This year, Labour Day comes at a challenging time for working people.
Here in B.C., we’re facing the same difficulties workers across North America (and even other parts of the world) are coping with: affordable housing, access to health care and rising costs for the essentials we all count on every day.
That makes it more important than ever that working people stand together.
Standing together is how we’ve won important victories in B.C. Victories like five paid sick days, Canada’s highest provincial minimum wage, a dramatic expansion in affordable childcare, and single-step union certification — so workers who make it clear they want to join a union don’t have to jump through additional hoops to do it.
And without artificial barriers in their way, more and more working people are indeed turning to unions. They know it’s how they can have a stronger voice in their workplace, and more money in their pockets. Now is the time to keep standing together so we can make more progress for working people. That’s how we’ll keep moving the dial on critical issues that affect you, your family and your community.
What’s clear is we can’t slide backwards — there’s too much at stake. Less than a decade ago, the BC Liberal government was siding firmly with employers against workers, making life more expensive and, frankly, more miserable. They were slashing services, cutting Workers’ Compensation, privatizing services and hiking fees so they could cut taxes for big corporations.
There’s a crucial provincial election coming up in October, and working people are going to have a choice to make. Our votes will help decide this election, and we aren’t going to let anyone roll back the hard-fought gains we’ve made.
Labour Day reminds us that we’re the people who make our community, our province and our country work. Workers are the backbone of our economy. And B.C. only succeeds if we all succeed.
To working people across B.C. and everywhere, a very happy Labour Day.
