Articles on Unionization

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Air Canada flight attendants and supporters picket outside Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval, Que., in August 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Why Canada needs better data on strikes, unions and other labour issues

Canada does a poor job of gathering labour relations information. In a period of rising inequality and renewed workplace conflict, stakeholders need better data.
Hulk Hogan was arguably WWE’s biggest star in the 1980s. Wally McNamee/Corbis via Getty Images

Hulk Hogan and the unraveling of worker solidarity

Pro wrestling’s failed unionization effort – and Hogan’s alleged role in undermining that campaign – is part of a broader story about the erosion of labor’s power since the 1980s.
Jamaica has the potential to become a regional leader in advancing decent work for domestic workers thanks to unionization efforts. Members of the Jamaica Household Workers’ Union pose for a photo. (Jamaica Household Workers' Union)

How unionization is empowering Jamaican domestic workers to demand decent work

Domestic workers in Jamaica often experience low pay, poor working conditions and informal work arrangements. Here’s how unionization could change their situation.
There is hope that social media can breathe new life into the labour movement. (Shutterstock)

Social media is a double‑edged sword for the public image of Canadian labour unions

While the digital landscape offers opportunities for unions to engage and mobilize supporters, it also presents challenges, including the risk of being marginalized in the vast online world.
The Uber model hinders any possibility of drivers acting collectively and generates significant cognitive dissonance among them. (Shutterstock)

Why Uber drivers aren’t unionizing in Québec

When it comes to dealing with Uber’s difficult working conditions, Uber drivers are on their own.
Staten Island’s Amazon distribution centre union organizer Chris Smalls celebrates with union members after getting the voting results to unionize their warehouse on April 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Why did Amazon workers win the fight to form a union in Staten Island but not in Alberta?

Staten Island’s Amazon union has proven that one of the most powerful anti-union companies in North America can be unionized.
Thousands of teachers from the Peel District School Board hold a one-day strike in Mississauga, Ont., in February 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The advantages of unionization are obvious, so why don’t more workers join unions?

Wanting a union and securing a union are two very different things. That’s because there are enduring obstacles to unionization that make it incredibly difficult for workers to unionize.
Uber drivers of the App Drivers & Couriers Union celebrate as they listen to a British Supreme Court decision that ruled Uber drivers should be classified as workers and not self-employed contractors. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

British Uber driver win is promising, but gig workers still need basic rights

The British Supreme Court ruling in favour of Uber drivers offers some hope that gig workers, many of them immigrants, might finally be given basic rights. But there’s still lots of work to do.
A demonstration of the #Fightfor15 movement, in February 2017, in front of a New York fast-food restaurant. Spencer Platt/AFP

Fact check US: Would a $15 minimum wage really help workers?

Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a campaign promise by Joe Biden. What do we know about the effectiveness and limitations of this measure?
Digital news organizations like Buzzfeed and Vox are among those where journalists are unionizing. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

What’s behind the new push for unionization by journalists

Union drives continue to launch at news organizations in the United States and Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic has not diminished journalists’ resolve to build a safety net — and to protect journalism.
About 150 nursing union members show support for long-term care workers at the Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont., in June 2020. The facility was hit hard by COVID-19 infections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

How women are changing the face of Canada’s union leadership

Unions must continue to try to recruit and sustain a critical mass of women, particularly visible minority and LBGTQ women, into leadership roles in the years to come.

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