Publications

Employment Insurance for Women

The whole point of Canada’s system of Employment Insurance (EI) is to support workers through periods of temporary lay-off or inability to work, including sickness, maternity, parental, and compassionate leave. It’s an insurance system that pays for itself through contributions from both employers and employees. EI is especially critical for women since we are more likely to be supporting a family on our own.…

Public health care matters

he labour movement first started talking to Canadians about publicly funded, universal health care before most of them could imagine such a thing was possible. Today, it is a part of our country’s identity as are the values at its heart – fairness, equality and solidarity. The idea that access to health care must always be based on need, not…

Closing the Gender Pay Gap

Fair pay means that the work women and men do is equally respected and valued. Unfortunately, this is not the reality for many workers in Canada, where there is still a big gap between what women and men earn. Thanks to the labour movement, this pay gap is already much less for women with unions, but income equality for all working women is the…

March job numbers signal opportunities for targeted investment in upcoming federal budget

Job numbers released by Statistics Canada today signal an important opportunity for the government to invest in expanded public infrastructure and manufacturing, a strategy that would create much needed quality jobs and tackle labour market stagnation. “Today’s numbers point very clearly to what we should be seeing in next month’s federal budget,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff. Since November 2014,…

Did you know senior women are twice as likely to live in poverty as men?

For too many women in Canada, retirement means only financial struggle. Senior women are twice as likely to live in poverty as men. 30% of elderly women on their own live below the poverty line. Women are far more reliant on OAS and GIS than men. In 2011, 30% of senior women's total income was from OAS and GIS, compared to only 18%…

5 ways we are working to improve retirement security

The labour movement has been securing workplace pension plans for Canadians for over 100 years. We’ve also led the efforts to improve public pensions for all Canadians, from winning Old Age Security in 1952 to calling for changes to the current Canada Pension Plan. Here is just some of the work we’re doing to improve retirement security for everyone: We’re…

6 ways we are working to improve health care

The labour movement worked to win a public healthcare system long before Canadians even believed it was possible. We know that staying healthy means we can raise our families, work productively and contribute more to our communities. Here are just some of the ways we’re working to protect and expand public health care: We’re working to reduce wait times and…

Domestic Violence at Work

Canadian employers lose $77.9 million annually due to the direct and indirect impacts of domestic violence, and the costs, to individuals, families and society, go far beyond that. However, we know very little about the scope and impacts of this problem in Canada. The Canadian Labour Congress partnered with researchers at the University of Western Ontario and conducted the first…

Labour Mobility in Canada: Issues and Policy Recommendations

Executive Summary Labour mobility refers to the free movement of workers between provinces, regions, or countries. When labour mobility between two jurisdictions is high, a worker in one can easily cross the border to deliver services in the other. High labour mobility is economically efficient, because workers can move to where they are most needed. However, there are many barriers…

The Wage Earner Protection Act

Submission to the Minister of Labour and Minister of the Status of Women on the Five-Year Review of the Wage Earner Protection Program Act   Introduction The CLC appreciates and welcomes the opportunity to provide input on the five-year review of the Wage Earner Protection Program. The Wage Earner Protection Program Act allows expedited payment of wages and benefits, up to…