Collective Bargaining In Canada

Background

The end of World War 1 heralded global social and political transformations and technological advancements that have impacted positively and otherwise on socio-economic development and work (ILO, 2016). It is the opinion of the International Labour Organization (ILO) that the positive fallouts of this socio-political and economic transformations have been lopsided as “many workers continue to face important deficits in their working conditions, and the prospects for improvement are being tested by the emergence of new types and forms of work” (ILO, 2016; p. 1).

Workers, according to ILO (2016), desire continuity in employment, a fair wage, equal treatment in pay for same work done, protection in the event of accidents, illness,

The ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association that interprets ILO written labour standards though does not frown on government certification of bargaining agents, as it exists in Canada; it ruled that in the absence of bargaining agents, employers are bound to recognize and deal with appointed agents or spokesperson of the workforce (Adam, 2006; 2001). Employers in Canada, according to Adam (2006) deny this right to workers and Canadian governments have not ensured the obedience to this international standard despite the fact the Canadian Supreme Court upheld this standard. The Canadian Supreme Court rule that “all Canadian workers, whether represented by certified workers or not, had the right to organize and form themselves into an association, and that such an association had the right to make representations to the employer” (p. 59) and made it a part of Constitutional Law in Canada (Adam,

Demographics and diversity of the labour force has been very dynamic in the last couple of decade in Canada with significant effect on union membership (Foley and Baker, 2009, Statistics Canada, 2017). The labour force has been described as “feminized” (Briskin and McDermott 1993) as women are increasingly integrated into formal work and union activities, which require unions to cater to the needs of women as a distinct group. These women have continued to struggle for equity in pay for work of equal value, increase in minimum wage, equity in employment legislations, reproductive and other issues (Foley and Baker,