A massive labour-themed picnic held on Labour Day in Kelowna drew hundreds of people.
Several labour organizations were in attendance for the annual event.
Hosting the event was the North Okanagan Labour Council (NOLC).
“The eight-hour work day, the 40-hour work week, the weekend, leaves for compassionate care for parental, for pregnancy — all those things came about because unions asked for them and workers asked for them,” said Carole Gordon of the B.C. Teachers Federation.
“And so those are huge achievements to celebrate.”
The NOLC says there are more working standards that need to be improved.
“Leave for aboriginal practices and sexual assault and domestic violence leave as well,” said NOLC president Ian Gordon. “That’s the next step.”
WATCH BELOW (Aired Sept. 2, 2019): Labourers rally in Toronto for unions, workers’ rights
Gordon added there are also minimum wage and safety concerns, because “we want people to be able to come home from work and not have a death sentence for just earning a paycheque.”
He added “if you look at the top standard-of-living countries, they also have the highest percentage of union workers. It’s not a coincidence. We do that because the unions are standing up and fighting for these rights for the average worker.”
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