Unionization rates sink across the country: StatsCan
Over the past three decades, unionization rates have crumbled across the country, according to data released by Statistics Canada in late November.
Between 1981 and 2012, the unionization rate dropped eight percentage points, currently sitting at 30 per cent.
It comes as no surprise that the labour movement is at the hub of a dramatic shift. Occupational evolvement combined with changing labour markets have spawned a new employment landscape — which spells a volatile and unpredictable road ahead for unions.
"Certainly we’ve seen a fundamental shift around the type of employment in Canada," explained Karla Thorpe, director of the leadership and human resources division at the Conference Board of Canada.
That shift includes a move from an economy rooted in manufacturing to one dominated by the less-unionized service industry, Thorpe said. As well, the nature of jobs are gravitating from traditional work to contract, freelance and part-time work.
"But we’ve also seen changes where there’s been growth," she added. "There’s been a lot more growth in small to mid-sized enterprises. Companies tend to be more difficult to unionize because it takes a lot more effort to organize 10 small companies than it does one large company."
The lion’s share of the downturn occurred in the 1980s and 1990s — indicating rates have tapered off in the past decade, remaining relatively stable at about 30 per cent.
Technically speaking, union density is on the up — but don’t let the numbers fool you. Data from the Conference Board shows roughly five million Canadians are represented by a union or covered by a collective agreement today, compared to about 3.8 million in 1997. However, those numbers are just unions keeping up with a growing workforce — a task easier said than done.
"Where unions haven’t really kept pace is with the growth in the Canadian labour market. So over that time period the number of Canadians that are employed has gone up from about 11 million to 15 million, so that’s why we see the union density as a per cent of employment is on a slow decline — because it’s not really growing at the same rate as our employment is growing," Thorpe said.
Historically, the decline in unionization rate runs parallel to the state of the economy. Mark Leier, a pro-union labour historian at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., said while unionization rates have spiralled, that is not indicative of a drop in relevance.
"It’s simply the case that the unions do better when the economy is growing quickly," Leier said. "It’s easier to organize people when there’s a tight labour market. It’s easier to negotiate better conditions, which also helps to inspire people to join unions. So when the economy starts to sag, that makes it more difficult for unions to organize."
But perception can dictate reality. Attitudes towards unions have changed — which has played a major role in the unionization slump, according to John Mortimer, president of Labour Watch, a Vancouver-based non-profit group dedicated to advancing employee rights. He said Canadians do not view unions in the same light they once did.
"I think density in Canada is inflated beyond what it would be if workers truly had free choice. People are decertifying unions, kicking unions out of workplaces, not unionizing new workplaces," Mortimer said. "Our research shows 75 to 83 per cent of union-free Canadians don’t want to be unionized. They think unions protect weak performers. They think unions are no longer needed, they think unions get in the way of change. They don’t want to be a part of them."
Mortimer points to the U.S., where more and more states are passing right-to-work legislation. In order to keep the competition on an even keel, he said Canada will follow suit and implement some form of worker choice laws. Then, Mortimer predicted, there will be a free fall in the membership base.
It’s not over until it’s over
Unions need to get back to the basics, argued Thorpe. To stay relevant, the labour movement needs to spread its tentacles into uncharted terrain. For instance, organizing in non-traditionally unionized sectors and expanding their membership base to include contract and part-time employees.
"I think all of those are important areas where employees often do need someone to advocate on their behalf," Thorpe explained. "But certainly unions’ ability to be successful in that area will be impacted by a decline in their membership base and the bargaining power, the bargaining clout, that comes with that."
As part of its new mantra, Unifor — the new union born through the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) — has pledged to grow its ranks and reach out to non-traditional sectors.
So in order to keep the centrifuge spinning, trade unions must adapt to survive.
"The labour movement has always had to change, it’s always had to adapt to new conditions. But that takes experience — and it takes a long time to figure out what that change is," Leier said. "The lesson for labour, historically, has been that it gets the changes in the law that make it easy to organize —when its prepared to push beyond the laws that restrain them right now. And that’s about being more organized in the kinds of actions that they take to try to inspire people and go after workers in sectors that have traditionally not been organized — although that is actually a pretty tough battle."
