Union-Led Advisory Table

About

Budget 2022 announced the creation of a new Union-Led Advisory Table. It brings together labour leaders to provide advice on Government and Ministerial priorities on ways to help workers in the changing labour market.

The Advisory Table’s mandate ended October 31, 2024.

Mandate

The Advisory Table provided advice on action to be taken to:

• help mid-career workers, particularly those in at-risk sectors and jobs, access and take part in training and help them transition to jobs in-demand
• respond to the needs of workers in jobs and industries facing changes and disruptions
• promote continuous skills development for workers throughout their working lives
• support diversity and inclusion in Canadian workplaces and address barriers for equity-deserving groups to get jobs and advance in their careers
• help workers transition to retirement with dignity

Membership

The advisory table consists of 15 labour leaders, including the Chair, from across Canada. Members were selected based on their knowledge of labour market issues, including a focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as their leadership within their communities and beyond.

Chair: Bea Bruske, President, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)

Members

Mariam Abou-Dib, Executive Director, Teamsters Canada

Rob Ashton, President, International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU-Canada)

Bert Blundon, President, National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)

Patrick Campbell, Canadian Regional Director, International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)

David Chartrand, Canadian General Vice-President, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW)

Roxanne Dubois, Executive Assistant to the National President, Unifor

Meg Gingrich, Assistant to the National Director, United Steel Workers (USW)

Julien Laflamme, Political Advisor to the executive committee, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN)

Angella MacEwen, Senior Economist, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

Travis Merrett, International Representative – Canadian Government Relations, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

Jessica Olivier-Nault, Director- Women’s Rights and Pay Equity, Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)

Linda Silas, President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU)

Sharleen Stewart, President, SEIU Healthcare

Sean Strickland, Executive Director, Canada's Building Trades Unions (CBTU)

Full report

The Union-Led Advisory Table’s report, Unions Power Prosperity includes concrete areas of action to help workers gain the skills they need to navigate changes within their own sector, or to successfully transition to a job and sector that needs them. The issues discussed in this report affect all workers, unionized and non-unionized, and the recommendations apply across all sectors and lines of work.

Summary of recommendations

Mandate Priority 1: Identifying the needs of workers in industries, sectors and occupations facing transitions and disruptions

Recommendations and Areas for Action

• 1.1. Re-establish sectoral partnership tables to identify and address the specific needs of workers in different industry sectors and occupations in a modern, transitioning economy
• 1.2. Implement sector-specific initiatives to support workers in industries in transition, address critical human resource challenges and promote sectoral dialogue
  • 1.2.1. Support energy workers impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy-particularly in the oil and gas industry-by investing in new large-scale infrastructure projects and green technologies
  • 1.2.2. Launch an auto parts supplier transition support program to support sectoral dialogue in the automotive sector
  • 1.2.3. Establish a Forestry Adjustment Board to support sectoral dialogue in the forestry sector
  • 1.2.4. Create a dedicated labour market adjustment program for critical industries in transition, including the automotive industry
  • 1.2.5. Develop a pan-Canadian health human resources strategy to deal with health care staffing shortages and retention and recruitment challenges
  • 1.2.6. Develop a pan-Canadian child care workforce initiative to deal with the child care workforce crisis
  • 1.2.7. Develop a sophisticated, granular national labour market management information system for the skilled trades and construction sector
• 1.3. Develop a comprehensive national skills assessment and inventory for workers in at-risk industries and occupations
• 1.4. Invest in accessible, effective career development services to assist workers in transition
• 1.5. Promote continuous social dialogue, collaboration and coordination
  • 1.5.1. Introduce a representative advisory committee on skills training and labour-force development within the EI Commission comprised of unions, employers and government.

Mandate Priority 2: Improving supports for mid-career workers, particularly those in at-risk sectors and jobs, to access and participate in training and improve capacity to manage transitions

Recommendations and Areas for Action

• 2.1. Enhance and adequately support the proven and effective mid-career transition tools and services already in place
  • 2.1.1. Create a training benefit modelled after the Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP) to support skilled tradespeople and other workers affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy
  • 2.1.2. Introduce multi-year core funding and support for worker-led labour adjustment centres
  • 2.1.3. Promote more flexible scheduling, access to paid leave, and flexible, high-quality child and elder care to improve workers' access to training and employment
  • 2.1.4. Provide support for industry-based, nationally portable standards and certification programs for mid-career workers with high levels of tacit skills and on-the-job learning but lower levels of formal education and few credentials
• 2.2. Adapt federal program policies to support mid-career training opportunities
  • 2.2.1. Mandate that training funds provided by the federal government through transfer arrangements such as the Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) provide measurable outcomes and results, and that training is provided solely by not-for-profit training centres
  • 2.2.2. Restore LMDA funding withheld in Budget 2024
  • 2.2.3. Improve access to Employment Insurance to provide temporary replacement income and employment services for workers in transition

Mandate Priority 3: Improving recruitment, retention, and helping workers approaching retirement leave their jobs with dignity

Recommendations and Areas for Action

• 3.1. Implement flexible practices and labour market programming for the recruitment, retention and transition of mid- and late-career workers
  • 3.1.1. Develop pathways to retirement that include pre-retirement full-time equivalent (FTE) reduction programs, late-career counselling, financial planning and worker-centred phased retirement initiatives
  • 3.1.2. Scale up and expand late-career retention initiatives, like the Late Career Nursing Initiative
  • 3.1.3. Support succession planning and stay interviews in all at-risk occupations
  • 3.1.4. Reinvest in labour-market programming aimed at mid- and late-career workers (for example Targeted Initiative for Older Workers) to prevent and address long-term unemployment
• 3.2. Improve the quality of jobs and workplace well-being, especially for vulnerable workers with poor working conditions
  • 3.2.1. Convene unions, employers and government to develop educational programming, information and materials to combat age discrimination in employment
  • 3.2.2. Develop and implement workplace violence reduction initiatives for public-facing service workers and other at-risk workers
  • 3.2.3. Tailor mental health supports to at-risk workers to help retain mid-career workers in education, health services and other industries
  • 3.2.4. Work with provinces and territories to introduce robust right to disconnect provisions in employment standards statutes

Mandate Priority 4: Promoting continuous skills development throughout Canadians' working lives

Recommendations and Areas for Action

• 4.1. Encourage and enable employers to support worker skills development
  • 4.1.1. Facilitate access to continuing education and lifelong learning
  • 4.1.2. Support the 80/20 professional development model
  • 4.1.3. Implement mentorship programs across the career course
  • 4.1.4. Promote retention via professional development programs
• 4.2. Leverage and support unions' capacity to deliver skills upgrading
  • 4.2.1. Develop a union-led workplace literacy and essential skills strategy in consultation with adult literacy practitioners
  • 4.2.2. Work with unions to restore and expand apprenticeship opportunities and supports
  • 4.2.3. Expand the Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP) to include funding for other projects, including brick-and-mortar projects, which can better equip training centres to meet new labour market challenges and demands

Mandate Priority 5: Addressing barriers facing equity-seeking groups, and supporting diversity and inclusion in skills development and career extension efforts

Recommendations and Areas for Action

• 5.1. Create and support programs that target specific at-risk groups
  • 5.1.1. Support employers and community organizations committed to hiring, training and retaining workers from underrepresented communities
  • 5.1.2. Scale up union pathways and other on-ramps to employment for workers with disabilities, including learning and cognitive challenges
  • 5.1.3. Tailor training opportunities, career development supports and employment services to Indigenous workers and youth, especially in Northern communities
  • 5.1.4. Develop regularization and other measures for undocumented and non-status workers to address workers at particular risk, formalize informal employment, and restrict the underground economy
• 5.2. Leverage public investments to support diversity and inclusion imperatives
  • 5.2.1. Mandate negotiated community benefits agreements for federally funded construction projects to ensure training and apprenticeship opportunities flow to equity-deserving communities
  • 5.2.2. Continue funding and supporting the UTIP to improve the participation of women and equity-deserving groups in the skilled trades, especially women, Indigenous workers, newcomers to Canada, persons with disabilities and racialized workers
• 5.3. Leverage federal convening capacity to streamline adoption of initiatives that support at-risk workers
  • 5.3.1. Coordinate with the provinces and territories to expand the newly formed child care program and ensure the program is flexible enough to allow more women, especially single mothers, to enter and train in historically male-dominated occupations and industries, including the construction sector
  • 5.3.2. Coordinate labour market access policies with the provinces and territories, such as the right to access properly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) initiatives to support women in the trades and workers in other sectors
  • 5.3.3. Strengthen federal-provincial-territorial collaboration to develop plans for key public services that need to be expanded, such as wildland firefighting, and for occupations tasked with protecting our forests, oceans, lakes and waterfront

Contact

Email: NC-SEB-DGCE-ULAT-TCDS-GD@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca