Many sectors experiencing high degrees of growth, such as teaching, trades, and construction, are ones in which unions have the strongest presence. Other growing parts of the economy are non-traditional sectors dominated by freelance positions, like graphic design and ridesharing. Students about to enter any sector of the workforce need to understand unions in order to make informed decisions about the conditions they’ll be working in and how they can protect themselves as workers. This doesn’t necessarily mean joining a union, but it is important to know what they are, what they do, and who doesn’t want you to join one.
What is a union?
Fundamentally, a union is a group of workers who agree to stand together in order to have more power when dealing with their employers; this is referred to as collective bargaining. Members pay dues — a membership fee — each month or year, and are granted all the benefits associated with their particular union.
Every employee in Canada has the right to join a union. Employers cannot ban unions in a workplace, or discipline or fire an employee who tries to unionize. However, some employers do engage in union suppression. This can be done officially and legally, such as through training materials expressing the company’s stance on unions, or unofficially and illegally by threatening to discipline or fire employees caught talking about unionizing, or by following through on those threats in order to discourage other workers from trying to unionize. In 2002, one Canadian study found that about 80 per cent of employers were “overtly and actively opposed” to unionization efforts.
When a workplace is unionized, employees make decisions about their working conditions and negotiate with the employer as a group. When negotiations don’t go smoothly, unions may resort to striking, mediation, or binding arbitration, where a neutral third party evaluates the situation and makes a decision that both parties must adhere to. When it comes to solving problems at work, often the only leverage an individual worker has is their labour — but one employee threatening to quit is usually not very intimidating. Collective bargaining is more effective because all the workers are threatening to withhold their labour together, and employee turnover and productivity loss are extremely expensive for employers.
Unions are often characterized as being primarily about getting higher wages for their members. While that is a common goal of many unions, collective bargaining can allow workers to assert their right to workplace safety, to secure vacation and sick days, to access affordable insurance, and more. The existence of a union is important in such cases. Often things that benefit workers cost money and, since the ultimate goal of a business is to make money, these can be things that employers would prefer not to do or provide — updated equipment, time off, and benefits all cost money and cut into profits. Workers in non-union workplaces can also join unions in order to access other benefits, such as legal help, job training, and health coverage. These are paid for by the pooling of union dues which work like taxes, allowing small amounts of money to pay for things that members might not be able to afford on their own.
Having a union representative present for meetings also helps protect workers from personal mistreatment and abuse. Not all workers are aware of their rights in the workplace, and even when employees do know their rights it can be difficult to speak up if they fear retribution for complaining or drawing attention to bad practices. This is especially true for people who would have few other opportunities or supports if they lost their job, like the young, old, poor, and disabled. Even when workers do feel comfortable speaking up, there’s no guarantee that anything will happen. That’s where unions come in, and why collective bargaining is valuable.
What have unions done?
In addition to negotiating with employers, unions have also had a significant impact on legislation. Canadian unions — and informal groups of workers doing things like collective striking — have generally been part of, if not the driving forces behind, the fights for minimum wage regulations, child labour laws, overtime pay and shift length limitations, weekends, sick days and vacation time, workplace safety regulations, and other aspects of work that many people take for granted. Today in British Columbia, the B.C. Federation of Labour’s Young Workers are pushing for a re-strengthening of Grant’s Law. Grant De Patie, a gas station attendant from Maple Ridge, was killed while working alone on an overnight shift. Grant’s Law, which required businesses to staff more than one employee on overnight shifts, was put in place to protect workers. In 2012, the law was significantly weakened in response to successful lobbying by convenience store chains who didn’t want to pay for extra staff.
Union work sites tend to be safer than non-union sites, especially those in the resource industries, such as coal mines. Because union workers sometimes feel more free to report minor injuries, safety risks can be caught and dealt with before serious injuries occur. Many unions also routinely distribute safety information and offer training on safe work procedures.
Joining a union can be particularly beneficial for women, people of colour, religious minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, or anyone who faces a greater risk of discrimination, mistreatment, and hostility in the workplace. That is not to say that unions are free of bias, personal or institutional, against minorities, but that minorities tend to benefit especially from collective bargaining compared to workers with more privilege. In the United States, women who are represented by unions tend to earn more, as do black and Hispanic people.
High union membership has historically raised wages for all workers in an industry or sector, as non-union employers raise their wages to be competitive. Union decline has been linked to stagnant wages and income inequality both between genders and between the rich and poor.
What are the arguments against unions?
Some of the most common arguments against labour unions are that they artificially inflate wages above their market value, inhibit job creation, and generally hurt businesses by affecting profit and competition. Arguments that unions hurt the economy are typically based on belief in free-market determinism. Free-market determinism holds that, when businesses are free to compete with little or no regulation, the market will self-regulate to become fair and sustainable. Two main concepts are at work in this argument: first, that workers will compete with one another by accepting lower wages, and second, these lower wages will not decrease workers’ quality of life since the products they produce will also be cheaper. Workers who demand higher wages in this system stifle competition by forcing employers to pay more to make products, cutting into profits and keeping prices higher — which means that workers have less buying power.
Some argue that labour unions artificially inflate wages because the lowest wage an employer could possibly hire someone for is the true market value of the work, and unions ask for more than that. The idea that unions prevent job creation follows logically, since higher wages means employers can afford to hire fewer people; the literature on whether or not higher wages do substantially affect unemployment is a mixed bag. Some studies find there is little or no effect, and others find that unemployment is increased.
Detractors argue that the push for job creation at any wage point frames employment as a goal in itself, rather than the means by which people sustain themselves. If as many jobs as possible are created without any protection against low wages, everyone in the country could have one or several low-wage jobs at once, and still be unable to pay rent and buy food. People who live like this are called the “working poor”; many are considered unskilled workers, such as fast food workers or the people who work in Amazon fulfillment centres. There are over half a million working poor in British Columbia today.
The counter-argument to competitive wage markets is that a strong minimum wage, set by unions or governments, can make it possible for people to make ends meet with just one job; this argument values quality over quantity. Furthermore, some research indicates that wealth being redistributed among the working class means that, rather than being saved and kept out of circulation, money will be spent right away, and the resulting economic boost can create jobs by raising demand for goods and services that are ordinarily out of reach for poor people. It should also be noted that unions are not always against competitive wages; it is not uncommon for unions to offer wage concessions to employers who are struggling, allowing them to lower wages for a certain period of time.
Despite the fact that unions seem to fly in the face of the free market, some have argued that they are an important part of capitalism and that they emerge organically and predictably as a form of self-regulation within free-market determinism.
There are also leftist critiques of unions, including that trade unions fail to foster class consciousness because they organize workers according to their particular trade, or by workplace. In this context, class consciousness refers to workers uniting not separately as welders, construction workers, or retail clerks, but as a class of society united by the fact that they work for others who profit off their labour.
Some arguments against unions deal with more everyday issues. There are critiques from both conservatives and leftists that union structures aren’t as democratic as they should be, especially in larger organizations where leaders and rank and file members may be more distant from one another. Some say they protect workers who don’t do their jobs by making it difficult for employers to fire them, and that they cause employers to outsource labour to other countries where workers have less power. These are very real concerns; however, no union contract will protect workers from being fired if they aren’t doing their jobs or are causing problems in the workplace. Outsourcing is also a real problem; there is evidence that, in some circumstances, union power can lead to higher rates of outsourcing. But, using this as an argument against unions rather than an argument against outsourcing tends to minimize the active role of business owners, who outsource in order to hire whatever workers they can pay the least. Government regulations against offshore outsourcing could be the solution as much as weakening protections for workers.
Who can join a union?
The short answer is almost anyone with a job. The long answer is that there are unions for people in all different industries, some of which can be joined regardless of whether or not you belong to a unionized workplace.
If you are an employee and you want to unionize your workplace, you can legally do so. Keep in mind that while you can not legally be fired for talking about unionization, your employer may not be required to prove that they fired you for other reasons. To unionize a workplace, you and a significant number (usually at least 40 per cent) of your coworkers who are not managers must each sign a membership card indicating that you want to become unionized. Usually, people choose to join a pre-existing union like Unifor or BCFED, who will file an application to bargain for you before a Labour Relations Board. The Labour Relations Board reviews the application and the membership cards it receives, and conducts a vote of eligible employees. If the majority vote to unionize, the union is certified, and your employer must recognize the union.
Unions will be especially important for people in the creative industries in the coming years; as the gig economy grows, an increasing number of workers are no longer employees but contractors, who are technically self-employed. By hiring contractors instead of employees, employers avoid having to fulfill the obligations they have to employees, such as expense reimbursement, and paying hourly wages for time-consuming work. However, there are unions that exist for freelancers which provide a wide array of benefits, from press passes to health care and insurance. These unions are not able to set standards of work with employers, but can help individual members negotiate their contracts when needed.
Are unions for you?
Unions are, of course, imperfect. Like all organizations, they can get bogged down in bureaucracy and they can be exploited by bad faith actors — but they can also be, as they have been in the past, important institutions in the fight for improving worker’s rights, preventing exploitation, and reducing poverty. If you’re interested in joining a union, the best way to address the issues that make many people hesitate is to get involved and push for change where it’s necessary. If you’re still wondering whether a union could work for you, get in touch with local representatives who can provide you with more information about their particular organizations, their projects, and their policies. If you haven’t entered the workforce in your chosen field yet — whether it’s teaching, trades, or anything in between — doing research about what unions are available to you could help you make a plan for your career.
Mikaela Collins is an inactive member of the Industrial Workers of the World, having not paid dues since leaving a position as a barista in October of 2018, and has not accessed any union benefits before or since that time.
Illustrations: Renee Campbell
