The Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress addressed CUPE Alberta’s convention with news of successes at the federal level.
“In just the last two years, the CLC has won major victories for workers, including 10 paid sick days and pay equity language in the federal sector,” said Vipond. “We have lobbied for and won dental care and we are a few days away from pharmacare. Canada finally has a National Childcare Policy.”
Victories aside, Vipond noted there is still a lot of work to do. The affordability crisis is hurting workers harder than most and noted that the labour movement is working to change this.
“We have been lobbying hard for the federal government to implement measures that will curb corporate greed, tax appropriately and lift the burden of the rising cost of living off our shoulders,” said Vipond. “We are working towards federal policies that will better protect workers’ incomes, including improvements to Employment Insurance and a national pharmacare program.”