Annual CLC Lobby Day in Ottawa
On February 7, 2023, union representatives from across the country gathered in Ottawa to lobby the Canadian government for changes to laws that would positively affect Canadians. George Zoni and Ivan Halar were the IAMAW Local 2468 representatives at this lobbying action. This was the biggest CLC Lobby Day to date, with the IAM once again sending the most members at 403! The main issues that unions across Canada are lobbying for:
- Investing in the care economy:
There are many in Canada who also need care to help them get to work, get an education, live a dignified life or relieve the pressures of family caregiving, but are not able to get the help in a timely way, or can’t afford privatized care. The shortage of workers in care is jeopardizing the safety of workers and care recipients. The undervaluation and compensation for paid care work, the increasing precarity, poor work conditions, and the intensification of work all contribute to care workers leaving their jobs in their sector and retiring. While unpaid care work is the invisible labour that enables people to go to work and the economy to function, the people (mostly women) providing unpaid care are under increasing strain, leaving the paid workforce and experiencing mental and physical health impacts.
2. Jobs in a sustainable economy:
Just Transition is about how the world of work allows us to meet out climate targets in a way that is fair and equitable to workers. The CLC is calling on the government to set out a process for engaging workers in decision-making about transition.
3. Anti-scab legislation:
It is high time to remove this immoral and destructive influence from labour relations in the federally-regulated private sector (FRPS) by implementing a total ban on scabs. The deployment of scabs in a work stoppage is economically wasteful, prejudicial to constructive and orderly labour relations, and harmful for workers, their families and surrounding communities.
4. Bill C-228: Protecting Pensions:
Canada’s unions want workers and pensioners to come first when companies restructure or go bankrupt. To ensure this, we are asking senators to quickly pass Bill C-228 (Pension Protection Act). For decades, pensioners and pension plan members have suffered benefit cuts in the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) proceedings. Corporate insolvency is not the pensioners’ fault and retirees are typically least able to adjust to benefit cuts. Yet, pensioners and plan members are asked to pay the cost anyway. For decades, senators and opposition MPs have advanced private members’ bills trying to protect pensioners in insolvency proceedings. All have been defeated. Now in a minority Parliament, Bill C-228 is within reach of becoming law.
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