By David Doorey, York University
It is no secret that the model of collective bargaining we have used in Canada since the 1940s is no longer fit for purpose in the 21st century. The so-called “Wagner model” still works well enough in those workplaces for which it was designed, mainly large workplaces with dozens or hundreds of employees who work relatively predictable shifts. However, even in those workplaces, the model struggles to embed collective bargaining when employers absolutely refuse to tolerate it. Just look at the labour battles being waged at the Walmarts and Amazons of the world, American employers who take anti-unionism to a religious fervour.
For most private sector employees, the odds of ever having working conditions set through collective bargaining rather than employer fiat are extremely small. Private sector union density today sits around 15 percent of the Canadian workforce, which is lower than it was before “modern” collective bargaining legislation was first introduced in the 1940s. 
In labour law reform discussions, the idea of “broader-based” collective bargaining models is often floated as possible solution to the shortcomings of the Wagner model, which favours workplace level bargaining. In fact, almost every labour law reform commission report issued since the 1990s has recommended that the government strike a committee to study the possibility of broader-based bargaining models for Canada. Incredibly, no government has ever taken this step. It is time.
In this Working Paper, I summarize the model I have proposed for years as a means for thinking about 21st century labour law reform. That model is presented as “nabla” with the long-standing “Wagner model” in the middle. I’m largely uninterested in the many well-known reforms to the Wagner model that have been floated, and often enacted and then repealed, for 40 odd years. None of those reforms will alter the overall downward trend in private sector collective bargaining in Canada.
The real meat worth more discussion lies in what I call strategies of “descension” and “ascension” from the Wagner model’s focus on workplace level bargaining. Descension strategies focus on legal rights of the individual worker and other forms of collective action that do not depend upon majority trade unionism. Ascension strategies focus on moving upwards from the workplace level bargaining that dominates the Wagner model, towards broader based collective bargaining. This Working Paper focused on the latter strategies and describes the many models of broader-based bargaining that have been proposed for Canada (and mostly not adopted) and that have been proposed (and sometimes adopted) in other countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the USA, and the UK. I conclude by revisiting the many recommendations for Canadian governments to strike expert committees to study broader-based bargaining.