‘Summer of strikes’ raises profile of this year’s Labour Day for Manitobans

Amid a 'summer of strikes' in Manitoba, labour experts say this year's Labour Day means more than it has in past years as thousands of employees strike for fairer wages.

Each year, Labour Day weekend in Manitoba marks the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of a new season and changes in school and work.

Yet, some say the September holiday this year is more important than it’s ever been.

Janis Thiessen, a history professor at the University of Winnipeg, points to the “summer of strikes” across the province as a reason the history of Labour Day should be remembered in modern society.

“With the circumstances in the province these past couple of years, it seems as though it’s becoming a little bit more of an activist holiday this year than it has in previous years,” she said.

Rotating strikes have been in the public eye throughout the province recently, as unionized Liquor Mart workers staged six weeks of job action over what they consider unfair wages, while Manitoba Public Insurance workers walked off the job last week for the same reason.

Bea Brusk, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said rotating strikes have come, in part, due to the affordability crisis plaguing households amid sky-high inflation.

“Every single worker understands that it’s been harder and harder to make ends meet. … The workers that are organized that are going to the bargaining table are getting much more public support than they have in the past,” he said.

Thiessen said concerns regarding affordability have been building since well before the pandemic, but said some things workers are fighting for today go back to the earliest days of unions.