Pierre Poilievre claims he’s a friend of the ‘working class’. He’s spent years attacking canadian workers
Poilievre aggressively fought card-check legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize in favour of a two-step process that gives employers more time to interfere in the union drive.
Under Stephen Harper’s government, Poilievre was one of the loudest supporters of the anti-union Bill C-377, a likely unconstitutional piece of legislation that tried to force Canadian labour unions to disclose all of their internal finances while big corporations would not have been subjected to the same rules.
Poilievre is also a major proponent of bringing US Right-to-Work laws to Canada. Right-to-Work laws weaken the labour movement by making it more difficult for unions to collect membership dues which pay for the collective bargaining process. Wages and benefits are lower on average in states with Right-to-Work laws.
“Of course he has a history of supporting anti-union, “right-to-work” policy, which has racist roots in the Jim Crow South.” Black added.
Right-to-Work laws were first championed in the US by a 1930s Texas businessman and white supremacist Vance Muse. Vance argued that Right-to-Work laws provide white workers with a means to “opt out” of union membership – and associating with Black workers.
Poilievre also used xenophobic rhetoric arguing that “foreign” migrant workers were taking Canadian workers’ jobs and driving down wages.