Friday, September 2, 2011
UNA President Heather Smith asks Albertans to reflect on unions' contribution this Labour Day
On Monday's Labour Day holiday, Albertans should reflect on the important work done by unions to protect middle-class families and the unprecedented assault on their rights taking place in 2011, says the president of the United Nurses of Alberta.
"What happened in Wisconsin earlier this year is not just an oddity in a far-away U.S. state, but a trend throughout North America, Canada included, as powerful anti-union groups, individuals and corporations launch an all-out assault on the middle class and its hard-won historical rights," said UNA President Heather Smith in a Labour Day message to the union's more than 25,000 members.
"Many of our fellow citizens are not aware of how vulnerable important laws and public services would be in if unions and their members did not continue to campaign actively and publicly to protect them," Smith said.
She reminded UNA members that public health insurance, public hospitals and health care, overtime pay, child labour laws, workers compensation, occupational health and safety legislation, employment insurance and fair pensions - not to mention long weekends like this one - are all among the things unions have worked hard and fought for.
"We must never assume that our child labour laws, Workers Compensation, health insurance - or even our right to stay home for the occasional long weekend - would last long without active, committed union members determined to defend for all working people what unions have created," she wrote.
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