Tag Archives: fête du travail

This Labour Day, don’t be fooled by fair-weather friends of labour

As we mark another Labour Day, let’s reflect on a time-honoured tradition: politicians suddenly discovering their deep, abiding love for the working class – just in time for election season. It’s a dance as old as democracy itself, but in 2024, the moves are looking particularly desperate.

On one side, we have Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. He’s attempting a blue collar rebrand that’s about as convincing as a CEO in a hard hat – hoping his new look will make us forget that he is a career politician, has never been a worker himself, and has spent decades casting votes against workers’ rights.

On the other side, we have Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He wants to be seen as a friend to labour, while also fighting federal employees trying to build a workplace that prioritizes accessibility, environmental responsibility, and a more diverse and inclusive public service.

This battle is currently playing out in the fight for telework, an issue as crucial to our generation as the weekend was to our great-grandparents. And just like the weekend, it’s under threat from those who’d rather see us commuting two hours a day than being productive and thriving at home. Telework is a powerful equalizer. It opens doors for disabled workers, parents, and rural Canadians. It breathes life into small towns and cuts our carbon footprint faster than you can say “Zoom meeting.”

Surveys show the average person commutes 8.5 hours per week to work – that’s 408 hours or 17 full days of wasted time in transit per year. That’s 17 days not spent with our families. Seventeen days not contributing to our communities or being productive at work. For workers who CAN work remotely, it’s a complete and utter waste of time and energy.

But some politicians can’t see past their corner office windows. They spout nonsense about “water cooler moments” and “office culture,” ignoring that returning to the office actually looks like workers taking most of their meetings by video call – in federal buildings plagued by poor ventilation, rats, bats, bed bugs and, shockingly, asbestos. Any politician who claims to support workers while pushing for a return to these conditions deserves our skepticism, not our votes.

Because at the end of the day, true support for labour isn’t about wearing the right jacket or using the right slogans. It’s about consistently fighting for policies that improve workers’ lives. And in 2024, that fight includes embracing telework to create more inclusive, efficient, and people-friendly workplaces. Remember, it’s easy to don a hard hat for a day – it’s much harder to fight for workers year after year.

So let’s honour our predecessors by continuing their fight for better working conditions. Let’s make telework the new standard for anyone who can do it effectively. If we don’t, we’ll be explaining to our grandkids why we gave up the chance to revolutionize the way we work – all because some politicians couldn’t imagine a world beyond their outdated office parks.

This Labour Day, as we fire up our BBQs and enjoy a well-earned day off, let’s remember the fights that got us here. The great activists of our time didn’t face down police batons and corporate greed so we could waste our lives in traffic. They fought for a better future – and in 2024, that future is remote work.

This article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Show your support at a Labour Day event near you

Each year on Labour Day, we recognize the contributions of workers and reflect on the rights we have fought for over the years, including fair wages, safer working conditions, and the right to organize collectively.

This year, we’re celebrating Labour Day on the heels of one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. Thanks to over 100,000 PSAC members who came together on picket lines to demand better, we secured the strongest collective agreement in the federal public service that raises the bar for our members and all workers in Canada.

In Nunavut, PSAC members at the Iqaluit Housing Authority picketed for 136 days to secure wages that lift workers who are struggling with one of the highest costs of living in the country.

These victories — and many more by PSAC members this year — are a reminder that when workers unite, we can build lasting change.

Labour Day celebrations and marches are being organized across the country. Show your support at an event near you.

This article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Labour Day 2022: Don’t just thank a union, get involved!

Canada’s labour movement has a long history of fighting – and winning – battles for decent wages, better working conditions, and stronger protections that improve people’s lives.

It’s thanks to unions and thousands of workers and activists who took to the streets in the spring of 1872 that we enjoy weekends and the eight-hour workday today.

It’s because unions never waned in the fight for women’s equality that parents now get paid parental leave to spend with their families when it matters most.

We have the right to refuse unsafe work and have a say in making our workplaces safer because unions led the way towards reforms in occupational health and safety.

From minimum wages and protection against discrimination and harassment to overtime pay and vacation pay, there is no doubt unions have helped make Canada a better, safer place to live and work.

New challenges ahead

But today, our movement still faces challenges – some new, others we’ve been grappling with for decades.

The pandemic changed the way that we live and work, but we’ve adapted to make sure you’re protected at work – whether that’s in your workplace or at the kitchen table.

We’re fighting for fair wages in bargaining as record-high inflation squeezes workers and makes life less affordable. Meanwhile, wealthy corporations continue to line their pockets with record profits.

Unions are working to tear down the systemic barriers Black, Indigenous, Asian and other racialized workers continue to face in their workplace, from discriminatory hiring practices to limited career advancement, and underrepresentation in management positions.

These trying times remind us that now, more than ever, we can’t waver in our fight for fair wages, good working conditions and inclusive workplaces — not just for PSAC members, but for all Canadian workers.

But to make major gains for workers, we need to be organized and work together. Because we have strength in numbers with more than 230,000 PSAC members behind us – with thousands more joining us ever year – we can drive the change we want to see in our workplaces.

So this Labour Day, don’t just thank a union. Take action and get involved:

Keep your contact information up to date via the member portal to receive all the latest updates about bargaining.

This article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Labour Day 2020: Moving Canada Forward Together

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has revealed the critical value of front-line workers. Healthcare workers, cleaners, grocery store staff, delivery drivers and many more continued working through the height of the pandemic, ensuring Canadians had access to basic amenities and services.

Tens of thousands of PSAC members did the same. They kept our food supply safe, maintained our borders, and ensured that millions of laid off workers received the financial relief they needed in record time.

While these unprecedented emergency relief measures were largely successful as a temporary safety net, a full, equitable, and resilient recovery for Canada demands an even more ambitious plan. That’s why this Labour Day we not only recognize workers’ essential contributions during the pandemic, but also commit ourselves to a plan to move Forward Together and come out of this crisis even stronger.

A moment for unprecedented change

Canada’s parliament, led by a Liberal minority government, is at a critical juncture. It can either rise to this historic occasion by working to put in place a bold and courageous recovery program, or it can opt to not prepare for the next crisis.

Rebuilding our economy that is disaster proof and works to the benefit of all Canadians will mean addressing the failures and weaknesses revealed by the pandemic. It will mean a massive commitment to public investment by the federal government not seen since the post-war period to:

Replace lost jobs with better ones by hiring people to build green infrastructure, to educate our youth and to care for others.
Strengthen public health care by introducing a universal Pharmacare plan to reduce the cost of medicine and incorporating long-term care into Canada’s universal public health care system.
Put in place a high quality, inclusive and fully accessible system of publicly-funded child care—something all economists and women’s organizations recognize as essential to economic recovery for everyone, not only parents with young children.
Strengthen social income support systems by reforming Employment Insurance and making sure workers have access to paid sick leave.

Forward Together

How will we pay for it?

While millions of workers struggled, many big businesses continued reaping massive profits throughout the pandemic. Canada’s big five banks alone recorded a stunning $9 billion in profits in their latest quarterly reports. There is no better time than now to ask big business to pay its fair share through a higher tax rate on profits.

Moreover, public spending on Canada’s social infrastructure will pay back big dividends by making our economy stronger, safer and more resilient, and by reducing profound inequities—including racial and gender inequities.

Towards the Canada workers deserve

This Labour Day, let’s demand that Canada’s political leaders seize this historic opportunity to build an economy that can weather the next storm and bring with it social and economic justice.

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.