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Economics
Central Banks

Union Boss Says Bank of Canada Governor Is Waging a Class War

  • Head of biggest private-sector syndicate rips into Macklem
  • Central banker concedes labor market faces tough adjustment
Tiff Macklem waits to speak before the Senate banking committee in Ottawa on Nov. 1.

Tiff Macklem waits to speak before the Senate banking committee in Ottawa on Nov. 1.

Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg

The leader of Canada’s largest private-sector union accused the central bank and its governor, Tiff Macklem, of class warfare, ratcheting up its criticism of aggressive interest-rate increases to tame inflation. 

“Rather than developing a tailored response intended to slow profits, stop profiteering, fix supply-chain bottlenecks and help workers keep up, policymakers have taken to blaming workers instead -- including the governor of the Bank of Canada, who has basically declared a class war on working people in this country,” Unifor President Lana Payne told reporters Monday in Ottawa.