For many people, Labour Day marks the unofficial end to summer. It is the last long weekend before fall seems to hit - although technically we have another few weeks until the fall equinox.
Labour Day also occurs as part of the last weekend before school starts in many districts across the country. "September" and "school" have been linked together in my mind for my entire life. This is, in part, because I work at a university where our fall term starts in September.
Of course, Labour Day isn't just another holiday. It commemorates a significant step forward for the labour movement. Yes, I said "labour movement" and I know many people who think that is something of an archaic term. We are so far removed from sweatshops, union-bashing and six day work weeks, it is hard to conceive of a time when these were considered normal.
Human labour has always been an integral component of the economy, it is hard to imagine there was a time when this was threatened. Yet during the 1800s, Canada - and many other economies - moved from human power to machine power.
Times changed. Not necessarily for the worse but each advance in modern technology has an effect and it is often to displace workers. Just ask any telephone operator - if you can find one.
In 1872, the Toronto Printer's Union asked for a nine-hour work day and threatened to walk off the job if they didn't get the changes they were looking for. On April 14, 10,000 people marched through the streets of Toronto to Queen's Park demanding a change. The employers took notice. As unions were still illegal at the time, they brought in workers from nearby towns and had the leaders arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy.
Conservative Prime Minister John A. Macdonald was watching events unfold and likely realized he had more to gain by supporting the workers than lose by opposing the employers.
MacDonald introduced the Trade Union Act which decriminalized union activities and freed the leaders from jail.
Over the next 20 years, parades were held each spring in memory of the events, leading to Prime Minister John Thompson declaring Labour Day a national holiday in 1894 in early September.
It seems that was a different world and time. Unions had to fight for fair wages for workers, shorter - more reasonable - work weeks, fair treatment so employees could not be dismissed without cause, worker's rights and protections, safety in the workplace, appropriate healthcare provisions, and many other provisions we take for granted. It has been and continues to be a long struggle for worker's rights.
In Canada, we take the gains achieved by unions for granted. We would think it strange to have workers engaged in 12-hour days, six days per week and hardly making subsistence wages. But the same is not true in other countries around the world and so the battle for unions continues. The rest of the world is not afforded the rights we enjoy.
Even so, the struggle in Canada and throughout North America continues at different levels. Increasing automation, for example, is progressively displacing workers. Why hire a person when a robot can do the same job 24 hours a day, seven days per week and never needs to take a bathroom break? The percentage of jobs presently performed by machines is steadily increasing. It has been estimated 25 per cent of the all manufacturing jobs will be held by robots by 2025.
The result is a lot of displaced workers. Indeed, it is not NAFTA or trade with China which is affecting the U.S. economy but the increased use of robots in manufacturing and as the American economy goes, so goes Canada.
In November 2016, CIBC wrote On The Quality of Employment in Canada. Their central thesis can be summed up by the opening two lines: "Is the quality of employment in Canada in decline? We think so."
When robots are taking over the high paying manufacturing jobs, all that is left for displaced workers are service jobs for which robots are too expensive an investment. And a shift to part-time or term-limited work.
With our changing economy, maybe Labour Day will take on new significance as more workers fight for their rights and fair treatment.
