READY, STRONG, UNITED ON THE POLITICAL FRONT by Mariam Abou-Dib, Director, Government Affairs
"Ottawa will hear our members’ voices, loud and clear!" Positive Outcomes For Members During this second year of the global pandemic, we lobbied our government – before and after the 2021 federal election that saw little change in the House of Commons – on important issues to members and workers across Canada. We met with party leaders and Members of Parliament from all federal parties and actively participated in government consultations. These efforts continue to yield positive outcomes for our members during this extraordinary time of frustration and uncertainty. COVID-19 testing and vaccination policies took up a lot of time and energy in 2021 but we emerged with healthy results for members. We ensured that both their health and safety and their privacy rights were always protected. As a result, the vast majority of Teamster members are fully vaccinated and have done their duty to bringing us closer to living our lives normally once again.
In conversation with the Federal Minister of Labour, Seamus O'Regan.
One very important win in 2021 was the change to the Canada Labour Code to provide ten days of paid sick leave to workers in the federal jurisdiction. We expect this to come into force in late 2022. Weekly meetings with Transport Canada ensured the concerns of our members in the freight and rail industries were heard in a timely fashion. Our government heard first-hand about the challenges drivers and railroaders faced during this pandemic. We joined the National Labour Standards Advisory Committee set up by the Ministry of Labour and its affiliated departments.
10
We are monitoring a pilot project on employee misclassifications and Drivers Inc. The first phase of the project was focused on the education of employers. The new phase will consist of targeted inspections. We also spoke up for airline and airport workers regarding their health, safety, and economic security. We lobbied for and won a change to the Canada Labour Code on contract flipping in the federal jurisdiction. Airport contracts can no longer play with workers’ wages the way they once did.
