An Examination of Labour Welfare and Occupational Assistance in Canada

Abstract

This article explores labour welfare in Canada across three distinct periods of occupational assistance: 1. Welfare Capitalism which began with the industrial revolution and persisted through the depression of the 1930s; 2. Occupational Alcoholism Programming which emerged during World War II and the typically unreported domestic labour strife of the 1940s and lasted through the post war economic boom into the 1960s; and, 3. The Employee Assistance Programming era with the introduction of the broadbrush approach to workplace-based assistance which also witnessed organized labour in Canada provide fundamental supports to workers that were originally introduced by workplace owners during the Welfare Capitalism period though now to benefit workers rather than to control them. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution and into the new information and technological era of work, organized labour has had a distinct role in shaping and providing services to enhance worker and community wellness in Canada.

“Unions have traditionally taken care of their own members not only by negotiating protection clauses in collective agreements, but they have assisted members with problems that may or may not have arisen out of the workplace.” Dick Martin, Vice President, Canadian Labour Congress, 1986.