Labour Day parade

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While many were enjoying time off work this holiday Monday, others were marching in a show of worker solidarity.

Music kicked off Hamilton’s annual Labour day parade as hundreds of workers marched through the streets. While, the parade symbolizes the labour movements accomplishments, it’s also a time to to look to the future. For the first time in nearly two decades, the province’s labour laws are under review and labour council’s from all over Ontario are pushing for sweeping changes. One of the biggest, legislation around precarious workers.

Workers say they’re hoping for a number of improvements.
“More job security for our workers. Pensions.” “Improvement on wage hikes.” “Fare wages for everybody.”

The provincial NDP announced it will be pushing for union bolstering moves this Labour day with Andrea Horwath calling for two measures that she says will make it easier for workers to join unions. “We want card based certification back in the province of Ontario!”

That would mean that any workplace could unionize when 55% of workers sign a card stating they want to join a union. The second measure proposed is “first contract arbitration,” which would give newly unionized workplaces an automatic right to binding arbitration within 60 days.