Abstract

Canada’s workplaces do not reflect the population’s cultural diversity. Realizing this, a growing number of employers resort to remedial measures and diversity-sensitive policies. In Quebec, where nearly 45% of all workers are unionized, what roles do—and should—unions play in workplace diversity and, more precisely, in workplace diversification? How do unions promote more equal access to employment, considering that workplace diversity depends on it?
This case study explores the experiences of diversity training developers and facilitators in a labour union organisation. It also examines the role of union education in promoting workplace diversity and countering hiring discrimination against visible minorities.
Data presented are pulled from documents, interviews with diversity programme developers and facilitators, and observation of the first-ever diversity training session organised by the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), Quebec’s largest union federation. This research highlights the complexities associated with union-organised diversity training sessions. It underscores: (a) the need to measure outcomes and stop training blindly; (b) the need to leverage organisational capacity to include diversity training in long-term planning; (c) the difficulties of dealing with sensitive material and (d) the need to return to the legal definition of visible minorities.