LO2 - Labour Unions: Goals and Structure

• Business Unionism​


  Practice of unions seeking to improve wages, hours, and working conditions in a businesslike manner​
• Social (Reform) Unionism​

  Seeking to further members’ interests by influencing social, economic, and legal policies of governments​
• Union Structure and Function​

  1. Local Unions​
  2. Craft Unions​
  3. Industrial Unions
  4. National and​ International Unions​
• Local Unions​

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  • Provide the members, the revenue, and the power of the union movement​
• Craft Unions​

  • Composed of workers who possess the same skills or trade (e.g. carpenters)​
• UNION GOALS AND PHILOSOPHY

  • Business Unionism​
  • Social (Reform) Unionism​
• Industrial Unions​

  • Include the unskilled and semi-skilled workers at a particular location​
• National and​

  International Unions​


  • Many local unions are part of a larger national or international union​
• Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)​


  Represents many unions in Canada (about 3.3 million members)
• Five main functions of Canadian Labour Congress

  • representing Canada at the International Labour Organization​
  • influencing public policy at the federal level​
  • enforcing the code of ethics set out in its constitution​
  • providing services (such as research and education) for its member unions​
  • resolving jurisdictional disputes among its member unions
• Union Growth and Decline​

  • 31.3% of the non-agricultural paid workforce (4.77 million workers) belonged to unions in 2020​
  • More than 50% of union members are female​
  • Unions are organizing service employees​
  • Part-time employees less likely to be unionized​
  • Larger workplaces more likely to be unionized​
• The Impact of Union Representation

  • Strikes​
  • Wages & benefits​
  • Productivity​
• Strikes​


  • Most collective agreements are settled without a strike or lockout​
• Wages & benefits​

  • Higher wages​
  • More comprehensive benefits​
• Productivity​

  • Relationship between unionization and productivity is subject to debate​