The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is a Canadian labour organization that brings together national and international unions, provincial and territorial federations of labour and community-based labour councils to represent over 3 million workers.
As an affiliate, PIPSC was invited to attend a Political Action Conference hosted by the CLC, with a goal of empowering union activists to help elect pro-worker politicians in the upcoming provincial and territorial elections. Three PIPSC representatives attended this event, President Sean O’Reilly, public affairs team member Britt, and myself. The conference took place from January 20-21 at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, on the unceded ancestral lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. This is my report on what we learned at the conference.
The conference opened with inspiring words from elder Dr. Duke Redbird. Speeches were also given by Toronto May Olivia Chow and NDP Labour Critic Matthew Green. The second day saw a presentation by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh who shared his personal experiences navigating precarious work as a young adult while balancing family care needs and rising prices of groceries.
The second day of the conference included two workshops:
- The Issues and You: This workshop dove into election issues that centre around workers, including affordability, public health care, and supporting workers through unions and fair wages. We learned how to reframe these issues and strengthened our talking points on these subjects.
- Making Our Campaign Strategy, Your Campaign Strategy: This session focused on the components of a good election campaign strategy. The PIPSC delegates worked together to brainstorm and develop approaches that we could take to promote pro-worker candidates in upcoming elections.
The conference closed with words from members of the CLC Board of Directors as well as a moving speech by Tyler Downey, president of the SEIU Healthcare union. Tyler’s presentation focused on the importance of creating union spaces that truly celebrate the diversity of the members they represent. I look forward to meeting with Tyler in the coming weeks to discuss his successes with expanding diversity in his union.
Overall, this conference offered a valuable experience to our PIPSC delegation. It provided us with the tools to better align ourselves on our strategic plan for the upcoming elections. We were also presented with ideas for specific actions to take during election season to promote pro-worker candidates amongst our members and the broader public. I look forward to sharing more about our plans as they develop. Stay tuned!
Katie Francis