What unions helped to achieve in Canada
Healthcare: Unions bargained healthcare benefits for their own members, then helped to win a national public healthcare system in Canada.
Employment Standards: Unions fought to establish minimum wages, work hours and overtime pay.
Holidays: At one time, workers lost income if they wanted time off – unions bargained for paid holidays and vacations.
Health and Safety: Union pressure and workplace action forced governments to enact laws to protect workers’ health and safety.
Unemployment Insurance: The labour movement organized to demand benefits for people who lost their jobs.
Paid maternity leave: It took strikes in the public sector to win paid maternity leave for women, now part of federal law.
Human Rights: Union contacts were the first to forbid discrimination in the workplace