Majority of union members object to portions of advocacy, political campaigning by unions
A new poll suggests that although many Canadians feel unions have a positive impact on the workplace, they’re not interested in joining one.
The Canadian LabourWatch Association, which describes itself as a not-for-profit, pro-employee-choice advocacy group, commissioned Nanos Research to survey unionized, formerly unionized and non-unionized working Canadians about their impressions of unions.
About one-third (32 per cent) of the 1,001 respondents were unionized, consistent with the general population (31.5 per cent).
Not surprisingly, support for unions was weakest among non-union workers. Nearly eight in 10 said they weren’t interested in joining a union compared with 26 per cent of unionized workers and 61 per cent of formerly unionized workers who felt the same way.
Of those in union jobs, eight out of 10 said they belong to a union only because it’s a requirement of their job.
“Canada is the only country in the world that does not offer workers protection from unions and union leaders they don’t support,” says John Mortimer, president of LabourWatch.
Among unionized workers, the majority were opposed to the idea of union dues being used to pay for attack ads (71 per cent), fund political parties (67 per cent) or pay for advocacy groups (63 per cent). “There are a whole series of things happening in unions that are opposite to what 70 per cent – 90 per cent of union members believe,” says Mortimer.
But Fiona McQuarrie, an expert on industrial relations at the University of Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C., says the poll results are misleading because they suggest union members have no say in how union dues are spent.
“Unions have a right to direct those dues based on the feelings of the majority of the membership,” she says, noting that two-thirds (62.8 per cent) of unionized workers said union dues are generally well spent in Canada. “Not everyone agrees all of the time but that’s true in any democracy. The person I voted for in the last federal election didn’t win, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a say.”
Armine Yalnizyan, an economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, questions the notion of unions being seen as too political in the first place.
“When was the last time you saw real ‘attack ads’ from unions?” she says. “As long as business has a voice, unions need a voice. If you cut off unions’ ability to be involved in politics or issues, that might affect workers at large.”
Eight in 10 workers agreed that unions have had a positive impact on job security, and just over half felt unions promote innovative working atmosphere (54 per cent) and the ability for businesses to be competitive (51 per cent).
On the question of relevance workers were divided. Just over half (52 per cent) said unions are still as relevant today as they have ever been, while four in 10 said they were “needed and relevant at one time but no longer necessary.”
A poll conducted three years ago by a different firm found similar but slightly higher results. According to an Angus Reid Strategy poll, 59 per cent of Canadians said unions are necessary while 69 per cent said they effectively improve salaries and working conditions.
However, almost half (49 per cent) said they have too much influence on Canadian life and the vast majority (72 per cent) said unions are too involved in political activities.
McQuarrie says that dichotomy is a result of several things, chiefly that with two-thirds of Canadian workers don’t belong to a union.
