Canadian Labour Congress
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (in French
"le Congrès du travail du Canada" or CTC) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada
to which most Canadian labour unions
are affiliated.
(TLC) and the Canadian Congress of Labour
(CCL), the two major labour congresses in Canada at the time. The TLC's affiliated unions represented workers in a specific trade
while the CCL's affiliated unions represented all employees within a workplace
, regardless of occupation. The trades-based organizational model, which strongly continues today especially in the building and construction industries, is based in older European traditions that can be traced back to guilds. However, with industrialization came the creation of a new group of workers without specific trades qualifications and, therefore, without ready access to the representation offered by the TLC's affiliates. In response, these workers adopted the industrial model of union organization and formed the CCL as their umbrella organization.
The spectacular growth of industrial jobs in the first half of the 20th century, combined with new legislation in most Canadian jurisdictions explicitly recognizing the industrial union organizational model, lead to fears of raiding between the unions belonging to the two federations, the TLC and the CCL. Tensions were increased because of significant political differences. The TLC leadership, in the person of President Percy Bongough, had activtely supported the Liberal Party
. With the defeat of Liberal R.K. Gervin and Conservative A.F. MacArthur by Claude Jodoin at the TLC's convention in August 1953, some of the political differences between the TLC and CCL began to wane. Jodoin was not a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
party, having been served for a time as a Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly
in the Province of Quebec
. However, after some conflicts with the Liberals leadership, he sat as an independent and then ran (and was defeated) as an independent in the general election of 1944. Within the CCL, a different but equally important story had played out. By the early 1950s, the leadership of the CCL unions was clearly in the hands of CCF supporters after a decade-long battle between CCFers and a coalition of Liberals and Communists. This CCF leadership was confident enough in its position to down-play partisanship in order to create harmony between the rival labour organizations.
In December 1953 the TLC and CCL created a joint committee to explore means of cooperation and possible merger. On May 9, 1955 the joint committee announced that a merger agreement had been announced. The terms were accepted by the June 1955 TLC convention and in October 1955 by the CCL convention. The formation of the CLC was an important step in maintaining harmony between Canadian unions by recognizing and supporting both models of worker representation and giving all unions affiliated with the CLC a pledge of protection from raiding.
However, the growth of public sector employment and the new ability of these workers to join unions became the significant story of the 1960s. In 1963, independent unions representing civic workers and workers in the broader public sector merged their organizations to form the Canadian Union of Public Employees
(CUPE). In the later 1960s and early 1970s, legislative changes allowed employees of the federal and provincial public service to join unions, bringing new members into CLC-affiliated unions. During this period, hospital workers increasingly became unionized.
In the 1990s, unions of teachers, nurses and other similar groups affiliated with the CLC and the CLC's provincial labour federations.
" may vote to join a union. The appropriateness of a group for collective bargaining is established by the Labour Board of the jurisdiction and may consist of all employees of an enterprise at a single location or a select group of employeees—maintenance workers, a specific trade or regulated group (such as teachers or nurses), front office employees, etc.
Where such a vote is successful, the union that they have joined becomes their bargaining agent and the workers in the jobs to which the collective agreement pertains are members of a bargaining unit
. Depending upon the terms of the collective agreement, some or all of the workers employed in jobs covered by the collective agreement will become members of the union which has become their bargaining agent. Union members within a bargaining unit elect their stewards, health and safety representatives and unit leadership.
In industrial sectors, local union
s may have members in several bargaining units. These are so-called "amalgamated locals" and are increasingly becoming the norm. Within some local unions there may be tens—indeed hundreds—of bargaining units. All the union members in all the bargaining units that belong to the same local union elect their local union executive board, including president. The local union may have various sub-committees of the executive board such as political action and health and safety. In each bargaining unit, the unions will establish a union bargaining committee for the bargaining unit prior to commencing negotiations with the employer. This bargaining committee will meet with the union's members within the bargaining unit to determine the needs and wants of the membership. However, it is important to note that under laws in Canada, since the local union is the legal bargaining agent, the signature of the local union's president or appointed representative must appear on the contract for it to be legally binding. Union constitutions may also require the signature of their national or regional president. Hence the bargaining unit's bargaining committee is essentially an advisory group, and not decisive. However, since the local union's leadership is elected by members in the bargainin units, giving all due weight to the input and objectives of the bargaining committees is critical to the leadership's on-going success.
Local unions are chartered organizations of the national or international union to which they belong. A local union charter may contain clauses that limit and/or protect the scope of the local union. For example, the charter may identify the geographic area, trade, industry, etc. to which the local union must confine itself or to which it has the exclusive mandate to represent workers.
Other sectors have other structures as determined by the needs of the industries and the legal framework. Most jurisdictions have separate legislation under which employees of the public service may form unions. In some provinces, colleges, fire protection and police services have separate Acts. Hospital employees may also have special legislation that works alongside the labour relations legislation for that province but which removes the right to strike and replaces it with binding arbitration.
Due to the mobility of the workforce in the construction sector, most jurisdictions set out special rules for bargaining for workers and employers in that sector. In that sector, local unions receive bargaining agent rights for a trade of workers at a single employer, similar to the industrial sector. However, union construction workers and unionized construction employers create provincial or regional bargaining agents with the authority to negotiate one contract that applies to all bargaining units. These regional bargaining units must be certified by the Labour Board of the jurisdiction and in making the decision regarding what group will be certified as the bargaining agent for workers, the Boards will consider which unions have the preponderance of membership in a given trade. This method tends to reinforce the focus of construction sector unions upon the trade(s) in which they have historic strength and thereby militates against "competition" (i.e.: raiding) between worker organizations—a benefit to both workers and employers of the sector. As a result of the legal framework, a chartered local union within the construction sector will typically have a charter to represent all workers in a specified trade and within a specified region.
Typically, the chartered local unions of a union elect delegations (with the size of the delegation based upon membership size) to attend regional, national and international conventions of the union at which leadership boards are elected.
Local unions are also the fundamental unit of the Canadian Labour Congress. The CLC is a central labour body to which unions are affiliated. Only in rare cases groups of workers with collective bargaining rights can be "directly chartered" as locals of the CLC. Local unions of Canadian labour organizations may affiliate to the CLC and pay the required per capita fees. Payment of affiliation fees allows for participation in the decision-making processes of the CLC. Conventions are held every three years. A union with 1000 or less members is entitled to one delegate. Another delegate is added after each increment of 500 members. Many Canadian labour organizations have, at their own conventions, established policies, by-laws or constitutions requiring local unions to affiliate to the CLC.
Most local unions are affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress. However, there are a number of unions that discourage their locals from affiliating for a variety or reasons. The largest group is based in Quebec, where the role of the Catholic Church in establishing some unions lead those organizations to reject of the social democratic orientation of unions elsewhere in Canada. When the role of the Catholic Church in Quebec unions disintegrated during the Quiet Revolution
, the leadership of the unions in that province was quickly captured by separatists who eschewed participation in national organizations such as the CLC and the New Democratic Party
(NDP). This group of Canadian workers remains outside the CLC. Another considerable group outside the CLC is the Christian Labour Association of Canada
, which has often out-manoeuvred other unions by obtaining vouluntary agreements with employers and advocating political quietism.
The Conventions of the CLC elect the Officers—the President, Secretary-Treasurer and two Executive Vice-Presidents. The executive committee looks after the affairs and administration of the congress. It consists of the officers and vice presidents and meets at least four times a year. The CLC's executive council, which is the governing body of the CLC between conventions, consists of the congress officers, the leadership of the 22 largest unions in the CLC, and representatives of women, people of colour, aboriginal
, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
people, youth and retired workers. This group meets at least three times a year.
The role of the CLC is to represent its affiliates to the government, media, etc., to co-ordinate the efforts of various unions on specific campaigns—either electoral or issues-based—and to promote non-competition between its affiliates.
In each Canadian province a federation of labour has been established. While these are separate entities, the leadership of provincial federations are members of the CLC executive council.
The CLC has also chartered approximately 130 district labour council
s (DLC), based upon municipal jurisdictions. Local unions with membership within the county, region or city of the DLC may affiliate and participate in the labour council. These councils assist with provincial or national political or issue campaigns and also lead efforts in municipal elections.
The CLC has head offices in Ottawa out of which it runs the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada. Regional offices are in Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Regina and Vancouver. Field workers based in these offices assist DLCs and their political and issues campaign
The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
(TLC) held a policy of non-partisan activity right up until the formation of the CLC. However, within the TLC, efforts were made by Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF) labour activists to attain a policy of CCF support. A significant measure of this support was the 133-133 tie vote at the TLC's 1954 Ontario convention on the matter of CCF support.
With the Canadian Congress of Labour
(CCL), the situation was more complex. As a child of the Great Depression
and the international romance with revolution in the decades immediately after 1917, Communist Party of Canada
labour activists had taken leadership positions in several key unions and locals of CCL-affiliated unions. Indeed, the Workers Unity League (WUL) was a group of Communist
-led unions in the 1930s with considerable organizational success. With adoption of the position of a United Front
against fascism
after 1939, the WUL merged with the CCL.
And even with the CCL there were many local unions with Communist leadership. In particular the United Auto Workers
locals in Windsor, Ontario
were Communist-led. The orientation of the Windsor UAW locals deeply affected the legislative and parliamentary elections in the Windsor area. In the 1943 elections
, the CCF had won all three Windsor-area seats. But in 1945
the UAW locals endorsed three UAW activists who ran as "UAW-Liberal-Labour" candidates with the support of the Labour Progressive Party (LLP). As a result the CCF lost all three Windsor seats. Taking advantage of a mis-step by the leadership of UAW Local 200 in trying to rally a national one-day strike in sympathy of Ford workers, in 1946 CCF activists within the local 195 and 200 overturned their leadership. In addition, the UAW International Board elections of 1947 gave stronger support to Walter Reuther
, the CCF-supporting International President. Between these two trends, the Canadian UAW leadership changed directions. In the 1948 provincial elections
, the United Auto Workers supported CCF candidates.
Similarly, the International Woodworkers of America
(IWA) in British Columbia was also Communist-lead. When, in 1948, CCF supporters gained control of the IWA's New Westminster local, other BC-based (and Communist-led) locals of the IWA withdrew in an attempt to form an independent union. However, this effort failed when the union members did not endorse the change.
Efforts to dislodge Communists from the United Electrical
(UE) and the Mine Mill
union did not succeed and these unions were expelled from the Canadian Congress of Labour. Hence by 1950, the Canadian Congress of Labour had become a federation of unions which, to a greater of lesser extent, all supported the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
With the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada-Canadian Congress of Labour merger complete in 1956, a further step was taken. Although political discussion was downplayed during the merger talks, in 1958 the Canadian Labour Congress and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation set up a 20 person joint committee to discuss the foundation of a new political party. These talks resulted in the founding of the New Democratic Party
in 1962. the NDP has, in its constitution, an organic relationship with the labour movement. Many local union organizations directly affiliated with the NDP, giving these local union bodies the right to participate in the Party's conventions and councils. NDP constitution also recognizes the CLC's District Labour Councils, organizations of local unions in a single city or town, as delegating bodies to the conventions of the provincial and federal New Democratic Party sections. Hence, by embedding labour organizations in its structure, the NDP went beyond being simply the party for labour and became of the party of labour.
Since the foundation of the NDP, and particularly since the 1980s, the labour movement's relationship within the social democratic left has changed in two specific and important ways. First, unions have increased their involvement with social coalition groups such as organizations advocating for women's economic rights, peace or other causes which have an avowedly non-partisan orientation. Second (and not unrelatedly), the relationship of some unions with the NDP became more tactical and seemed less to be a long-term alliance.
These two trends were apparent in the 1988 federal elections. At the outset of the election campaign, several unions had established partnerships with organizations such as the Council of Canadians in order to attempt to derail the Conservative government's Free Trade Agreement. These social coalition groups and the Liberal Party made opposition to the Free Trade Agreement the focus of their campaign efforts. While the NDP attained their best result in the party's history, some union leaders publicly criticized the NDP leadership immediately after the election for not being sufficiently focused on opposition to the Free Trade Agreement.
Since that election, the tactical nature of the relationship between some unions and the NDP has even further degraded to their point where the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) has, since the late 1990s, supported the Liberal Party federally and in Ontario provincial elections. Nonetheless, other significant unions have remained steadfast in their support and involvement with the NDP as their top political priority, even while maintaining involvement in social coalitions. Given the size of the CAW with the Canadian labour movement, the CAW's support for the Liberals has caused significant problems for the CLC leadership in continuing to follow the Congress' policy of NDP support.
Since 1994, the CLC has been a member of the Halifax Initiative
, a coalition of Canadian
non-governmental organization
s for public interest work and education on international financial institutions
.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
"le Congrès du travail du Canada" or CTC) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to which most Canadian labour unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
are affiliated.
Formation
The CLC was founded on April 23, 1956 through a merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of CanadaTrades and Labour Congress of Canada
The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1883 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor...
(TLC) and the Canadian Congress of Labour
Canadian Congress of Labour
The Canadian Congress of Labour was founded in 1940 and merged with Trades and Labour Congress of Canada to form the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.-Founding:...
(CCL), the two major labour congresses in Canada at the time. The TLC's affiliated unions represented workers in a specific trade
Craft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
while the CCL's affiliated unions represented all employees within a workplace
Industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
, regardless of occupation. The trades-based organizational model, which strongly continues today especially in the building and construction industries, is based in older European traditions that can be traced back to guilds. However, with industrialization came the creation of a new group of workers without specific trades qualifications and, therefore, without ready access to the representation offered by the TLC's affiliates. In response, these workers adopted the industrial model of union organization and formed the CCL as their umbrella organization.
The spectacular growth of industrial jobs in the first half of the 20th century, combined with new legislation in most Canadian jurisdictions explicitly recognizing the industrial union organizational model, lead to fears of raiding between the unions belonging to the two federations, the TLC and the CCL. Tensions were increased because of significant political differences. The TLC leadership, in the person of President Percy Bongough, had activtely supported the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. With the defeat of Liberal R.K. Gervin and Conservative A.F. MacArthur by Claude Jodoin at the TLC's convention in August 1953, some of the political differences between the TLC and CCL began to wane. Jodoin was not a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
party, having been served for a time as a Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
in the Province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. However, after some conflicts with the Liberals leadership, he sat as an independent and then ran (and was defeated) as an independent in the general election of 1944. Within the CCL, a different but equally important story had played out. By the early 1950s, the leadership of the CCL unions was clearly in the hands of CCF supporters after a decade-long battle between CCFers and a coalition of Liberals and Communists. This CCF leadership was confident enough in its position to down-play partisanship in order to create harmony between the rival labour organizations.
In December 1953 the TLC and CCL created a joint committee to explore means of cooperation and possible merger. On May 9, 1955 the joint committee announced that a merger agreement had been announced. The terms were accepted by the June 1955 TLC convention and in October 1955 by the CCL convention. The formation of the CLC was an important step in maintaining harmony between Canadian unions by recognizing and supporting both models of worker representation and giving all unions affiliated with the CLC a pledge of protection from raiding.
Development
During the initial years of the CLC, industrial growth drove union membership to new heights. These workers tended to be in private sector industries such as manufacturing, transportation and mining.However, the growth of public sector employment and the new ability of these workers to join unions became the significant story of the 1960s. In 1963, independent unions representing civic workers and workers in the broader public sector merged their organizations to form the Canadian Union of Public Employees
Canadian Union of Public Employees
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector - although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well...
(CUPE). In the later 1960s and early 1970s, legislative changes allowed employees of the federal and provincial public service to join unions, bringing new members into CLC-affiliated unions. During this period, hospital workers increasingly became unionized.
In the 1990s, unions of teachers, nurses and other similar groups affiliated with the CLC and the CLC's provincial labour federations.
Structure of the Canadian labour movement
Under the general labour relations laws in effect in all Canadian jurisdictions, groups of workers deemed "appropriate for collective bargainingCollective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
" may vote to join a union. The appropriateness of a group for collective bargaining is established by the Labour Board of the jurisdiction and may consist of all employees of an enterprise at a single location or a select group of employeees—maintenance workers, a specific trade or regulated group (such as teachers or nurses), front office employees, etc.
Where such a vote is successful, the union that they have joined becomes their bargaining agent and the workers in the jobs to which the collective agreement pertains are members of a bargaining unit
Bargaining unit
A bargaining unit in labor relations is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who are represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. Examples would be "non-management professors"; "law enforcement professionals";...
. Depending upon the terms of the collective agreement, some or all of the workers employed in jobs covered by the collective agreement will become members of the union which has become their bargaining agent. Union members within a bargaining unit elect their stewards, health and safety representatives and unit leadership.
In industrial sectors, local union
Local union
A local union, often shortened to local, in North America, or a union branch in the United Kingdom and other countries is a locally-based trade union organization which forms part of a larger, usually national, union.Local branches are organized to represent the union's members from a particular...
s may have members in several bargaining units. These are so-called "amalgamated locals" and are increasingly becoming the norm. Within some local unions there may be tens—indeed hundreds—of bargaining units. All the union members in all the bargaining units that belong to the same local union elect their local union executive board, including president. The local union may have various sub-committees of the executive board such as political action and health and safety. In each bargaining unit, the unions will establish a union bargaining committee for the bargaining unit prior to commencing negotiations with the employer. This bargaining committee will meet with the union's members within the bargaining unit to determine the needs and wants of the membership. However, it is important to note that under laws in Canada, since the local union is the legal bargaining agent, the signature of the local union's president or appointed representative must appear on the contract for it to be legally binding. Union constitutions may also require the signature of their national or regional president. Hence the bargaining unit's bargaining committee is essentially an advisory group, and not decisive. However, since the local union's leadership is elected by members in the bargainin units, giving all due weight to the input and objectives of the bargaining committees is critical to the leadership's on-going success.
Local unions are chartered organizations of the national or international union to which they belong. A local union charter may contain clauses that limit and/or protect the scope of the local union. For example, the charter may identify the geographic area, trade, industry, etc. to which the local union must confine itself or to which it has the exclusive mandate to represent workers.
Other sectors have other structures as determined by the needs of the industries and the legal framework. Most jurisdictions have separate legislation under which employees of the public service may form unions. In some provinces, colleges, fire protection and police services have separate Acts. Hospital employees may also have special legislation that works alongside the labour relations legislation for that province but which removes the right to strike and replaces it with binding arbitration.
Due to the mobility of the workforce in the construction sector, most jurisdictions set out special rules for bargaining for workers and employers in that sector. In that sector, local unions receive bargaining agent rights for a trade of workers at a single employer, similar to the industrial sector. However, union construction workers and unionized construction employers create provincial or regional bargaining agents with the authority to negotiate one contract that applies to all bargaining units. These regional bargaining units must be certified by the Labour Board of the jurisdiction and in making the decision regarding what group will be certified as the bargaining agent for workers, the Boards will consider which unions have the preponderance of membership in a given trade. This method tends to reinforce the focus of construction sector unions upon the trade(s) in which they have historic strength and thereby militates against "competition" (i.e.: raiding) between worker organizations—a benefit to both workers and employers of the sector. As a result of the legal framework, a chartered local union within the construction sector will typically have a charter to represent all workers in a specified trade and within a specified region.
Typically, the chartered local unions of a union elect delegations (with the size of the delegation based upon membership size) to attend regional, national and international conventions of the union at which leadership boards are elected.
Local unions are also the fundamental unit of the Canadian Labour Congress. The CLC is a central labour body to which unions are affiliated. Only in rare cases groups of workers with collective bargaining rights can be "directly chartered" as locals of the CLC. Local unions of Canadian labour organizations may affiliate to the CLC and pay the required per capita fees. Payment of affiliation fees allows for participation in the decision-making processes of the CLC. Conventions are held every three years. A union with 1000 or less members is entitled to one delegate. Another delegate is added after each increment of 500 members. Many Canadian labour organizations have, at their own conventions, established policies, by-laws or constitutions requiring local unions to affiliate to the CLC.
Most local unions are affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress. However, there are a number of unions that discourage their locals from affiliating for a variety or reasons. The largest group is based in Quebec, where the role of the Catholic Church in establishing some unions lead those organizations to reject of the social democratic orientation of unions elsewhere in Canada. When the role of the Catholic Church in Quebec unions disintegrated during the Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
, the leadership of the unions in that province was quickly captured by separatists who eschewed participation in national organizations such as the CLC and the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP). This group of Canadian workers remains outside the CLC. Another considerable group outside the CLC is the Christian Labour Association of Canada
Christian Labour Association of Canada
The Christian Labour Association of Canada is a labour union which represents workers in the construction, health care and food industries. The association was established in 1952 to represent workers on the basis of "Christian social principles"...
, which has often out-manoeuvred other unions by obtaining vouluntary agreements with employers and advocating political quietism.
The Conventions of the CLC elect the Officers—the President, Secretary-Treasurer and two Executive Vice-Presidents. The executive committee looks after the affairs and administration of the congress. It consists of the officers and vice presidents and meets at least four times a year. The CLC's executive council, which is the governing body of the CLC between conventions, consists of the congress officers, the leadership of the 22 largest unions in the CLC, and representatives of women, people of colour, aboriginal
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people, youth and retired workers. This group meets at least three times a year.
The role of the CLC is to represent its affiliates to the government, media, etc., to co-ordinate the efforts of various unions on specific campaigns—either electoral or issues-based—and to promote non-competition between its affiliates.
In each Canadian province a federation of labour has been established. While these are separate entities, the leadership of provincial federations are members of the CLC executive council.
The CLC has also chartered approximately 130 district labour council
Labour council
A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level...
s (DLC), based upon municipal jurisdictions. Local unions with membership within the county, region or city of the DLC may affiliate and participate in the labour council. These councils assist with provincial or national political or issue campaigns and also lead efforts in municipal elections.
The CLC has head offices in Ottawa out of which it runs the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada. Regional offices are in Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Regina and Vancouver. Field workers based in these offices assist DLCs and their political and issues campaign
Relationship with the social democratic left
In the aftermath of the Second World War, various political trends played out within the Canadian labour movement as political parties and their supporters rallied for leadership control of the emerging labour movement.The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1883 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor...
(TLC) held a policy of non-partisan activity right up until the formation of the CLC. However, within the TLC, efforts were made by Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF) labour activists to attain a policy of CCF support. A significant measure of this support was the 133-133 tie vote at the TLC's 1954 Ontario convention on the matter of CCF support.
With the Canadian Congress of Labour
Canadian Congress of Labour
The Canadian Congress of Labour was founded in 1940 and merged with Trades and Labour Congress of Canada to form the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.-Founding:...
(CCL), the situation was more complex. As a child of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the international romance with revolution in the decades immediately after 1917, Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
labour activists had taken leadership positions in several key unions and locals of CCL-affiliated unions. Indeed, the Workers Unity League (WUL) was a group of Communist
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
-led unions in the 1930s with considerable organizational success. With adoption of the position of a United Front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
against fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
after 1939, the WUL merged with the CCL.
And even with the CCL there were many local unions with Communist leadership. In particular the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
locals in Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
were Communist-led. The orientation of the Windsor UAW locals deeply affected the legislative and parliamentary elections in the Windsor area. In the 1943 elections
Ontario general election, 1943
The Ontario general election of 1943 was held on August 4, 1943, to elect the 90 Members of the 21st Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, the CCF had won all three Windsor-area seats. But in 1945
Ontario general election, 1945
The Ontario general election of 1945 was held on June 4, 1945, to elect the 90 members of the 22nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
the UAW locals endorsed three UAW activists who ran as "UAW-Liberal-Labour" candidates with the support of the Labour Progressive Party (LLP). As a result the CCF lost all three Windsor seats. Taking advantage of a mis-step by the leadership of UAW Local 200 in trying to rally a national one-day strike in sympathy of Ford workers, in 1946 CCF activists within the local 195 and 200 overturned their leadership. In addition, the UAW International Board elections of 1947 gave stronger support to Walter Reuther
Walter Reuther
Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...
, the CCF-supporting International President. Between these two trends, the Canadian UAW leadership changed directions. In the 1948 provincial elections
Ontario general election, 1948
The Ontario general election of 1948 was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, the United Auto Workers supported CCF candidates.
Similarly, the International Woodworkers of America
International Woodworkers of America
International Woodworkers of America was an industrial union of lumbermen, sawmill workers, timber transportation workers and others formed in 1937....
(IWA) in British Columbia was also Communist-lead. When, in 1948, CCF supporters gained control of the IWA's New Westminster local, other BC-based (and Communist-led) locals of the IWA withdrew in an attempt to form an independent union. However, this effort failed when the union members did not endorse the change.
Efforts to dislodge Communists from the United Electrical
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America , is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States....
(UE) and the Mine Mill
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
union did not succeed and these unions were expelled from the Canadian Congress of Labour. Hence by 1950, the Canadian Congress of Labour had become a federation of unions which, to a greater of lesser extent, all supported the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
With the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada-Canadian Congress of Labour merger complete in 1956, a further step was taken. Although political discussion was downplayed during the merger talks, in 1958 the Canadian Labour Congress and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation set up a 20 person joint committee to discuss the foundation of a new political party. These talks resulted in the founding of the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
in 1962. the NDP has, in its constitution, an organic relationship with the labour movement. Many local union organizations directly affiliated with the NDP, giving these local union bodies the right to participate in the Party's conventions and councils. NDP constitution also recognizes the CLC's District Labour Councils, organizations of local unions in a single city or town, as delegating bodies to the conventions of the provincial and federal New Democratic Party sections. Hence, by embedding labour organizations in its structure, the NDP went beyond being simply the party for labour and became of the party of labour.
Since the foundation of the NDP, and particularly since the 1980s, the labour movement's relationship within the social democratic left has changed in two specific and important ways. First, unions have increased their involvement with social coalition groups such as organizations advocating for women's economic rights, peace or other causes which have an avowedly non-partisan orientation. Second (and not unrelatedly), the relationship of some unions with the NDP became more tactical and seemed less to be a long-term alliance.
These two trends were apparent in the 1988 federal elections. At the outset of the election campaign, several unions had established partnerships with organizations such as the Council of Canadians in order to attempt to derail the Conservative government's Free Trade Agreement. These social coalition groups and the Liberal Party made opposition to the Free Trade Agreement the focus of their campaign efforts. While the NDP attained their best result in the party's history, some union leaders publicly criticized the NDP leadership immediately after the election for not being sufficiently focused on opposition to the Free Trade Agreement.
Since that election, the tactical nature of the relationship between some unions and the NDP has even further degraded to their point where the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) has, since the late 1990s, supported the Liberal Party federally and in Ontario provincial elections. Nonetheless, other significant unions have remained steadfast in their support and involvement with the NDP as their top political priority, even while maintaining involvement in social coalitions. Given the size of the CAW with the Canadian labour movement, the CAW's support for the Liberals has caused significant problems for the CLC leadership in continuing to follow the Congress' policy of NDP support.
Since 1994, the CLC has been a member of the Halifax Initiative
Halifax Initiative
The Halifax Initiative is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations for public interest work and education on international financial institutions....
, a coalition of Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s for public interest work and education on international financial institutions
International financial institutions
International financial institutions are financial institutions that have been established by more than one country, and hence are subjects of international law. Their owners or shareholders are generally national governments, although other international institutions and other organisations...
.
Presidents
- Claude JodoinClaude JodoinClaude Jodoin was a Canadian trade unionist and politician. He served as the first president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956 to 1966.-Background:...
(1956–1968) - Donald MacDonald (1968–1974)
- Joe MorrisJoe Morris (trade unionist)Joseph Morris, CC, LL.D was a Canadian trade unionist mostly noted as the president of the Canadian Labour Congress in the 1970s.-Early life:...
(1974–1978) - Dennis McDermottDennis McDermottDennis McDermott, O.Ont was a Canadian trade unionist, Canadian Director of the United Auto Workers from 1968 to 1978 and president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1978 to 1986....
(1978–1986) - Shirley CarrShirley CarrShirley G.E. Carr, was a Canadian union leader who was the first woman president of Canada's largest labour organization, the Canadian Labour Congress....
(1986–1992) - Bob White (1992–1999)
- Ken GeorgettiKen GeorgettiKenneth V. Georgetti, CM, OBC is a Canadian labour union leader. He was elected president of the Canadian Labour Congress in May 1999.-Trade Union career:...
(1999–present)