Union Membership in Canada—2009
(Revised January 15, 2010)

Strategic Policy, Analysis, and Workplace Information Directorate 
Labour Program, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Each year, Workplace Information Division conducts an update of international, national, and other labour organizations as well as independent unions consisting of a bargaining unit with 50 or more members in Canada.

The unions and labour organizations’ contact information, affiliation, membership size, and number of union locals are made available in a searchable database, the Directory of Labour Organizations in Canada. The data on membership size and union affiliations is also tabulated to provide a portrait of labour organizations in Canada, as presented below.

Printable version in PDF (106KB) 

2009 Results

The information obtained indicates that at the beginning of 2009, 4,605,193 workers were union members. Consequently, the unionization rate or union density (union membership as a percentage of non-agricultural paid employment) is 29.9% for 2009. In comparison, Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey`s unionization rate of paid employees is estimated at 31.6% for the first 6 months of 2009.

Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, is a sample survey based on self-reports that can be analysed by sex, age, and other characteristics. For more information see Perspectives on Labour and Income—Unionization.

The results of the survey show that national unions represent 67.0% of membership; whereas international unions (those headquartered outside of Canada) represent 27.6%. For their part, independent local organizations represent 3.8% of total union membership.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has the largest membership affiliation at 70.0%. This represents a slight decline from last year’s share of 70.7%, while its total membership affiliation decreased from the previous year by 0.75%. This represents a total decrease of 24,539 members. Furthermore the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) represents 6.5%, Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) 2.4%, Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD) 1.5%, and the Confederation of Canadian Unions 0.2% of the total membership affiliation.

Nine unions, representing 4.3% of the overall number of national and international unions, have a membership over 100,000 and represent 50.5% of the union membership. On the other hand, 150 unions, representing 71.4% of national and international unions have less than 10,000 members and represent 8.1% of the union membership.

Table 1: Union Membership in Canada, 1999–2009

Table 2: Unions with Largest Membership—2009

Table 3: Union Membership by Congress Affiliation—2009

Table 4: Composition of Unions—2009

Table 5: National and International Unions by Size—2009

Table 6: Union Membership by Type of Union and Affiliation—2009

Table 7: Canadian Labour Congress Membership by Affiliation—2009

Legislative and Regulatory Changes Affecting Unions and Union Membership

CUPE v. New Brunswick – June 17, 2009: This recent decision by the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick struck down the statutory exclusion of “casuals” from the definition of “employee” under the Public Service Labour Relations Act. This provision, among other things, excluded “casuals” from union membership and the collective bargaining regime more broadly. Citing the Supreme Court decision in Dunmore v. Ontario, Justice Paulette Garnett ruled that “casuals” constituted “a vulnerable group as were the agricultural workers in Dunmore,” and gave the province one year to amend the Act accordingly. In a press release, CUPE estimated that the union will gain nearly 6,000 members as a result of this decision. The province of New Brunswick announced that it will not appeal the ruling.

Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (Attorney General) – April 6, 2009: The Ontario Superior Court ruled that a section of the RCMP Act which prohibits members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from forming a union violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Ian MacDonnell’s ruling explicitly identified the RCMP’s internal Staff Relations Representative Program, a consultative mechanism that represented the interests of RCMP officers to senior management, as an “entity created by management to avoid unionization,” and gave the federal government 18 months to amend the RCMP Act so as to bring it into compliance with his ruling. As of November 17, 2009, the government has yet to announce if it will appeal this ruling.

Quebec – Act respecting the representation of certain home childcare providers and the negotiation process for their group agreements, and amending various legislative provisions: In response to an October 2008 decision of the Quebec Superior Court which struck down the statutory exclusion of providers of government-funded childcare in their homes from the collective bargaining rights of the Labour Code, Quebec’s legislature passed the Act respecting the representation of certain home childcare providers to bring provincial legislation into compliance with the court’s ruling. The Act extends collective bargaining rights to childcare providers and outlines a labour relations framework for this occupational group. It received Royal Assent on June 19, 2009.

Affiliation and Structure Changes to National and International Unions 

Through a merger, Canadian Marine Officers’ Union brought their 925 members to the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union as local 9538.

New Unions

• Association des chauffeurs de Transport Couture et Fils Ltée (February 2009)

The Directory of Labour Organizations in Canada, a searchable database, provides information such as the affiliation, membership, telephone and fax numbers as well as
e-mail and Web site addresses of the various organizations. For more information, visit the Directory of Labour Organizations in Canada.

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