious when you take into account that internships are meant to be for educational and training purposes, not free work. Businesses must also be careful not to offer interns any type of compensation as this can be seen as sub-par remuneration.

The Ministry sets out a pay standard for interns where they are either to be paid as employees or given nothing.

From my point of view the catch-22 is that if you take an intern in with the express purpose of teaching, detractors of the model feel that interns should be paid as employees because the learning takes place in a work environment. But if a business is paying someone as an employee, they expect the work and results of an employee, not the follies of a classroom setting.

The back and forth over the subject has led me to step away from the idea an internship program for the time being. I love the idea of creating a curriculum for an educational internship and helping to train a young mind, but unfortunately some current attitudes seem to be disparaging of the model in which I was trained. What will replace that model for young people in search of training and a foothold in their industry remains to be seen.

While I may not be a mentor in any official sense, one thing is for sure: in my own personal life I will continue to help young writers and journalists to hone their skills to better break into the industry as a friend.

Sarah Thomson’s allegations of sexual impropriety against Mayor Rob Ford have sparked a series of statements from conservative councillors and pundits attempting to discredit her version of events. Among the most vocal has been Councillor Carmine Perrelli, who claims nothing inappropriate went on at the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee event Thursday night.

Sarah Thomson’s executive assistant, Sarah Patterson, was present at the event and says that her experience involved an intoxicated looking Rob Ford and an offfensive Carmine Pirelli.

I sat down with her to hear what she had to say.

On Thursday, March 7, you spent the evening with Sarah Thomson, what were you guys doing?

Last night was my first CJPAC Action event, and it was quite the memorable experience.  I met numerous people, members of the political community and city leaders.  I was attending with my new boss Mrs Sarah Thomson, Chair of the Toronto Transit Alliance.

How did the event begin for you two?

Sarah was a great sport and introduced me to everyone as she met up with old friends and former colleagues.  We mingled with the likes of Kathleen Wynne, Justin Trudeau, and Tim Hudak.  It was a surreal experience.

How did Sarah Thomson come to encounter Mayor Ford?

During the evening Mayor Rob Ford was in attendance.  He stood beside the entrance doors with his entourage, back in the corner, being surrounded by those wanting pictures and hand shakes.  Sarah noticed and went over to say hello as they were former opponents in the Mayoral Candidacy Race of 2010.  Sarah asked if I could get some pictures for her on her new iPhone, adding to the celebrity filled evening.

Sarah managed to squeeze her way through the crowd to greet Mayor Ford, while I was stuck behind other enthusiasts. All I could do to get pictures was to hold the phone high above my head, snap away, while standing on the tips of my toes.

This is where the now infamous photo of the two came from?

Apparently my photography skills are not the best and I managed to get a few shots of the wall, the back of some heads, and finally a somewhat in focus shot of Sarah and Mayor Ford. I left the swarm of people and met up with Sarah to give her back her iPhone. When she approached me, she had a look of shock on her face. She stated that Mayor Ford “had just grabbed [her] ass!” I was a little shocked, but had noticed that Mayor Ford was acting a little peculiar, I just assumed it was associated with open bar. He was ridiculously red in the face, sweating profusely, dime-eyed, and acting rather abrupt.

Would you say that Mayor Ford appeared to be very intoxicated?

Yeah.

What did you two do after this?

From this point we continued to mingle where the “ass grab” had become a comedic reference to the events of the night. I was able to meet numerous city councillors, one of which has since decided to throw myself and Sarah Thomson under the bus: Councillor Carmine Perrelli. He and I chatted and Sarah brought up the incident with Mayor Ford. Perrelli asked if we had a picture of this event, he believed it would have been amusing to see. Sarah being quite laidback, had stated that she didn’t have a picture of the incident , but was sure this wouldn’t be difficult to acquire considering the current state of Mayor Ford. We were curious if the “ass grab” was a one time occurrence or if this was occurring to other female attendees.

How was Mr. Perrelli behaving?

Sarah and I left Councillor Perrelli because his actions and comments were starting to  border on the offensive line. I must point out that Perrelli was wearing sunglasses indoors, and when I asked him why he said it was to check out woman without getting caught. He also asked to see the length of Sarah’s hair and when she turned around he looked her up and down, then learned over to me and told me that he was really checking out her butt.  After this we left the conversation, Perrelli grab my arm and stated “Don’t worry, you have a nice ass too”.

You yourself got a photo with Mayor Ford, correct?

Later on in the evening. Sarah and I returned to the upper level of the event where Rob Ford was still in attendance. I took this opportunity to meet Rob Ford, get my picture taken and to see if he was in fact being inappropriately friendly with other female guests. I went up, introduced myself and shook his hand. We got our picture taken, smiles and all, and Mayor Ford was polite and friendly, and that was that.
How have you felt in the aftermath?

I wake up today to see the media abuzz with Sarah Thomson being “groped” by Mayor Ford.  My office phone is ringing off the hook, my inbox has been filled with reporters wanting to know what I saw, what I said, what I did, etc. The majority of the response from the media has been negative, claiming Sarah Thomson as a liar, and a schemer, and that we set up Mayor Ford.

What do you say to anyone who doubts the validity of Sarah Thomson’s accusation?

If someone can explain to me how we can set up an “ass grab” I would like to know.  The worst part of this experience is seeing how the boys club of politics stick together. Those that were commenting on my physique last night are calling me liar today. This being my first big political outing with my new boss at my new job has really taught me a lot.