September 13, 2013
Across North America, governments and business lobby groups are working hand-in-hand to restrict the rights of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively. Right to work legislation is taking hold even in previously labour-friendly states such as Michigan. That trend threatens to seep into Canada with a hostile federal government and several anti-union provincial parties or governments eager to follow the American experience.
Bill C-377 and the federal government’s responses to labour disputes in 2012 are raising alarm bells across the country. These developments gravely threaten the future of trade unions in North America. Now, more than ever, labour must mount a sustained and energetic response to these attacks.
Larry Brown, Secretary-Treasurer of the National Union of Public and Service Employees, is in Winnipeg September 20 to discuss these attacks on workers and union responses.
“Unions are essential not just for securing decent working conditions and higher wages, but also for achieving greater equality and a fully functioning democracy. Unions are about fairness, not just for unionized workers, but for society as a whole. The majority of Canadians support unions, but are unaware of the tactics governments are using to undermine our rights,” said Brown. “We need to work harder, and get more creative, to spread the message that it is not just unions who are under attack, but all workers.”
As well as being a trade union leader with one of Canada’s largest unions representing 340,000 workers across the country, Brown is National President of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The CCPA is a national research organization and Canada’s leading source for progressive policy ideas.
What: CCPA-Manitoba Annual General Meeting
Lunch included
Where: Millennium Library (Carol Shields Auditorium), 351 Donald Street, Winnipeg
When: Friday: 11:30 am to 1 pm, September 20, 2013
Who: Larry Brown, Secretary-Treasurer, NUPGE
Contact: ccpamb@policyalternatives.ca or phone (204) 927-3200 for more information.
