A trade union is a representative or member organization of workers that exists to protect and advance the interests of working people. (Source: A Dictionary of Human Resource Management)
The following is not an exhaustive list of unions in Canada. A more comprehensive list can be found here.
Additionally, the Univeristy of Toronto's Industrial Relations & Human Resources Library has compiled a list of Canadian Labour Union Groups.
Collective bargaining is the process through which trade unions and employers negotiate collective agreements that set the rates of pay and terms and conditions of employment of workers. (Source: A Dictionary of Human Resource Management)
The following are a list of just some of the keywords you can use in article databases.
The following is a selection of just some of the books available at York University Libraries on the topics of unions and collective bargaining.
The Canadian Labour Movement by
In The Canadian Labour Movement, historian Craig Heron tells the story of Canada's workers from the mid-nineteenth century through to today, painting a vivid picture of key developments such as the birth of craft unionism, the breakthroughs of the fifties and sixties, and the setbacks of the early twenty-first century. This new edition has been completely updated, including a substantial new chapter that covers the period from 1995 to 2011. In this chapter, Heron describes the rise of globalization and the restructuring of the private sector that began in the nineties and continues today. The results have been catastrophic for Canadian working people as plants closed and union activities were curtailed. As the political right succeeded in dominating public debate during this period, workers suffered ever greater losses: fewer and more precarious jobs, rising unemployment, stagnating wages, and increases in poverty. Only with the crash of 2008 and the Occupy Wall Street movement has space for the political left and labour begun to open up once again. The Canadian Labour Movement is the definitive book for anyone who is interested in understanding the origins, achievements, and challenges of labour and social justice movements in Canada.
Pension Power: Unions, Pension Funds, and Social Investment in Canada
Paths to Union Renewal by
This book focuses on the efforts and progress of union revitalization and organizing, and documents the renewal initiatives undertaken by unions in Canada. Unions, separately or in coalition with other unions or social groups, have begun to re-examine the basis of their organization and activity in the face of a harsher economic and political climate. Signs of union renewal include increased rank-and-file participation in the life of the union, increased democratic decision-making, evidence of new horizontal union structures, the development of a worker-centred societal vision, and a new emphasis on organizing both internally and externally. Paths to Union Renewal addresses a subject of considerable political and social importance about which there have been a number of debates. A key impetus for this re-examination has originated in the United States where decades-long union decline has engendered new ideas adopted by a number of unions and the national central labour body the AFL-CIO. This in turn has led to debates on renewal strategies in Western Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries from Britain to Australia. Despite this, little detailed research of the processes, structures, and implications of union renewal has been undertaken across Canada. Paths to Union Renewal fills this gap by critically examining union renewal in a variety of unions, providing a basis for informed discussion and debate on the role and place of trade unions in contemporary society.