Editing Canadian Labour Congress (section)

== History ==
=== Formation ===
[[File:CLC history.svg|thumb|History tree of the CLC]]
The CLC was founded on April 23, 1956, through a merger of the [[Trades and Labour Congress of Canada]] (TLC) and the [[Canadian Congress of Labour]] (CCL), the two major labour congresses in Canada at the time. The TLC's affiliated unions represented [[craft unionism|workers in a specific trade]] while the CCL's affiliated unions represented [[industrial unionism|all employees within a workplace]], regardless of occupation. The trades-based organizational model, which continues today especially in the building and construction industries, is based in older European traditions that can be traced back to [[guild]]s. However, with industrialization came the creation of a new group of workers without specific trades qualifications and, therefore, without ready access to the representation offered by the TLC's affiliates. In response, these workers adopted the industrial model of union organization and formed the CCL as their umbrella organization.{{fact|date=August 2024}}

The growth of industrial jobs in the first half of the 20th century, combined with new legislation in most Canadian jurisdictions explicitly recognizing the industrial union organizational model, led to fears of [[Union raid|raiding]] between the unions belonging to the two federations, the TLC and the CCL. Tensions were increased because of significant political differences. The TLC leadership, in the person of President Percy Bongough, had actively supported the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]]. With the defeat of Liberal R. K. Gervin and Conservative A. F. MacArthur by Claude Jodoin at the TLC's convention in August 1953, some of the political differences between the TLC and CCL began to wane. Jodoin was not a member of the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] party, having served for a time as a Liberal Member of the [[National Assembly of Quebec|Legislative Assembly]] in the province of [[Quebec]]. However, after some conflicts with the Liberals leadership, he sat as an independent and then ran (and was defeated) as an independent in the general election of 1944. In December 1953 the TLC and CCL created a joint committee to explore means of cooperation and possible merger. On May 9, 1955, the joint committee announced that a merger agreement had been reached. The terms were accepted by the June 1955 TLC convention and in October 1955 by the CCL convention.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

=== Development ===

In 1963, independent unions representing civic workers and workers in the broader public sector merged their organizations to form the [[Canadian Union of Public Employees]] (CUPE). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, legislative changes allowed employees of the federal and provincial public service to join unions, bringing new members into CLC-affiliated unions. During this period, hospital workers increasingly became unionized. In the 1990s, unions of teachers, nurses and other similar groups affiliated with the CLC and the CLC's provincial labour federations.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

In January 2018, [[Unifor]], the largest private sector union in Canada, left the CLC to become independent. Unifor stated that among the reasons for leaving were disagreements with the CLC over the rights of workers to choose what union should represent them, and concerns Unifor had about US-based unions working against the rights of their members, as well as two instances of US-based unions interfering in elections for Canadian union local leadership.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/unifor-canadian-labour-congress-1.4492169 |title=Unifor breaks with Canadian Labour Congress |author=The Canadian Press |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2018-01-17 |access-date=2019-05-27 |archive-date=2018-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809012237/http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/unifor-canadian-labour-congress-1.4492169 |url-status=live }}</ref> The CLC accused Unifor of leaving the congress in order to raid an affiliate union, [[UNITE HERE]] Local 75, in Toronto.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/clc-union-unifor-workers-1.4495389|title=CLC accuses Unifor of leaving lobby group to raid another union|last=The Canadian Press|date=2018-01-19|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-date=2020-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109043217/https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/clc-union-unifor-workers-1.4495389|url-status=live}}</ref>