For the past 200 years, unions have played a central role championing workers’ rights, striving to provide them with better places of employment and higher standards of living. These organizations are made up of workers who unite to collectively voice their concerns to employers about workplace issues, such as increasing pay, creating safer working conditions, and fighting back against unjust actions taken by the company. Using the power of collective bargaining, where workers come together to advocate for their interests as a group, unions can achieve collective outcomes that are hard for individual workers to attain. In addition to petitioning individual employers, unions often fight for systemic change by lobbying regional or national governments to implement pro-worker legislation. The individuals who lead unions, union organizers, are instrumental in building solidarity among workers and maintaining momentum throughout labour campaigns.
Due to their visible position in the union, union organizers around the world are the victims of state persecution in an attempt to suppress and intimidate the labour movement. This repression often manifests as arbitrary detention and the imposition of restrictions upon organizers that limit their ability to engage in their activism. For example, in 2024, Victor Venegas, a Venezuelan trade union organizer was detained without cause by law enforcement while attending a teachers’ assembly. Rather than being an isolated incident, this arrest is emblematic of a larger trend in which authorities crack down on unions by singling out organizers to scare the entire organization into submission. In particular, union organizers are often targeted by the government when unions threaten to invoke their right to strike or engage in other labour actions. For instance, a Nigerian activist and union leader, Joe Ajaero was temporarily detained “on 1 November 2023 ahead of a mass protest and strike announced by the union in response to violations of workers’ rights in Imo State.” A year later, the government jailed him once again after he made statements that various union leaders should come together to discuss engaging in another strike action. Rather than solely being victims of persecution, unions and trade unionist human rights defenders have been able to successfully leverage their power to extract concessions from the state. For example, Hamadoun Bah, a labour organizer from Mali, was released from state custody after several unions, including his own, went on strike in protest of his unlawful and arbitrary arrest (CIVICUS, 2024).
Unions and their organizers are also active in Canada, with “just under one-third of Canadian workers—or 5.3 million people—[covered] by a collective bargaining agreement in 2023”. In the last few years, unions in Canada have increasingly made headlines as they have gone on strike and walked the picket line. Notably, the unions representing Canada Post employees and Air Canada flight attendants have played prominent roles in this resurgence. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has engaged in a months long strike aimed at addressing concerns such as workload, job security, and health and safety issues within the postal system. Similarly, flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) at Air Canada have pushed back against demanding schedules, insufficient rest periods, and stagnating wages. Outside of their work within the country, Canadian unions build and maintain relationships with the global labour movement in a show of solidarity. For example, through their Global Justice Fund, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the largest union in Canada, “supports global movement struggle for human rights, labour protection, peace and justice.” This program allows members to build relationships and connections with other like-minded individuals from unions and social movements around the world. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Union International Solidarity Fund is another initiative that focuses on providing humanitarian assistance, training nurses and healthcare workers in other countries, and overseeing member humanitarian missions abroad.
There are a number of ways that you can get involved with and support trade unionist activism in Canada. Within your personal life, you can buy products from and support unionized workplaces and encourage your friends and family to do so as well. If your workplace is not unionized, you can talk with your coworkers about forming one, as it is a right that you have as a Canadian. Politically, you can vote for candidates that are pro-union and send letters, phone calls, and emails to your representative to try and convince them to support unions in the House of Commons. If you want to learn more about unions in Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress website has more information.
References:
https://civicusmonitor.contentfiles.net/media/documents/GlobalFindings2024.EN.pdf
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7416-state-unions-canada
https://cupe.ca/global-justice-fund-action