May Day Greetings from the CEC of the PDM

This International Workers’ Day, the Central Executive Committee of the Popular Democracy Movement once again extends its solidarity to working people across the globe, and salutes their militancy in the struggle for fair wages and better working conditions. Since last May, Canada’s organised working-class has been active across the country in various sectors, demonstrating the increasing contradictions between labour and capital, and the urgent necessity of building a strong and united labour movement.

From the BCGEU action in the Fall - one of the British Columbia’s longest strikes to date; to the Alberta Teachers’ Association in October, whose 50,000+ members were subjected to anti-democratic back-to-work legislation by the provincial government; and CUPW’s resistance to the federal government’s attacks against Canada Post, it is clear that working people are not only being increasingly squeezed, but are also fighting back. More recently, CUPE Local 2 members, representing approximately 700 Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) electrical and trades workers voted 99% in favour of a strike mandate in April; BC 9-1-1 dispatchers (CUPE 8911) are holding strike votes in late April/May due to burnout and staffing shortages; and the BC Nurses Union (BCNU) is set to hold a strike vote this month. In Nova Scotia, over 3000 long term care workers from various CUPE locals have been on strike for approximately three weeks. 

With contracts in key sectors expiring this year, real wages continuing to fall across the country, and ongoing cuts to public services and social programs, there is every reason to expect that labour militancy will continue to play an essential role in fighting for Canada’s working class, and that the next year will see further actions. Wherever possible, the PDM will continue to support striking workers by standing shoulder to shoulder with them on the picket lines. 

Central Executive Committee
Popular Democracy Movement