It's Labour Day, and leaders in the movement say things are looking better than they did a decade ago.
The Canadian Labour Congress says the union movement has made significant strides in recent years, including changes to the Canada Pension Plan.
But B-C Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger says there is still work to do in other areas right here in British Columbia.
"You used to have a right to a minimum 4 hour callout. The Liberals reduced that to 2, and we want to see it go back to 4."
Lanzinger adds there's also problems with enforcing standards in the Employment Standards Act:
" There are some protections in the Employment Standards Act. But one of the problems is that we've seen a huge reduction in the resources to enforce those standards. So, if you have standards for workers, you have to be able to enforce those."
Lanzinger says workers now get a self-help kit which directs them to talk to their employer, something they can't do if they are filing a complaint against them:
" That was a change that the Liberals government made. That was a change that they made early on in their mandate. They made a number of changes to employment standards. And you know, the working people of the province, 500-thousand of them work for less than $15 an hour at the moment, they need somewhere to go if they run into problems at work."
Lanzinger says without safe guards to protect workers, they can simply be fired for trying to raise issues. She says it's also harder for people to organize unions than it used to be, and that needs to change.