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On behalf the PSAC North team, I wish workers and families across the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year. As the days get colder, PSAC members have much to feel warm about when we reflect on the year coming to an end.
Throughout 2024, we’ve seen strong bargaining teams elected to negotiate meaningful gains for public servants, housing association and power corporation employees, and municipal workers in hamlets, villages, towns, and cities across all three territories.
Members in the Yukon held governments accountable for ensuring union voices were heard in decisions about health care and social services and demanded safer and healthier workplaces for frontline workers.
In the Northwest Territories, we witnessed the power of solidarity as members came together to support striking housing workers in Fort Simpson and the strength of collective action when those workers won a fair deal and improved housing for their community.
Perhaps one of our most heartwarming victories was in Nunavut, where workers in Arctic Bay stood up to their employer for better working conditions and fought to end an unfair mandatory $10 coffee fee that was taken from each employee’s pay cheque, whether they drank it or not.
In the year ahead, with a federal election and the threat of an anti-labour government looming, it will be more important than ever to stand together to defend the things that matter to families in the North. As we continue our work to protect and strengthen workers’ rights, we’ll need all hands on deck to fight against privatization and advocate for strong public services that meet the needs of our communities.
Because, when workers fight together, we win together. But for now, it’s time to celebrate together. May the holiday season bring you and your loved ones happiness, health, peace, and joy.
Josée-Anne Spirito
Regional Executive Vice-President
PSAC North
