(Ottawa – September 7, 2020) This Labour Day, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) joins in celebrating the contributions of the trade union movement to improved working conditions, health and safety protections, and social programs.

COVID-19 has amplified inequities in society and within our own post-secondary workplaces. Today, we urge academic staff to take this Labour Day to reflect on what has been achieved through our collective action and on what more needs to be done to get through this crisis and to build better universities and colleges.

“We need to move forward to a more just and fair post-COVID Canada for all workers. In the academic workplace, this means putting an end to casualization and discrimination, and improving working conditions for all,” noted CAUT Executive Director David Robinson.

“We are stronger together. Only through collective action will we improve working conditions for all and address the issues of precarity and inequity in the academic workplace and in our communities,” says CAUT President Brenda Austin-Smith.