Role of Trade Unions in Canada: A Case Study of British Columbia Teachers' Federation

This paper discusses the role of trade unions in Canada with a case study of British Columbia Teachers' Federation. It covers the theories of industrial relations, functions, and future plans of the organization.

Running head: LABOR RELATIONS
Labor Relations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LABOR RELATIONS
This paper aims to discuss the role of the trade unions in Canada. The chosen union for
this paper is the British Columbia Teachers' Federation. The purpose of the unions is very much
important in terms of providing the facilities to the employees. This union had been founded in
the year 1917 (Bctf.ca, 2019). There are some main theories related to industrial relations that
would be discussed in this paper. These are the unitarist theory, pluralist theory and Marxist
theory.
The primary purpose of forming unions was to protect the rights of employees from
hungry-profit organizations. The facts like collective bargaining had been introduced to
industrial relations for the sake of employees. There are some purposes of constructing the labor
unions or the trade unions. The aim of founding this union was to establish a stage for all the
public school teachers who worked under the province of British Columbia. This federation had
been established as an organization in the year 1917. This union or BCTF has around 41000
public teachers within its governance. The President of this union is Glenn Hansman (Bctf.ca,
2019). The location of office of this federation is in Vancouver in British Columbia. There are
generally two ways of electing the members of this community. The first one is the elect the
delegates through the local teachers by the medium of the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
(Bctf.ca, 2019). The AGM is responsible for making significant decisions in different matters.
The second one is to elect the members through the locals who form the Representative
Assembly (RA). The constitution and bylaws of the committee decide the ways on how the
federation should be run.
There are certainly some functions and future plans for the organization. The contract
negotiations are a part of the activities of the trade union. The union is always keen to leave its
mark in organizing the campaigns for the antiracism and anti-poverty. The province of British

2LABOR RELATIONS
Columbia has thousands of indigenous people (Bctf.ca, 2019). This is why they have to take the
positive measures the implications of poverty and racism within the province. The professional
of this union always looks after the social justice issues properly. They are also vocal about
LGBT rights in the country as well (Richardson, 2013). They will look to improve the condition
of the social development of the several communities within British Columbia. The child and
youth issues should also be the focus of their activities in the future. The relationship between
the employees and employers is quite supportive in this union. The British Columbia Teachers’
Federation has their intention in providing the employees with equal opportunities for promotion
and health securities (Richardson, 2013). This enhancement of the relationship between the
employees and employers will be helpful to set up a peaceful working environment. Radical
theory is an essential industrial relation theory that focuses on the power of employees to protect
themselves from big businesses. According to this theory, organizations hungry for profits do not
respect the needs of employees, and this is why this theory has to be applied for the sake of
saving employees.
The theories of industrial relations will be critical in the context of measuring the
activities of the labor unions. There are some important theories related to industrial relations.
One of them had been invented by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in the History of Trade Unionism.
The Dunlop's system is also crucial since the working environment within the office would be
very much important for the understanding of the labor relations. Another theory is the theory of
the pluralists (Knights & Willmott, 2016). The pluralist theory believes in the interference of the
trade unions between the management and the employees for the collective bargaining and the
contract negotiations. The set of ideas and beliefs of the people should be the main issue for the
betterment of the situation. The coordination between the management and the employees will be

3LABOR RELATIONS
a fundamental issue where BCTF has worked very proactively. The BCTF has been constant in
its attempt to provide the employees with a better working environment and all sorts of facilities
that they deserve (Bctf.ca, 2019). The communication and persuasion are also done correctly
among the professionals of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation. The federation continues
its attempts to arrange the workshops where all the discussions would be held on providing the
needed benefits for the employees. They are also very keen to develop the status of their woman
employees amidst the several social issues within the province. The teaching of Aboriginal
culture within the syllabus is also encouraged by the union (Harrod & O'Brien, 2012). Pluralist
theory has always focused on collective bargaining between unions and organization
representatives.
The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation is very a very well organized organization
that always aims to be aligned with the several theories of the industrial relations (Dalton, 2017).
However, they have not been that much active in eradicating the economic difference between
all sorts of people within the society and province of British Columbia. This is why they should
shift their focus on this factor so they can do some beneficial things for these people. The
programs and initiatives by the BCTF have been much commendable for the improvement of
society.

4LABOR RELATIONS
References
Bctf.ca. (2019). BC Teachers' Federation. Retrieved from https://www.bctf.ca/
Dalton, M. (2017). Men who manage: Fusions of feeling and theory in administration.
Routledge.
Harrod, J., & O'Brien, R. (Eds.). (2012). Global unions?: theory and strategies of organized
labour in the global political economy. Routledge.
Knights, D., & Willmott, H. (Eds.). (2016). Labour process theory. Springer.
Poole, M. (2013). Industrial relations: origins and patterns of national diversity. Routledge.
Richardson, J. (2013). An Introduction to the study of Industrial Relations (Vol. 5). Routledge.