Bea Bruske is the president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2023. You can meet Bea at the CLC Convention in Winnipeg, May 11-15, 2026.
For more than three decades, Bruske has served workers and their families as an activist, workers’ advocate, negotiator and community organizer. She served as Vice-President of the UFCW Canada National Council, representing more than 250,000 members across the country, after serving as Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Local 832, the largest private-sector union local in Manitoba.
What motivates you to do this work?
Workers spend so much of our life “on the clock” to support our families. Working for a paycheque must come with being treated with dignity at work. Every worker deserves respect, a fair wage, and to come home safe at the end of the day. Standing up for workers motivates me.
What is the best advice you have ever gotten?
“If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” So many of us allow ourselves to … think we don’t have the right stuff or the background or knowledge to step up. We must stop doubting ourselves and just reach for that next challenge and slay it.
How can our movement ensure that workers can bring their full selves to work and their union activism?
It starts with inviting workers to participate. When people feel welcome and valued, they feel more empowered to step up their activism. We have to always be doing the outreach work and having workplace conversations, even when there is disagreement. When workers are engaged, conditions improve – because together, we hold employers and governments accountable. Our work depends on us coming together, sharing ideas and building our collective power.
What do you see on the horizon for workers over the next year?
Workers across Canada are facing tough times: rising costs, job insecurity, growing inequality and the threat of austerity. Steelworkers in particular are feeling the fallout from U.S. tariffs and a trade war no one asked for. Right now, every union member needs to be engaged in their union. Unions need to stand together to fight for family-sustaining jobs and social programs. Canada’s labour movement will always have your back, and we will continue to fight and to bring people together like never before.
Read more about Bea Bruske here: canadianlabour.ca/bea-bruske
This article appears in the Winter 2025 issue of USW@Work magazine.
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