Celebrating You on Labour Day

September 1, 2022

Hap­py Labour Day, URFA mem­bers!

Did you know Labour Day has been a hol­i­day in Cana­da since 1894?

For near­ly 130 years, Canada’s unions have marked the first Mon­day in Sep­tem­ber as a day of cel­e­bra­tion for the achieve­ments of work­ing peo­ple, and a day of protest for social change and fair­er work­places.

In that time, a lot has changed. Work­ing peo­ple have fought for — and won — work­place safe­ty laws, min­i­mum wages, ben­e­fits and pen­sions, equi­ty for mar­gin­al­ized work­ers, and a voice on the job.

But we still have a long way to go.

Let’s face it — work could be bet­ter. Not just on our cam­pus­es, but for the stu­dents we edu­cate and every­one in our com­mu­ni­ties.

The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic and recent infla­tion have high­light­ed that there are many cracks in the sys­tem.

But these try­ing times have also shown that by work­ing togeth­er, we can win stronger work­places, bet­ter com­pen­sa­tion, and safer work­ing con­di­tions.

This Labour Day, I want to rec­og­nize you — the URFA mem­bers who have been work­ing togeth­er over the past two-and-a-half years to make our cam­pus­es bet­ter and safer for each oth­er.

When we work togeth­er and with con­sid­er­a­tion for each oth­er, our indi­vid­ual actions become col­lec­tive action, and that is what makes our union strong.

This week­end, I invite you to get in touch with the labour movement’s roots of com­mu­ni­ty and work­ing togeth­er, and take part in Regina’s Labour Day cel­e­bra­tions.

The Regi­na Labour Day Fam­i­ly Pic­nic is being orga­nized by Saskatchewan’s unions, and is tak­ing place on Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 5, from 12 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at City Square Plaza next to Vic­to­ria Park. Bring your friends and fam­i­ly for free food and enter­tain­ment.

Find the Face­book event here.

I hope you have a great Labour Day long week­end and start of the fall semes­ter.

If you have any con­cerns at work, ideas about how to build our union, or would like to vol­un­teer on a com­mit­tee, please reach out to me at urfa@​uregina.​ca.

In sol­i­dar­i­ty,

Britt Hall

URFA Pres­i­dent