Unions in B.C. start off 2019 more unified – and more optimistic – than we have been in a long time. For the year ahead, we’re focused on significant opportunities to advocate for change to improve the lives of the 500,000 members of affiliated unions that form our ranks, and all working people in our province.
When the labour movement works together, there’s much that we can achieve.
Part of our optimism rests on the performance of our BC NDP minority government, capably led by Premier John Horgan. Concern expressed by some that the government would pursue investment-inhibiting policies have proved unfounded. In fact, government actions have reassured investors and dramatically boosted our competitive capacity by investing in people through measures like a comprehensive child-care plan to reduce costs and increase access, tackling housing affordability and taking action to reduce poverty and inequality – among many investment and growth-friendly approaches.
In a choppy, unstable global trade environment, our jobs performance has been solid. We continue to lead with the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Further confidence about the future was boosted by the recent meeting of the Economic Forecast Council in which growth-rate predictions for the province were revised upwards. Increased economic activity here will outpace the country as a whole over the coming years. And through CleanBC, our government is taking leadership to stem the tide of climate change.
Against that broader backdrop, the labour movement will be campaigning in 2019 to engage both government and the public. We’ll be making the case for change on a handful of priority issues. These include restoring fairness and balance to the labour code, improving workplace safety and ensuring that workers killed or injured on the job are fairly compensated.
Expanding skills training and apprenticeship opportunities is another priority – and one of a number of common causes we share with the business community. It’s in our competitive interests to work together to manage major new training investments to solve short-term skills shortages threatening economic growth. Longer term, it’s about giving our young people opportunities to take on the good-paying jobs of the future so that they too can realize their hopes and dreams.
That sense of fairness and equality of opportunity also drives our commitment to improve workplace conditions for those workers who aren’t union members. We’ll build on our successful Fight for $15 minimum-wage campaign to press for tougher employment standards rules and enforcement – especially for workers in the so-called gig or sharing economy.
Our efforts on public infrastructure will also be front and centre. The community benefits agreement (CBA) model maximizes the benefit to British Columbians of provincial infrastructure spending by prioritizing local hiring and expanding opportunities for women, Indigenous workers and under-represented groups. And the guaranteed use of apprenticeships in CBAs is a key part of the government’s training agenda.
Here’s my final prediction for the year ahead. As the economy shifts, more workers will be looking for fairness and representation in the workplace. And unions will be there to meet those needs.
We know the majority of workers who aren’t members would join to benefit from the union advantage. And while recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada have strengthened the legal right to join a union, there’s a paradigm shift among employers that needs to take place, because unions are good for the workplace. They are good for the economy. They are effective and efficient structures that help promote stable labour relations. My three decades in the labour movement have been based on this experience and the understanding that there’s a union advantage for employers as well. •
A Red Seal electrician for 33 years, Laird Cronk is the newly elected president of the BC Federation of Labour, which represents 500,000 members of affiliated unions.
