Christian Labour Association of Canada

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**CLAC**

Christian Labour Association of Canada
Founded	1952
Members	40,000
Country	Canada
Affiliation	ITUC
Key people	Neil Roos, executive director
Office location	Mississauga, Ontario
Website	www.clac.ca

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The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) was established in 1952 and is an independent, multi-sector, multi-craft trade union union representing Canadian workers on the basis of Christian social principles. CLAC stresses a view of work that develops workers’ sense of responsibility, participation, stewardship, and dignity. The union promotes the concept of partnership for improving employee-employer relations and seeks to make labour-management committees part of most collective agreements. The union presents itself as a viable alternative for workers who object to undemocratic, adversarial, and monopolistic trade union practises.

1 Practices and policies
2 Criticism
3 Local unions
4 External links

[edit] Practices and policies

The union negotiates wages and benefits for its members but believes non-economic considerations are also important. CLAC submits that strong worker advocacy and the long-term economic viability of the enterprise are features of a healthy work community.

CLAC believes in an individual’s right to freedom of association. Consequently, it practises open shop unionism and supports a worker’s right to freely choose to belong. In its representation work, the union works toward a balance between individual and collective interests.

CLAC represents over 40,000 workers covered by more than 500 collective agreements across Canada. The union’s membership, concentrated in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario, works in many sectors of the economy—construction, social services, health care, emergency services, transportation, retail, education, hospitality, and manufacturing.

A medium-size trade union, CLAC is the 27th largest of more than 1,000 unions registered with Labour Canada. CLAC represents workers in various sectors, including emergency services and longterm health care in Ontario, retail and construction in Alberta, and health care/social services and construction in British Columbia.

CLAC operates funds that provide its members with a variety of benefits, such as health and disability insurance, pension and retirement plans, apprenticeship subsidies, training grants, layoff assistance, and a strike fund.

The union operates training centres in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, funded through negotiated education and training funds.

CLAC has over 130 full-time staff members working at 11 regional offices, two benefit administration offices, and regional training centres. The union’s low member-to-representative ratio provides excellent, professional representation and results in a high level of service to members.

The Guide, CLAC’s official magazine, is published six times per year as an information service to members.

CLAC is an independent Canadian union affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the world's largest trade union federation with 166 million members. CLAC is not affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

[edit] Criticism

CLC affiliated unions have often opposed CLAC on issues such as employment and pay equity legislation to end workplace discrimination against women, which the CLC unions support but which CLAC has said would "undermine the foundations of such institutions as marriage and the family." CLC unions have also argued that CLAC has been given voluntary recognition by employers because of their willingness to undercut industry-standard wages and working conditions CLC unions have worked to improve.^[1]

In 2006, opponents of CLAC, including the Industrial Workers of the World, staged rallies against CLAC in Alberta, accusing it of being a yellow dog union and claiming that the CLAC operates to placate workers and provide employers with a docile workforce and that the CLAC becomes the bargaining agent through voluntary recognition by the employer rather than by being chosen by workers. ^[2]