For centuries, working people have found ways of pushing back against injustice on the job, and in society.
The labour “fightbacks” explored in this first instalment of Work In Progress include collective actions like strikes, challenging racism and colonialism, and using art to make statements that push back against those in power. They illustrate how groups have challenged the status quo and organized for change across Canada, and across time.
Work In Progress: Fightbacks! includes contributions from Community Curators Shawn Clarke and Stephanie Cormier of OPSEU Local 535, Mohawk land defender, musician, filmmaker and educator Layla Staats, and Vancouver-based artist Marlene Yuen.
About Work In Progress:
Work in Progress — a multi-phase redesign of the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre’s heritage exhibits unfolding until 2027 – reimagines how working people’s stories are told, and who gets to tell them.
Experiences of labour and work are changing at a pace not seen in decades. This project positions our exhibits as an evolving process, and a long-term collaboration between WAHC and community members across the country.
Through Work In Progress, 30 snapshots in labour and people’s history will be honoured with the help of a group of Community Curators– workers, activists, artists and organizers from Hamilton and beyond. From land defenders to care work, tenant activism and mutual aid to unions of unemployed workers, Work In Progress honours and uplifts the many ways people have worked for a more just future across space and time.
To use the words of one Community Curator: “So much of working-class history is left out of textbooks,” she says. “These are stories of resistance, of wins worth remembering. They help people see what’s possible.”
