On Monday, May 27, Canada’s parliament unanimously passed new “anti-scab” legislation that will prohibit federally-regulated employers from using replacement workers during a strike.

“This legislation is about protecting the right to fair and free collective bargaining, including the right to strike,” said Lana Payne, National President of UE’s Canadian ally Unifor. The bill “modernizes Canada’s labor relations system to reflect the current social and economic context of this country, where increased corporate power and wealth requires an effective counter-balance.”

The bill will apply to over 20,000 employers whose industries are regulated by the federal government, including airlines, banks, and telecom companies. Quebec and British Columbia — Canada’s second- and third-largest provinces, respectively — have had similar legislation on the books for decades covering most workers.

Quebec’s anti-scab legislation was enacted in the late 1970s after private security guards shot and injured eight striking workers during a strike called by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the militant Quebec union which has been a close UE ally for decades. The resulting outrage gave the governing Parti Québécois, at the time a progressive nationalist party with close ties to the labor movement, the political capital to pass a bill that not only banned the use of replacement workers but also expanded union rights in several other ways.

The new Canadian federal legislation was introduced as part of an agreement between the governing Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party, a party founded in 1961 by the Canadian labor movement. In exchange for supporting the Liberals’ budget proposals, the NDP insisted that the Liberals introduce anti-scab legislation. Unifor and other Canadian unions made it a major political action priority, mobilizing their members to put pressure on parliament. The bill ultimately gained support from all major Canadian parties, including the historically anti-worker Conservatives, who are attempting to appeal to working people ahead of likely national elections next year.

“With the incredible work of union leaders, of union activists, of workers, with the work of New Democrats who’ve been championing this for over 15 years … we can say today we will finally pass a law that will once and for all ban scab workers at the federal level,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told the CTV Television Network after Monday’s vote.

Unlike U.S. labor law, the Canadian bill features stiff penalties for employers who violate the law — fines of up to $100,000 per day.

A message from UE Director of International Strategies Kari Thompson

One of the most important ways we’ve built international solidarity over the past 30 years is our Worker-to-Worker Exchange Program. Unfortunately, we had to put the program on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, Worker-to-Worker Exchange is back — and we need your help to meet a $5,000 fundraising match and make it better than ever.

UEREF’s Worker-to-Worker Exchange Program is a life-changing program, but it doesn’t come cheap. This May, we’re sending rank-and-file members from the United States to Mexico to exchange their knowledge and personal stories with our allies at the FAT. An anonymous donor has pledged $5,000 in matching funds to help ensure our worker-leaders can access this transformative experience. Can we count on you to help us reach our goal of raising $5,000?

In solidarity,

Kari Thompson
UE Director of International Strategies

From the Winter 2024 UE NEWS

Close UE allies in Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Brazil, Great Britain, India and South Africa have all joined the worldwide call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

On October 17 Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union and a close UE ally, issued a statement that, like the U.S. call, condemns the Hamas attack but notes that “retaliation against a Palestinian civilian population is not the answer, and must stop immediately.” UE’s close ally CSN signed onto a ceasefire statement organized by Quebec’s Center for International Worker Solidarity. They have been joined by many other Canadian unions, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, two of Canada’s largest unions.

UE’s close allies Zenroren (Japan), FIOM (Italy), CGT (France), CUT Brasil, Unite (Great Britain), and NTUI (India) have all been actively calling for peace and an end to the violence. Unions representing transport workers in Belgium and Barcelona, Spain have urged their members to refuse to transport weapons for Israel, and maritime unions in Australia have endorsed actions intended to achieve the same.

Some international labor efforts on behalf of peace were directly inspired by UE. In February, UE was contacted by a regional official of the French union Force Ouvrière (Workers’ Force), who said that ‘The call you endorsed “The US Labor Movement Calls for Ceasefire in Israel and Palestine” has been an inspiration to us,’ and sent a copy of a similar resolution jointly signed by a number of regional labor confederations in Ile-de-France (the region including Paris).

In addition to the unfolding humanitarian crisis, approximately 150,000 Palestinian workers who work in Israel have been unable to go to work since Israel closed the borders. The MAAN Workers Association, which organizes Palestinian and Israeli workers, says that “the prolonged unemployment of these workers may escalate into a severe social crisis.” They have issued a letter calling for a one-time payment to these workers, which would be deducted from their savings in the Israeli pension fund. The union notes that, “This struggle is vital not just for their livelihoods, but also for the Israeli economy, and for the future of both peoples.”

“People who know too well the pain of dispossession”

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa issued a statement in October declaring that, “We really regard what is happening as a tragedy that could have been avoided by simply giving Palestinian people their long fought for freedom.”

NUMSA connected the struggle of the Palestinian people with the long struggle against apartheid in their own country. “In South Africa we avoided a cataclysmic war and forged a democracy in a unitary state,” they declared. “There is no reason why the same cannot be achieved in Israel and Palestine.”

At the end of December, the government of South Africa initiated proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the top court of the United Nations, alleging that Israel’s military actions, and refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”

Although the court’s interim ruling in January stopped short of ordering a ceasefire, as the government of South Africa had asked, it ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent genocide. (The ICJ’s rulings are not enforceable, but carry important symbolic weight.)

Haroon Siddique and Bethan McKernan, reporters for The Guardian, note that the interim ruling “is not the final word from the court on whether Israel’s actions amount to genocide, but it provides a strong indication that the judges believe there is a credible risk to Palestinians under the genocide convention.”

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, a former leader of the mineworkers’ union, welcomed the ruling, saying, “Some have told us we should mind our own business … and yet it is very much our place as the people who know too well the pain of dispossession, discrimination, [and] state sponsored violence.”

420,000 public-sector workers — including members of UE’s close ally the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) — began a one-week strike across the province of Quebec today.

UE’s officers wrote in a solidarity letter to the CSN that “Public sector workers are the backbone of our communities, maintaining our infrastructure and public spaces, teaching our children, and supporting our social services. We know most of these workers persevered throughout the pandemic to keep our communities safe because UE represents many public workers around our country. These essential roles deserve better pay and respect, just as you are demanding in your negotiations.

“The collaboration and joint resolve across the unions in the Common Front is particularly important so that the government cannot pit different public workers against each other. Our employers are adept at creating division, yet your coordinated solidarity in the two prior warning strikes this fall shines as a beacon for the working class. We wish you continued resolve in the upcoming one-week strike, and we hope that it brings the government to the table with serious offers for an improved contract.”

Five unions representing Wabtec workers from across the globe have written letters to Wabtec CEO Rafael Santana expressing their solidarity with the members of UE Locals 506 and 618, and demanding that the company settle a fair contract at its locomotive plant in Erie, PA.

Unifor National President Lana Payne, on behalf of her union’s 315,000 members across Canada, told Santana “It is troubling to hear from our brothers, sisters, and counterparts at UE that your company … continues to demonstrate contempt for the very workers that work every day to ensure that Wabtec’s business continues to prosper and succeed. According to your own most recent annual report, Wabtec saw a 7% increase in sales in 2022, reaching $8.36 billion compared to 2021, while company profits increased 13% to $565 million. It is only through the labour of your skilled workforce have these gains been made possible.”

Andrew Dettmer, National President of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, blasted Wabtec’s “union busting”: “Your attorneys are litigating every grievance, demanding arbitration rather than sorting problems out on the shop floor. Worse, these self same attorneys are then challenging the decisions of the arbitrator when they don’t like the result.” He emphasized AMWU’s support for the UE locals’ demand for the right to strike over grievances, “a simple step” that would allow disputes to be “resolved quickly, by people in the plant, and without involving expensive lawyers.”

From Europe, CCOO Industria, which represents Wabtec workers in Spain, and the Italian metalworkers’ union FIOM-CGIL, a long-time UE ally, both sent letters to the Wabtec CEO expressing their support for UE members’ demands, including specifically the right to strike. From South America, Brazilian metalworkers’ union CNM-CUT sent a letter declaring “All solidarity from the CNM/CUT and its unions to Locals 506 and 618 of the UE! Your fight is our fight.”

Earlier this year, the Chicago-based labor television show Labor Beat posted their 1997 documentary about the cross-border mural project organized by UE and our Mexican partners the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) on YouTube:

The documentary, which runs approximately half an hour, follows the creation of two labor murals, one at the FAT headquarters in Mexico City, the other at the UE Hall in Chicago. In April 1997, U.S. muralist Mike Alewitz painted the Mexico City mural, entitled “Sindicalismo Sin Fronteras / Unions Without Borders,” which incorporates images of working-class heroes from both countries. Later that year, Mexican muralist Daniel Manrique Arias, a major voice in Mexican art and the foremost exponent of the neighborhood-based movement Tepito Arte Aca painted “Hands in Solidarity — Hands of Freedom / Manos Solidarias — Manos Libres” on an outside wall of the UE Hall in Chicago. Manrique was assisted by three young muralists from the Chicago Public Arts Group, which co-sponsored the project.

The project was an initiative of the pioneering cross-border Strategic Organizing Alliance between UE and the FAT. In the film, both muralists, along with UE Director of International Labor Affairs Robin Alexander, talk about the painting of the murals and the importance of international solidarity.

If you enjoy the video, please consider making a donation to support UE’s ongoing international solidarity work.

Economic conditions have sent workers in numerous sectors on strike across the United Kingdom for the past several months, culminating in a February 1 strike of over 500,000 workers, including teachers, civil servants, and university and railroad workers. During the day of industrial action, union leaders delivered petitions signed by more than a quarter of a million people demanding that the government withdraw its anti-strike legislation.

The new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a conservative who is attempting to slash spending instead of investing in essential public-sector workers. His conservative parliament has introduced legislation that, if passed, would curtail the right to strike for many sectors, requiring unions to send members across their own picket lines upon pain of workers being fired and the unions being sued.

From the railroad and postal sectors, to healthcare and education, workers across the country have been out on picket lines demanding higher wages that keep pace with inflation that has caused prices to rise more than 11 percent over the past year. UE ally Unite the Union represents many striking workers in the public sector, such as the National Health Service, as well as in the private sector, such as workers at Wabtec facilities that also went on strike last summer. More strikes are expected in various sectors throughout February.

In Israel, parliamentary elections in November resulted in a change of prime minister, but not to a new face: Benjamin Netanyahu resumed the post, as part of a coalition agreement with a far-right party. The new government poses a threat to the rights of Palestinians, including for Palestinian workers to advocate for humane working conditions. Our union partner, MAAN, which organizes both Palestinians and Israelis, has referred to this as “an extreme rightwing government.” In their statement on the election, MAAN calls “for the joint building of one democratic state that can provide an alternative to the violent and destructive reality that has been feeding from years of occupation and injustice.”

The world’s attention was on two other events in the Middle East last fall, both with implications for workers’ rights: COP27 and the World Cup. The UN’s Conference of Parties in Egypt continued on-going conversations about addressing climate change but in a location where the right to free speech is severely curtailed. While IndustriALL and some other union organizations had a presence at the event to demand that a just transition for workers be a part of planning for the changing climate, there was little meaningful movement at the conference.

A few weeks later, the World Cup was held in Qatar, where more than 6,500 workers died to build the stadiums, hotels and other facilities used for the games. Some unions and human rights organizations highlighted problems with work permits that amounted to indentured servitude and unsafe working and living conditions for the migrant workforce. The Qatari government attempted to say their labor laws have been reformed, but they also refused to comment on specific allegations of unsanitary conditions and have tried to cover up worker deaths.

Unfortunately, the Qatari labor conditions have bled into allegations of corruption among officials in the European Union, and at least one international labor leader. Luca Visentini was elected to lead as General Secretary the International Trade Union Confederation (UE is not an affiliate) in November. In December, Visentini was arrested on corruption allegations. He has admitted to taking €50,000 in cash from an NGO funded by Qatar. He also happens to be one of the labor leaders who said Qatar had improved their workers’ rights. Though Visentini has denied that he did anything wrong, many of UE’s international allies are outraged that he would tarnish the reputation of international unions and confederations that are trying to improve working conditions.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the government announced revisions to its “national security strategy,” which include a huge increase in military spending that would put them third behind the U.S. and China. UE’s ally Zenroren released a statement condemning a military buildup, which contradicts the Japanese constitution’s prohibition on maintaining a standing offensive military. Zenroren committed to “help people raise the call from all over the country for policies for better livelihoods and not for arms buildup. [Zenroren] works to develop a major movement to win political change to defend peace and livelihoods.”

In South Korea, UE ally the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is facing attacks reminiscent of the Cold War-era attacks on the UE in the United States. Just as democratically-elected UE leaders were accused of being Soviet agents in the late 1940s and 50s, South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol is accusing KCTU of meeting with North Korean spies — and the South Korean intelligence agency raided the KCTU offices in January. KCTU has condemned the raids as an effort to suppress the labor movement and promised to “struggle against the violence of the Yoon Suk-yeol regime.”

Finally, in France, workers across the country in at least 200 towns and cities walked off the job on Thursday, January 19, to protest plans announced by Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. UE’s trade union ally CGT united with other unions to shut down large parts of the country, impacting everything from public schools to train transportation, and from shipping to public television and radio broadcasts. The CGT estimated that 1.8 million people participated across the country, with 800,000 of them in Paris. It is unclear if the retirement age legislation can pass the French parliament.