Study: The union movement in transition

Canada's labour movement has undergone dramatic shifts during the past several decades, the result of changes in the nation's workforce demographics, labour laws and economic structure, according to a new report.

These shifts include the increasing feminization of the movement, the growing prominence of unions in the public service and services sectors, and the declining influence of international unions.

Union ranks rose from 2.8 million in 1977 to just over 4 million in 2003. However, this 43% growth did not keep pace with increases in employment, resulting in a unionization rate that has slowly declined.

After rising from 32.6% in 1977 to 34.2% in 1987, the rate fluctuated between 30% and 31% over most of the past decade.

The biggest and most profound transformation in membership occurred in the mix of men and women. In 1977, women represented just 12% of total membership. By 2003, their share had quadrupled to 48%.

In 1977, some 10% of female workers were union members. By 2003, this had tripled to 30%. In contrast, the rate among men fell from 47% to 31%.

This growth was the result of several factors: The growing proportion of women in the paid workforce; their increased presence in the heavily unionized public sector; their movement into traditionally male-dominated and often heavily unionized industries or occupations; the rising unionization among part-time and non-permanent workers (many of whom are women); and the expansion of union activity into traditionally female-dominated and hitherto non- or less-unionized workplaces, especially in the service sector.

The rate of unionization in the public sector remained stable at just over 70% during the last three decades, but the rate for the private sector fell from 26% to 18%. The stability in the public sector prevented the overall rate of unionization from falling below 30%.

The declining share of membership in the goods sector and an increase in the service sector also contributed to the transformation of the union movement. This can be attributed primarily to a shift in the economic structure, resulting in declines in employment in some of the once heavily unionized, male-dominated, goods-producing industries, especially manufacturing, in favour of the service industries.

As a result, the gap in the rate of unionization between the goods sector and the service sector——about nine percentage points in 1987—had almost disappeared by 2003.

Another profound change over the past several decades has been the waning influence of international unions headquartered outside Canada. In 1962, they accounted for about two-thirds of union membership in Canada; by 2003, this proportion had fallen to a little over one-quarter.

More recently, the 1997 revision of the Labour Force Survey expanded the scope of union data. Between 1997 and 2003, the largest inroads occurred among women, youth and public administration workers, as well as those in the strongly growing childcare and home support field.

The largest losses were in manufacturing and among technical health workers—mostly health, medical, dental, and veterinary technologists and therapists.

Unions have made little headway in the fast growing information-technology industries or occupations. Rather, the movement has managed to maintain its overall presence by offsetting losses in the goods sector with successes among employees in small workplaces and among part-time and non-permanent employees. These last two groups have large concentrations of youth and women.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 2502, 3701 and 3830.

The article "The union movement in transition" appears in the August 2004 online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income, Vol. 5, no. 8 (75-001-XIE, $6/$52) which is now available.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Ernest B. Akyeampong (613-951-4624; ernest.akyeampong@statcan.gc.ca), Labour and Household Surveys Analysis Division.