Jan 4, 2024

Labour leaders say they plan to keep the pressure up in 2024 with potentially “tough” contract negotiations on the horizon in industries such as transportation, health-care and the public sector.

High-profile strikes and labour talks made headlines throughout 2023. Thousands of autoworkers negotiated major wage gains with Detroit’s Big Three carmakers, and strikes at B.C. ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway brought ships to a halt as workers demanded higher wages and better job protections.

Labour relations expert John Peters said high-profile labour negotiations and strikes usually come in “big waves,” as union wins spur similar demands from others.

“Unions are all watching what each other are doing and they're seeing their successes,” Peters, an associate professor in business administration at Memorial University, told BNNBloomberg.ca in an interview.

He expects 2023’s labour trends to continue next year. 

“We have seen bigger wins, both in terms of wages and better working conditions,” he said. “I think that provides context for unions taking and using strikes more frequently than they have in the past and getting more courage to do so.”

Lana Payne, president of Unifor, echoed Peters’ comments, calling 2023 a “renaissance” year for workers “understanding their power” and leveraging it for themselves and their families.

“These moments don't come around all the time,” Payne told BNNBloomberg.ca in a telephone interview.

“For us, it was making sure that we were ready to be able to do the best that we could and get the strongest agreements that we could in this moment in time, in this window.”

Payne, who heads Canada’s largest private-sector union, said she sees the labour movement’s momentum carrying through the next calendar year.

“I don't believe the window is closed yet.”

Here is a look at some of the major labour negotiations set to take place in 2024:

RAIL WORKERS

Workers at CN Rail and Via Rail have contract negotiations on the books.

“Transportation will be a big sector for us next year, in both road and rail,” Lana Payne, Unifor’s national president, told BNNBloomberg.ca in an interview this month. 

More than 5,000 CN Rail workers will head to the bargaining table next year. More than 6,000 CN yard and track maintenance workers represented by the Teamster Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) are already bargaining.

Those workers yet to enter into new contract talks are represented by Unifor, and will negotiate with the railway ahead of their contract’s expiry date on Dec. 31, 2024.

Unifor will also be bargaining with Via Rail in 2024, with some 2,400 workers’ contracts set to expire at the end of the year.

HEALTH-CARE AND EDUCATION

Around 40,000 health-care workers in Ontario represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will head to the bargaining table in 2024.

There are also signs of labour tension among public workers in New Brunswick, where the provincial government recently voted to transfer five public sector pension plans to a shared-risk system.

The change impacts school bus drivers, school administrative staff, nursing home workers, custodians and maintenance workers, and it has drawn fervent opposition from CUPE.

After the government’s vote on the policy, the union’s New Brunswick president, Stephen Drost, said “today wasn’t the end, it’s just the beginning."

“I can’t tell you exactly what’s in store, but I can tell you they’re not going to take this lying down. Stay tuned,” Drost said.

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, PILOTS, PORT WORKERS

CUPE’s current agreement with Air Canada flight attendants expires in 2025, but bargaining is set to take place in 2024. The agreement covers approximately 10,000 workers.

Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske said the negotiations will likely be challenging.

“Flight attendants, not just at Air Canada but across the board, they're not paid for boarding or passengers on and off or the safety check time, they're only actually paid when that plane pulls away from the gate,” she told BNNBloomberg.ca in an interview.

“That's going to be a huge challenge to address that particular issue, and that's going to be a really big component that could potentially shut down air travel for a period of time.”

Air Canada pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), are also in the midst of negotiations with the airline, which have been ongoing since June.

Their decade-long collective agreement expired in September.

First Officer Charlene Hudy, ALPA’s Air Canada master executive council chair, called the expired contract “outdated.”

“The Air Canada pilots are seeking a world-class collective agreement that reflects today’s world, addressing career progression, job security, aviation safety and closing the growing wage gap between the U.S. and Canada,” Hudy said in an emailed note.

Hudy said the union’s primary goal is to reach an agreement at the bargaining table, adding that flight disruptions are never an ideal outcome for passengers or pilots.

“If talks break down, we will follow the requirements as set out by the Canada Labour Code, which will determine any timelines for labour action,” she said.

More labour action from port workers could be on the horizon in 2024 as well, as contract talks with longshore workers at the Port of Montreal stalled in December.

“CUPE will be very much engaged with that, and I think that's likely going to be a tough round of bargaining,” Bruske said.