What does Labour Day mean?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Labour Day is once again upon us — meant as a day to reflect on working conditions, and what we all contribute to the economy.

But, with strides made over the last few decades in improving our working lives, how relevant is the labour movement today?

Irene Lanzinger with the BC Federation of Labour says unions are needed now more than ever.

She says unions force corporations to share their wealth, by trying to drive up wages and benefits, and right now, the gap between rich and poor in Canada, is larger than ever.

“We need higher rates of unionization to reduce the gap between rich and poor.”

She adds employers have a lot of power over their workers — and unions help to balance out that authority.

Many of us welcome Labour Day as an extra day off — it’s often seen as an unofficial end to summer, and the last break before the fall rush begins. But it’s meant to be much more than just a day off.

Lanzinger says we wouldn’t have a thriving economy without the people who do the work every day.

“Labour Day is really a day to celebrate both the contributions that all workers make to the economy, and the rights and privileges we’ve gained through unionization,” she adds.

Lanzinger says the rate of unionization in BC is in line with the average in Canada.

There are events happening all over the province — the major one in the Lower Mainland is at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium.

SFU History professor, and labour expert, Mark Leier agrees the labour movement is still relevant in today’s society, in fact, he argues it’s even more relevant than it was thirty or forty years ago.

Leier says wages have become fairly stagnant, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is much larger than it was a few decades ago.

“We’ve seen the erosion of social networks and welfare networks that people thought would be expanding from the 1970s. We’ve actually seen these rolled back.”

Leier adds unions don’t have the same power they once did, saying governments have made it much more difficult to unionize. He says the movement is at a crossroads and the percentage of unionized workers in our country has gone down.

“It needs to rethink how it’s going to move ahead. It needs to think about how it’s going to reach the unorganized that make up the bulk of the workforce.”

Leier adds the movement used to be known for innovation. He says in the last three or four decades, it’s been forced into a defensive position, and hasn’t been able to innovate the same way.

 

 

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