1940s

Unions make major inroads in the private sector. Industrial unions representing all the workers in an enterprise (like the Autoworkers or Steelworkers) make gains over craft unions which represent specific skilled trades (like sheet metal workers, printers, or cigar makers).

1944

• The Tory government introduces a classification system based on merit. In practice this means typing tests for secretaries; pay rates are “because I say so, chum!” New week, paid vacations and improved workers' compensation.

• CSAO asks for equal representation on the Civil Service Commission – the first request for a structured relationship based on equality. CSAO is now bargaining over pay and appointments, but does not define itself as a union – rather as something to keep “radical unions” out of the public service. The government likes this arrangement.

• The Teaching Professions Act makes membership in teachers' associations mandatory [as it was for doctors and lawyers] and in effect creates mandatory unionism and dues for this “professional” group, but the civil service gets none of it.

• A Joint Advisory Council (JAC) is created to discuss workplace issues in principle. A new appeal board, chaired by the Minister of Labour with reps from CSAO and the premier's office, hears appeals from workers who have been punished. This is not a grievance system as there is no contract to be violated. Pay is still set by Cabinet.

1945

• Mr. Justice Ivan Rand, later chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, crafts a landmark compromise that resolves a bitter strike at Ford's Windsor plant. Under the “Rand Formula,” all workers covered by a collective agreement must pay dues to the union, although they do not have to join the organization. This gives unions financial security, and acknowledges that all workers benefit from the gains bargained by the union and should therefore contribute. It ends “free-riders” who take what the union negotiates but refuse to pay their share. This contributes greatly to labour peace and eases workplace tension. Other unions quickly adopt the Rand Formula as a contract demand and it becomes the norm in Canada over the years. CSAO does not get this until 1969.

1946

• CSAO hires its first paid staffer and rents a small room on Bay Street as its office. It also joins the Canadian Council of Provincial Employee Associations, where it is the only provincial section that does not sign on with the Trades and Labour Congress, which was a national labour body that later merged with another organization to create today's Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

1947

• A new Public Service Act makes 65 the retirement age and gives deputy ministers the right to fire workers. It introduces the Oath of Secrecy and a prohibition against political activity.

First Joint Advisory Council 1944 with Premier George Drew (seated)