Celebrating CWA Canada’s historic autonomy agreement

In the new year, CWA Canada will celebrate 20 years of a unique and historic autonomy agreement within the North American labour movement.

In 2006, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) which gave us unprecedented freedom to run our own affairs. 

But the road to get there was long, and sometimes rocky.

In the early 1990s, the Canadian locals of The NewsGuild (TNG) were at a crossroads. A few leaders were urging a switch to a Canadian union, while TNG was looking to merge with CWA and bring the Canadians along.

About the only thing everyone could agree on was that whatever happened, the Canadian locals should try to stick together. A committee was formed, and options were discussed. 

In the end, the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild and the Vancouver guild voted to join the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, while the Windsor newsroom went to the Canadian Auto Workers. The rest stayed with TNG as it became part of CWA, swayed by a favourable dues structure and the promise of increased Canadian autonomy.

The decade from 1995 to 2005 was spent establishing our new Canadian union identity (we were now TNG Canada rather than just the “Canadian District” of TNG), trying to figure out what exactly we wanted to accomplish and how to grow the union. We were an experiment: a small band of Canadian locals looking for the best of both worlds with the dual benefit of Canadian autonomy and the security of a big American union.

By 2005, we knew what we wanted – a more equal partnership with CWA. We wanted to run our own affairs. The idea was to fully realize our ideal of cross-border solidarity combined with self-governance. 

The result was a unique agreement, a memorandum of understanding in 2006 that made us autonomous, with complete control of our finances. And with that, CWA Canada was born.

Specifically, the “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding CWA Operations in Canada” (better known as the Canadian autonomy agreement), gave CWA Canada the authority “to act with full autonomy to make all governance, policy and operational decisions affecting Canadian members in accordance with the Constitution of the CWA through a Canadian Region.”

That authority was then enshrined in the CWA Constitution.

CWA Canada was also granted a seat on the CWA Executive Committee — another mark of autonomy and independence for Canadian members.

Since 2006, CWA Canada has acted autonomously. In fact, we have more autonomy than TNG within CWA. Most notably, we set and manage our own budget, unlike TNG which has its budget set by CWA. And while our media sector locals technically remain part of TNG (non-media locals are not), it is a vestigial connection.

CWA Canada does not report to, or take direction from, TNG. We collect and manage our own dues and finances, run our own office, hire our own staff, and operate under Canadian labour law. CWA Canada and TNG each make independent decisions in the interests of their members, but also work together on areas of common interest.

CWA Canada charts its own course. We are a small union that punches far above its weight, a bottom-up organization truly committed to member democracy, a collective dedicated to fighting the good fight, a lean efficient body that operates for the good of the members without the bureaucracy and politics that plagues many others.

We defy the norm. We run our own affairs, we are small and nimble, but we have access to the resources and strike fund of a huge partner. We can turn on a dime and react to events in minutes. We are selfless, passionate, dedicated to truth and justice, and beholden to no one – and we will fight to stay that way.