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Unions provide the only consistent collective voice for working people, both in the workplace and more generally in society. They help to shape government laws and policies so that working people enjoy greater security and protection — and then they help to ensure that those laws are meaningfully enforced. International evidence indicates clearly that unions are positively associated with equality, inclusion, and participation. In this context, government policies which restrict union membership and collective bargaining opportunities will have
a broad negative influence: not just on particular workers who will as a result lose the ability to achieve better compensation and working conditions, but on the functioning of our entire society.
Over the decades, labour movements in Canada and many other countries have been front and centre in the fight for democratic freedoms and practices in society, as well as in the workplace. With the support of the labour movement, in 1972 Canada signed the ILO’s Convention 87, which recognizes freedom of association and the right of workers to organize unions as fundamental human rights. Labour rights are seen quite correctly as a key component of human rights — and trade unions have been the most determined and consistent defenders of these fundamental freedoms ever since, even in the face of repeated interventions by Canadian governments (federal and provincial) which limited or suspended these rights.
A recent report by the International Labour Organization (2008) found that higher rates of unionization tended to be associated with a stronger range of social rights beyond the workplace. Some of the dimensions of this broader social and democratic impact associated with stronger unions include progressive taxation, stronger income security programs, and stronger labour laws. Given the emphasis that unions in all countries place on campaigning
for social and economic policies that protect working people in all areas of their lives, this association between stronger unions and better social protections is not surprising.
A recent report by the International Labour Organization (2008) found that higher rates of unionization tended to be associated with a stronger range of social rights beyond the workplace. Some of the dimensions of this broader social and democratic impact associated with stronger unions include progressive taxation, stronger income security programs, and stronger labour laws. Given the emphasis that unions in all countries place on campaigning
for social and economic policies that protect working people in all areas of their lives, this association between stronger unions and better social protections is not surprising.
Across Canada unions historically led the fight for the eight-hour workday, better employment and labour standards, training and income support Unions and Democracy 11 for the unemployed, public pensions (including the Canada Pension Plan), workplace health and safety laws, minimum wages, services and benefits for injured workers, and parental and maternity benefits. In every case, these achievements have become common social rights extended to everyone, not only to union members. Thus unions serve as an important democratic voice for all working people. Without that voice (and the research, communications, and advocacy which unions can bring to bear on these issues), that forward progress in basic social and labour standards would not have been possible.
Art 2014
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