By Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress and Mitzie Hunter, President and CEO, Canadian Women’s Foundation 

With global trade in turmoil and economic instability reshaping the world, the Carney government has promised strategic support for key sectors to strengthen Canada’s economy. Without bold, sustained investment in the care economy, those efforts will fall short. 

The inclusion of the care economy in the recently announced Workforce Alliances is a step forward. Still, past decisions like the lapse of the Sectoral Table on the Care Economy—on which we had been tapped to serve—gaps in the latest federal budget, and allowing progress toward national $10-a-day child care to stall, raise serious concerns. 

Any funding directed toward the care economy must be recognized and treated as what it is: an investment in a powerful economic engine, and a foundation that supports every other strategic sector. 

Care work, performed primarily by women, and disproportionately by Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, and migrant women, is what allows the rest of our economy to function and thrive. Without child care, parents can’t work. Without long-term care and home care, families are pushed out of the workforce. Without nurses, teachers, personal support workers, and early childhood educators and assistants, there is no productivity, no innovation, and no economic growth. 

That is why Canada needs a comprehensive federal strategy to support and invest in the care economy.

Paid care jobs generate at least 13% of Canada’s GDP and account for 22% of all jobs. Unpaid care work, such as caring for children, aging parents, or people with disabilities, is worth up to $860 billion, or roughly 37% of Canada’s GDP. That is more than the combined contribution of manufacturing, wholesale, and retail. 

As Canada’s population ages and care needs grow, the care economy is projected to become one of the country’s largest drivers of economic growth and job creation. 

Investments in care deliver real economic gains. Studies show that Québec’s child care system, the most supportive in Canada, generates $1.75 in provincial and federal tax revenue for every dollar invested. That is clear proof of a successful public program.   

Prime Minister Carney has spoken about strengthening Canada’s economy through investment. An effective strategy must recognize that people are our most important asset. That means universal access to affordable, high-quality public and not-for-profit care services so people can work, learn, and live in dignity. It means good jobs with safe working conditions. And it means recognizing care workers—paid and unpaid—as essential to Canada’s economic resilience. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, care workers were hailed as heroes while enduring burnout, chronic understaffing, and the deadly consequences of years of austerity and privatization. Many left the sector. Some became seriously ill. Some lost their lives. We cannot forget these consequences, nor can we move forward without addressing their root causes. 

Six years later, demand for care continues to rise, while workforce shortages deepen. Women continue to bear the burden, scaling back paid work, turning down promotions, or leaving the workforce altogether to fill gaps in child care, elder care, and disability supports. 

Now is the time for ambitious, nation-building conversations about the care economy as a foundation for how Canada can weather the multiple economic crises at our doorstep, including the uncertainty created by a rapidly shifting global economic order. 

Canada’s unions and women’s rights organizations are ready and willing to partner with this government to strengthen Canada’s economic resilience and independence through a visionary, world-class care investment strategy. 

To arrive there, Canada needs a Care Economy Commission: a coordinated, cross-sector initiative mandated to develop concrete recommendations to grow the care economy sustainably, ensure decent and dignified jobs with livable wages across all care sectors, strengthen protections and fairness for caregivers, and guarantee access to care for everyone in Canada. 

If this government truly intends to fortify Canada’s economic sovereignty, it must begin where real economic strength starts: with care. 

Women’s economic justice and Canada’s economic security—two sides of the same coin—depend on it. 

The post The Care Economy Is Canada’s Untapped Economic Superpower appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“We are pleased to see that the Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care funding agreements will continue until 2031 in almost every province and territory,” said Bea Bruske, CLC President.  “Sustainable federal funding is essential to building a national child care system that meets the needs of working families in Canada.  In the midst of a trade war that will have far-reaching impacts on many workers, access to affordable child care will make a huge difference for parents who need to know their children are safe and well cared for while they go to work or receive training”.

During times of economic stress, workers need stable and reliable public services so they can participate in the labour force and manage the increased costs of essentials.  While our child care system is still expanding to meet the increasing demand for care, having the security of longer-term federal funding will help the sector continue to grow.

“The next step is to help the early learning and child care system expand and flourish with new public and not-for-profit facilities in every community and a robust workforce strategy that will help recruit and retain child care workers by improving wages, benefits, working conditions, and professional development opportunities”, said Siobhán Vipond, CLC Executive Vice-President.

“As we approach a federal election, Canada’s unions urge all parties to commit to $10 a Day Child Care and to continuing to build and strengthen the system so that every working family has quality, comprehensive care they can count on.  Our economy depends on it”, said Bruske.

-30-

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Canada’s Unions welcome extended child care funding appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

We all need care at some point in our lives. Our jobs, our families and our economy depend on having our care needs met. In Canada, nearly 1 in 5 workers are employed in paid care work occupations, which is an estimated 3 million people.

“For too long, political leaders and Canadian society have taken both paid and unpaid care work for granted. As a result, much of this work—largely performed by

women—remains precarious and undervalued, while those who perform it are perennially at risk of violence and harassment,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Care workers in this country deserve better. It’s time that we take care of our care workers.” 

Care work includes health care and mental health; early childhood education and child care; care for the elderly and people with disabilities; domestic work; and other vital social and health care services that support our families and communities. Many of these workers are Black, racialized, immigrant and migrant women and women with disabilities. 

The quality, availability and accessibility of care work and care services are central to the struggle for decent work. Without a vision and movement for inclusive, equitable, and high-quality care, the growing demand for caring labour threatens to reinforce the gender, race and class inequities that shape both care provision and access to care. 

“The gendered impacts of the care crisis are real, with deep impacts on the women who work in care. These women are working in precarious jobs, for low wages and in poor working conditions. This is a longstanding, unfair and unsustainable situation,” said Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice-President of the CLC. “Between the health impacts associated with ongoing climate events and an aging population in Canada, things are likely to worsen if this isn’t addressed now.”

Canada needs a forward-thinking, integrated care strategy, guided by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) framework. The ILO framework recommends approaches and policy measures that:  

• Recognize that care is essential and that access to care is a human right; 
• Reduce the unfair and unequal burden of unpaid care responsibilities borne by women and families and redistribute the responsibility for providing care more equitably by ensuring that quality, public care services are available for everyone; 
• Reward care work appropriately by improving wages and working conditions for workers in all care sectors; and  
• Ensure care workers’ representation in the decisions that impact them, including by promoting the right to organize and bargain collectively.  

“We must continue to build on and amplify initiatives to address the pressing workforce, access, and affordability issues in specific sectors, including health care and child care,” said Bruske. “Canada needs a comprehensive and integrated approach to support care workers and strengthen Canada’s care economy across all sectors. Canada’s unions are committed to supporting our valuable care workers across the country.” 

The post International Day of Care and Support: Care workers deserve care too appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

In Canada, an estimated 3 million workers are employed in paid care occupations, amounting to nearly 1 in 5 workers. Most of these workers are women, and are often racialized and newcomer women.

“Our jobs, our families and our economy depend on having our care needs met. We know how crucial these services and caregivers are; from supporting our seniors and our children, to ensuring people living with disabilities can live dignified lives, and more,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “For too long, political leaders and Canadian society have taken both paid and unpaid care work for granted. As a result, much of this work—largely performed by women—remains precarious and undervalued, while those who perform it are at constant risk of violence and harassment.”

“Care workers have shared countless stories of overwork and burnout, low wages, and inadequate working conditions. It’s pushing people out of these sectors, and as more workers leave these problems will only deepen. We must confront this crisis now by boosting wages as a first step, and by developing an integrated care workforce strategy for the long term,” said Siobhán Vipond, CLC Executive Vice-President.

“Care workers deserve better, and so do the people they care for,” said Bruske. “Care work should be rewarded appropriately—with better pay that reflects the value of their work; with good, stable jobs; and with safe and healthy working conditions. Building a better care workforce will ensure that everyone has access to care if or when they need it.”

The post International Equal Pay Day: Canada’s Unions Call for an Integrated, Long-term Care Workforce strategy appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“So much of what we have accomplished when it comes to women’s rights and gender justice at work in Canada is a direct result of union women working together to push for change; sector by sector, workplace by workplace, in our communities and on the national stage. It’s time we celebrate what we can achieve when we work together,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Union women are not strangers to being on the frontlines of advocating for and achieving victories in the name of working women, victories that ultimately benefit all workers and their families. These wins include the introduction of paid maternity and parental leave in Canada back in 1971,  legislated paid domestic violence leave, and progress in organising new bargaining units  in women-dominated sectors like retail. Union women have been leading the charge delivering results for gender justice at work. 

Since the launch of #DoneWaiting, thousands of activists have taken action and committed themselves to championing women’s rights and gender equity in workplaces across Canada. We demanded – and won – progress at all levels of government to end wage discrimination, end sexual harassment and violence, fix the child care crisis and make work fair for women. In the last five years, we won some incredible victories, including: 

• The adoption of federal pay equity legislation in 2018;
• 30 billion dollars pledged in the 2021 federal budget to spend over five years on a new national child care system;
• The introduction, in 2022, of federal child care legislation; and
• Canada finally ratifying ILO C-190 in 2023, committing to a world of work free of harassment and violence, in particular gender-based violence.

“From coast to coast to coast, union women have blazed the trail in the fight for a more feminist and equitable Canada. We are emboldened by our victories to keep pushing the envelope as gender justice champions in every workplace and community,” added Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice-President at the CLC.

As we look ahead, Canada’s unions are committed to continuing to push decision makers to take further actions to #EmbraceEquity from coast to coast. Our vision includes:

• A commitment to value women’s work by creating a national care strategy to train, recruit and retain workers in care sectors so we can end wage discrimination in a sector that disproportionately employs women, especially racialized and newcomer women;
• Action to end gender-based violence and harassment at work and collaborate with unions, employers and all levels of government to implement ILO C-190 and make work safer for women, trans and gender non-conforming workers;
• Support for the calls of child care advocates and sector workers to advance Bill C-35 on respecting early learning and child care in Canada until the right of every child to accessible, affordable, inclusive and high quality child care becomes enshrined in Canadian law; and
• Investments from our federal government into a Care Economy Commission that will: examine paid and unpaid care work and develop a roadmap to meet the increasing demands for care; reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care work, including by improving access to public care services for children, the elderly and people living with disabilities; and build a broader and more inclusive labour market strategy to achieve high-quality, equitable care jobs across all care sectors. 

Join us by taking the pledge to be a gender justice champion at work.

The post Union women: Stronger than ever appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

OTTAWA –– Canada’s unions welcome today’s early learning and child care legislation, Bill C‑35, another success born of the cooperation between the NDP and the Liberal government.

“Ensuring affordable, high quality, accessible and flexible services means we will have a Canada-wide system of early learning and child care that meets the needs of workers and their families. Perhaps more importantly, it will help families struggling with costs in the immediate future,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “This legislation demonstrates a clear federal commitment to long-term, stable funding that labour, child care activists and parents have been longing to see for decades.”

The legislation, introduced today by Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, also establishes an advisory council and stresses public, not-for-profit child care.

“In public, not-for-profit care, child care workers are able to focus on providing the best care, and families are assured that all funding is going into the care of their children, not padding the pockets of investors. As we have seen in long-term care, when the focus is on profit, the system breaks down,” said Bruske.

“We are looking forward to a full discussion of this legislation at committee, where we hope to see a full set of hearings. Canada’s unions will be ready and eager to discuss a workforce strategy and ensure the legislation enshrines a commitment to decent work for people in the sector, as well as strong accountability measures.”

The early learning and child care legislation includes key principles long advocated for by labour and child care advocates—including affordability, inclusion, high quality, and accessibility and the need for flexible services that meet the diverse needs of children and families.

Canada’s unions were also pleased to see that the legislation recognizes the importance of child care in meeting Canada’s obligations under international human rights instruments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also recognizes the need for culturally appropriate early learning and child care for First Nations, Metis and Inuit children and families led by Indigenous people. This is important in the implementation of the Calls to Action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Calls for Justice made by the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited Peoples

-30-

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post New child care legislation includes important commitment to non-profit child care and a qualified and well-supported workforce appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Investments in care are essential if we’re going to reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid work and pave the way for women to take on paid work, or to access education or training,” said Bea Bruske, CLC President. “If women are going to have equal opportunities and equal access to the labour force, then Canada must address its care crisis. In addition to unpaid care duties, many women work in care jobs: jobs that are undervalued, underpaid and often have poor working conditions. We need drastic change to achieve true gender equality.”

It is estimated that Canada’s care economy employs roughly one in five workers in the Canadian labour force. Whether it’s health care, education, child care, elder care, domestic work, social services, care for persons with disabilities, community centres and more, care work is crucial to the wellbeing of our communities and our economy.

However, years of chronic government underfunding, coupled with increased privatisation and a worrying shift of care to for-profit businesses has left us with a broken care system. According to the OECD, Canada falls near the bottom among wealthy countries in its public expenditure on social services. This has led to a decreasing level of quality of care as well as an overall erosion of decent working conditions for workers in the care economy.

This is why Canada’s unions recently launched Show We Care, a national campaign aimed at highlighting care workers in Canada and calling for investments to fix the struggling systems.

In Canada, women make up nearly 75 percent of Canada’s care workers and research shows that their involvement in care work, particularly unpaid care, is a critical factor in shaping women’s employment and trajectories for lifetime earnings. Statistics Canada estimated that in 2019 alone, the economic value of unpaid household work in Canada was equivalent to between $515 billion and $860 billion. That amounts to a quarter or as high as 37 percent of Canada’s nominal GDP that year.

“Gender Equality Week is a significant opportunity for our federal government to take stock of the gender inequities in our broken care systems and commit to action,” said Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice-President of the CLC. “It’s past time for federal decision makers to take action and show they care by repairing Canada’s failing care systems.”

Unions are calling on the federal government to address the care crisis by:

• Forming a Care Economy Commission to study, design and implement a comprehensive Canadian care strategy;
• Making significant and on-going investments in public social infrastructure and care work to ensure an equitable and sustainable economic recovery;
• Implementing standards and investments to address shortfalls and inequitable levels of care for seniors and persons with disabilities, including in long-term care, home care and palliative care;
• Ensuring that the new investments in early learning and childhood education in every province and territory address the child care workforce crisis;
• Ratifying the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 189 to ensure decent work and protections for domestic workers; and
• Establishing pathways to permanent residency for migrant workers, many of whom deliver care, and ensure migrant workers have comprehensive worker protections to prevent exploitation and abuse.

“Our jobs, our families and our economy depend on having our care needs met,” said Bruske. “We need federal leadership to make Canada a place where everyone has the care they need, and caregivers have the recognition, support and compensation they deserve.”

The post To achieve gender equality, Canada’s decision makers must prioritize investments in care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

OTTAWA –– The highest inflation in over three decades plus the largest interest rate rise in over twenty years adds up to families falling further behind. Figures released last week revealed that inflation now stands at 6.7 percent, and rising, while average wages lag far behind at 3 to 3.5 percent.

“With every paycheque, every bill, every trip to the grocery store or pharmacy, workers and their families fall further behind. The situation simply isn’t sustainable. Canadians are looking for action to help,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “MPs can provide urgent relief for families through investments in affordable housing, accelerated action to bring down child care costs and swiftly bring down the cost of needed medicines through implementing pharmacare.”

Bruske added that it was disappointing to see the government reverse course last week on changes to patented drug regulations, leaving Canadian families to pay as much as $13.2 billion more for their medicines over the next decade.

“It was discouraging to see the government fail to stand up to the large pharmaceutical companies. This just adds to the urgency for MPs to move forward on pharmacare,” said Bruske. “We know giant pharmaceuticals and Bay St. CEOs will continue to push the government to put profits before people. It is critical for MPs to stand up to corporate Canada and take concrete action to help families.”

Bruske said that additional measures Parliament can move forward on in the weeks to come include action to improve labour standards to better protect workers in the gig economy; stopping companies from contract flipping to push down wages; and restoring balance in labour relations by making changes to support collective bargaining and bringing in anti-scab legislation.

“We know you can’t count on the markets or Bay St. to strengthen health care, bring fairness to labour negotiations or make life more affordable,” concluded Bruske. “Real progress for workers and their families only comes when MPs have the courage to stand up to corporate Canada and work together to put people first.”

-30-

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Helping families facing affordability squeeze must be MPs’ job one appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Canada’s unions welcome today’s long-overdue agreement to bring down the costs of child care for Ontario’s inflation-weary parents and celebrate progress toward Canada finally achieving a nation-wide affordable child care system.

“This was the last of 13 agreements to be signed and it came down to the wire. But Ontario parents are heaving a sigh of relief today that this is finally happening,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “With this final long-delayed agreement, we are now on the right path toward having Canada-wide affordable early learning and child care in place, in every jurisdiction across our country.”

Bruske also paid tribute to those who had worked so hard for so long to make national affordable child care a reality in Canada.

“Let’s remember and give thanks to the labour, child care activists and parents who have worked tirelessly for decades to keep child care on the agenda and pressure governments to do the right thing,” said Bruske. “Watching Conservative premiers drag their heels while so many parents struggled to afford sky-high child care fees has been frustrating, but relief is finally in sight for parents across the country.”

Bruske said that while today’s announcement will be greatly appreciated by struggling parents today, these new investments must also be used to increase capacity and ensure more families have access to quality care.

“With deals now in place across the country, the next step is ensuring affordable child care is enshrined in law and backed by sustainable funding to expand the system and ensure all parents have access to quality, not-for-profit, public child care,” concluded Bruske. “It will be important now to see the details of all 13 deals to ensure we are building a pan-Canadian child care system that will be there to support future generations of families.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:

CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Canada’s unions welcome long-delayed Ontario child care deal appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

OTTAWA – Canada’s unions are welcoming today’s child care agreement between the federal government and Nunavut. With today’s agreement, Ontario is now the lone province or territory that has failed to agree on a deal to bring affordable child care to families.

“Every other jurisdiction in Canada has managed to come to the table but the Ford government is thwarting efforts to reach a deal for parents in his province – and that means over 4 million Ontario families are being left behind,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Premier Ford is dragging his heels and in the process hurting so many working families.”

Bruske said that it is imperative governments work together to help struggling families and urged the Ontario and federal governments to redouble their efforts to reach a deal and start providing relief for families.

“Affordable child care is now within reach for Ontario parents, if only Doug Ford and the Conservatives would agree,” said Bruske. “Parents struggled to find and pay for child care even before the pandemic. It’s so frustrating for Ontario parents to watch their government more focussed on political fights than helping families and children,” continued Bruske.

Bruske added that with the rising cost of living making family essentials more expensive, families need urgent relief.

“High prices and a dire lack of affordable spaces has pushed families to the breaking point – and pushed too many women to the economic sidelines,” concluded Bruske. “Bringing affordable, public child care within reach of all parents, from coast-to-coast-to-coast, is a vital way governments can help make life more affordable for Canadian families.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Ford punishing Ontario parents appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, is available to speak to media today about the federal government’s Lockdown Benefit and the effect restrictions and business closures are having on workers and their families.

In advance of the government’s announcement on December 22, 2021, Bruske said:

“Canada’s unions are profoundly concerned that, with widespread restrictions and closures of businesses, workers and their families are being left without the help they need.

“We warned the government in October that their new law was far too limited in scope and we would be caught unprepared when the next crisis hit. Now we’re in the middle of the worst wave of COVID cases and there is less help available than at any previous point in the pandemic.

“We urge the prime minister and deputy prime minister to take swift action:

• Immediately call a meeting of the Premiers to ensure Canadian workers have access to the paid sick days in every province and territory;
• Declaring a lockdown so the new worker benefit is accessible to all workers now affected or immediately restore the Canada Recover Benefit;
• Ensure any benefit the government provides focus on employees whose wages have dropped substantially. Benefits should not be tied exclusively to workplaces. Often the employer may not qualify under the current rules, but their employees have had their shifts cut and their hours reduced because of new restrictions as a result of omicron;
• For workers in large scale, food production and other close contact workplaces, there must be support in the event of an outbreak to shut down production and have workers stay at home, with pay, until the outbreak is finished; and
• Recall parliament, if necessary, for a virtual sitting, to ensure help is there for the people who need it, now.

“Families shouldn’t have to spend their holidays worried about how they will pay their rent or mortgage in January. We need to provide swift support for the many thousands of workers now affected by the Omicron wave’s devastating impacts on our communities.

“It seems the only thing we can really be sure of with this pandemic is its unpredictability. We must not just lurch from wave to wave and variant to variant without better supports. Hundreds of thousands of workers were left in the cold after emergency benefit were cancelled last October.”

What:    Response to government announcement on Omicron and support for workers

Where:  By phone / remote interview

When:   Wednesday December 22, 2021

Who:    Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Workers and their families need help now appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

With low-income seniors and unemployed workers being left behind, Canada’s unions are demanding the upcoming Economic and Fiscal Update be more than an accounting exercise but instead include a course correction on key issues.

“The most vital thing about a country’s balance sheet is the vision and values of the elected officials who control it,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “The Economic and Fiscal Update is a critical opportunity for the government to end the CERB clawbacks affecting low-income seniors and act swiftly to get help to people who were cut off when emergency benefits were cancelled.”

Bruske said that Canada’s unions are hearing every day from workers about how the crisis is not over for them, their family or their community. They are asking the government to use the Fiscal Update to show that it is serious about investing in making life more affordable and pushing back against the right-wing austerity agenda of spending cuts and a return to low-wage policies.

“We keep hearing right-wing thinkers argue for a return to austerity and 1990’s style fiscal policies. But we know a low wage agenda won’t solve the affordability crisis facing workers and their families,” said Bruske. “Instead, government must invest in repairing our social safety net and nurturing the recovering economy. This includes action on fair taxation so those at the top, who have made obscene profits during the pandemic, are finally made to pay their fair share.”

Bruske added that it is vital that we learn lessons from the pandemic and build back our communities, so they are more equitable than before the pandemic, not less.

“The fiscal update must make clear that the federal government is prepared to make investments to make life more affordable and ensure vital services, like EI, are there for people when they need it,” concluded Bruske. “This includes investments in making child care, housing and pharmacare more affordable.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:

CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Canada’s unions: Use fiscal update to reverse seniors’ clawbacks and emergency help for workers appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Workers are raising their voices to make sure our elected representatives hear, loud and clear, about the need for concrete action to make life more affordable and an economic recovery plan that puts workers and their families at its heart,” said Bea Bruske, President of the CLC. “This is an opportunity for MPs to better understand the real challenges facing the people they were elected to represent.”

The CLC has been working with hundreds of workers from across the country to help them get ready to meet virtually with MPs and tell their stories.

Canada’s unions will continue to push the government and MPs from all parties to work together on a fair, progressive and worker-centred economic recovery. This includes action to:

• Bolster our social safety net through programs and services workers rely on, like child care, paid sick days and a permanent fix to employment insurance.
• Strengthen our public health care system, including through universal pharmacare, public long-term care and investments in mental health care.
• Invest in the care economy and replace lost jobs with better ones that keep workers safe and supported.
• Act on climate change through investments in green infrastructure and a just transition that makes sure no worker is left behind.

“It is vital MPs hear from workers as they move forward on the economic recovery. The reality is, there is no recovery without workers,” said Bruske. “We will make sure that every MP hears how workers kept this country running during the pandemic, and it’s long past time we build a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable economy.”

-30-

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post MPs must listen to workers and take action on a fair recovery that makes life more affordable appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, is available to speak to the media about the upcoming return of Parliament and what a workers-centred recovery looks like.

“The pandemic laid bare existing inequities and the reality is many workers and families are still struggling. Parliament must act quickly to help people now being left behind after the cancellation of emergency help last month,” said Bruske. “Canada’s unions are committed to working with the government and all parties in Parliament on behalf of Canada’s workers and their families.”

“We need concrete action to help take the strain off family budgets with investments in making housing affordable; implementation of pharmacare – to make medicine affordable for everyone; child care deals with every province and territory, so parents now pushed to the economic sidelines have a path back to the labour force; and a permanent fix to our broken EI system, so our social safety net is there for the next crisis, whether health or climate related,” concluded Bruske.

Learn more about how Canada’s unions are helping to shape the recovery at canadianplan.ca.

When: Interviews can be arranged between November 19 and November 22

What: President Bea Bruske available for comment on Canada’s unions’ priorities for return of Parliament

Where: Virtual or in-person, by arrangement

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post President Bea Bruske available to speak about Canada’s unions’ priorities for new Parliament appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

 OTTAWA – Canada’s unions welcome today’s long-delayed child care agreement between Canada and Alberta and thanked all the advocates who have worked so long to make this deal happen.

“With workers and their families facing higher costs for just about everything, bringing affordable, public child care within reach of parents from coast-to-coast-to-coast is a vital way governments can make life more affordable,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “So many advocates have worked tirelessly for decades, in Alberta and across Canada. Now we need all governments to reach child care agreements, alongside increased investment in early learning and child care workers.”

Following the announcement of a deal with Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick remain the largest jurisdictions without affordable child care agreements in place. Bruske urged the federal government to redouble its efforts to reach deals with the remaining provinces and territories.

“Watching Conservative premiers dragging their heels on making child care more affordable has been maddening to watch, especially for all the women pushed to the economic sidelines during the pandemic,” said Bruske. “High costs combined with a lack of affordable spaces have pushed too many parents, mostly women, to the economic breaking point. It is imperative that governments work together on helping women find a path back into the labour force.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Canada’s unions welcome Canada-Alberta affordable child care agreement appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“The reality is, each and every one of us has needed and will need to be cared for.”

“Today, Canada’s unions join workers and organizations around the world marking the Global Day of Action for Care.”

“We have all seen how COVID-19 has devastated families and communities and how care work has been exploited and undervalued. Canada’s unions join the International Trade Union Confederation in calling for increased investment in better jobs for care workers and immediate action to build a more resilient and robust care system. We must learn from this crisis and repair our tattered social safety net.”

“We saw the failures of our long-term care system during this pandemic, the ongoing strain on our nurses and health care workers, and the additional stresses and risk put on domestic workers, child care providers and others who could not work from home. We saw the increased burden of unpaid care work that led so many women to leave the workforce altogether. No one can deny our care systems are broken.”

“If governments are serious about building an inclusive and equitable recovery, they must invest in better, safer jobs and quality public health and care services.”

“Care work includes health care and mental health, child care, early childhood education, care for the elderly and people with disabilities, domestic work, and other vital social and health care services that support our families and communities. It is a sector dominated by low-wage and often precarious workers who are predominantly women. Racialized, immigrant and migrant women are disproportionately represented in these jobs.”

“Public investments in the care economy would begin addressing the pandemic’s impact on women’s labour force participation by reducing and redistributing the unfair distribution of unpaid care work, creating high-quality green jobs and helping meet current and rising care needs – creating a more equitable and resilient care system.”

“This is vital work that deserves dignity, respect, social protection, and fair compensation. Only through policies and programs that strengthen our social infrastructure and recognize the value of this work will we achieve an equitable and inclusive economic recovery – and be prepared to deal with future disasters.”

Canada’s unions call on the Government of Canada to:

• Prioritize the signing of child care agreements with the remaining provinces and territories and increase investment in early learning and child care workers;
• Form a Care Economy Commission to study, design and implement a comprehensive Canadian care strategy;
• Ratify the International Labour Organization’s Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers;
• Offer a pathway to permanent residency to all migrant workers and ensure migrant workers have comprehensive worker protections to prevent exploitation and abuse;
• Invest in public social infrastructure and care work as part of Canada’s commitment to green jobs amid the climate crisis.

To arrange an interview with Bea Bruske, contact:

CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
Cell: 343-549-8397

The post Governments must commit to repairing care economy on global care day appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“With women so disproportionately impacted by the economic crisis that accompanied the pandemic, it is not enough that Mr. Trudeau appoints a cabinet based on gender parity. The new cabinet must take concrete action to address the significant setbacks to women’s labour force participation over the last 18 months. This includes immediately implementing child care agreements in every province and territory.

“Canada’s unions look forward to working with Prime Minister Trudeau and the new federal cabinet on the pressing issues facing workers and their families.

“With the high cost of housing and growing affordability challenges plaguing so many essentials families rely on, we welcome the new creation of a Minister of Housing. This must be a top priority for the government, and we look forward to working closely with Minister Ahmed Hussen.

“We also welcome the creation of the position of Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and look to Carolyn Bennett to urgently address the opioid crisis, which has caused so much pain across Canada.

“We look forward to working with the new Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan. His first priorities should be making sure that basic employment standards are extended to all workers in Canada, implementing a permanent fix for our broken EI system and ensuring all workers have a path to unionization.

“Now that the new cabinet is in place, the government must now demonstrate it is serious about building an inclusive and equitable recovery by investing in better, safer jobs and strengthening quality public health and our country’s care services.”

-30-

To arrange an interview with Bea Bruske, contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
Cell: 343-549-8397

The post New cabinet must get to work on building an inclusive and equitable recovery appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

OTTAWA – Canada’s unions congratulate Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party on their re-election and offer to work with the government and Parliamentarians from all parties on building a pandemic recovery that addresses the critical challenges facing workers and their families.

“Canadians have spoken, and their message is clear: it’s time for Parliament to get down to work on a progressive recovery,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “This means MPs from all parties must act urgently on strengthening public health care – including implementing pharmacare; permanently improving our EI system so workers aren’t left behind; enacting fair tax reforms so that the richest pay their fair share; and instituting a mixed member proportional representation system.”

Bruske noted that Prime Minister Trudeau has committed to affordable child care, universal pharmacare and electoral reform, all included in Jagmeet Singh and the NDP’s platform commitments.

“Workers in Canada are worried about making ends meet, and they want to get back to work in decent jobs with real benefits and a path to unionization. Investing in key areas of the economy will create better jobs and help Canada thrive,” said Bruske. “We must now all work together on a COVID recovery plan that fixes our social safety net and addresses longstanding inequalities in our communities, so that we’re ready to weather the storm when the next disaster strikes.”

Over the course of the election campaign, Canada’s unions have been vocal about what a strong, worker-centered recovery should look like. This included measures to allow women to re-enter the workforce, including through finishing the implementation of a universal affordable child care system; strengthening health care and implementing universal pharmacare; enacting fair tax reforms; permanently improving EI; and replacing Canada’s broken first-past the post electoral system with mixed member proportional representation.

The post Status quo parliament must not return to the status quo appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Canada may very well be headed for another minority government and Canada’s unions want the new federal government elected on Monday to hit the ground running and deliver on promises made over the course of election campaign.

Elected officials from all stripes must commit to working together to move these priorities forward.

“Workers in Canada were targeted by all parties in this campaign, in a way we’ve never seen before. And now it’s time to deliver. Canada’s unions are eager to work with the next federal government to shape a pandemic recovery that makes life better for all Canadians and doesn’t leave anyone behind,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Canada’s unions are urging the incoming government to finish implementing national, affordable public child care; implement universal pharmacare; enact fair tax reforms; permanently improve EI; and replace the existing first-past the post electoral system with mixed member proportional representation.

“Canadians have heard promises of universal pharmacare for many years now, without any real results. A universal, single-payer program would help reduce household expenses and allow everyone to access the medications they need,” said Bruske.

Canada’s unions have also long championed a national affordable child care system. And we’re getting closer: many provinces and territories have signed agreements with the federal government to provide $10 a day child care for children under the age of 6.

Tax fairness is another issue that must be addressed urgently. The top earners in Canada have accumulated even more wealth over the course of the pandemic while average working families are struggling to make ends meet.

“The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the existing inequality in Canada, and for many people, things have only gotten worse,” said Bruske. “We want to see concrete measures to reduce income inequality and help people get back to work in good jobs. And we want the government to commit to fixing our social safety net so that we’re ready the next time disaster hits.”

The pandemic highlighted the need for an adequate and accessible unemployment benefit system and all parties have agreed that Employment Insurance reform is needed. With temporary pandemic benefits set to expire at the end of this month, the incoming government will need to get to work addressing the gaps in the current EI system.

The post Next federal government must deliver for workers appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

 OTTAWA—On today’s National Day of Action for early learning and child care, Canadian Labour Congress president, Bea Bruske, joined fifty prominent women and co-signed a letter demanding all candidates and parties commit to accessible and affordable child care for all.

“I am proud to be a mom and add my support to this important initiative,” said Bruske. “So many women and moms were pushed to the economic sidelines during the pandemic. Affordable, accessible, quality child care must be a cornerstone of our economic recovery.”

“We risk losing the vital contribution working moms make to our economy. I ask my fellow Canadians to join us in demanding child care is available to all. Please vote to make sure moms are not left behind,” concluded Bruske.

The letter can be found here.

The post CLC President Bea Bruske: Vote to make sure working moms aren’t left behind appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“We support a publicly funded, universally accessible and affordable early learning and child care system. Without affordable child care, even more women will be pushed out of the labour market,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “In a few days, Canadians will vote in a crucial election and the stakes are high for working families. Child care is on the ballot in this election.”

Bruske added that she has been urging all parties to strengthen Canada’s social safety net, including investing in a universal child care system. Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives decided instead to cancel already signed funding agreements with the provinces and cut billions from child care.

“At a moment where we should be investing billions more for affordable child care, Conservative Erin O’Toole is threatening to tear up agreements and eliminate thousands of new child care spaces. Mr. O’Toole is turning his back on working women,” said Bruske. “This would be devastating for so many people desperate for affordable child care spaces for their children.”

The post Child care is on the ballot this election appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Women have been pushed to the economic sidelines by the pandemic but Erin O’Toole’s plan risks making things even worse, according to Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

“Lack of child care during the pandemic forced a lot of women to the economic sidelines while others were thrown out of work and forced into the precarious gig economy. Throughout the pandemic, women were on the frontlines keeping our communities safe while working to keep their families safe,” said Bruske. “At this crucial moment, Erin O’Toole threatens years of hard-fought gains for working women.”

O’Toole’s Conservatives have declared they will eliminate tens of thousands of new, quality child care spaces, canceling child care agreements with the provinces. Experts agree that these spaces are desperately needed by working families today. The Conservative platform also includes measures that fail gig economy workers, introducing a risky private scheme instead of real access to EI and pensions.

“Mr. O’Toole is full of pretty words as he looks for votes, but it’s clear he’s not actually listening to working women about the real challenges they face today,” added Bruske. “With child care and public health hanging in the balance this election, Erin O’Toole is not worth the risk.”

The post O’Toole’s conservative plan risks setting women back appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Canada’s unions are warning that a huge fiscal hole in Erin O’Toole’s platform and proposals that leave workers behind would put Canada’s already weakened social safety net at risk.

Experts have been pointing to how the Conservatives’ unrealistic growth projections create a gigantic fiscal gap in their plan.

“Mr. O’Toole’s risky plan not only has a large fiscal hole at its heart, his policies seem to be written by his friends at Uber and his buddies on Bay Street,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “He’s trying to build a social safety net out of hot air and empty promises.”

Bruske pointed to O’Toole’s pledge to cancel agreements with provinces to create new child care spaces and his proposal to create an “Employee Savings Account” as two prime examples of how Conservative policies would weaken Canada’s social safety net.

“Workers – mostly women – faced an impossible choice when schools and daycares closed. Many were forced to put their working lives on hold. What is Mr. O’Toole’s answer to parents?” asked Bruske. “After working women fought and struggled for decades for child care, Mr. O’Toole is vowing to tear up agreements for more high-quality affordable child care spaces.”

In a separate move that further weakens Canada’s social safety net, the Conservatives’ proposed “Employee Savings Account” would deny some gig economy workers real access to a pension and EI, forcing them to rely on costly financial products sold by banks and financial institutions instead.

“Mr. O’Toole would not only chip away at the foundations of EI and the CPP, he would entrench a two-tier system where low-paid workers have to accept second-class status,” said Bruske. “The pandemic taught us we must expand EI coverage to all workers, yet Conservatives would instead weaken the social safety net workers rely on.”

-30-

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-355-1962

The post O’Toole would build a social safety net out of hot air appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

These shortcomings were not accidental; they were the result of a political agenda that prioritized cutting taxes, minimizing costs and regulatory burdens for employers, keeping workers vulnerable and reducing social program spending and public investment. In the 2020 pandemic, the decades-old priority placed on balanced budgets and holding down social investment failed Canadians spectacularly. Equally, however, the improvised emergency income supports, caregiver benefits, sick benefits and other measures rushed into place contained the seeds, however partial and incomplete, of a more resilient, equitable and inclusive society.

The CLC, which represents over 3 million workers in Canada, previously responded to the budget announcement, and is now issuing a more in-depth analysis of what these commitments by the federal government will mean for Canadian workers and their families.

Read the CLC’s full analysis here.

The post Canada’s unions release detailed analysis of Budget 2021 appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“This budget will bring some relief to the country’s workers and their families. Women workers have long borne the brunt of the absence of high-quality, universal child care in this country. That’s a reality that has been grossly exacerbated in this pandemic,” said Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Crucial investments in affordable, quality, universal child care will help women return to the workforce much more rapidly and help undo the damage wrought this past year on hard-fought gains.”

The government committed nearly $30 billion in early learning and child care funding over five years and promised that Canadians will have access to child care costing an average of $10/day by 2025.

Budget 2021 also promised investments of $2.5 billion in skills and training that includes a commitment to create 500,000 training and work experience opportunities for young and core-age workers over five years, as well as over $8 billion to address climate change through the support of green infrastructure and technology.

The budget also commits several changes to improve labour standards, including addressing the harmful practice of contract flipping in federal regulated workplaces and strengthening Employment Insurance.

Furthermore, the federal government has extended emergency benefits to support workers currently struggling due to the ongoing pandemic and whose jobs are impacted by current lockdowns.

However, Canada’s unions say the government missed an opportunity to implement a universal, single-payer pharmacare program in Canada. According to the federal government’s own Advisory Council on Pharmacare, a universal plan would reduce drug prices, save billions for families and businesses, and provide vital medicines to millions of Canadians who cannot afford to fill their prescriptions.

“We are disappointed that the government didn’t seize the opportunity to invest in prescription drug coverage for all Canadians,” said Yussuff. “Canadians were struggling to pay for prescriptions before this pandemic. Many have now lost their jobs and their workplace drug coverage. People in Canada can’t wait any longer for universal prescription drug coverage.”

The post Budget 2021: Canada’s unions welcome ‘crucial’ funding for child care, skills training and $15 federal minimum wage appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“It’s no secret that the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have hurt women the most, especially those who also face other forms of discrimination and marginalization,” said Marie Clarke Walker, CLC Secretary-Treasurer. “Black, Indigenous and racialized women, newcomers, women with disabilities, and queer and trans communities have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.5 million women lost their jobs. Many others saw their hours and income reduced in order to care for children or other family members. Unsurprisingly, women took on the lion’s share of paid and unpaid care work keeping homes, schools and communities afloat over the past year.

Of those women fortunate enough to keep their jobs, many have been on the front lines of this health crisis. They are doing the work that keeps our communities healthy, safe, fed and supported while facing increased risk of exposure to the virus, higher exposure to violence and harassment, and inadequate access to PPE and paid sick days.

“Canada hasn’t seen women’s labour force participation this low since the mid 80s,” said Clarke Walker. “Without immediate and concrete investments to ensure a safe and accessible national system for child care, as well as a concerted effort to address the low wages and poor working conditions across the care sector, we risk losing 30 years of gains in women’s economic participation.”

The federal government’s plan for Canada’s economic recovery must address the precarity faced by workers in the care economy, must invest in a universal childcare program, and must ensure that women who have been pushed out of the workforce get back to work in good jobs.

Since launching the #DoneWaiting campaign in 2018, the CLC has called on the federal government to value women’s work, end violence and harassment, fix the child care crisis and make work fair for women. Three years later, it’s taken a pandemic to underscore how essential women’s labour is to the wellbeing of our communities and of our economic well-being.

Supporters are invited to mark International Women’s Day 2021 by texting IWD2021 to 5525 to join the movement for women’s economic justice.

The post #WeAreTheRecovery: Pandemic response must centre women’s economic justice appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights” is the United Nations theme for this year’s International Human Rights Day, which is observed December 10.

“It is critical that Canada’s COVID-19 recovery efforts tackle the human rights failures that have been exposed by the pandemic. Significant government investments in the care sector will help level the playing field for those most affected by this virus,” said CLC Executive Vice-President Larry Rousseau.

“We welcome the federal government’s recent commitments to invest in public care systems. Canada must focus on creating better jobs, improving working conditions, and addressing the deep disparities within our economy,” he added.

The pandemic has demonstrated how our communities rely on precarious, low-wage work and unpaid labour in critical care sectors. This includes child care, early childhood education, elderly care, mental health, and other social care services that serve the health and safety of our communities.

Many of the workers in these sectors are Black, Indigenous, women of colour and recent immigrants. While this work is deemed “essential”, it is undervalued and workers face poor working conditions, violence, harassment and numerous other risks to their health and safety. They also face a higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 and a lack of job security and access to benefits.

“This global crisis has laid bare what we’ve been saying for years: systemic discrimination and marginalization have put certain groups at a disadvantage. Entire communities are having a much harder time recovering due to unequal access to opportunities and services such as employment, health care and housing,” said Rousseau. “Long-term investment in care is crucial to disaster-proofing our economy, safeguarding our social safety net against future crises, and ensuring our collective well-being.”

Sign our petition urging the government to increase investments in our public care systems so we can move forward together and build a more sustainable and inclusive economy.

The post Human Rights Day: equitable COVID-19 recovery requires investment in care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

On any given day of a normal year, Parliament Hill is buzzing with people lobbying elected representatives. According to the federal government’s lobbying commissioner, there were 18,728 monthly communications reports submitted in 2019 20.

Those communications reports were generated in large part by paid, registered lobbyists working with large corporations.

This year, there are far fewer meetings on the Hill but that doesn’t mean that elected representatives aren’t hearing from anyone. They are. And we want to make sure they’re hearing from workers, too. We know that pressing issues are mounting for many workers and communities across the country. In the past six months, people have seen their livelihoods disappear or they are staving off disaster, all while worrying about their health and the health of their families.

Workers want to see governments make decisions that will improve their lives and move Canada forward. They want to trust the government will make decisions based on the needs of everyday working people and of their communities. We only need to look South to see what can go wrong when governments let down their citizens.

In 2019, a study done by the OECD showed trust in government is falling worldwide. In 2019, only 38 per cent of Canadians said they had confidence in the government. The good news is that it has gone up since the pandemic made government more central to our lives than ever, according to a report from Samara Canada. Trust in government now stands at 59 per cent. This should not be taken for granted.

One of the best ways to maintain trust is to encourage citizen engagement in decision making.

This is why we are organizing the first-ever virtual lobbying effort, National Action Week. It’s an opportunity for workers from across the country to participate in our democracy, even in the midst of a pandemic. We are helping them reach out to their elected representatives to tell decision-makers what needs to happen in their communities.

Our hope is that our week of action will not only allow for conversations that will build trust in our democracy, but that these meetings will open the door for further conversations. Knowledge sharing is also essential for trust in democracy, meaning elected representatives should provide information and answer questions from their constituents – and constituents should know to ask questions.

After all, so much has changed and Members of Parliament need to hear from their constituents on what they need to focus on. Millions of people who were employed in March are now dependent on the government for support. As we continue to respond and as we move towards a recovery stage, the Minister of Finance has indicated the government is willing to make more and longer-term investments to provide economic stimulus, given historically low interest rates.

The most important thing right now is to move government investment into those sectors that will offer the most benefit to the most people across the country. The Prime Minister talks about building back better, and there are priorities that can’t be ignored if this government plans to improve the lives of those most affected by this pandemic.

The government made clear in September’s Speech from the Throne that it is listening to the concerns of workers and their families. The speech promised investments to create new jobs, accelerate the implementation of universal national pharmacare and focus on child care and long-term care. Workers across Canada are trusting that the government will include all these investments in the next federal budget and go even further, including raising the federal minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour as promised in the last federal election.

Those who have been working on the front lines without proper protective equipment, those who have watched their loved ones suffer in for-profit long-term care homes, parents who have been stuck with no options for child care, women forced to choose between career and family after all these years of progress deserve support. These workers know where investments need to go and so should their representatives.

They are ready to bring their stories and experiences directly to policy-makers. It’s up to those making decisions to listen carefully and act accordingly in the best interests of the nation’s workers and their families.

Hassan Yussuff is the president of the Canadian Labour Congress. Follow him on Twitter @Hassan_Yussuff

The post Canada’s workers engage MPs during first-ever Virtual Action Week appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Participants will be calling on elected representatives to push for federal investments towards job creation, health care and child care, among other necessary programs. Over 200 meetings are scheduled.

“The pandemic continues to disrupt our lives in a myriad of ways. Our governments have an integral role in making sure that workers and their families get through this ongoing crisis,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “Workers know they have to advocate for solutions that centre their experiences and which address the systemic gaps this pandemic has revealed. Right now, the only way to do that is virtually and workers are stepping up in a significant way to do what it takes to be heard,” said Yussuff.

Canada’s unions are calling on the federal government to disaster-proof the economy.  This includes committing to shovel-ready projects that create stable, well-paying jobs, as well as investing in job training for workers, particularly those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including racialized workers, women, and people with disabilities. Unions are urging the government to start by implementing its promised $15 minimum wage in federally regulated workplaces.

The pandemic has also demonstrated the need for a more resilient and comprehensive public health care system. Canada’s unions have long called for the implementation of single-payer, universal pharmacare, particularly urgent now considering that millions of people in Canada have lost access to drug benefits and are struggling to pay for their prescription medications.

“There is no going back to business as usual,” said Yussuff. “On the contrary, we’ve managed to weather this pandemic better than some countries by working together and taking care of one another. MPs will be hearing directly from their own constituents this week on how they can continue to support working people and their families going forward.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post Canada’s unions launch nation’s first-ever virtual lobby week appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Workers around the world want investment in public health and care services including mental health, child care, early childhood education, elderly care and other social care services that serve all our communities. In Canada, unions are also calling for a federal Care Economy Commission.

Decades of austerity-driven fiscal policies and a market-based approach to the delivery of care have created inequities and gaps.

“We have been sounding the alarm about the crisis in care services for years,” said CLC Secretary-Treasurer Marie Clarke Walker. “The added pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded these problems. Our economy is relying more than ever on unpaid labour, and on precarious, low-wage work done by women, a disproportionate number of whom are racialized.”

Canada needs care-focused solutions for the recovery. These solutions must meet the needs of our most vulnerable, create better jobs and disaster-proof our economy and our social safety net against future crises.

The proposed federal Care Economy Commission would study, design and implement a care strategy for Canada that would:

• Create a broad and inclusive labour market strategy to achieve high-quality, equitable care jobs;
• Examine paid and unpaid care work and develop a roadmap to meet the increasing demands for care; and
• Reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care work by improving access to public care services for children, the elderly and people living with disabilities.

“This pandemic has shone a light on what’s been broken for too long,” said Walker. “We need to rethink our approach to care. Strong public care systems – whether health care, child care, long term care or care services for persons with disabilities – are central to the well-being of individuals, families and communities.”

Canada’s unions are calling for a Canadian plan that’s rooted in our way of doing things – and that means taking care of one another. Public investments in services – not austerity – are a key part of a robust response and recovery that ensures our collective well-being.

The post Canada’s unions join Global Day of Action on Care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Despite ongoing gains, the latest numbers continue to signal medium-term risks to Canada’s labour market,” said Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “We are seeing increases in long-term unemployment, and young people, low-wage workers, women and racialized workers continue to struggle in this job market.”

While unemployment rates declined further in September, new rounds of layoffs are threatening the aviation, hospitality, accommodation and food service sectors. The federal government did pledge that it would create 1 million new jobs in last month’s Speech from the Throne.

“Now is not the time for austerity. The government must work quickly to ensure immediate action on job creation,” said Yussuff. “There needs to be focused investments on programs that will show immediate benefits for employment, like a national, universal public child care program.”

Canada’s unions are also calling on the government to take advantage of low interest rates to build a green economy through innovative infrastructure projects.

After the 2008 global economic downturn, Canada’s government failed to invest in the economy and it took years for workers and their families to bounce back. With the COVID-19 crisis, Canada’s unions are calling on all levels of government to resist calls for austerity and to instead expand investments in working people in order to ensure a robust recovery.

To read more about the directed investments the CLC is calling for, visit canadianplan.ca.

The post Canada’s unions welcome employment gains, but urge continued focus on jobs appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“It is important that we recognize the significant economic contribution of domestic work  – work performed in or for a household or households – as valuable work, and acknowledge the effect that the current pandemic has had on these vulnerable workers,” said Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Many have lost work because employers are following public health guidelines on physical distancing or because their employers have lost income and can no longer afford these services.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant loss or reduction of income for many domestic workers, leaving them unable to support themselves and their families.

According to UN Women, 83 per cent of domestic workers worldwide are women, and a majority of those are racialized women. Wages are low and working conditions can be challenging – even abusive. The pandemic’s impacts are not gender neutral. There are increased demands on workloads with children at home from school, child care centres closed and more demands on household responsibilities in general.

Internationally, many domestic workers are migrants or part of the informal economy. In Canada, the pandemic has exacerbated the precarity of their situation, making them ineligible for government income supports. Moreover, migrant care workers should be granted fair and accessible pathways to citizenship in Canada.

“The pandemic has laid bare just how essential the labour of domestic workers is – cleaning, cooking, caring for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. All of this work is necessary to sustain our economy,” said Yussuff. “It is time we cared for those who care for us.”

Read more about Domestic Workers and COVID-19: https://idwfed.org/en/covid-19

Resources for Domestic Workers on COVID-19: https://idwfed.org/en/covid-19/the-idwf/educational-awareness/stay-safe-what-do-you-need-to-know-about-covid-19

Recommendations for employers, governments, and others: https://idwfed.org/en/covid-19/advocacy-to-the-target-groups

Read more on the campaign to Ratify C189: https://idwfed.org/en/campaigns/ratify-c189

Caregivers Action Centre: http://www.caregiversactioncentre.org/

The post Canada’s unions call for recognition of the importance of domestic workers appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The economic fallout of COVID-19 is stark – and women are feeling the brunt of it.

Over 1.5 million women lost jobs over March and April, according to Statistics Canada. That’s a 17% drop in employment levels since February. Even with workplaces and services beginning to reopen, families will struggle to return to work without adequate child care in place.

Advocates, employers and policymakers alike fear that the burden of care will fall on women.

With Canadian women typically contributing about 40% of household income, there can be no full economic recovery without what economist Armine Yalnizyan has dubbed a “she-covery”.

Child care is key to making that possible.

It’s become clear that child care is a vital part of social infrastructure. Without child care, workers in women-dominated sectors that keep us healthy, safe and fed could not keep operating. This is why we saw several jurisdictions move quickly to make child care available to essential workers as a central component of their response efforts.

But that temporary solution is a far cry from what’s actually needed to address the gaping holes in a severely underfunded and fragmented system. It’s a system in which child care costs far too much for many families, and even when affordable, is highly competitive – sometimes with three or more children to every one licenced space.

As we begin to shape the new normal, child care must be at the heart of the post-COVID economy. Child care encourages participation in the labour market and is also an important source of employment for women – an economic driver in and of itself.

Investments in the care economy will largely pay for themselves as middle class families engage in greater labour-market participation, higher productivity, rising incomes, and increased tax revenue.

The federal government has the opportunity to spearhead a comprehensive pan-Canadian effort to build back better in the child care sector. Such a sector would ensure children have access to safe early learning and care and that parents are able to return to the paid labour force with relatively little worry.

In the short-term, the government will have to work with the provinces and territories to provide immediate funds to stabilize existing child care infrastructure.

The federal government has already committed to establishing a Federal Child Care Secretariat in order to help strengthen Canada’s social infrastructure.

The Secretariat will play a fundamental role in the reconstruction process, which will require long-term commitment and teamwork.

The Secretariat will also need to develop a workforce strategy to raise the quality of early learning in child care, improve working conditions for early childhood educators and oversee the expansion of the system.

Through collaboration, creativity and trust, we can take meaningful steps forward to ensure a robust economic recovery for all.

Hassan Yussuff is the president of the Canadian Labour Congress. Follow him on Twitter @Hassan_Yussuff
Goldy Hyder is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Business Council

The post There is no economic recovery without adequate child care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Income support will be critical to minimizing the economic impact of COVID-19.

In addition, the Canadian Labour Congress is calling on all governments and employers to take every step necessary to protect the health and well-being of workers, including health care workers who are on the frontlines of this public health emergency. These measures include:

1. Permitting flexible work arrangements, telecommuting, video and teleconferencing, ending non-essential travel, and postponing unnecessary meetings and events.
2. Providing paid sick leave under short-term disability and sick leave plans while maintaining drug coverage.
3. Providing 14 days paid sick leave for workers under prevailing federal, provincial and territorial labour standards to cover the quarantine period. 
4. Waiving any requirement for a doctor’s note to permit sick leave.
5. Prohibiting coronavirus testing as a condition of continued employment.
6. Working with Service Canada to take full advantage of the improved EI Work-Sharing Program to minimize layoffs.
7. Working closely with health and safety committees and unions to provide accurate and timely information to employees about accessing benefits and support.
8. Providing compassionate care and bereavement leave support to employees, as well as mental health counselling and support.
   

   Specific to health care workers, employers should, among other things:

    

9.  Provide an adequate supply of appropriate N95 respirators on hand as well as PAPR (for aerosol-generating procedures, e.g. intubation) and other personal protective equipment.
10. Conduct a risk assessment to determine all points of potential entry (and how to restrict them) and other points of potential exposure for workers (e.g. screening, triage, isolation rooms).

The post Supporting workers in a time of crisis: Key steps for governments and employers appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“We continue to share our recommendations with the federal government as this situation progresses. While there has been an important move in easing measures around Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, the government will need to go much further to protect the most vulnerable,” said Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

After decades of cuts, Canada’s unemployment safety net is wholly inadequate and paid sick leave policies across the country are insufficient.

In 2018, only 33 per cent of unemployed women and 38 per cent of unemployed men received EI benefits. Seasonal workers, those with precarious employment and the self-employed are most vulnerable and will require urgent support.

“While we acknowledge the important measures all levels of governments are taking to ease the burden on the business community to help save jobs in the private sector, more must be done to assist front-line workers in health care fields who are vital in the fight against COVID-19,” said Yussuff.

Further, CLC urges the federal government to:

• Reduce the entry requirement for EI regular and sickness benefits;
• Immediately increase the current benefit rate from 55 per cent to 60 per cent;
• Establish an emergency benefit with a low minimum contribution requirement to support otherwise ineligible workers;
• Implement regulations to waive the requirement that claimants obtain a doctor’s note if they require quarantine;
• Make additional government funds available to provide special income relief for health sector workers who may be subject to quarantine or who become sick;
• Instruct utilities, banks, landlords, credit card companies and financial institutions to extend and relax mortgage, rent and bill payment requirements, loan servicing obligations, and other responsibilities facing consumers and households;
• Work with First Ministers to declare that no one be fired for self-quarantining or recovering from infection, and that if a worker loses their job for these reasons, they will be reinstated;
• Double the GST/HST credit to provide income support to low-income Canadians; and
• Increase the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) paid to low- and modest-income families.

“Single and vulnerable parents living paycheck to paycheck are going to struggle to pay rent and utilities if they have to scale back hours and turn down shifts to deal with the child care crisis. We know that these measures will disproportionately affect women.

“All across Canada, working people have been listening to public health authorities and doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19—it is now time for Canada to support them.”

Read more: Supporting workers in a time of crisis — Key steps for governments and employers.

The post Canada’s unions are calling for urgent fiscal measures to respond to COVID-19 appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Part-time jobs in Canada are typically low-wage with no benefits. The gap between part-time and full-time wage earners currently sits at approximately $9 per hour, which disproportionately affects women who account for 75 percent of Canada’s part-time workers.

“With child care identified as a barrier to full-time employment and women shouldering most of the lost earnings, it’s clear that Canada needs a national child care strategy,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “It has been proven again and again that access to child care is a key determinant to improving gender equality. Canada’s unions stand ready to work with governments across the country to build a truly universal, affordable and inclusive child care system.”

Improving women’s employment means addressing the barriers facing the most vulnerable groups of women, and putting in place services and programs that address the systemic roots of discrimination and inequality.

“This government has taken important steps in the process of creating quality, accessible child care,” added Yussuff. “With women making up a significant majority of workers in undervalued and low-wage sectors, there is much more progress we must make toward real equality. Strengthening our child care system would be a good first step.” 

Read the full Labour Market Snapshot here.

For more information and to set up an interview, please contact:

media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

The post CLC’s 2019 Q3 Labour Market Snapshot shows need for national child care strategy appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The World Day for Decent Work is a global day of action for trade unions around the world. The theme for 2019, Investing in care for gender equality, recognizes that work in the care sector remains significantly undervalued, despite a growing demand.

The majority of workers who provide care for children, sick or elderly adults or people with disabilities are women. Many care workers are racialized, new to Canada, or working here temporarily.

Canada’s low investment in care, with the expectation that women will care for loved ones, unpaid, is a huge barrier to increasing women’s workforce participation, to tackling the gender pay gap and to achieving equality between women and men at work and in society.

Care work is characterized by poor pay and bad working conditions. These jobs are often precarious, offer little to no benefits or job security, involve long hours and heavy, challenging workloads.

Workers in the care sector experience astonishingly high rates of violence and harassment, including physical and sexual violence. Many care jobs are informal, leaving workers without the protection of employment or health and safety legislation, access to employment insurance or CPP.

A task force on care work would:

• Examine paid and unpaid care work;
• Develop a federal strategy to meet the increasing demands for care;
• Reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care work by improving access to public care services; and
• Create a labour market strategy for care jobs.

Investing in the care economy by providing universal and affordable access to care services would double down on the benefits to gender equality in Canada – by creating good jobs for women with fair compensation and safe, decent working conditions, and by making it possible for more women to get a decent job and support their families.

Without a significant investment in our already-stretched public care services, women will most likely be left to pick up the slack.

It’s time to build and grow the care sector and promote decent work for care workers.

The post Investing in care for gender equality appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Gender Equality Week was created to celebrate recent gains while reflecting on the work that needs to be done to improve gender equality and women’s rights across Canada,” said Marie Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “With a federal election underway, we are asking political leaders to take this opportunity to prove their commitment to women’s rights and gender equality.”

Gender Equality Week runs from September 22 to 28, 2019 and was first introduced by the federal government in 2018 through Bill C-309, the Gender Equality Act. This year’s theme is #EveryoneBenefits and is inspired by the vision of a gender equal society and the benefits of advancing gender equality to women, men and people of all gender identities.

“On election day, voters will have the chance to reject the politics of division by voting for a party that stands firmly for gender equality and women’s rights,” said Clarke Walker. “We hope to make that choice much easier by asking candidates to distinguish themselves through concrete platform commitments.” 

The CLC’s plan for “A Fair Canada for Everyone” asks political parties to commit to taking action on five key priorities for working people and their families – actions that can make a real difference for women and help promote gender equality.

Women deserve good jobs, liveable wages and fair working conditions.

Unions are calling for action on pay and employment equity, access to universal, affordable child care and a federal task force on care work and care jobs.

Women deserve opportunities to learn and advance their careers. They deserve adequate support to balance work, family and personal time.

Women should not face barriers in accessing medication.

Many women do not have workplace benefits and face difficult choices when they or a loved one requires medication they cannot afford. Everyone in Canada deserves a universal, single-payer, public prescription drug plan that would guarantee pharmacare for all.

Women deserve retirement security.

Thanks to the persistent gender pay gap, senior women are among Canada’s poorest populations. After a lifetime of hard work (whether paid or unpaid), no one should have to struggle to make ends meet. Action on retirement security means improved Old Age Security benefits and a reformed Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Women must be at the centre of climate action.

The climate crisis will have a disproportionate impact on women and marginalized populations. Smart investments in a clean future will put people at the centre of climate action. Investments in renewable energy, clean technology and green manufacturing can provide a source of good, green jobs for women. Climate action can also include investments in social infrastructure to help create and support good jobs and resilient communities.

Women deserve a government focused on equity and inclusion.

Canadians need a government committed to challenging hate and intolerance in all its forms. They need a government ready to improve our immigration and refugee policies, track and report on hate groups, and commit to strengthening Canada’s action plan against racism.

They also need an action plan to implement the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“The CLC’s election campaign outlines a plan that would promote gender equality and make a real difference in the lives of women and their families,” said Clarke Walker. “Everyone benefits if we unite together to challenge racism, welcome refugees and support real reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. This election we are demanding fairness.”

This Gender Equality Week, unions are calling on voters to attend local election town halls and debates to ask candidates what their party is prepared to do to promote gender equality and a fairer Canada for everyone.

CLC Secretary-Treasurer Marie Clarke Walker will be hosting a Facebook Live event on Wednesday, September 25 at noon EST featuring a conversation about what is at stake for gender equality in the federal election.

Voters can sign up for real-time election updates from the CLC as the campaign progresses.

The post Unions mark Gender Equality Week with election demands appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The CLC, which represents over 3 million Canadian workers, issued an immediate response to the budget but is now releasing a more detailed budget analysis that outlines the commitments on important issues for working Canadians.

This budget takes tentative steps toward national pharmacare, and provides important measures to support lower income seniors, skills training for workers, reforms to the Employment Insurance (EI) appeal process and infrastructure funding for communities to assist as Canada transitions away from coal-powered electricity.

However, the budget’s failure to provide pension protection in the face of corporate bankruptcy, lack of investments in child care, and inaction on measures to support workers in terms of income, training and re-employment as recommended by the Just Transition Task Force, leaves much work unfinished.

Read the full analysis here.

The post The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) releases detailed analysis of Budget 2019 appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Canadian workers, their families and their communities will benefit from new budgetary measures that lay the groundwork for curbing exorbitant medicine prices, income inequality, and climate change,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “We are pleased to see a budget that acknowledges some of the most pressing issues facing Canadians, because these are the issues that voters will be taking to the ballot box in the federal election.”

 Canada’s unions have long advocated for the introduction of a universal, single-payer pharmacare plan to reduce drug prices, save billions for families and businesses, and provide vital medicines to the 3.6 million Canadians who cannot afford to fill their prescriptions. Today’s federal budget delivers on a recommendation of the interim report of the federal Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare by announcing funding for a new federal drug agency to lead to the future development of a national formulary, as well as new funding for medicines for rare diseases.

“Canada’s unions continue to feel cautiously optimistic that a universal pharmacare plan is on the horizon. Today’s budget clears important obstacles but waits on the government’s pharmacare advisory council to prescribe the model for pharmacare delivery,” said Yussuff. “Experts all agree that Canada’s patchwork approach to prescription drug coverage needs to be streamlined, but drug costs won’t come down unless there is one plan and one buyer.”

Today’s federal budget also announced plans to introduce improvements to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) by raising the $3,500 annual earnings exemption for employment income. Two million elderly Canadians, roughly one third of all seniors, receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement, which is targeted to the most vulnerable.

“Allowing working seniors to keep more of their GIS benefit will reduce financial insecurity in old age and make a material difference in the lives of seniors,” said Yussuff.  

Budget 2019 announced the government’s plan to prioritize skills and training, including the establishment of the Canada Training Benefit to assist with fees and provide income support for lifelong learning and skills development.

“The commitments in today’s budget signal that the government recognizes access to continuous learning must be a priority to ensure workers can adapt to technological change and emerging skill needs,” said Yussuff. “The success of today’s commitments will depend on funding and training opportunities reaching those who need it most. The Canadian Labour Congress has concerns about the design of the benefit, but remains committed to promoting worker awareness of, and access to, these new training opportunities.”

The CLC also welcomed Budget 2019’s funding commitment to reform the Employment Insurance appeal process. “Unemployed workers and Canada’s unions have long urged the government to restore transparency, efficiency and fairness to the appeal process. We applaud this important funding commitment,” said Yussuff.

Canada’s unions are pleased to see the federal government announce measures to ensure a just transition as the government addresses climate change. The 2019 Budget pledges $150 million in infrastructure funding to directly assist resource-based municipalities in establishing new fiscal drivers.

“I was proud to serve as Co-Chair for Canada’s Just Transition Task Force, and to work together with government to put people and communities at the heart of climate policy. Today’s budget commitment will help begin to ensure that communities are not left behind as Canada transitions away from coal-powered electricity by 2030,” said Yussuff. “Canada’s unions are looking forward to working with the Minister of Natural Resources as the newly named lead minister, but are disappointed to see that the government has not addressed key Task Force recommendations to support workers, in terms of income, training and reemployment needs. Without this, workers will be left behind.”

The Congress highlighted other positive announcements in today’s federal budget, including:

• Investments in stabilizing Phoenix in the short term, noting that more is needed for long-term planning and funding for a new system.
• Funding to support a new anti-racism strategy, funding for LGBTQ2+ organizations and establishment of an LGBTQ2+ Secretariat, Gender Equality funding to expand the Women’s Program and funds for Black Canadian communities.
• Action on tax avoidance and restrictions on stock-option deductions, which overwhelmingly benefit a small number of high-income earners.

The Congress also noted several concerns over budgetary omissions, including:

• A missed opportunity to immediately provide pension protection and address the injustice workers and pensioners face during employer bankruptcy.
• A failure to expand the EI sickness benefit.
• A lack of new investments in high quality, affordable, public early learning and childcare.

For more information, please contact:

Chantal St-Denis
CLC Communications
613-355-1962
Email: cstdenis@clcctc.ca

The post Canadian Labour Congress welcomes progress in the federal budget, but says much is riding on the next election appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

To advance the goals of fairness and to deal with urgent unmet needs, Canada’s unions are looking for expanded investments in pharmacare, Employment Insurance, child care, affordable housing, and just transition measures to create good jobs while moving Canada toward a low-carbon economy. These investments must address the significant and growing inequality that is intensifying economic insecurity for working people, undermining the social mobility of families and the health of communities across Canada.

Here’s what a “Fairness Budget” means for working people:

1. Universal National Pharmacare

When calling on their government for a national pharmacare plan, Canadians have been clear: we do not want half-measures that continue to grossly inflate medication costs, driving up corporate profits at the expense of universal public coverage. Budget 2019 must outline the federal government’s plan and budget future expenditures to implement a universal, single-payer pharmacare program in Canada. The Interim Report from the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare called on the government to create a new, arms-length, national drug agency to develop and manage a comprehensive national drug formulary and conduct negotiations with drug manufacturers. Budget 2019 should allocate money for this purpose. Universal pharmacare won’t just ensure everyone has access to the life-saving medications they need, it will save households and employers billions of dollars. Canada is the only developed country in the world with a universal public health care system that does not include universal coverage for prescription drugs. As a result, more than 3.6 million Canadians cannot afford to fill their prescriptions and Canadians pay the third highest drug prices in the world. A universal public pharmacare program will ensure that all Canadians have equitable access to life-saving prescription drugs and it will save families and employers billions of dollars.

2. Pensions and Retirement Security

Canadians have been shocked by the high-profile bankruptcies of Sears and other companies that have left retirees stranded, without the pension protection they had been promised after decades of loyal service. The federal government must take steps to ensure that workers who have paid for pensions throughout their working lifetime are not penalized if their employer enters insolvency. The government has many options for ending this injustice. Budget 2019 should take steps to reform federal bankruptcy laws to ensure that plan members and retirees are protected, introduce mandatory pension insurance to look after pensions and benefits in bankruptcy, and implement better monitoring and regulation of companies that sponsor underfunded defined-benefit pension plans (DBP).

3. Affordable Housing

In 2017, the federal budget committed to a new National Housing Strategy and the government has publicly recognized that access to shelter is a human right. Canada’s unions want to see the federal government partner with provincial counterparts to build new affordable housing and invest in the existing affordable housing stock. In particular, budget 2019 should expand investments in First Nations housing on reserve and signal the federal government’s intention to work with provinces, territories and cities in order to crack down on absentee ownership and speculative investment in housing. Canadian workers also want to see the government build and re-invest in temporary and emergency shelter spaces for women and children, and expand social housing, mental health support, and addiction services to help the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.

4. Just Transition

Canada must broaden its economy, invest in new jobs and new industries in all communities, and invest in training to prepare workers for the jobs of the next decade. As Canada transitions away from coal-powered electricity, the federal government needs to ensure affected workers have support to transition to new employment or a dignified retirement, depending on where they are in their working life. Coal communities need targeted investment and transitional supports. The final report of the labour-led Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities was released on March 11. The federal government should act quickly on the recommendations of the Task Force and build on the $35 million announced in budget 2018 to support just transition training and adjustment measures for workers and their communities. Investing in renewable energy, efficient buildings and retrofits, and public transportation will create good jobs while reducing emissions. Ambitious green job-creation targets and support for the low-carbon economy should serve as a framework for sustained, long-term investment in Indigenous communities and low-income urban youth, in order to counteract the forces of inequality, discrimination and despair.

5. Employment Insurance

The government has committed to a broad review of the EI program to address the fact that EI leaves far too many unemployed workers with no safety net. Canada’s unions welcome a full and immediate review of the EI program, and immediate changes to improve the access of unemployed workers to benefits, as well as the adequacy and duration of those benefits. The federal government should also expand the EI sickness benefit and re-examine the financing of the EI program. Finally, the budget should restore fairness and tripartite participation in the EI appeals process to ensure that workers receive the benefits they are entitled to in a timely manner.

6. Investments in Skills Training, Literacy and Life-Long Learning

In order to prepare workers to adapt to technological change and emerging skills needs, budget 2019 should fund access to continuous workplace training and lifelong learning. Given that strong literacy and essential skills are vital for equal participation, the government should ensure core funding for literacy organizations and invest in a new national workplace literacy program delivered in partnership with trade unions. The government should prioritize broad access to training opportunities, for women as well as men, and groups with fewer opportunities including youth, lower-skilled workers, workers with disabilities, newcomers to Canada, and workers of colour. The government should expand vocational education and training opportunities for youth, including in-work apprenticeships and on-the-job experience, while recognizing the vital role of public education and community colleges. The budget should also strengthen Just Transition labour adjustment programming to assist workers, their families and their communities affected by plant closures and climate change policy to access training and employment services, shift to new jobs, and transition to retirement.

7. Fairness for Children and Working Parents

Affordable, accessible and high-quality public child care is essential for women’s full and equal participation in paid work, for dividing unpaid care work more fairly between women and men, and for closing the gender wage gap. Canada needs a plan to achieve affordable child care for all families. Budget 2017 committed $7.5 billion over 11 years to create more child care spaces, but the government can and should expand this investment. Budget 2019 should allocate $1 billion for child care in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, with funds earmarked for Indigenous child care, and increase that amount each year until public spending on child care reaches at least one percent of GDP, the international benchmark used by the OECD, UNICEF and other international bodies.

8. Fairness for Indigenous People

True reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and undoing generations of injustice and discrimination will continue to require expanded multi-year investments in Indigenous communities. The federal government should invest in First Nations-led approaches to resolving the potable water crisis, including the development and implementation of source water protection plans, while ensuring expedited upgrading and maintenance of water systems. Budget 2019 should set aside funding to support equitable and statutory funding to ensure Indigenous child welfare services and expand investments in direct job creation, skills training and apprenticeship opportunities for Indigenous youth, men, and women

9. Fairness for Newcomers to Canada

Immigrants, migrants, and refugees are essential to Canada’s economy, diversity and regional development, yet newcomers continue to face enormous barriers in gaining access to decent jobs, housing, and settlement services. There are many important aspects to doing this. For instance, budget 2019 should include funds to expand settlement services to those who need it, including refugee claimants, migrant workers, citizens and those with precarious immigration status. Canada’s unions want the federal government to invest in the recognition of foreign credentials and expand bridging programs for internationally-trained immigrants and refugees to help newcomers find jobs that match their level of training and experience.

10. Tax Fairness and Reducing Inequality

Expensive tax cuts and tax loopholes have benefited the wealthiest in Canada to the point where the top one percent of income-earners now pay a lower overall effective tax rate than the poorest ten percent. In order to address growing inequality, Canada’s unions want the federal government to eliminate regressive tax loopholes that overwhelmingly benefit high-income earners. Budget 2019 should target new revenues from taxing foreign e-commerce firms appropriately in order to create a level playing field for Canadian providers, and by clamping down on corporate tax dodging through offshore tax structures, including through the application of a one percent withholding tax on Canadian corporate assets held in offshore tax havens.

The post Working people need a fairness budget: 10 things Canada’s unions want to see in Budget 2019 appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

#DoneWaiting is a campaign for women’s economic justice. Launched one year ago, the campaign began with a call for federal government action to end sexual harassment and violence, fix the child care crisis, and end wage discrimination.

After months of digital actions and lobbying, we had a major victory in December of 2018: pay equity became the law in Canada. The new Pay Equity Act requires all federally-regulated employers to create proactive pay equity plans and will introduce a new federal Pay Equity Commissioner.

“This is an historic moment for women in Canada”, said Marie Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer of the CLC, “There’s still work to do on the regulations before the Act comes into force, but the Act’s adoption is a testament to what can be achieved when we are united in our fight for women’s economic justice.”

We’ve made progress toward an end to sexual harassment and violence. Seven provinces, as well as the federal government, have introduced paid domestic violence leave, and new federal occupational health and safety legislation offers better protections for workers who experience violence and harassment at work.

“We’ve seen that our messages are being heard and we are making progress. Let’s celebrate how far we’ve come. Also remember: we’re not done yet.” said Clarke Walker.

With a federal election on the horizon, Canada’s unions are expanding the conversation about women’s economic justice by looking more closely at the issue of working life and workplace culture. We want women’s voices at the centre as we consider our next calls to action. So we are asking women to share their stories about #BeingAWomanAtWork. Even though study after study shows that more women in the workforce will help grow the economy and improve everyone’s lives, we know that the working world isn’t working for women.

Too many women still face significant barriers to success at work. Many have trouble finding a good job or advancing at their workplace, and many more struggle with low-wage, precarious work.

“It’s time for leadership to reduce barriers for women’s labour force participation” said Clarke Walker, “There is a role for our federal government, employers, and unions to play. We must work together and ensure that the future of women and work means good jobs and fair treatment for all, especially for the most marginalized.”

Everyone has a story. Speak up now and help us keep up the pressure for change in 2019.

The post International Women’s Day: #DoneWaiting for equality in the workplace appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The Canadian Labour Congress is conducting campaigns calling on the federal government to address key issues affecting working people; calling for a change of the rules to create decent work and dignity for all Canadians.

“Improving the lives of all workers is always a top priority for Canada’s unions. The current climate of precarity and cut backs in Canada makes it more important than ever to advocate for good jobs to ensure stability and dignity for every Canadian worker,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “We believe that decent work must include access to affordable child care, bankruptcy protection for workers’ pensions and proactive pay equity legislation, just to name a few.”

On this Day for Decent Work, Canada’s unions are calling on the federal government to prioritize access to decent work in Canada by taking the following steps:

• Restore the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, indexing it to wage growth, and bring back full employment as a primary policy target;
• End wage discrimination and adopt strong, proactive pay equity legislation incorporating the recommendations of the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force. Women’s wages shouldn’t come at a discount, but the gender pay gap in Canada hasn’t improved in decades. In fact, for many women it’s getting worse. Making pay equity the law would ensure different jobs are compared for their value in the workplace and evaluated based on skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions, leaving no room for gender discrimination;
• Reform bankruptcy laws to include protection for workers’ pensions and benefits.  Workers trade higher wages today in exchange for a pension in retirement – it’s wrong to force them to the back of the line when an employer goes bankrupt;
• Make workplaces safe by strengthening federal legislation on sexual harassment and violence. Sexual harassment and violence remains a very serious barrier to women’s equality, especially in the workplace. Sexual harassment and violence can have serious consequences on women’s physical, emotional and mental health, and on their work performance. It can compromise their ability to advance in the workplace and even lead to job loss;
• Fix the child care crisis and commit to long-term funding for high-quality, public, universal, affordable child care. Access to quality, affordable child care is about economic justice for women. Child care makes it possible for women to get a decent job, support their families, build a career, and further their education or skills training; and
• Phase-out coal power through progressive policy that keeps people and communities at the center. The Just Transition Task Force for Canadian Coal-Power Workers and Communities will develop recommendations aimed at influencing Canada’s plans to phase-out coal power. These will include helping workers find comparable employment through retraining programs and resources to help affected communities transition their local economy.

Decent work means equal opportunities for everyone to get work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development, and social integration.

The post Decent work a priority for Canada’s unions appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

In 1994, Françoise David took the helm of the Québec Women’s Federation (FFQ) with a mission to advance the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

To put pressure on the newly elected government of Jacques Parizeau, David organized a mass march, branded “Bread and Roses”. Bread symbolizing work and better economic conditions and roses symbolizing a better quality of life – the theme was a deliberate tribute to the 1912 textile workers’ strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts that was lead by women and inspired generations of union and social justice organizers.

David’s plan was to use the march to build public support for a list of demands that included increasing the minimum wage, pay equity laws, freezing tuition fees, greater social supports and improved collection of support payments.

Starting May 26, 1995, women from across Québec spent ten days marching to the provincial capital. They marched through 57 villages and followed three routes from Montréal, Longueil and Rivière-du-Loup. More than 800 women joined the march for more than one day, including 525 women who marched the 250 km from Montréal to Québec City. They converged at a rally on June 4 outside the province’s National Assembly.

The government agreed to most of the marchers’ demands, in one form or another, and put Québec well ahead of other provinces on many issues from pay equity, to child care.

The theme song of the march, Du pain et des roses, composed by Hélène Pedneault and Marie-Claire Séguin remains an anthem of the labour movements of Quebec and Canada.

The solidarity of the march inspired the 2000 “World March of Women” that continues to this day as an international project aimed at improving the lives of women around the world. Its focus on ending poverty and violence against women built solidarity and laid the foundation for work that many of Canada’s unions continue today.

The post Quebec women march for “bread and roses” appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Celebrated on March 8 every year, International Women’s Day (IWD) is fundamentally a political protest about conditions in the workplace and society. The day has moved around over the past century finally settling on March 8^th in 1975. Its roots go back to a 1909 protest organized by the Socialist Party of America in New York in honour of the women garment workers’ strike held the year before. Protest continues in the coming years on the last Sunday in February calling for improved working conditions and equal rights.

The idea for a formal day of action belongs to Luise Zietz, who initially championed the cause at the 1910 International Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, organized to precede a general meeting of the Second International. Delegates from 17 countries agreed to promote equal rights and voting rights for women on an annual basis. On March 19^th, 1911, protests in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland marked the first truly international day. Over 1 million women and men rallied to demand the right to vote, the right to work, to vocational training and to end workplace discrimination.

During World War I, women in Europe protested on March 8^th, 1914, calling for an end to war and to express worker solidarity.  In 1917, Russian women called for a “Bread and Peace” strike on the last Sunday in February, which fell on March 8^th in the Gregorian calendar – an event that marks the start of the Russian Revolution.

The day was finally entrenched on March 8^th in 1975, when the United Nations declared International Women’s Year (IWY). In Canada, IWD and IWY have been platforms to demand equal citizenship, voting rights, pay equity, reproductive rights, Indigenous rights, childcare, equality and justice.

Today, unions work with community groups, national organizations and international partners to win a better deal for women and their families including: comprehensive pay equity, a national public child care program, workplace support for victims of domestic violence, and ending the culture of discrimination and harassment.

Women and their unions are #donewaiting and working together for fairness from employers and governments.

The post A day rooted in women’s ongoing struggle for fairness, economic equality and social justice. appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Today’s federal budget commits to setting up an Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare headed up by former Ontario health minister Dr. Eric Hoskins.

“We are very pleased to see the government committing to a pathway that will finally establish a universal prescription drug plan for all Canadians, regardless of their age, income or where they live. We hope to see the promise of universal pharmacare fulfilled before the next federal election,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

The federal budget also promises to deliver long overdue proactive pay equity legislation in the Budget Implementation Act.

“Women in Canada have waited far too long for fairness, and Canada’s unions look forward to working with the government to get this legislation right,” said Yussuff. “That means ensuring, for example, that it establishes both a distinct Pay Equity Commission and a Hearings Tribunal – two essential components of a proactive pay equity regime.”

Yussuff was also encouraged to see implementation of a long-standing call for dedicated leave for second parents, but had hoped that child care would be more of a priority in a federal budget focused on boosting participation of women in the workforce.

“The evidence is very clear that the most effective way to remove barriers to women’s participation in the workforce is with a universal child care system,” said Yussuff. “That’s why we had hoped to see this budget commit to increasing child care spending – over time – to reach the internationally recognized benchmark of one percent of GDP.”

Yussuff said he was happy to see the budget commit to expanding protections to workers under the Wage Earner Protection Program Act.

The budget increased the maximum limit so that workers’ final paychecks, severance and vacation pay are better protected when companies go bankrupt.

“It’s unfortunate, however, that the government didn’t go further, ensuring that pensioners have the same protections and are prioritized in bankruptcy situations,” said Yussuff.

Yussuff highlighted other positive announcements in today’s federal budget, including:

• New apprenticeship and training initiatives including incentive grants for women entering the Red Seal trades, pre-apprenticeship programs targeting under-represented groups, additional supports for women in trades and investments in skills building for women new to Canada.
• Extending Working While on Claim provisions to those on maternity and sick leave.
• Making Status of Women Canada an official government department and providing it with $100 million over five years to enhance the Women’s Program.
• A commitment of an additional $86 million over five years to the Gender Based Violence Strategy and additional commitments to combat workplace harassment and violence.
• A commitment to five days of paid leave for victims of domestic violence.
• Funding to combat anti-black racism.
• Moves to close tax loopholes and crack down on tax evasion, including the imposition of a $50,000 threshold on passive income.
• A pledge to replace the beleaguered Phoenix pay system.

The post Canada’s unions encouraged by federal budget commitments on pharmacare and pay equity appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The Framework sets out guiding principles and commits the federal government to funding over time, and will be accompanied by separate bilateral agreements for each of the provinces and territories.

“We are happy to see the federal government committing to building a system based on principles, to investing in regulated care, and to addressing the crisis in care for the most vulnerable families,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.  “We also need to ensure that the agreement commits to building a system that provides child care for all families who need it.”

Yussuff says unions have been encouraged by recent provincial commitments to providing universal care, and are disappointed it wasn’t emphasized in today’s agreement.

Despite recent cutbacks, Quebec’s system has long been an inspiration to others. Recent announcements in Alberta and Ontario demonstrate a willingness among provincial governments to work towards a universal system, and British Columbia’s government-in-waiting has committed to making $10-a-day child care a priority.

“We will continue to press to see universality as a component of bilateral agreements. The goal must be providing early learning and child care for all families who need it,” he added.

Yussuff said unions would also continue to work towards ensuring bilateral agreements contain clear commitments to public and not-for-profit delivery of child care.

“We must ensure all governments invest in public and not-for-profit care, because this is a key component of ensuring quality,” he said.

The multilateral framework sets out principles that must guide service delivery by provinces and territories. Those are affordability, accessibility, quality, flexibility, and inclusivity.

The Framework also stipulates that provinces and territories must:

• Invest in regulated care for children under six;
• Focus on the families most in need, including low-income, lone parent, Indigenous families, those living in underserved communities, working non-standard hours, or with children with varying abilities;
• Ensure reporting and performance measurement; and
• Ensure spending does not replace existing early learning and child care programs, but rather work to expand the system.

“Today’s signing is a step forward for families, women, and the economy.  Unions are ready to work with governments to ensure we establish a truly universal, high quality, affordable, and inclusive system of child care across the country. That’s what families so desperately need,” said Yussuff.

The post Canada’s unions welcome national child care framework appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Le gouvernement de l’Ontario a annoncé un Cadre stratégique renouvelé pour la petite enfance et les services de garde d’enfants qui comprend un engagement à rendre les services de garde à l’enfance plus accessibles et à rendre leur prix plus abordable pour toutes les familles, notamment par l’investissement dans de nouvelles places en garderie et l’expansion du secteur sans but lucratif.

Le gouvernement fédéral est censé publier sous peu le détail de son Cadre national sur l’apprentissage et la garde des jeunes enfants. Le budget fédéral de cette année prévoit une affectation de 7 milliards de dollars en 10 ans pour l’apprentissage et la garde des jeunes enfants.

« Nous sommes particulièrement heureux de voir le gouvernement de l’Ontario donner la priorité à l’accès universel et nous espérons que le cadre fédéral assurera la même approche aux familles de toutes les provinces et des trois territoires », a déclaré Hassan Yussuff, président du CTC.

Le cadre du gouvernement de l’Ontario comprend bon nombre d’éléments que le CTC et ses alliés jugent indispensables à tout système d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants, y compris les suivants :

• Donner à toutes les familles qui en ont besoin l’accès à des services de qualité fournis par des organismes publics ou sans but lucratif;
• Rendre les prix des services de garde à l’enfance plus abordables;
• Voir à ce que le personnel des garderies ait des salaires et des conditions de travail décents;
• S’assurer que le système des services de garde à l’enfance soit inclusif pour les enfants ayant des besoins spéciaux.

Le CTC et ses alliés ont incité le gouvernement fédéral à annoncer un cadre qui ouvre la voie à la création d’un système bien conçu de services de garde à l’enfance qui permet de tenir compte de la diversité des besoins plutôt que d’adopter une approche unique.

« Il s’agit d’établir des régimes inclusifs fournissant des services de qualité à prix abordable dans l’ensemble du Canada », a déclaré M. Yussuff. « Nous devons en outre adopter une stratégie de mise en valeur de la main-d’œuvre portant sur les salaires, les conditions de travail, le recrutement et la formation. »

The post Le gouvernement fédéral doit suivre l’exemple de l’Ontario en rendant les services de garde à l’enfance universellement accessibles appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

The Ontario government has announced a renewed Early Years and Child Care Policy Framework that pledges to make child care more accessible and affordable to all families, including a plan to invest in new child care spaces and a pledge to grow the non-profit sector.

The federal government is expected to release details about its own National Early Learning and Child Care Framework soon. This year’s federal budget pledged $7 billion over 10 years for early learning and child care.

“We are especially pleased to see that the Ontario government make universal access a priority and we hope the federal government’s framework will ensure the same approach for families in all provinces and territories,” said CLC President, Hassan Yussuff.

The Ontario government’s framework included many of the elements the CLC and its allies say are crucial to any child care and early childhood education system, specifically:

• Access to high quality, public and not-for-profit child care for all families who need it;
• Making child care more affordable;
• Ensuring that child care workers have decent wages and working conditions; and
• Ensuring the child care system is inclusive of children with special needs.

The CLC and its allies have called on the federal government to announce a framework that paves the way for a well-designed child care system that takes into account the diversity of needs: not a one-size-fits-all approach.

“The goal must be affordable, inclusive, high-quality child care systems across Canada,” said Yussuff. “We also need a workforce development strategy that addresses wages and working conditions, as well as recruiting and training.”

The post Federal government must follow Ontario’s lead on universal approach to child care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“Canadians have soundly rejected the Conservatives’ politics of fear and division and have voted for change, and we look forward to working to ensure the Trudeau government delivers on the real change it has promised for working Canadians,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

Yussuff highlighted key Liberal campaign promises he hopes the new government will act upon swiftly. Those included:

• Providing Canadians with a more secure retirement by enhancing the Canada Pension Plan, restoring the eligibility age for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement to 65, and increasing the GIS by 10 percent;
• Expanding training and apprenticeship opportunities to help Canadians – particularly young Canadians – find and keep good jobs;
• Significantly increasing infrastructure funding, including new, dedicated funding for public transit, social infrastructure like seniors and child care facilities, and green infrastructure;
• Beginning to turn back more than $36 billion in Conservative cuts to health care by investing $3 billion over the next four years to improve home care, mental health services and access to prescription drugs;
• Repealing the Conservatives’ fundamentally flawed, ideological anti-labour bills C-377 and C-525; and
• Immediately launching a national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

Yussuff also raised significant concerns about the Liberals’ position on C-51 and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“The Conservatives’ so-called anti-terror legislation C-51 is an affront to Canadian values and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said Yussuff. “Repealing the legislation, not just tinkering with it, is the only way to adequately safeguard Canadians’ rights and freedoms.” On the TPP, Yussuff urged the incoming government to make the full agreement details public, and added: “The new government must take action to protect our supply management system and Canadian jobs – including auto sector jobs – that are under serious threat from the TPP as it stands.”

Yussuff also encouraged the government to strengthen its position on child care by implementing an affordable child care system for all families.Yussuff concluded: “We encourage the incoming government to work constructively with the labour movement, to ensure Canadians see positive change.”

The Canadian Labour Congress represents over 3.3 million union members who work in every industry and live in every province and territory. We are the voice of Canada’s labour movement.

The post Canadians Reject Politics of Fear and Division: CLC hopeful for progressive change under Liberal government appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

Together with child care advocates, the CLC will participate in a week of action from May 10 to 17, 2015, holding events across the country to celebrate child care as a public good and calling for a system that will provide all families with high quality care they can afford. We want the federal government to commit to funding and to working with the provinces to create a national child care system.

The labour movement has been a longtime advocate for child care because we know everyone benefits when parents can go to work knowing their kids are safe and well cared for. For two years we’ve been holding conversations with our members about their child care struggles, so we know the challenging realities of today’s families.

The economic benefits of child care are well-established, or as the TD Bank stated, “Unquestionable”. According to their report, “Ultimately, investment in early education can help to address core economic and social challenges facing Canada. It can help reduce poverty, address skills shortages, and improve productivity and innovation, and a host of other national priorities”.

Child care helps make women available for work, education and training. We have seen the success of Quebec’s child care system, which saw substantial increases in women’s participation in paid work as well as a reduction in poverty rates. Quebec has also shown us that money spent on child care pays for itself in increased tax revenue and other socio-economic benefits.

Canada’s labour movement has made many gains for working women – gains we celebrate on International Women’s Day. From maternity and parental leave to public pensions, from equal pay to workplace safety legislation, we have led the way for better, fairer workplaces for all women in Canada. Now we are calling for a national child care system so all parents can count on quality child care.

The post International Women’s Day: Women in Canada Need Child Care appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

“This is an expensive and reckless plan that ignores the reality faced by most working families today,” said Yussuff. “The government should be using the surplus in ways that benefit all Canadian families, not just the wealthiest 14 per cent,” he added.

The CLC has long advocated for a national child care strategy that would create affordable child care spaces. Doing so would stimulate economic growth by allowing more parents — particularly mothers — to join the workforce, create good jobs for child care workers and boost the productivity of workers who can focus on their jobs, knowing that their children are safe and well-cared for.

How does this plan help parents who can’t find child care spaces to begin with? How does this help parents in Toronto and other urban centres who are paying $2,000 a month per child?” Yussuff asked.

“We need a child care program that creates affordable child care spaces and helps mothers participate fully and equally in paid employment and what this government has given us is the opposite,” he added.

Research into similar programs in the United States and Europe show that such programs decrease women’s participation in the labour force. At the same time, men’s participation stays the same, resulting in a net loss to the economy through fewer hours worked. Child care programs have the opposite effect, increasing labour force participation and total hours worked.

“With an aging population, Canada needs more people working, not fewer,” said Yussuff. “Spending billions to discourage mothers from working is economically upside-down and backwards.”

The post Prime Minister’s income-splitting and child care proposals will leave most working families behind appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.