FAST FACTS - The Way Forward for Labour

density rate of the 1980s had been maintained through the 1990s and into the first years of this century, the The corrosive effects associated with the decline in number of union members in 2004 would have been union density create conditions which accentuate the 5,319,000 - 25 percent higher than the actual number erosion. [...] This decline in union density has profoundly affected There has long been survey and other evidence to show the capacity of the labour movement to influence the that more workers want to be union members than there political, economic and social agendas at both national are union members. [...] Recent efforts to unionize increase, it becomes easier to mobilize members and to Wal-Mart, for example, have met with some success, but confront employers and the state to achieve gains for Wal-Mart is a ruthless employer, comparable to the coal working people. [...] of the environment, poverty and affordable housing, and the building of community through support for improved These activities were inspired by the belief that the labour public transit, and local library and recreational facilities. [...] La- ment in local communities will contribute significantly to bour councils led the fights for public libraries, for univer- building social solidarity, expanding the ranks of union- sal suffrage in local, provincial and federal elections, for ized workers, and promoting democracy and social parks and recreation, for public utilities to provide sewer justice.