Challenges Faced By Canada's Labor Movement And Unionists: Insights From Heron

1. Heron says that there has been a great deal of rebuilding of the labour movement since the 1970s. He outlines eight issues that challenge Canada’s labour movement. Identify two of these issues and explain in detail why and how each has been (is) important to Canadian workers and unions. In addition, identify at least one historic event that illustrates the importance of each of these two issues.

2. Describe three aspects of the 1980s and early 90s that have meant that unions have developed a “defensive stance.”

3. Describe the typical unionists of the 19th and the 20th centuries. Who are the “new workers”? What kinds of jobs do they do? What does the union movement need to do to organize and represent these workers?

Anti-union sentiments and their negative impact on the labor movement

1. According to Heron, the increased sentiments that are anti-union are a real challenge that continues to have a negative impact on Canada’s labor movement. This is primarily based on the fact that the right-wing governments continue to put blames on the members of the union regarding the various economic woes that are bedeviling the country something that has gone a long way into eroding the right to strike among the union members. The best example for this is the Ford Strike of 1945 and the 2009 strike involving the workers both inside and outside the city of Toronto (Gordon, 2018).  Once the government interferes with the operations of the unions or rather the labor movements in Canada then it becomes difficult for them to effectively discharge their mandate of preserving the rights of the workers (Zaniello, 2018). The second challenge that Canada’s Labor Movements are being faced with is that they are being regarded as old-fashioned institutions whose constant demands to improve the collective agreements as well as the social legislations are only but obstacles to the betterment of the nation. With such negative comments and pressure from the government, the labor movements face difficulties in implementing their agendas something that needs to be addressed since with time, they will lose their relevance and leave the workers exposed to exploitation by the employers.

2. The first aspect of the 1980s and 1990s that have meant that unions have developed a defensive stance is the fact that they were able to get strong backing from the international non-g0vernmental organizations that were interested in fighting for the rights of the workers hence making it difficult for the governments to crack them down (Eidlin, 2018). The second aspect that proves that unions have developed defensive stance is that they have been able to get the support of the society meaning that attacking the unions is equivalent to attacking the members of the public as they carry with them agendas that reconcile with the public interest. The third aspect is that unions have gotten the support of strong leaders who have influence hence making it difficult for anyone to destroy them by all standards.

3. New workers are those who are basically on contract terms to the extent that they are neither permanent nor pensionable. Companies have taken the approach of hiring workers either on contract or casual terms as a way of cutting down on the wage bill (Doron et al. 2017). New workers in this sense do menial or general jobs meaning that they can be moved from one station to the others. What the union movement needs to do to protect such workers is to ensure that they are employed on reasonable terms and conditions and not be exploited by the employers on the basis of their temporary employment status.

References

Doron, I., Lowenstein, A., & Biggs, S. (2017). Law and intergenerational relationships: Comparing labor case law in the United States, Canada, and Israel. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 36(3), 277-295.

Eidlin, B. (2018). Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada. Cambridge University Press.

Gordon, A. (2018). Portraits Of The Japanese Workplace: Labor Movements, Workers, And Managers. Routledge.

Zaniello, T. (2018). Working stiffs, union maids, reds, and riffraff: an expanded guide to films about labor. Cornell University Press.