B.C. workers' lives and workplaces improved by unions

A Labour Day Message from BCGEU president Darryl Walker 

Labour Day has a symbolic importance for the union movement in Canada.

It's a chance to take stock of how unions have improved the lives of working people, their families and communities. It's also an opportunity for us to reflect on the many challenges that lay ahead.

Unions have an important role to play in ending the growing economic inequalities in BC -where a few Deputy Ministers receive wage increases that are higher than most people's annual salary, and where more than 100,000 workers earn only $8 an hour.

That's why the BCGEU and other unions in the BC Federation of Labour are demanding that the minimum wage be raised to $10 per hour, so these workers can share in the prosperity of our growing economy.

The BCGEU also has a role to play in winning changes that benefit all working families. In British Columbia that means securing a childcare system that working parents can afford, lobbying for an end to high college and university tuition fees, encouraging government to build affordable housing, and finding solutions to climate change.

Unions are changing as our society changes. In the BCGEU, more and more women have taken their place in positions of leadership. We have made special organizing efforts in the aboriginal community and among workers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, whose perspective and ideas are strengthening our union.

Unions have improved the lives and workplaces of more than 450,000 British Columbian members. Surveys also show that another 600,000 non-union workers would choose to join a union tomorrow if given the option.

What's stopping them? Labour laws. Several years ago, the B.C. Liberals changed the law, allowing employers to wage aggressive campaigns that discourage workers from organizing a union in their workplace.

These unfair laws must change. Until then, unions like the BCGEU will encourage workers to confidently use their right, as spelled out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to freely join a union. It is a certain way to increase wages and improve working conditions in their workplaces.

I'm pleased that the BCGEU is committing significant new resources and using new approaches to reach out and ensure that more British Columbians enjoy the union advantage.