Collective bargaining in federally regulated workplaces: Results from the 2022 Survey of Employees under Federal Jurisdiction

Introduction

This report examines the results of the 2022 Survey of Employees under Federal Jurisdiction (SEFJ) regarding collective bargaining coverage. The survey targeted employees working for employers covered by Part III of the Canada Labour Code except certain miscellaneous activities and First Nation band councils and related activities (for more information, see "Data source, methods and notes to the reader"). In the rest of the document, the target universe of the survey is referred to as the "federal jurisdiction". Tables of statistics from the survey are also available on the Open Government Portal.

Rail transportation has the highest share of unionized employees

Overall, 34% of employees in the federal jurisdiction were covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Rail transportation and postal services and pipelines were the sectors with the highest share of unionized employees, with between 70% and 75% employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Meanwhile, around 60% of employees in maritime transportation were unionized. In air transportation, it was 55%. Banks (0.3%) had the lowest share of unionized employees (Table 1).^{Footnote 1}

• Note: Estimates in this table are partly based on the SEFJ. See footnote 1 for details.

Close to one third of non-unionized employees in air transportation and in courier services and pipelines would be “very likely” or “likely” to vote in favour of forming a union

The SEFJ asked employees who were not covered by a union contract or collective bargaining agreement how likely they would be to vote in favour of forming of a union in their workplace.^{Footnote 2} Across the federal jurisdiction, 20.9% of employees declared that they were “very likely” or “likely” to vote in favour of forming a union, 12.4% asserted that they were “neither likely nor unlikely”, and 46.5% said that they were “unlikely” or “very unlikely”. The 4 sectors with the highest share of employees responding “unlikely” or “very unlikely” were feed, flour, seed and grain (57.8%), banks (48.5%), road transportation (48.3%), and maritime transportation (47.3%). By contrast, air transportation (31.0%) and courier services and pipelines (31.2%) had the highest share of employees responding, “very likely” or “likely” (Table 2).

• Note: Responses are limited to employees who declared that they were not covered by a union contract or collective agreement.

Employees in rail transportation very likely to work for an employer that has a committee in which union representatives and management meet to solve problems

Employees that were unionized and those that didn’t know whether they were unionized were asked about whether their employer had a committee in which union representatives and management met to solve problems.^{Footnote 3} Among these employees, 61.3% indicated that their employer had such a committee, 5.8% said that their employer did not have one, and 32.9% answered “don’t know”. Employees in rail transportation (74.6%), feed, flour, seed and grain (73.9%), air transportation (72.8%), and maritime transportation (70.0%) were the most likely to declare that their employer had such a committee (Figure 1).

• Note: Responses are limited to employees that responded “yes” or “don’t know” to being covered by a union contract or collective agreement or to being a member of a union.

Figure 1: text version

Sector	Yes	No	Don't know
All sectors	61.3%	5.8%	32.9%
Air transportation	72.8%	4.1%	23.0%
Rail transportation	74.6%	10.2%	15.3%
Road transportation	50.2%	8.6%	41.2%
Maritime transportation	70.0%	9.0%	21.0%
Courier services and pipelines	60.2%	6.8%	33.0%
Feed, flour, seed and grain	73.9%	9.8%	16.1%
Telecommunications and broadcasting	63.2%	2.9%	33.9%

Employers in the federal jurisdiction are unlikely to try to stop their employees from participating in union activities or pressure them to spend less time on union activities

Across the federal jurisdiction, 1.9% of employees declared that their employer had tried to stop them from participating in union activities or pressured them to spend less time on union activities.^{Footnote 4} Meanwhile, 85.6% of employees declared that their employer had not engaged in such activity, and 12.5% of employees responded, “don’t know”. Employees in rail transportation (6.6%) and air transportation (4.8%) were the most likely to assert that their employer had engaged in such activity (Figure 2).

Figure 2: text version

Sector	Yes	No	Don't know
All sectors	1.9%	85.6%	12.5%
Air transportation	4.8%	82.1%	13.1%
Rail transportation	6.6%	86.9%	6.4%
Road transportation	1.5%	88.9%	9.6%
Maritime transportation	2.9%	89.7%	7.5%
Courier services and pipelines	2.3%	83.2%	14.5%
Banks	0.2%	83.6%	16.2%
Feed, flour, seed and grain	1.8%	89.0%	9.3%
Telecommunications and broadcasting	1.6%	88.8%	9.6%

Data source, methods, and notes to the reader