Edmonton May Day demonstrations celebrate ‘importance of working people’: union

People marched in support of fair pay and safer workplaces in Edmonton and across the world to mark International Workers' Day.

Union workers took to central Edmonton streets to mark International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, on Friday afternoon.

May Day is an international observation of worker rights. This year, it was marked by worldwide demonstrations and protests in the wake of rising energy prices and living costs.

Among the crowd outside the University of Alberta’s Timms Centre was the university’s Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), which represents more than 6,000 support workers.

“We try to get members out to celebrate with one another, celebrate our work, talk about the importance of working people and the beneficial impact we have in society, and some of the struggles we have,” NASA President Quinn Benders told CTV News Edmonton.

He said many of the problems seen around the world are being felt right at home.

“We have cost of living spiralling upward. Inflation is a major problem. Wage suppression, especially in the public sector with regard to the fact that minimum wages aren’t increasing … I think it’s really important for us to come together and talk about our collective grievances, but also solutions.”

The president of provincial trade union advocate the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), also at the demonstration Friday, says recent “scandals,” including one this week wherein leaked voter information may have made its way onto a pro-separation website, signal the need for “mass protest.”

“This is just the latest outrage from a province that’s been having to deal with one outrage after another … What we in the labour movement are saying is, ‘Enough is enough,’” Gil McGowan said.

“I think it is time for us to start talking about moving from demonstration to disruption.”

The AFL previously announced it would organize a provincewide day of protest on May 29.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton