The Canadian Labour Congress, which represents 3 million workers across the country ? including members of the Canadian Media Guild, has launched a public campaign to build support for the Coalition government proposed by the opposition Liberals and NDP, with support from the Bloc Qu?b?cois.

“The CLC is taking this action in part because the Conservative government’s economic statement included attacks on working people by prohibiting federal civil servants ? probably including those at CBC ? from striking, preventing women’s efforts for pay equity from going to the human rights tribunal and capping wage increases,” says Arnold Amber, director of CWA Canada and a member of the CLC executive. “What’s more, the Conservative government did not promise any action to help people affected by the worsening economy, instead announcing cuts in federal expenditures for next year of at least $2 billion.”

The CLC is organizing rallies across the country this week to demonstrate public support for the new government. Click here for more information on the rallies. The Congress is also urging people to write to their MP in support of the coalition. Click here for the online form.

The coalition has a parliamentary agenda for the next 2.5 years that includes support for culture and a reversal of the Conservatives’ arts cuts as well as immediate and increased infrastructure spending on, among other things, transit, clean energy, water and roads, housing construction and retrofitting, and to address “the urgent infrastructure needs of First Nations, M?tis and Inuit” communities. The Coalition is also pledging investments in manufacturing, forestry and automotive industries that provide a plan to return to “profitability and sustainability.”

In addition, the coalition government would eliminate the two-week waiting period for Employment Insurance benefits, reform bankruptcy and insolvency laws to protect pensions and introduce an income-support program to bridge older laid-off workers to retirement.