Labour Day reminds us that fair wages, workplace protections, pensions, benefits and the right to organize were not simply given to workers — they were won through generations of collective action.
For UNDE members, protecting these gains means protecting the good public service jobs that support the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada’s National Defence.
Across DND, work performed by public service employees is increasingly being contracted out to private companies. In many cases, contracted workers perform the same work, on the same bases, supporting the same military operations — but often without the same job security, pensions, benefits and protections. This threatens good, unionized jobs and lowers the standards for Canadian labour.
Contracting out also means DND risks losing experienced public service workers, who are the wellspring of institutional knowledge and internal capacity needed to support Canada’s military effectively.
That’s why UNDE launched Stop Contracting Out — our campaign to challenge the growing reliance on private contractors and ensure public funds strengthen public services instead of private profits. Our campaign gives members tools to report contracting-out concerns, document their impact in the workplace and take action by signing the petition calling for change.
This Labour Day, defending workers’ rights also means defending the jobs themselves. For us at UNDE, this means keeping public defence work in public hands and protecting the skilled, secure workforce that Canada’s defence relies upon.