From 400 to 10,000: New millennium, new family, new organizing (Part two)

A two-part series charting the growth of the union.

Against the backdrop of a restructured energy sector, the 21st century marked a major turning point for the Society.

For most of its existence, the Society’s efforts were focused on winning voluntary recognition agreements in an unequal bargaining climate due to the absence of legal union status. But in the new millennium, that was no longer the case for its engineer base.

In the 2000s, the Society experienced new stability, new relationships, and new opportunities to grow into unchartered territory. And the Society was growing accustomed to negotiating with several employers.

THE SOCIETY UNIONIZES TORONTO HYDRO EMPLOYEES

For the first time, the Society started to organize workers that fell outside the Ontario Hydro banner. On July 11, 2000, the Society welcomed approximately 70 Toronto Hydro professional engineers to its ranks.



“The Society wasn’t focused on external organizing and growth at that time,” said Anna Liu, a staff organizer with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) who has worked on Society organizing campaigns since 2005.

Despite that, the Toronto Hydro workers had reached out to the Society, and the Society chose to unionize them. They were a natural fit.

They were the first of two Toronto Hydro groups to join the Society. Years later, in 2017, the IT professionals voted to join. Delay tactics from Toronto Hydro drew out the unionization process until 2018, when the OLRB recognized the certification of 81 new members.

“The Toronto Hydro engineers had great leadership, and they were always open to expanding their unit,” explained Liu. She said that under the leadership of Henry Quach, meetings were organized between the Society and the engineers’ non-unionized colleagues. The drive is a great example of Society members working proactively to bring more workers into the tent of unionized labour.

2018 - The first membership meeting of Toronto Hydro IT professionals

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ORGANIZING APPROACH 

In the early 2000s, the bargaining climate was becoming more hostile, particularly at the Society’s Hydro One Local. The Society made a strategic and moral choice to form connections within the broader labour movement. It built its strength through relationship building.

In 2003, the Society affiliated with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a North American trade union representing employees in professional, technical and administrative fields of work. The Society formed IFPTE Local 160, and today, it’s one of IFPTE’s largest locals.

In 2004, the Society launched a joint organizing program with the IFPTE, and two organizers from the IFPTE were welcomed into the Society office. It was the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship that continues to this day.

With experienced organizers in its arsenal, the Society began to proactively pursue growth opportunities. “IFPTE really supports organizing and believes that there is tremendous potential and tremendous opportunity for growth in Canada,” said Liu. Investing in organizing brings more people into the unionized workforce, raising the standard of living for more Canadians.

A key feature of the Society’s external organizing approach – like many labour unions – is to identify organizing targets. Liu outlined a few guiding principles that the Society and IFPTE use to identify organizing leads. She said they look for employees who are motivated be involved in the organizing process. “We can’t organize the workplace from the outside in. It has to be organic, and the interest has to come from the employees themselves.” A committee of workers guides the organizing effort and performs outreach to colleagues in the workplace.

Secondly, the Society does what Liu calls a “mirror test,” looking at the occupations and industry of the prospective target. “Does the workplace and workers mirror the type of employees and workplaces the Society already represents? Is there a community of interest there?” explained Liu.

“The employees did notice that there was quite a difference between being a union member and working in a non-unionized workplace."

Following the launch of the Society-IFPTE organizing program, the first major group to join the Society were the employees of the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) – the province’s independent energy regulator. The workplace vote took place on April 18, 2007, affecting 122 members.

The group was no stranger to unions. They were formally represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Association of Management, Administrative, and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO). But the OEB divested from the Ontario Public Service (OPS) and became a more arms-length agency of the government. The collective agreement didn’t transfer over during the restructuring, and employees lost their union.

“The employees did notice that there was quite a difference between being a union member and working in a non-unionized workplace,” said Liu.

She said that the employees at the OEB saw that their colleagues in the energy sector – specifically Society-represented members – had excellent collective agreements. “It made sense for them to unionize again.”

When Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) engineers voted to join the Society in 2021, a similar dynamic was at play. As Liu explained, “TSSA engineers were very interested in organizing because they saw their colleagues in the workplace – the TSSA inspectors – decide to organize with OPSEU.”

IFPTE Organizer Anna Liu (left) at Labour Day 2024 in Toronto

TSSA engineers were familiar with the Society’s positive reputation. They knew that unionizing could help address some of the concerns they had in the workplace. As a result, 34 TSSA engineers joined the Society, with 88 percent of engineers voting in favour.

The Society’s organizing drives have been successful for a few reasons, according to Liu. “The organizers have integrity, prioritizing the interest and security of the workers first,” she said. “We focus heavily on outreach to workers and education on the certification process and benefits of belonging to the Society.”

In addition, union leadership takes time to meet with workers. “Every time we ask the leadership to assist, they’ve always been willing to do it,” she said. “It shows that every campaign matters.”

The Society also works to ensure that every local is well-resourced. That’s what led IFPTE Local 164 to merge with the Society in 2021. After General Electric sold off fragments of their business, Local 164 had to deal with various employers. It made sense for them to join a larger local, one that “had considerable resources that could provide the level of advocacy that the membership could benefit from,” said Liu.

Thirty-two members who work in engineering and technical roles for Andritz Hydro, BWXT Nuclear Canada in Peterborough, and Babcock and Wilcox Canada in Cambridge were brought into the Society.

The newest members to join the Society are the employees from PowerON, a subsidiary of OPG that formed in 2021.

Before it had employees, a Voluntary Recognition Agreement was signed with the Society, and a collective agreement was negotiated. A ratification vote was held in 2023 when there were 8 regular employees on staff. Five of the eight employees voted, and 100 percent voted in favour of ratification. The membership has grown to more than 20 employees with more growth planned. PowerON employees plan and build charging stations for electric vehicle fleets.

THE SOCIETY ORGANIZES THE LEGAL COMMUNITY

The Society has demonstrated that it is committed to organizing workers who are, historically, difficult to organize. Engineers, lawyers, and supervisors have all faced legal barriers to unionizing. As a job classification, lawyers are excluded from the Ontario Labour Relations Act. The same was said for engineers until the 1970s. And organizing supervisors is difficult as employers have a long history of challenging the inclusion of supervisory classifications in the bargaining unit on the grounds that they perform managerial functions, and thus aren’t deemed an employee under section 1(3) of the Act.

And so, it was fitting when the Society, with persistence and dedication, took on the four-year campaign to win voluntary recognition for Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) lawyers.

It began with a small group of lawyers who came together and made the decision that they wanted to unionize.

LAO lawyers were concerned about inequitable pay when compared with crown attorneys, who were receiving higher compensation. Unlike LAO lawyers, the Ontario government had granted crown attorneys association rights. Additionally, the LAO’s newly implemented Lawyer Workforce Strategy required staff lawyers to relocate and work outside their areas of expertise, which the staff lawyers saw as a threat to their professional standards.

They met with a variety of labour unions, and eventually connected with the Society. The Society was ready to take up the challenge of organizing workers who lacked rights under the act.

The employer resisted the call for voluntary recognition of LAO lawyers, so the Society created a public campaign to pressure the employer.

Over the course of the four-year campaign, a variety of tactics were used to mount pressure on both LAO and the provincial government. This included petitions, rallies, info pickets, media engagement, lobbying, and a constitutional challenge.

There were some wins throughout the campaign that improved working conditions for LAO lawyers before they won recognition. These small victories showed what could be accomplished through solidarity, and LAO’s articling students became highly interested in unionizing with the Society. In 2016, approximately 30 students – classified as employees under the OLRA – joined the Society through a certification vote. Of the 33 ballots counted, 88 percent voted in favour of joining.

“It happened very quickly, and it was a result of the groundwork we were doing with the LAO lawyers’ campaign,” said Liu.
The same year, LAO finally agreed to recognize the Society as the official bargaining agent for LAO lawyers, upon a successful representation vote. Seventy-six percent of LAO lawyers voted in favour of unionization, and voluntary recognition was achieved, adding 354 LAO lawyers to the Society’s membership.

The long, very public battle for voluntary recognition sparked a wave of interest in unionization within the legal community in Ontario and beyond.

“Once we won that campaign it was really big news in the legal community, particularly in Ontario,” said Liu. This led to other workplaces in the legal field joining the Society. “We got lots of inquiries,” said Liu.

In 2018, eight employees from the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC) voted to join the Society. Their staff lawyers were included in the bargaining unit through a voluntary recognition agreement.

April 6, 2018 - A celebration lunch for the recently unionized staff at the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC).

Also riding off the momentum of the LAO lawyers’ victory were staff at the National Judicial Institute. They learned of the Society from its work with LAO lawyers. 42 event planners, lawyers, IT and communications professionals became Society members after voting to join the union.

In 2019, Supervisory Duty Counsel lawyers from LAO voted 88 percent in favour of joining the Society, bringing in 24 new members. These lawyers supervise LAO’s per diem lawyers – on-call duty counsel who work elsewhere but pick up extra work with LAO.

The year 2019 also saw staff from Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) vote to join the Society. Liu attributes the success to the hard work of staff there. “There was a committee we were working with and we took a lot of guidance from them about how they wanted to approach their colleagues. They did a lot of groundwork during the organizing drive.”

In fact, ALS paralegal Audrey Huntley, who, alongside others, led the unionization efforts at ALS, received a Bromley Award in the spring of 2024 for her decades of advocacy for Indigenous rights and her efforts to unionize her workplace. This award honours exceptional trade unionists committed to advancing equity and human rights in the Greater Toronto Area. Named after long-time activist Bromley Armstrong, it represents his lifelong dedication to fighting racism and discrimination.

Once unionized, Society staff and members from ALS worked diligently to ensure that the collective agreement they negotiated was reflective of the employees’ values and addressed workplace concerns.

GROWTH INTO THE FUTURE

The Society’s strong reputation across the legal and energy sectors is a key building block in the project to grow the union.

“We’re positioning ourselves as the union of choice for professionals across Ontario and across the country,” said Society Secretary-Treasurer Laurie Reid.

“The Society is doing that by providing meaningful support to members, winning excellent contracts, and effectively advocating for members before the employer,” explained Reid.

The union also defends the interests of its members beyond the workplace. “We also take stands on public policy and social issues of concern to our members. Our members are proud to belong to the Society because of our evidence-based approach to the issues that matter.”

She said that there are Society bargaining units that have members in other provinces, and there are professionals elsewhere across Ontario who are not currently unionized. The union is actively examining opportunities for growth. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to be represented by a union,” said Reid.

The energy sector is growing. Good news stories from the nuclear sector in particular have left the Society feeling optimistic about member expansion in the years to come.

"Our members are proud to belong to the Society because of our evidence-based approach to the issues that matter.”

The future looks bright for OPG, which owns and operates the Darlington and Pickering nuclear generating stations. Earlier this year, the province announced it would be refurbishing the Pickering station, after a decade of advocacy from the Society to pursue refurbishment. And last year, the government announced it planned to add three grid-scale small modular reactors (SMRs) to the Darlington site for a total of four SMRs.

This marks significant progress. Two years ago, it was believed that the Pickering station would close. “The Society’s OPG Local has pivoted from planning for downsizing to planning for expansion,” said OPG Local Vice-President Joe Fierro. The local’s membership has increased by nearly 1,000 people since the summer of 2023.

“As OPG’s workforce grows, the Society will be there to provide excellent representation and support to our growing member base,” he said.

At Bruce Power, the Ontario government is planning to expand and build additional nuclear generation units on site. “The projection is in five to ten years they’ll have their environmental assessments done,” said Dave Ceksters, Local Vice-President of the Society’s Bruce Power Local. “The shovels will hit the ground in early 2030. That’s the projection. Hopefully everything falls into place.”

This could lead to more maintenance supervisors, certified staff in the main control room, security personnel, engineers, and health physicists.

Ceksters said that in the next round of collective bargaining, they will be discussing membership expansion as the new build progresses, with a lens towards protecting Society jurisdiction from the threat of contracting out.

To have leverage in bargaining, the local is working to maintain an engaged membership through constant communication and trust building.

“We have a fully engaged membership that will be 100 percent behind us. They proved that last round of bargaining, and I fully expect them to prove that again this time.” He said a mobilized membership is crucial to getting the employer to take them seriously at the bargaining table.

The local has also put forward a proposal to the employer for adopting a career hall, as a strategy for reducing the number of non-union contractors on site. The model has been traditionally used in the trades to fill temporary work, whereby the employer only hires from a central list maintained by the union. All hired contractors are unionized.

Whether looking to traditional card-signing campaigns or organizing internally to prepare for growth in our sectors, one thing is clear: if we leverage the power and resources of 10,000 members strong, we’ll be unstoppable.

To read From 400 to 10,000: Growth in an era of voluntary membership (Part One), click here.