In February 2021, the Confederation of Canadian Unions held a special online Labour School. Dr. Stephanie Ross from the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University spoke about some of the key challenges labour unions face today.

Ross said that these challenges cannot be met with the traditional model of unionism. Labour needs to adopt social unionism as their identity and strategic orientation, and must be infused in all the union’s work – including collective bargaining and workplace representation – in order to involve members in a meaningful manner.

Ross discussed visions, strategies and how membership engagement and empowerment can help overcome many of the struggles unions face today in Canada and throughout the western world. Ross was happy to answer related questions from CCU members after her presentation.