The Canadian Conception of Collective Representation and Bargaining

Canadian collective bargaining law has its roots in the 1935 United States’ National Labor Relations Act (hereafter NLRA or Wagner Act), though it has evolved to become a distinct system of collective employee representation and bargaining. ¹ This development has been shaped by contextual influences including the constitutional division of jurisdiction over employment matters, the central role of the state in Canadian industrial relations, the role and powers of labour relations boards and, more recently, the growing relevance to labour relations of freedom of association (FOA) under the Constitution’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (‘Charter’). ² Within this context, and with reference to other collective bargaining systems addressed in this Collection and particularly the Australian system, this Chapter examines two fundamental components of the Canadian version of the Wagner Model: acquisition of exclusive majoritarian collective bargaining rights, and a good faith duty in collective bargaining.