Up Against the Wall: The Political Economy of the New Attack on the Canadian Labour Movement

Abstract

The Canadian labour movement faces an existential crisis. State and businesshostility to unions is not new, but the attack hasrecently intensified asconservative political forces and major employer groups have embraced theagenda of the US Republican right. Mirroring anti-union US labour law wouldlead to the precipitous decline of union density inCanada, which is alreadyeroding due to the manufacturing crisis and the long-standing failure of unionsto organize in private services. The new attack ismore a product of labourmovement weakness than strength, and will be most effectively resisted byincreasing union density and bargaining power in the private sector.