ACLA Ontario, along with Injured Workers Action for Justice, Justicia for Migrant Workers, and IAVGO came together to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Fire Horse.
This gathering honoured traditional festivities while reaffirming a shared commitment to justice, dignity, and equity for all workers. The event brought together injured workers, migrant farmworkers, striking workers, and the organizers who stood beside them.
IWA4J and IAVGO has been a critical voice for injured workers facing systemic barriers, including precarious employment and inadequate compensation. Justicia for Migrant Workers continue to fight for those whose labour sustains our food system and communities, yet who are too often denied the rights and protections they deserve. The celebration also became a ceremony of recognition — honouring ONA nurses who ratified their first collective agreement after thirteen weeks on the picket line, York University faculty association staff who held out for fourteen weeks to protect their bargaining unit, a mushroom worker who filed a successful workplace safety complaint, construction workers fighting wage theft and union busting, and many more.
This Lunar New Year gathering was a reminder that cultural celebration and workers’ struggles are inseparable. In the spirit of the Fire Horse — bold, energetic, and unyielding — the commitment to justice and dignity for all workers carries forward into the year ahead.
