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About 50 FedEx Express workers in Fort McMurray have succeeded in joining Local 362 of the Teamsters, following a long legal battle. The Canada Industrial Relations Board issued its accreditation order on May 1, International Workers' Day.
The Teamsters said it will seek to begin negotiations quickly toward a first collective agreement for the newly accredited bargaining unit.
Teamsters Canada president François Laporte described the outcome as a victory for workers who, he said, were targeted by FedEx’s arguments during the proceedings. Local 362 secretary-treasurer Bernie Haggarty also criticized FedEx’s position, saying the company did not pay workers fairly and had argued that more than half of the workforce should not be able to unionize.
In its case, FedEx argued that “temporary workers,” including international students and temporary foreign workers, did not have the right to unionize alongside Canadians. The article says that roughly thirty workers at the Fort McMurray facility with temporary status were still able to join the union.
The union said the decision prevents workers from being divided by place of birth and allows them to be represented under a single bargaining structure.
The article notes that temporary workers can face heightened vulnerability at work, including due to language barriers or limited knowledge of their rights. It also points to the risk created by closed permits tied to a single employer, where a worker’s ability to remain in Canada may depend on staying employed—conditions the union said increase the need for union representation.
The article includes several comparisons between FedEx and Teamsters-affiliated competitors in the region:
The article says this is the first FedEx Express facility to unionize in Canada. It also states that Teamsters Canada represents nearly 130,000 workers across the country.
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