In Canada, a Window of Opportunity for Orgs
You can see it in the streets and smell it in the air: signs of economic recovery are beginning to emerge in Canada. But according to the latest estimates from the Conference Board of Canada, it will take up to five years for the economy to return to full capacity. For workforce planners with an agenda for change, now is the time to strike.
According to the Conference Board’s Industrial Relations Outlook 2010, “Employers now have a window of opportunity to develop effective workforce strategies before the recovery pushes us back to full employment and the challenges of a tight labour market.”
The report suggests that employers use this time to train and re-skill the workforce and more effectively integrate immigrant and Aboriginal communities.
As for the near term, the Conference Board predicts that the public sector will dominate collective bargaining in 2010, with negotiations involving 750,000 public sector workers. Faced with national deficits, federal workers will feel the need to concede gains. Municipal workers, however, may push for contract improvements.
Factoid: Union density rate in Canada is 29 percent — 71.3 percent in the public sector and 16.1 percent in the private sector
In the private sector, the Conference Board says, employers will continue to focus on controlling costs. The strength of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar means dampened exports of manufactured goods.
According to the Conference Board, there are two big issues that employers face: one, a continued structural labour deficit; and two, a private pension fund system that requires fundamental change, particularly regarding employer finding.
For their part, unions will continue to be focused on protecting their existing rights and benefits and protecting jobs of existing members.
Given the uncertainty in the private sector and the fiscal deficits in the public sector, the Conference Board says, “universal labour peace is unlikely in the coming year.”
InfoBox: Current Negotiation Issues (Canada)
Management Issues:
- Wages
- Productivity
- Health, pension, and benefits
- Organizational change
- Business competetiveness
Union Issues:
- Wages
- Employment security
- Health, pensions, and benefits
- Employment/pay equity
- Outsourcing/contracting out
(Source: The Conference Board of Canada union-management survey)
Industrial Relations Outlook 2010: A recovery offering little relief, by David K. Shepherdson; Conference Board of Canada
photo credit: Aaron Magner






