The labour movement in Canada has a long tradition of social and political action. Trade unions have always involved themselves in the major social issues of the day - and have usually been at the forefront of struggles for the advancement of benefits and rights for working people.

It is a very simple and logical step from unions' efforts to secure for their members better wages, benefits and working conditions from employers to working to get better public programs and social benefits for all working people from governments.

From labour's perspective, the most important reason for engaging in social and political action is that it works! The trade union movement can quite rightly take credit for their key role in the creation of some of Canada's finest government programs - Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan are two obvious examples.

Trade unions have achieved their position of social leadership through both work place and political action.

By securing collective agreements with superior wages, benefits and working conditions through collective action, unions create a demand among all workers for similar 'rights'.

For example, unions, after great struggle, secured the five-day, fourty-hour week at a time when people were working sixty-four to seventy-two hours, six days per week. The union gains created a huge demand among all workers for similar work-time that was met by many employers so that their workers would not unionize. Once the new work-time was widespread, employers joined workers in demanding a uniform, legislated standard work-week so that a 'level playing field' would exist in the labour market.

The same general process was repeated with pensions, vacations, overtime premiums and other benefits.

On larger social issues, like unemployment insurance, public education, the social safety net, and Medicare, the labour movement turned to political action to meet its objectives. The sudden about-turn of the federal Liberal Government on social and public programs in the early 1960's that created the modern Canadian state was a direct result of polls which indicated that Tommy Douglas and the New Democratic Party would win the next election if the Liberals didn't change their policies.

This constant political pressure from the labour-backed NDP has won working people many social and public benefits over the years, and helped protect them to some extent. In fact, it could be argued that the current attack on all these programs is a direct consequence of a weakened political action and political commitment from labour.

In summary, trade unions have created huge advances for their members and all working people through social and political action - and it is only by continuing these tactic that we can preserve and improve those advances.