Sexual Orientation and the Canadian Labour Movement

The response of the Canadian labour movement to sexual orientation discrimination has been mixed and uneven. The Canadian Labour Congress, along with several provincial federations and a grouping number of unions, have taken a leadership role in promoting equal rights for gays and lesbians, while other labour organizations have done nothing at all. Public sector and Canadian based unions are much more likely to have been active than have American-based unions, even though there are important exceptions to these trends. These developments are partially explained by regional dynamics, membership demographics, degree of activism, the presence of women's committees, and organizational leadership.

Wage and Price Guidelines and Incomes Policies

The two following papers discuss the views of the Economic Council of Canada and were presented at the Ottawa CIRRI Conference June 1967. Russell Bell is from the Economic Council of Canada and John L. Fryer is from the Canadian Labour Congress.

The Canadian Labour Congress and Tripartism

After having addressed the concept of tripartism and the issues of corporatism and incomes policies, the author examines the background to the imposition of controls and the subsequent tripartism debate. Finally, the author focuses on the main stages in the negociations over controls and tripartism, with particular reference to major shifts in CLC policy and strategy.

The Failure of the New Democratic Party: Unions, Unionists, and Politics in Canada

In 1961, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation collaborated with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic party. The CLC urged its affiliates to affiliate with the new party; and assumed that widespread affiliation would lead to a more competitive party. Increased electoral support, however, was not forthcoming. This note argues that levels of union support forthe NDP(measured by rates of affiliation) are very low, and thus the transformation of the CCF into the NDP was, in many respects, a non-event. However, the study also argues that members of NDP-affiliated union locals are more likely to identify with the vote for the NDP than are members of unions not affiliated with the party. Thus, the problem forthe NDP is that too few Canadian unions are explicitly advocating NDP support through affiliation.