We can certainly see that, in many instances, larger workplaces that used to be unionized are not as large as they used to be, for one instance, and they're not as concentrated as they used to be. When you have a plant with 400 to 600 people working in one area, organizing one plant with a concentrated mass of employees is relatively simple, compared to the kind of unionization we have now, where we're trying to organize at different places at the same time, where workers are spread out and where there is not necessarily the same commonality of interest in terms of geographic location. That is one particular challenge.
I spoke earlier today, as well, about the different labour legislation and how that impacts unionization rates. Trying to organize a multi-tiered process to getting recognition and having bargaining rights is much more complicated than it has been in the past. That is egregious, and that's something that we work on with our provincial and territorial partners.
The decision to make application to a union is not an easy decision. It's a kitchen table conversation that you have with your family, because there is a lot that goes into that kind of decision. If my employer finds out that I'm trying to get unionized, am I going to lose my job before I can actually have union protection? Those are very real concerns that workers have.
Lastly, I would say that there is a changing demographic. Workers aren't staying at their places of employment for very long. It's very common to have workers working two or three different jobs at one time. The commitment to staying with one employer isn't as great because they don't see a future with that particular employer, in terms of actually building up into a middle-class job.
