Today is Labour Day and a holiday in Canada, and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has posted videos to showcase “the ways unions are improving the day-to-day lives of all Canadians.” The videos focus on improving work, winning stronger public pensions and an effort to ban all asbestos, a cancer-causing fibre that is responsible for most of Canada’s work-related deaths. In addition, hundreds of people marched through the streets of Toronto to mark Labour Day and many of the issues unions showcase to improve the lies of Canadians.
‘Precarious work has grown’
“One of the main topics is the whole question of jobs,” says Barbara Byers, secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress which brings together the unions representing 3.3 million Canadians.
“We want Canadians to have good jobs with decent pay and stable schedules. We know that precarious work has grown in this country and certainly there a lot of young workers, a lot of women workers and a lot of new Canadians in particular that are subject to precarious work.
‘At the mercy of their employer’
“They don’t have full-time jobs. They don’t know when their schedules are going to be. They are at the mercy of the employer.” Byers says unions have worked hard to organize part-time workers and will continue to do so.
ListenAnother video looks at pensions. After years of lobbying, the CLC is very happy that government officials are planning to legislate improvements to Canada’s public pension plan.
Comprehensive ban on asbestos sought
One of the presentations honours a worker who died from his exposure to asbestos. While Canada has stopped producing the fibre, it still imports products that contain it such as brake pads and some construction materials. The CLC is lobbying for a comprehensive ban.
‘More equality, more fairness’
Many Canadians are not aware of past ways in which unions have improved their working conditions, things like obtaining a shorter work week, health and safety rules and pensions provisions, says Byers.
“Our wishes for this Labour Day and for every day going forward are more equality, more fairness, more justice in our workplaces and that workers have the security to be able to look after their families, to work in their communities, to contribute to their communities, to feel welcome for when we’re looking at new Canadians.
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