Thank you so much.
Greetings and good morning, Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Bea Bruske, and I am the president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
The CLC is the country's largest central labour body, bringing together more than 50 national and international unions. We represent more than three million working people in Canada.
The CLC will be providing a detailed written submission in the days ahead, but for the moment, here are my comments.
I've been a trade unionist my entire adult life, and I know from direct experience that unionized workers enjoy more rights, higher wages and better benefits, but the goal of unions is the advancement of all workers through a strong labour movement and through high union density. By forming unions and bargaining collectively, unions reduce the power imbalance in the workplace and in the broader economy. On their own, most workers are at a huge power disadvantage with their employer, but when they join together, workers can build solidarity and collective power, and that's the basis from which to negotiate with powerful corporations and employers.
By organizing, unions promote inclusion, equality and security, which reduces division, resentment and political instability. Unions are crucial for advancing rights for women, workers of colour, people living with disabilities, gig workers, migrant workers and other historically disadvantaged workers who have been excluded from accessing these rights. Workers gain effective access to important legal rights through their union and their collective agreement. That includes protection against discrimination in employment, promotion and layoff, and the right to grieve management's arbitrary decisions.
Make no mistake: Formal, statutory rights for workers for things like employment standards laws are vitally important, but too often they are weak, inaccessible and slow to adapt to changing work environments.
Without unions, employers are free to pocket 100% of the gains from productivity or to distribute them solely to shareholders. Unions demand that employers share a portion of productivity gains with workers, and they insist that firms redistribute portions of economic rents. Unions also compress wages within firms, bringing up wages at the bottom faster than compensation for top earners, thereby reducing inequality.
Unions also make work sites safer. A study from the Institute for Work and Health shows that unionized companies in Ontario's construction sector have significantly lower injury rates.
Unions help close wage and employment security gaps for the most precarious workers. For example, one in five early career workers is in a temporary position, but among these young temporary workers, those in the union earn 31% more per hour than their non-unionized counterparts.
Racialized workers face more challenges in the labour market. However, researchers with the Canadian Centre for Future Work found that the incomes of racialized workers in the union are more than $3,200 higher per year.
Regardless of whether they're employed in the private sector or the public sector, unionized workers are much more likely to have disability insurance, extended health coverage, maternity and parental leave top-ups and other benefits. Statistics Canada recently found that four in five unionized workers have access to a workplace pension, while just 36% of non-unionized workers do.
Unions lift wages and conditions for unionized employees, but also for non-unionized workers, and they do so through the “union threat” effect. Non-union employers commonly match the terms and conditions negotiated in unionized plants in a bid to fend off organizing drives and to stay non-union. Non-union employers match unionized employers to reduce recruitment and retention pressures that come from inferior wages and conditions.
Unions also work to generalize gains won through collective bargaining to the broader workforce. Paid sick leave and paid leave time for victims of domestic violence are very good recent examples. Before being enshrined in legislation, these protections were already negotiated in many collective agreements. Unions demand paid sick leave, paid domestic violence leave and affordable, high-quality child care for all workers in every province and territory, and we are still fighting that fight.
We know that unions don't benefit just members. The wages and benefits that unions negotiate strengthen local economies and fund high-quality public services. Unions are the leading providers of skills training and vocational education in Canada as well.
Internationally, countries with strong labour movements have greater wage equality and stronger social programs and public services. In Canada, more workers than ever want to access unions. We need all governments to remove barriers standing in the way of workers who want to access being part of a union. After all, the freedom to form unions and engage in collective bargaining is a charter right in Canada and is protected under international law.
Thank you so much. I look forward to your questions.