A union card and good union contract are the best tools to make life more affordable. Across Western Canada, workers are coming together to join our union and USW members are coming together to bargain good collective agreements. That makes work and life better for everybody.
We have welcomed new members who are prison chaplains, workers in health care and workers doing mine remediation in the Yukon. We are signing up more Starbucks baristas and have active organizing drives at mines, mills and numerous other workplaces.
Members are bargaining for better working conditions, wages and benefits, but not without hard work and sometimes a fight. Members at Hudson’s Bay in Kamloops, B.C., went on strike in December 2023, demanding more than the 17 cents per hour increase the employer had offered. Starbucks members in Edmonton and Metro Vancouver are battling for first contracts while members in Victoria are bargaining their second contract, working to build a better future for all baristas. Locals in Calgary and Regina are united, heading into negotiations with the steel company, EVRAZ. And over 10,000 forest workers in six locals in B.C. will soon be in contract talks.
The USW is making life better for workers everywhere. Members engage in these efforts, using tools and skills gained from union education, including shop steward, health and safety, bargaining and organizing classes and through new programs like Unionism on Turtle Island and Elevating Action against gender-based violence. In B.C., our Forest Workers Summit advanced worker and union-centred solutions to industry challenges.
Workers make gains when we elect politicians who share our values – remember that at the ballot box this
fall in B.C. and Saskatchewan. In Manitoba, Premier Wab Kinew is introducing anti-scab laws and card-check certification.
I’m excited about this momentum heading into the District 3 Conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 28-31, 2024. This is our opportunity to come together to learn, network, build solidarity and chart the course for District 3.
Thank you for all you do to improve the lives of your colleagues and families and to build a stronger USW.
In solidarity,
This article appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of USW@Work magazine.
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