8
Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014
by the numbers
September 1, 2014
union coverage
of Canadian workers covered by a collective agreement are represented by
national and international unions, according to a 2014 study
are national union workers
international union workers
covered workers are represented by independent local unions
represented by directly chartered unions
of independent local unions and directly chartered unions account for the major-
ity of all unions based in Canada.
union size
workers are represented by the average union operating in Canada. This distribu-
tion is highly concentrated in a small number of large unions.
of unionized workers belong to one of eight major unions in Canada.
union affiliation
of workers covered by collective agreements are affiliated with the Canadian
Labour Congress (CLC). The remaining affiliated workers were covered by the
Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux, the Centrale des Syndicats du Qué-
bec, the Centrale des Syndicats Démocratiques, the Confederation of Canadian
Unions and the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial
Organisations .
of workers covered by collective agreements are not affiliated with any congress.
Collective bargaining
major collective agreements were settled in the past year, the most since 2005.
These agreements covered 1,014,210 employees — the most since 2010.
of these employees acounted for three industries:
in education, health and social services;
in construction; and
in public administration.
average wage adjustments from major settlements, the lowest since 1997.
While there were fewer work stoppages in 2013 than in 2012, the average duration (88.4 days)
was three times longer. Major work stoppages in 2013 resulted in a total of 1,507,243 person
days not worked.
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada
94.5
%
69.5
%
25
%
3.8
%
1.6
%
70.7
%
6,142
46.2
%
69.2
%
18.6
%
432
42.3
%
27.3
%
13.9
%
1.4
%
83.5
%
A snapshot of the labour movement
Photo: Shaun Best (Reuters)
Photo: Christinne Muschi (Reuters)
Photo: Mark Blinch (Reuters)
Photo: Tobias Schwarz (Reuters)
