Having been challenged for twenty years now, unions are losing their attractiveness and pull. Unionization campaigns are more puzzling than ever. Rather than a workers’ lack of interest, this decline reflects the current conditions of a difficult and unequal labour market.
A kingdom of unions in North America, Quebec has one of the highest unionization rates in OECD countries, with 1 268 8000 unionized employees in 2013, representing 36.3% of the active workforce. This figure has been stable since the late 1990s. In terms of employees covered by a first collective agreement, however, the decline stood at 35% between 2001 and 2013, dropping from 13 300 workers to 8 500. This paradox shines light on the difficulty of organizing a campaign in Quebec in 2015.
“It is not the employees who are not interested in banding together, rather, it is the working conditions that make it exceedingly difficult to achieve anything,” says Paul-Andre Lapointe, professor in the Department of Industrial Relations at Laval University.
The evils of unionism
Fierce opposition to unionization is more important today than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The Walmart in Jonquière and Journal de Montreal sagas, coupled with McDonald’s and Couche-Tard closures during the unionization process, discourage Quebec employees from organizing a union.
The de-standardization of work also makes it harder to unionize, meaning that part-time and contract workers are less interested in grouping together, as its benefits don’t necessarily reach them. Also, self-employed workers, who now constitute 15% of the workforce, cannot unionize.
The high turnover rate in the service sector also weakens unions, especially in the private service sector, where only few organizations are unionized. “A worker will change jobs every 3 years, which allows the employer to easily get rid of the collective agreement once it has expired,” states Lapointe.
The unions’ bargaining power has also considerably weakened, as is evidenced by stagnant wages in the public sector since the late 1990s. This coincides with the beginning of achieving Goal Zero, which drives governments to reduce their spending and, therefore, their payroll. “However, the fact that unions oppose current austerity policies demonstrates their desire to recover,” says the professor.
The future hangs in the balance
According to Lapointe, the future of trade unions depends on their ability to spread to other sectors. The construction industry already has 60% of its members unionized and the public sector has reached 82%. Priorities: the new economy, which includes information and communications technology as well as the scientific research and care sector (elderly, sick, early childhood). Few to be unionized, banding these two booming sectors could help Quebec in not becoming its American neighbor, where unions are far and few in between.
“We must innovate the field for managers to better accept the idea of unionization. Stronger unions equal a more egalitarian society, a more skilled workforce, better quality of services and, all-in-all, more productive companies,” says Lapointe. So much more productive that even employers could benefit from it.