Union summit tackles inequality

More than 350 labour leaders met for a one-day summit March 22 in Toronto to talk about how their members can advocate for greater fairness for all Canadians.

"We met to reaffirm our resolve that all Canadian workers have the right to share in the benefits of their hard labour," said Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. "The message is that people have to be fairly compensated for their labour and that legislative rights must be protected and enhanced," Georgetti said. "Fairness is a basic Canadian value. It is a right, not a privilege and we will promote it in every corner of our country."

 

Georgetti said that labour leaders are alarmed at the extent to which governments are undercutting the wages and security of Canadians. He pointed to decisions by Ottawa to provide big tax breaks to corporations, while cutting back on front line public services, raising the retirement age from 65 to 67, reducing access to employment insurance and interfering with collective bargaining.

 

"Governments and some corporations want to reward the greedy and exclude the needy," he said.

 

Workers and their unions are well placed to be part of the solution to the growing problem of inequality, he noted

 

This "union advantage", said Georgetti, is worth a cumulative $793 million per week to the Canadian economy.

 

Both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have said that access to broadly-based collective bargaining is the only way to build a healthy middle class, he said.

 

"The gains that union members make at the bargaining table spill over into creating healthier and more prosperous communities for everyone."

 

Union members can be ambassadors of fairness, he said, in a campaign across Canada to engage in discussions about reducing inequality.

 

The summit meeting was followed by a conference attended by 1,400 union delegates involved in workshops to equip them to engage in promoting employment fairness.