More than 150,000 federal public servants went on strike on April 19 in one of the largest labour actions in Canadian history.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
Millions of Canadian workers are unionized, spanning industries from public servants to teachers, construction workers, nurses, journalists, professional athletes and more. The percentage of unionized workers in the country has fallen from 38 per cent in 1981 to more than 30 per cent in 2023, a much higher rate than France, the U.S. or Britain, where union membership rates hover slightly above 10 per cent.
What are unions and what do they do?
A labour union is an organization formed among employees in a particular trade, industry or company that aims to advance common interests. By joining together in a union, the employees negotiate employment terms through collective bargaining.
When successful, the bargaining process results in a written contract known as a collective agreement, which sets working conditions such as pay, schedules and benefits, for a certain period of time.
Skyrocketing inflation and stagnant real wages have been at the forefront of unions’ negotiations, but recent years also ushered in new concerns around work-from-home arrangements and the rise in artificial intelligence.
Inside the emboldening of Canada’s unions
Unionized workers, on average, earn more per hour than non-unionized workers, but from 2017 to 2022, the wage gains of non-unionized workers far outpaced those of union members. In 2021, the average annual wage increase negotiated by unions across Canada (representing bargaining units of more than 500 people), was 1.9 per cent, while the average inflation rate that year was 3.4 per cent.
The chart below shows the average hourly wage in Canada for unionized and non-unionized workers.
What are strike mandates?
The process of negotiations leading up to a collective agreement involves many offers and counteroffers on both ends. A negotiation tool often used by unions is a strike mandate, which can be achieved through a vote among union members.
By voting in favour of a strike mandate, union members indicate that they support the demands of their bargaining team and enter a legal strike position. A mandate and strike position alone don’t always mean that the employees will strike, as they may put pressure on the employer to make more concessions to avert labour stoppage.
PSAC workers and supporters picket in front of president of the Treasury Board Mona Fortier's office in Ottawa on April 21.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
What are strikes and how do they work?
Do unions need to provide notice before they strike?
If no deal is reached and workers decide to strike, they may be required by law to provide notice. Unions governed by the Canada Labour Code are required to provide the employer with a 72-hour notice, but unions governed by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, including PSAC, do not need to provide notice before going on strike.
Do workers get paid when they strike?
Workers who go on strike don’t receive pay from their employers, but they may receive “picket pay” from their union.
During the 2023 PSAC strike, workers had to show up at picket lines for four hours a day to receive $75 in daily strike pay. The workers had to scan a barcode at their picket location to receive their pay throughout the strike.
How long do strikes last and how do they end?
Strikes last until an agreement between the union and the employer is reached or until the government steps in to force employees back to work.
What is back-to-work legislation?
To end a strike without a deal, federal and provincial governments can pass back-to-work legislation, which forces workers to end the strike. Unions and workers that continue a strike after a back-to-work bill is passed can face thousands of dollars in fines each, with unions sometimes covering workers’ fines.
Late last year, Ontario passed back-to-work legislation to end a Canadian Union of Public Employees strike, threatening to fine workers $4,000 for each day they spent off the job, and $500,000 a day for the union. CUPE ended its education worker strike after Premier Doug Ford committed to repealing the legislation.
Who is allowed to strike, and when?
Workers who are not unionized are not legally allowed to go on strike. Unionized workers can, but not outside of the collective bargaining process, and not without holding a strike vote.
Some workers who are deemed essential – such as hospital workers, electricity and water supply, or law enforcement and firefighting – are not allowed to go on strike. Some essential workers have used other ways to put pressure on their employers despite being forbidden from striking, such as Montreal’s police officers who wore non-regulation colourful cargo pants for three years to protest municipal pension changes.
Police officers stand on a street in Montreal on Aug. 7, 2014. They are wearing camouflage pants as a sign of protest.The Canadian Press
The 2023 PSAC strike sent roughly 120,000 Treasury Board workers off the job, whereas 47,000 others were deemed essential and kept working, according to the union. Another 35,000 workers from the Canada Revenue Agency went on strike.
Strikes that happen outside of these legal boundaries still occur and can garner public support and awareness. In the case of illegal strikes, also called “wildcat” strikes, workers are often ordered back to work by their labour board and can face fines.
What rights have strikes won for workers in Canada?
Canada has a long history of labour movements that have changed many aspects of the average worker’s life, from maternity leave protections to wages. Here are just a few ways strikes have shaped the rights unionized and non-unionized workers have today:
Legalizing unions
The Toronto Typographical Union walked off the job in 1872 when publishers refused workers’ demands to limit their work day to nine hours. Union activity at that time was illegal and the strike organizers were arrested after 10,000 supporters showed up for a rally at Queen’s Park. This strike was part of the international “Nine Hour Movement” and led to prime minister John A. Macdonald’s government introducing the Trade Union Act in April, 1872, which legalized unions and gave them recognition and protection. While the strike was not successful at limiting work hours in the short term, it brought workers’ issues to the forefront and enabled union activity to grow.
Minimum wage laws
The 1919 Winnipeg strike is one of the most significant labour strikes in Canadian history. It lasted six weeks and involved approximately 30,000 factory workers, store workers and transit workers demanding better wages and working conditions. Many of them were soldiers returning home to high unemployment and inflation after fighting in the First World War.
On “Bloody Saturday,” the strike was violently broken up by the North-West Mounted Police, many strikers were arrested, some were hurt, and two people were killed. But public support for the strike from across the country set the stage for future labour reforms, including laws that established minimum wages before a federal minimum wage was set in 1965.
Employment insurance (EI)
During the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, unemployed young men worked in Federal Unemployment Relief camps for very low wages. In 1935, about 1,500 workers abandoned the Vancouver camp for two months to call for higher pay, and then travelled to Ottawa by rail to plead their case directly. RCMP broke up the strike en route and it ended after riots and the arrests of union leaders.
After William Lyon Mackenzie King took office later that year, his government passed legislation that led to the creation of guaranteed national unemployment insurance funded by both employers and employees in 1940, a system that turned into what is now known as employment insurance.
The right to strike and bargain collectively for public service workers
In 1965, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) made several demands, including the right to bargain collectively, the right to strike, higher wages and improved management. The union took action by organizing an illegal, countrywide “wildcat” strike that ultimately led to an extension of collective bargaining rights to all public service workers.
Canada Post employee Aurelia Arcaro of Rigaud, Que., rallies at Canada Post headquarters in Ottawa, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Paid maternity leave
More than 23,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers members went on strike in June 1981 after it became clear the Treasury Board would refuse their key demand for 17 weeks of paid maternity leave. At that time, workers were entitled to the national standard set in 1971 – 15 weeks paid at 66 per cent of regular wages – plus six months unpaid leave from their employer, but only as long as they had worked enough insurable hours before taking leave. The strike was initially unpopular, but it made maternity leave provisions, as well as parental leave for male employees, key issues in public discussion and eventually galvanized support from women’s organizations and groups across Canada. After 42 days, the Treasury Board agreed to 17-weeks leave paid at 93 per cent of regular pay, including protections for workers who took leave. This decision set a precedent for other public sector unions to push for the same, and in 1985, prime minister Brian Mulroney’s government established 24-weeks paid maternity leave for parents across Canada, the length of which has since doubled.
Flexible work and wages amid high inflation
More than 150,000 federal public servants represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada went on strike in April 2023 in one of the largest labour actions in Canadian history. PSAC and the federal government reached a tentative agreement on May 1 to bring employees back to work. The deal included a 12.6-per-cent, compounded wage increase over four years, a one-time lump sum of $2,500, and new language surrounding remote working that the union lauded as a step forward.
With reports from Vanmala Subramaniam and Moira Wyton