Organized Labour in Canada

1
Organized Labour in Canada

• March 25th, 2009

2
Labour Force

• Any person who has a job or is actively seeking
  work.
• As of 2005 Canadian labour force was 17,370,000.
• People who are not actively seeking work are
  called unemployed.

3
Reasons for Unemployment

• Laid Off
• Lazy
• Recession
• Dont need a job
• Retired
• Disability
• Lack of education
• Specialized Training

4
Job Market Changes

• Increase in automation decrease in jobs
• Decreased demand decreased production
  decrease in jobs
• Labour-intensive jobs replaced by technology.
• Low paying jobs (i.e. fast food) have taken their
  place.

5
Job Market Changes

• Many people work part time (lt 30 hrs) so company
  does not have to pay benefits that are legally
  required for full time employees.
• Labour legislation (laws) regulate minimum pay,
  hours of work, breaks, overtime, reasons for
  firing/dismissal, parental leave.

6
Labour Unions

• Groups of people who work in similar jobs or
  businesses, and attempt to obtain fair wages and
  better working conditions for their members.
• E.g. CAW, NSTU, NSGEU, CUPE
• Organized at local, provincial, and federal
  levels.
• Local unions can include police officers,
  firefighters, or bus drivers.

7
Labour Unions

• Provincial unions include the whole province.
• National unions include the smaller provincial
  unions (HQs are usually in a large city)

8
Collective Bargaining

• Process in which employees contract demands are
  negotiated with management through elected
  representatives of a labour union.
• Union reps present a list of demands to the
  employer who agrees, reject, suggest a compromise.

9
Collective Bargaining

• Lengthy Process
• When finished formal document that outlines the
  conditions is called a collective agreement.

10
Items in a Collective Agreement

• Wages/Salary, Overtime Pay
• Work Hours
• Benefits may include medical, dental, parental
  leave, vacation, sick days, breaks, and
  retirement
• COLA Cost of Living Allowance adjusts wages
  as cost of living increases.
• Job Security prevents firing or being laid off
  unjustly form a grievance committee to hear
  unfair employment practices.
• Working Conditions safety of working
  environment
• Seniority length of time employee has worked
  for company. If people must be laid off new hires
  will go first.

11
What If It All Fails?

• Strike work stoppage by employees legal
  strikes occur after existing collective agreement
  expires, illegal strikes occur if collective
  agreement is still in place when employees
  walk-out before the contract expires.
• Strikes can ended by members voting to end the
  strike or government legislates them back to
  work.
• During strike, employees suffer no consistent
  wage (strike pay)

12
Political Lobbyists

• Local strikes often dont have the major effect
  that a national strike would, and national
  strikes are unpopular among citizens.
• Labour groups create a political lobby group to
  focus on convincing politicians of the need for
  changes to the legislation.
• Lobbyists have been responsible for minimum
  wages, age limit on hiring of young people and
  improved safety standards.

13
Essential Services

• Police officers, firefighters, nurses, etc. are
  deemed essential services not allowed to
  strike.
• Work-to-rule campaigns are used instead of a
  strike.
• Involves strictly following working hours and not
  performing additional or voluntary duties.
• Workers may also enact a work slowdown to
  decrease productivity or efficiency.