Bargaining for sustainability

by Chris Chandler (he/him), Vice-President, OSSTF/FEESO Toronto Teachers

As concerns deepen about climate change and the sustainability of our environment and economic systems, labour unions are increasingly turning their bargaining lens to sustainability goals in their collective agreements in many jurisdictions. In Canada, unions have obviously played an essential role in our nation’s history of advocating for workers’ rights, but unions have also been central in struggles for social justice, even at the bargaining table, whether that be for improved entitlements and protections for women, racialized peoples, or Queer and Trans members, as workers deserving full human rights in the workplace. Insofar as the burdens of climate change will be born disproportionately by workers and equity seeking peoples, the incorporation of climate action goals into union work is no different (Climate Institute). By including environmental provisions into collective agreements, unions can promote sustainable workplace practices, improve worker health and safety, win direct material benefit for workers, and contribute to broader climate action goals for the greater good. This article explores briefly the role that unions can play in negotiating environmental benefits, provides two examples of bargaining efforts by Canadian unions, and looks at strategies and pitfalls for advancing green bargaining in the future. It is a form of solidarity with the planet and our future.

The role of unions

Historically, labour unions have focused on securing fair wages, benefits, job security, and safe working conditions for their members. This is largely because these have generally been the priorities identified by members themselves when they participate in the process of collective bargaining. The intersection of labour rights and environmental sustainability has gained prominence in recent years, as the climate crisis has deepened and impacted unionized workplaces, whether that is in the form of air quality concerns due to forest fires or industrial pollution, or the degradation of worksite infrastructure due to wear and tear arising from extreme weather events. Whether or not unions decide to make bargaining for sustainability a priority, the climate crisis will impinge on bargaining tables regardless, as employers struggle with the undeniable mounting financial and operational costs created by climate change. In Ontario, for example, the government’s own Financial Accountability Office has projected that in the absence of any measures to adapt or retrofit public sector infrastructure for extreme climate events, such hazards (in a medium emissions scenario) will add $4.1 billion per year on average to the cost of maintaining the $708 billion portfolio of existing hospital, school, university, and municipal infrastructure. This amounts to a 16% increase in infrastructure costs relative to a stable climate base scenario (Financial Accountability Office of Ontario). Public sector unions would obviously do well to consider this fact in light of the acute funding shortages already foisted upon the public sector by neoliberal governments, and the creeping dominance of conservative fiscal policy on the employer side of the bargaining table. Forward looking unions will recognize that environmental degradation not only directly impacts workers’ health and overall quality of life but will see as well that the undeniable material costs of climate change will become a consideration in the financing of public services more generally.

By bargaining for environmental benefits, unions have already achieved a range of outcomes that benefit their members in four key areas: reducing workplace exposure to harmful pollutants and toxins (though this may certainly already be done under the auspices of occupational health and safety, and the statutory regimes governing it, which at present are in most jurisdictions more robust than any sustainability-focused protections); promoting energy-efficient and sustainable practices by an employer; protecting and promoting unionized work when employers implement climate action initiatives; and securing direct compensation or subsidies to members for environmentally beneficial worker behaviours on or off the worksite. More broadly, unions engaging in green bargaining are often seen by the broader public to be engaged in a fight for the general welfare, beyond the immediate benefit of the union’s members. Such bargaining strategies may lead to deeper public support for the union’s core mission, as well as bring community allies to support the union who otherwise may not engage in whatever struggles the union undertakes. This solidarity with community expands the benefits beyond the traditional worker-employer model, focusing on the wellness of our planet and our communities.

Unifor, Joint Environment Committees, environmental assessments and Just Transition

For well over a decade, Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, has been a leader in negotiating benefits for its members in the context of transitioning to a more sustainable economy increasingly dependent on electric vehicles (EVs). In collective agreements with automakers, Unifor has pushed for commitments to produce EVs, for investments in green manufacturing processes, and was an early pioneer in the creation of joint environmental committees with employers, modelled on Joint Health and Safety Committees, to focus on working with employers to lower their emissions and waste (Unifor, Backgrounder). Most significantly, Unifor has been at the forefront of securing income security provisions to protect workers during EV transition (Unifor, Unifor). In its broad bargaining priorities, Unifor has identified the need to secure contract language compelling employers to conduct mandatory climate and weather-related hazard assessments of workplaces (Unifor. Building).

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), sustainable workplaces, and transportation stipends

CUPE has integrated environmental clauses into agreements with employers in various sectors and job classes and has published a green bargaining guide for locals (Canadian Union of Public Employees, Green Bargaining). In Calgary, public library workers represented by CUPE 1169 have negotiated language compelling all 18 branches of the Calgary Public Library to adopt recycling programs, waste and packaging reduction programs, and to use environmental cleaning products (Canadian Union of Public Employees, Bargaining Language). CUPE 3942, representing workers providing community mental health services in Ottawa, has negotiated contract language requiring their employer to extend reimbursement beyond workers who travel by car to members who travel on bicycles as well (Canadian Union of Public Employees, Bargaining Language). CUPE 402, representing municipal workers in the City of Surrey have negotiated language requiring the City to pay up to 30% of the cost of transit passes for members using public transit, while CUPE 4557 members, who work for KAIROS Canada, Community Living Ontario, and Working for Change, have a portion of their transit passes paid by their employer as a matter of contractual obligation (Canadian Union of Public Employees, Bargaining Language). Another example of this bargaining focus on material benefit for members choosing sustainable transportation would be the work of CUPE 3902, representing workers at the University of Toronto, compelling their employer to pay at least 45% of the public transit costs incurred by their members (Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3902).

Union members interested in citations of actual contract language exemplifying green or sustainability-focused bargaining would be well advised to consult databases currently maintained for such purposes, such as York University’s archive, maintained by the Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change project (Perry).

The path forward

Despite the obvious potential benefits to members and the common good inherent in green bargaining, integrating environmental provisions into union contracts can face several obstacles worthy of any union’s serious consideration. Firstly, employers are often hesitant to take on the additional costs associated with green initiatives, especially in industries facing economic uncertainty or those facing intense budgetary pressures in the public sector. Secondly, the institutional bargaining histories of many unions tend to prioritize immediate economic gains over long-term sustainability of the environment or the industries operating within it. Lastly, it is often the case that some union members may not immediately see the connection between environmental issues and their workplace rights, and internal bargaining education campaigns within labour often omit environmental sustainability as either an equity concern, or target of material gain for individual union members. These obstacles aside, it is often the case that green bargaining has advantages that set it apart from other bargaining priorities. At federal, provincial, and municipal levels, there may be government or utility company subsidies which provide revenue streams to fund green bargaining demands, and which can facilitate the financing of union demands. Public pressure, in the form of consumer and investor demands for increased sustainability of operations of industrial and public sector employers may add pressure on the union side to bargaining demands. Finally, when surveyed on the matter, many workers proved to be highly concerned about climate change and supportive of green workplace policies and bargaining priorities. Either way bargaining for environmental benefits in union contracts is an important and growing trend in Canada, a trend that expands the concept of solidarity and of bargaining beyond its traditional scope. As Canada inexorably moves toward a low-carbon future, as a matter of government policy and public urgency, the role of labour unions in driving sustainable change rooted in a global green solidarity will become more crucial than ever.

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WORKS CITED
Climate Institute. Centring Social Justice Is Sound Climate Policy. 22 Mar. 2025, https://climateinstitute.ca/centring-social-justice-is-sound-climate-policy/.
Financial Accountability Office of Ontario. Costing Climate Impacts and Adaptation for Ontario’s Public Infrastructure: Summary. 30 Nov. 2022, https://fao-on.org/en/report/cipi-summary/.
Unifor. Backgrounder: Managing Canada’s resource wealth in the interests of Canadians and the environment. Unifor, Jan. 2014, https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/legacy/documents/document/730-backgrounder_eng.pdf.
Unifor. Unifor CAMI Members Ratify Collective Agreement with GM. 12 Feb. 2025, https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/unifor-cami-members-ratify-collective-agreement-gm.
Unifor. Building Worker Power: Unifor Collective Bargaining Program 2023–2026. Unifor, 2023, p. 23, https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/BWP-Final_Report-v7b-screens.pdf.
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Green Bargaining: A Guide to Integrating Environmental Language into Collective Agreements. CUPE, 2019, https://cupe.ca/sites/cupe/files/ONLINE_Green_Bargaining_Guide-0.pdf.
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Bargaining Language for a Greener Workplace. CUPE, 12 Feb. 2025, https://cupe.ca/bargaining-language-greener-workplace.
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902. Memorandum of Agreement: CUPE 3902 Unit 1 and the University of Toronto, 2024–2026. University of Toronto, 12 Feb. 2025, https://people.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/FOR-WEBSITE-CUPE-3902-UNIT-1-MOA-2024-2026.pdf.
Perry, Elizabeth, Green Collective Agreements Database, Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces (ACW), 2022, https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/bb56de6b-0592-4ec6-9ab9-2955eed01d63.