Thread by @gilmcgowan

Yesterday, UCP delegates voted overwhelmingly to “make Alberta a Right-to-Work jurisdiction.” These are the laws used by right-wingers in the US to suppress wages and break the bargaining power of workers. We can’t allow them to import these toxic laws to Canada. #AbLeg #abpoli

What are Right-to-Work laws? They are laws designed to shatter worker bargaining power (in the workplace and on the political stage) by weakening unions so much that they can no longer act as an effective counterbalance to the power of billionaires and corporations.

Is the US, where right-wing politicians and their corporate backers have championed these laws, RTW has suppressed wages, destroyed the middle class and allowed corporations and the wealthy to dominate the political agenda ... at the expense of everyone else.

Over the summer, I wrote about the UCP’s push to bring American-style labour laws to Alberta. After looking at the damage it’s done to American workers and the American middle-class, I asked the question “why would we want to do that to ourselves?”

https://twitter.com/gilmcgowan/status/1283084010453733377

In the spring, I also debated a corporate shill who has spent years attempting to bring Right-to-Work to Canada. He’s obviously found soulmates in Kenney and the UCP. Read the debate here. albertaviews.ca/union-membersh…

“Right-to-work laws...have nothing to do with either rights or work. Instead, they are designed to weaken unions and undermine the ability of working people to act as a counterbalance to the power of corporations and the wealthy.”

“Right-to-work laws in the US were never championed by workers. Instead, they were the brainchild of employer groups and they were implemented by politicians who were beholden to those groups.”

“If worker bargaining power is weak, inequality will grow, wages and consumer purchasing power will shrink (bad for the economy) and the political process will become increasingly dominated by the rich (bad for democracy). This is why calls for RTW laws must be resisted.”

“Advocates of RTW aren’t really concerned about “freedom.” Instead, they’re trying to bring American-style union-busting laws to Canada for two reasons: to lower wages and, perhaps even more importantly, to weaken the political and economic power of working people.”

You’ll be hearing more soon about how the Alberta labour move plans to fight back against the UCP’s attacks on health care, education and worker rights. But in the meantime, here’s how to Join the Resistance! kenneyscuts.ca