“We have to fight”: Canada seeing renewed public support for unions

canada “We have to fight”: Canada seeing renewed public support for unions

Transcript

00:00The last 18 months have given organized unions plenty to celebrate, and in Toronto, thousands

00:09including the city's mayor are out dedicating their stat holiday to those who laid the groundwork.

00:14Working in Labour Day, for example, you get a bit more.

00:20All of those you take for granted, but it's really the workers coming together for the

00:24union instead of struggling for it.

00:26And that struggle has been highly publicized.

00:29Data from Employment and Social Development Canada shows there have been more than 800

00:33work stoppages from the start of 2023 to June 2024.

00:38While more than 90% of them have been resolved, unionized workers have flexed their muscles

00:42through strike votes and on picket lines.

00:47Ontario liquor store workers, airline employees and rail workers responding to post-pandemic

00:52inflation which peaked above 8% in June 2022.

00:56We've never had the kinds of gains that we've seen, whether it's new anti-scab legislation,

01:03whether it's the Sustainable Jobs Act, we've been making a lot of improvements for workers.

01:08The Prime Minister pointing to the passing of two worker-related policies through his

01:12deal with the NDP as proof of some of those improvements today, saying in a statement

01:18that these are important victories for Canadians, for families, for the middle class, and they

01:23wouldn't be possible without workers.

01:26It is a great time to be fighting for workers, but at the same time, workers are struggling

01:31with affordability issues, with housing issues.

01:34So really, as a union, we have to fight on all fronts to make sure that we're getting

01:39improvements across the spectrum.

01:42Those improvements could just be days away from being tested again, as some 5,400 Air

01:47Canada pilots inch closer to a strike that could send another round of labour shockwaves

01:52across the country.

01:54Kyle Benning, Global News, Toronto.