Well, another Labour Day has come and gone. Now, for most, Labour Day has lost, in large part, its historical significance and the democratic power that the once large, organised  Labour movements in this country once held in Canada and indeed across North America and Europe.

Labour Day, in fact, comes from the May Day celebrations in Europe on May 1st each year. Sadly, a celebration of workers' rights became a day where the Soviet Union and other countries behind the Iron Curtain put on display the latest weapons of mass destruction and military might.

Labour Day in Canada was established in 1894 to recognise all workers across the country. Although labour unions existed across the country, recognition of collective bargaining rights did not become law until 1944.

 Strikes by workers before that were typically handled violently. They were put an end to by termination or, as in western Canada by the guns of the RCMP, in Winnipeg during the general strike on Bloody Saturday in June 1919 and in Estevan in Bienfait, Saskatchewan, called Black Tuesday, September 29 1931 where the RCMP opened fire on the striking miners, killing Julian Gryshko, Nick Nargan, and Pete Markunas.

 It was not unusual for both the Federal and Provincial Governments to use the RCMP in Western Canada. The final act of brutality would come on July 01^st 1935, during the Regina Riot, which ended the On to Ottawa Trek violently, as single male workers had boarded box cars from across the west to protest to the then RB Bennet Government.

The Regina Riot - Video

During World War II, labour disputes were largely deprioritised as the demand for workers, particularly women, increased significantly to support the assembly lines producing weaponry, vehicles, and other essential supplies for the war effort against Hitler. 

At this time, there were several work stoppages until 1944, when Prime Minister Mackenzie King, by order in Council, passed the Wartime Labour Relations Act, granting unions full recognition and collective bargaining rights. Companies were now, finally, legally bound by law to bargain with a dually certified Union.

Unions in Canada would now build the Canadian middle class, as workers across the country gained recognition in organised unions. Creating a fair and more progressive country in the process.

As with anything that must be fought for repeatedly, workers and the social safety net they had secured would come to an end. In 1984, the unravelling began with the election of Brian Mulroney, followed by Mike Harris and several other like-minded Governments across the country, and indeed around the world. ' Rights began to diminish overnight as with successive trade deals and almost draconian changes to labour legislation across the country. The once-mighty factories and assembly lines, one by one, closed their doors and relocated to Mexico, China, Indo-China, and India, where workers could be treated like cattle with no rights, safety rules, and little remuneration for the work they did.

With changes to corporate tax law, the working class in Canada became the paying class, as large corporations reaped the benefits of significant tax changes that primarily benefited them, rather than the whole. This brings us to the struggle between the wealthy one per cent and the working poor that we see today. Workers, after years of getting reasonable pay and good benefits, now live paycheck to paycheck, wondering what will happen next. It is also the cause of the deterioration of Canada's social safety net and major social economic projects. 

Union saturation now in Canada is less than thirty  six per cent, and most of those are in the public sector unions now under attack. The private sector only represents less than 15 per cent of the workforce, and if one needed any proof that they are also under attack, one only needs to look at the Carney governments orders of sending striking flight attendants back to work, trying to force them into binding arbitration.

Yes, it was Labour Day, but for workers and other Labourers, it is an eternal struggle to make ends meet. There is no longer illusion just the painful reminder that on Tuesday no one will care just get their backsides back to work.