Community Unionism: Organising for Fair Employment in Canada

Abstract

More Canadian workers are in and out of work or in insecure jobs, prompting the (re)emergence of community unionism. We understand community unionism as a form of mobilization that occupies the centre range along a continuum of community organizing and trade union organizing. After contrasting the currently dominant model industrial unionism to the process-oriented community development mode of organizing, we illustrate the power of drawing on elements of both trade union and community organizing with a case study of Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment (TOFFE). Community unionism, like efforts of union renewal, can help build a stronger labour movement.