What does Labour Day mean to you?
Labour Day was first declared a national holiday in Canada in 1894, by Prime Minister John Thompson. The day recognizes the historic efforts of labour movements to secure rights and benefits for all workers.
We asked several of Saskatchewan’s union leaders to reflect on the meaning of Labour Day.
BUILDING A BETTER WORLD FOR OUR CHILDREN
Like many parents, I want to believe that my nine-yearold daughter will grow up in a world that allows her to reach her full potential.
A world in which she, along with her peers, will be able to find decent and meaningful work; a world in which she will be able to build a future that includes a home and a family of her own.
A world in which she will not be discriminated against because of her race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, or any other characteristic.
However, where we should be seeing progress, recent setbacks are cause for concern for any parent. In fact, a recent poll by Angus Reid found that more Canadians believe their children’s generation will be worse off than themselves, than those who believe their children will be better off.
I want to comfort those who harbour these fears by telling them that the country’s unions are working hard to bring progress back to Canadians.
Much of my work is motivated by the conviction that unions are helping to build a better world for all of our children. After all, it is they who will inherit the legacy we leave behind.
Labour Day offers all of us an opportunity to reflect on that legacy – to take stock of our progress, and to commit ourselves to working for a fairer future for everyone.
We can all be optimistic because the advances unions make ultimately have wider implications across all of society, positively impacting every worker and their family. This won’t be unfamiliar to most people - unions have won paid maternity and paternity leaves, shorter work weeks, safer workplaces. More recently, unions have secured better public pensions, a ban on asbestos, and much more.
These days, we are advocating for a number of causes that will have a tangible impact on the bottom line of many family budgets. We are working on winning prescription drug coverage for everyone; we are helping prepare workers for a green economy; and we are advocating for pay equity and harassment-free workplaces.
All of these issues matter because the health and wellbeing of our communities’ matter. That’s why Labour Day means so much to me, and to countless others - it’s a day to remember what we’re striving for.
I’m proud of our progress but keenly aware of the challenges ahead. There are conservative forces across Canada insisting on rolling back social progress and wanting to put barriers back up for working folks while making it easier for the rich to get richer.
These forces threaten our collective future and potentially hinder the contributions we are making towards building a brighter future for every child. What they can never do is weaken our determination in helping make Canada a better place for all. Together, anything and everything is possible.
Hassan Yussuff is the president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
SUN FOSTERS STRONG, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
For Saskatchewan’s more than 10,000 Registered Nurses (RN), Registered Psychiatric Nurses (RPN) and Registered Nurse(Nurse Practitioner)s (RN(NP), Labour Day is an annual reminder of the important role their union plays in advancing health care, protecting patients, and fostering strong, healthy communities.
As the single largest group of direct health care providers in the system, registered nurses have always been perfectly positioned to lead change. It’s their union’s support, however, that has empowered them to turn their ideas into action.
Safe staffing is one of the most important, and often overlooked, examples of where nursing unions play a leading advocacy role to the benefit of not only their members, but the entire health care team, and most importantly, patients.
With enough frontline staff working on a unit, patient outcomes improve. When the whole team has enough time to dedicate to the medical, physical and emotional needs of their patients, everyone feels supported. Team morale goes up and stress levels, burnout and staff turnover go down. This promotes improved performance, fewer occupational injuries and better, safer patient care. The end result is a stronger health system that works for everyone.
Nursing unions also give their members a voice, so they feel supported when advocating for their patients.
Registered nurses always look at a problem from a patient perspective but speaking up or speaking out when something isn’t working is never easy when doing it alone. When the quality of care begins to slip, it’s registered nurses who know about it first, and it’s registered nurses who patients rely on to sound the alarm.
Better care happens when direct care providers report potential or actual safety issues and work with management to resolve problems. Nursing unions provide their members with the necessary support to ensure this critical reporting occurs. Open communication and joint problem-solving are the hallmarks of a highfunctioning health system, and nursing unions play a central role in facilitating this process.
Nursing unions also make a difference beyond the health system by actively addressing community health holistically; an approach at the core of nursing practice.
Whether it’s working with stakeholders across Canada to advocate for a national pharmacare plan that will guarantee access to affordable prescription drugs for everyone, or supporting provincial community organizations in tackling the social determinants of health such as food, housing and income security, nursing unions strive to build stronger healthier and more prosperous communities everywhere.
This Labour Day, take a moment to consider the broader role nursing unions play in supporting patients and promoting the overall health and wellbeing of society. They are not just a voice for nurses, they are a voice for patients – a voice for everyone. Happy Labour Day, Saskatchewan.
Tracy Zambory RN is president, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses
WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD A COMMON CAUSE
Each year on the first Monday in September, people across the country celebrate Labour Day and the last long weekend of the summer. Depending on who you ask, Labour Day means many different things. It might involve a day off work or time spent enjoying a hotdog and fun family activities at a weekend celebration, getting ready for school or taking in a CFL game.
But for many others, it’s also a reminder of better working conditions unions have fought for in Canada since the late 1800s, such as an eight-hour work day, minimum wage, health benefits, parental leave, sick leave, safer workplaces through Occupational Health and Safety laws, and so much more.
But really, when it comes right down to it, Labour Day is about people – working people and the unemployed, those in unions and those without unions, families, moms and dads, children, seniors, friends and neighbours. Labour Day helps remind us what can be accomplished when people come together to work toward a common cause, and how that effort benefits all of us collectively and as individuals.
Those in the labour movement have long fought for economic security and fairness in the workplace. But the efforts didn’t end there. The fight has also been about social justice,
equality and respect for everyone in our communities. Union leaders and members have always wanted to raise the bar, so all of us can benefit from positive changes at work and in society. And, that work hasn’t stopped.
Today, as we continue to seek improvements in our workplaces, we are also working to better our communities. We are partnering with other organizations who strive to end poverty and discrimination. We seek justice and respect for Indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups. We call on governments to do their share by providing such things as a universal and affordable prescription drug program, quality pension benefits for our seniors and tangible support for the most vulnerable in our society.
We fight for all these things because we want the best for ourselves and our community at large. I’m proud to see that caring attitude every day as I represent the 20,000 members of SGEU who are on the frontlines providing services to people across this province. Whether they work in health care, corrections, social services, on our many highways, at communitybased organizations, for our Crown corporations or in many other public sector jobs, SGEU members deliver high-quality, reliable and important public services. They are also your friends and neighbours, your hockey and soccer coaches, the people who sit next to you at church or your children’s dance recital, the folks you see at your local grocery store or swimming pool. They’re the ones who care, whether at their workplace or in their community.
On behalf of SGEU and its members, I wish you all a happy Labour Day!
Bob Bymoen is president, Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU)
UNION ADVOCACY BRINGS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS
Labour Day is the celebration of workers and the working class. It’s an opportunity to come together with fellow workers, families, and communities to take stock of all that our labour has built and created. It’s a chance to stand back and take a look at the progress we, as working people, have won.
Occupational health and safety rights exist for everyone today because workers – through their unions – demanded better. Today we all enjoy protections and laws around minimum wages, no child labour, pensions, overtime pay, and maternity leave because the Labour Movement organized to make life better. There are many other examples I could cite of social and economic progress that we have today due to the advocacy of unions.
As much as Labour Day is an opportunity to look back, even more importantly it’s an opportunity to look ahead – what is the next barrier in the way of a better life, and how will unions tear it down?
Due to the corporate pandering that is done by some politicians who look out more for their corporate buddies than working people, we have in Saskatchewan today a taxation crisis. Regular folks who actually go out and work hard to create the societal wealth we get to enjoy are being asked to pay more and more in PST – an unfair flat tax – while corporate freeloaders and the filthy rich get handed tax cuts by Saskatchewan’s provincial government.
Rewarding the filthy rich at the expense of workers is ‘unSaskatchewan’. It’s not who we are. That’s why the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is calling for a shift to a progressive taxation system in the province. One where if you earn more, you pay more. One where families don’t have to struggle a little more so another outof-province CEO can buy another yacht.
And while we’re at it, let’s increase taxes on the wealthiest corporations so that we can invest in our communities by increasing funding for schools, hospitals, and highways. We can also raise the minimum wage in Saskatchewan. We have the absolute worst minimum wage in the country – it’s embarrassing and it needs to be fixed. Let’s tell the provincial government to stop wasting taxpayer money on risky and expensive P3 schemes, Crown corporation sell-offs, and other forms of privatization.
At www.SFLActionNow.
com the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is taking the next big steps in making life better for workers, and everyone. This Labour Day, I hope you’ ll join us.
Larry Hubich is president, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS TO MAKE OUR COMMUNITIES BETTER
For many, the celebration of Labour Day might be simply the last long weekend of summer: a public holiday, enjoyed with little understanding about its origin or relevance. Traditionally, activists within the labour movement view Labour Day as an important opportunity to educate the public about the many workplace protections and benefits earned through the good work of labour unions that are available to all workers; like the 40 hour work week, maternity leave, worker’s compensation benefits, workplace safety standards and so many others.
In my experience as the president of SEIU-West, I have enjoyed many face-toface conversations with our members. Some have come to the workplace and inherited their union, while others have fought tirelessly to organize their union in their workplace. These conversations have taught me that our members are the experts. Whether they work in crisis support, health care, education support, community based organizations or addictions recovery, our members have one thing in common – a constant desire to improve the services they provide in order to make their community better for everyone.
At SEIU-West, we share this perspective and we want to build partnerships to improve the many communities where our members work and live. We offer a network of opportunities to our members; pathways for them to learn, participate and engage. We know that enhancing the involvement of our members in our union enriches both workplace and community health. We do this work because we want the public to gain a better understanding of the critical role unions play within our society. We have a shared interest in the protection of quality democracy. We believe in and will champion a fair society.
Politically, there has long been an agenda to weaken the role of unions. Driven by the self-interest of the rich and powerful, this ideology attempts to undermine unions’ work on behalf of our members; to under-value the efforts to address social justice issues and create balance in the power dynamic between workers and their bosses. Unions believe that by educating the public and dispelling the myths surrounding our organizations, we can build stronger and better alliances that benefit not just our members, but all working people.
As a consequence, we take a great deal of pride in the celebration of Labour Day and we share with our many members, an energetic interest in strengthening their participation and motivating their engagement whether it be at Labour Day events or the many other opportunities that will build a better and more equal society in our future. Barb Cape is president, SEIU-West