September 2004

THE CHANGING FACE OF CANADA'S TRADE UNIONS

AS A CANADIAN PRESS STORY reported shortly before Labour Day, "The face of organized labour in Canada is increasingly a woman's face. And her work place is more likely an office, classroom or hospital than an industrial shop floor."

According to Statistics Canada figures issued on Aug. 31, women accounted for 48% of the unionized employees in the country in 2003, up from just 12% in 1977.

"The feminization (of the labour movement) certainly surprised me," said Ernest Akyeampong, the StatsCan analyst who did the study. "It's bigger than I thought. The women are showing their presence very strongly, and that most likely will continue to be the case."

Akyeampong says the trend may have an impact on collective bargaining, such as more demands for flexible work hours, family leave, insurance coverage and other fringe benefits.

Canadian union membership stood at just over 4 million last year, an increase of more than 40 per cent over the 2.8 million of 1977.

But the faster overall growth of the labour force means that union density, which was 32.6% in 1977 and peaked at 34.2% in 1987, has been at 30% for about a decade. In the United States, unionization rates have fallen to around 12%.

Drives to sign up workers with non-traditional schedules (mainly women) have had some success, with 23% of part-timers and 25% of temporary workers belonging to unions in 2003, compared to about 31% of permanent, full-time employees.

Nycole Turmel, president of the 155,000-member Public Service Alliance of Canada, told the media that "Even if they're unionized, they're at the lower-scale jobs. Is it a great job, is it a job that a woman can survive at?"

In the federal public service, about two-thirds of higher-paid and more senior positions are still held by men.

The StatsCan study also found 70% of public-sector workers, such as civil servants, nurses, hospital support staff and teachers, belong to unions. By contrast, the unionization rate in the private sector fell to 18% in 2003 from 26% in 1977, largely due to a decline in traditionally male-dominated and heavily unionized jobs in manufacturing and other industries.

The study confirmed that international unions headquartered in the United States are playing a declining role in the Canadian labour movement. Internationals, which accounted for two-thirds of union members in the early 1960s, now account for just over a quarter.

© 2004 Communist Party of Canada