This Labour Day, Canada’s unions will be reflecting on our work and celebrating the gains we’re making for all Canadians: stronger public pensions, safer workplaces and public spaces, better jobs.

We work on these issues because we’ve always worked to make Canada a better place to work and live. For Canada’s unions, it’s a labour of love.

Unions were involved when the generation before mine fought to establish the Canada Pension Plan in the 1960s. But over the last decade, with the decline in workplace pensions, increasing numbers of Canadians were struggling to make ends meet in retirement.

When I looked around I knew we needed a better plan, particularly for young workers, who are already saddled with record levels of debt and an increasingly precarious job market. It was my generation’s turn to win a better CPP to support future generations.

Currently in Ontario there are over 2.2 million seniors over the age of 65, 90 per cent of whom are collecting CPP. But the average monthly benefit is only $551.71, not nearly enough to get by. This is why we need to improve the CPP now, so that future generations can retire without the fear of struggling to make ends meet.

I’m proud that after years of union advocacy, Canada’s political leaders finally reached an historic agreement to expand Canada Pension Plan benefits.

There is still work to do to help today’s seniors avoid poverty in retirement, and Canada’s unions will continue that work. Values like fairness, equality and cooperation are what drive us to make a difference.

This is also why we are working hard to fight for a $15 minimum wage and support workers struggling with the challenges of our 21st century job market.

Working for a living shouldn’t mean living in poverty. It shouldn’t mean that you can’t plan time with your family because your shifts are only scheduled at the very last minute. It shouldn’t mean that you can’t afford to ever get sick, because you wouldn’t get paid.

If you can’t count on a steady income and predictable work hours, let alone find a job in the first place, how can you plan for the future? Good jobs offer the better futures that people want for themselves and their families.

Canada’s unions are ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work with our provincial and federal governments to create the conditions needed to grow and sustain good jobs.

We’re also continuing to work for safer workplaces and communities, and one key way we’re doing that is our call on the federal government to formally and finally ban asbestos.

Diseases caused by asbestos are the top cause of work-related death in Canada, taking 2,000 lives each year.

I worked as a mechanic for 22 years, and I now know that through that time, I was exposed to asbestos contained in brake pads. I don’t want anyone else to be confronted with that reality — that they went to work day after day, exposed to and unprotected from asbestos.

Imports of asbestos products, such as construction materials and brake pads like the ones I worked with, are actually on the rise even though Canadian-made, asbestos-free alternatives are readily available. There is also no registry of public buildings containing asbestos, putting people who use them at risk.

A comprehensive ban on asbestos will save lives and prevent the pain, suffering, and heartache endured by too many today.

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Safe workplaces and communities, good jobs, peace of mind in retirement, fairness and equality — these are the foundations of a better future. They are why I get up in the morning and work every day on behalf of all Canada’s working people. For us, it truly is a labour of love.