Many workers hit the picket line in 2023. These 5 charts help contextualize a year of strikes
Was 2023 a banner year for job actions? Not when compared to the 1970s
In 2023, employees across Canada walked off the job in numbers not seen in years, often spurred by wage increases falling behind inflation.
Job actions by port workers in British Columbia, school support staff in Nova Scotia, and federal government workers in several locations in between, have led some commentators to dub 2023 the year of the strike.
But how has this year compared to past periods of labour unrest? How have wages changed? These five charts help put 2023 in some historical context.
Comparing labour disruptions to previous years
The amount of disruption — measured using person-days not worked — reached an 18-year high in 2023, with 2.2 million person-days not worked as of Nov. 3, according to data compiled by Statistics Canada.
While that may seem like a lot, the annual figure has generally been declining since the mid-1970s, when it hit 11.5 million. That year, the Canadian Labour Congress called a general strike amid crushing inflation, rising unemployment, and wage controls imposed by Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government.
Sound familiar? Some analysts say it feels a little like 2023 was an economic sequel to 1976. While there was no general strike this year, many federal public servants, some 155,000, hit the picket line in the spring for just under two weeks, making it one of the largest strikes in recent times.
The latest government data doesn't include the recent simultaneous job actions in Quebec that will push this year's strike figures even higher. More than 60,000 educators in Quebec went on an indefinite strike on Nov. 23. At the same time, the province's largest nurses union, representing around 80,000 workers, also went on a two-day strike. On top of that, around 420,000 front-line public sector workers staged a three-day walkout.
Strikes are getting longer
Generally speaking, labour disruptions have become less common — thanks in part to declining union membership. However, the average length of strikes in Canada has increased over the decades, government data suggests, with the highest average length logged in 2017 at 112.5 days. That year, the near-19-month strike at the Chronicle-Herald newspaper in Halifax, which began in 2016, came to a close.
As for this year, many unionized workers have seen their purchasing power decline and they're looking to make up for lost time, said Jesse Hajer, acting coordinator of the labour studies program at the University of Manitoba.
"Labour markets have also been tight, giving workers greater bargaining power, making them more willing to go on strike and to stay on strike longer," Hajer said. "Generally, they have been getting results."
How long are contracts getting?
Contract lengths are down from last year, but they're generally much longer than they were in past decades. However, union membership has steadily declined, meaning these long contracts with increased settlements are actually benefiting fewer workers. In 1977, the average union contract lasted about 20 months; so far this year, the average is up to nearly 36 months.
Generally, longer agreements favour employers, said Julia Smith, assistant professor of labour studies at the University of Manitoba. "They want as few disruptions as possible."
In late 2022, before the huge government-worker strike this year, the head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Mark Hancock, suggested shorter contracts should be a tool unions use to protect workers against high inflation.
Wage hikes rising
Data shows the average annual wage increase among unionized workers has been on an upswing recently, growing from 1.6 per cent in 2020 to 3.7 per cent in 2023. Union workers haven't seen that kind of wage increase since the early 1990s.
That may seem high, Hajer said, but it's not when viewed in the context of the rising cost of living. "In 2023 (and 2022) wage adjustments/increases have been well below the current inflation rate, leading to a fall [in] real wages."
So, are workers getting ahead?
For much of 2020, Canada's wage growth surpassed inflation, one of several economic anomalies analysts link to the pandemic. However, inflation was lurking just around the corner and for the next two years, consumer purchasing power dwindled.
It wasn't until mid-2023 that average inflation-adjusted wages (also known as "real" wages) for all workers were finally higher than they were in January 2020. However, that's largely because of wage growth among non-unionized workers. Unionized workers did see an increase in inflation-adjusted wages this year, but their purchasing power remains below where it was at the beginning of 2020.
In other words, 2023 may have seen some wins for unionized workers, but data suggests they still have significant ground to make up.
