Labor Unions in Canada and the U.s

This research examines the status of labor unions in Canada and the United States. The purpose of this examination to assess the extent to which unionism in the two countries is either converging or diverging.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the early-1990s, and the probability is strong that NAFTA will become effective on the first day of 1994. In the late-1980s, Canada and the United States negotiated the Free Trade Agreement that became effective on the first day of 1989. NAFTA will bring about greater interaction between the economies of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, as the earlier FTA brought about a greater interaction between the economies of Canada and the United States. For these reasons alone, the comparable status of unionism in Canada and the United States is an issue of significance. There are also, however, other reasons that cause this issue to be important.

Canada is one of the world’s industrial market economies. Further, among the industrial market economies, Canada is one of the Group of Seven major economic powers. Economic activity between Canada and the United States, thus, has global implications.

Through the 1950s, the Commonwealth played a major economic role for Canada, although the United States has always been Canada’s largest trading partner.