Global Solidarity

UFCW Canada is fully committed to global solidarity efforts that advance human rights, including the right to join a union. For over 100 years, UFCW has organized with activists and allies around the world to fight injustices, demand fairness for workers and their families, and ensure that the voices of working people are heard by those in power.  

Solidarity is an integral part of our union’s history and continues to be a core value for UFCW Canada. For example, over the last six decades, UFCW has proudly supported the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements in the U.S. and South Africa, as well as the global push to establish labour rights as fundamental and inalienable human rights protected by law.

UFCW Canada is also a proud and autonomous member of the UFCW International Union, one of North America’s largest private-sector unions with more than 1.3 million members across six different time zones. In addition, UFCW Canada belongs to UNI Global Union, an international labour organization that represents more than 20 million workers from over 150 different countries in the skills and service sectors. And UFCW is a longstanding affiliate of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), a global federation of trade unions representing 10 million workers in the agriculture, food and beverage, and hospitality industries, among others.

Labour rights are human rights, and UFCW Canada supports the brave efforts of workers around the world to exercise these universal rights, which are formally recognized by the United Nations. For instance, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to join and belong to a trade union, and Canada has signed this document.

Also, history has proven time and again that there is a direct correlation between workers organizing and the establishment of political democracy. Worker organizing is a central element of civil society, and we as Canadians and trade unionists must fully support these efforts around the globe – especially in the face of growing corporate power and influence.

UFCW Canada supports a number of international solidarity campaigns aimed at protecting and advancing workers’ rights around the world. These include the ongoing fight to stop Cargill’s union-busting in Turkey, as well as the global call for Walmart to protect workers’ safety in Bangladesh.

To learn more about these and other international campaigns for labour rights, visit the IUF website and UNI Global Union site. You can also read more about UFCW’s efforts to bring justice to workers in the United States by visiting the UFCW International Union website.