BC FORUM News - from Bea Bruske, President, Canadian Labour Congress

January, 2022

Forward Together

Forward Together: a newsletter from Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress; Delivered by email 01/27/2022:

GETTING THE JOB DONE IN 2022

Celebrating our collective victories

Workers like you have fought hard to make important progress.

We wanted to celebrate the policy changes our activists helped make happen in 2021 and mobilize our members to get the job done in 2022.

We put together this short·video thanking all of the hard-working activists·in our movement. Please·share this video·with a friend and let us know what you think.

Lily, Siobhán, Larry and the whole team at the Canadian Labour Congress know we can accomplish great things when we use our collective power to demand change. My friends, in 2022 we’re going to show people how we were just getting started.

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As Parliament returns, Canada’s unions are demanding urgent help for families

As the House of Commons returns next week after their holiday break, we are pressing MPs to take on the crises facing our country with urgency and resolve.

Family pocketbooks are stretched. We are at a crisis point for care workers and the patients who rely on them. Our social safety net often isn’t there for people who need help the most.

With so many workers struggling, Canada’s unions are primed to hit the ground running when MPs return.

We’ll push for a permanent fix to EI, so people aren’t lost between the cracks in tough times. We have a plan for stronger care and public health systems.

We need climate action that counts, and we’re ready to work with the government on Just Transition legislation to get the job done while leaving no workers behind.

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Resilience, Determination and Ambition

Canadians have been dismayed by the multi-million dollar paydays for top corporate executives, but we’ve also witnessed some·signs of what’s possible when people work together, united in common cause.

We’ll keep countering the right-wing’s talking points and push the message that progressives from civil society, government and labour must come together behind a real ambition to do better.

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Health care

We need to make sure our political leaders learn the right lessons from the past 22 months of pandemic. Our care systems were severely underfunded long before COVID and have been pushed past the breaking point after two years of the pandemic.

In my·op-ed for the Hill Times, I argued that we must not let our exhaustion blunt our sense of urgency to build more equitable communities and a stronger economic recovery through investing in better, more robust public care systems.

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Ford Conservatives leaving millions of Ontario parents behind

With news this week that Nunavut signed a child care deal with the federal government,·that leaves Ontario and Doug Ford’s Conservatives as the last holdout.

Despite billions of dollars on offer and Ontario parents paying some of the highest fees in the country, Doug Ford would still rather pick political fights than offer relief to millions of Ontario families.

After decades of activism has finally brought national, affordable child care within reach, we won’t let up the pressure to get Ontario to agree to a deal that gets child care costs down for struggling parents.

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Future of Care Campaign

Care work is vital work. But it’s undervalued, underpaid, and often invisible.

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Care Campaign celebrates care work and demands better conditions for care workers. We have been reaching out asking people to·tell their MP we need action now·and·share their care stories. We are rallying Canadians behind demanding investments in strong public care systems, so everyone gets the good care they deserve.

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Lookahead

February 1 marks the beginning of·Black History Month. While we are seeing some progress, inequities faced by Black workers and communities persist. Watch·our website·for our statement to share and please join our online·Black History Month text rally·on February 23. You can·RSVP now.

With·Parliament’s return Monday, Ottawa will be back operating on all cylinders and Canada’s unions are ready to engage our elected politicians. The government will mark 100 days in office on February 3rd·and I will continue to speak to MPs about getting results for workers and their families.