Common menu bar

Breadcrumb

Corporate Brochure

Fair, Safe and Productive Workplaces The Labour Program At work for you!

A well-functioning workplace is at the heart of Canada's prosperity. People and organizations thrive when their work can be performed in an environment that is fair, safe and productive.

Providing services to federally regulated workplaces

The Government of Canada's Labour Program offers services to over 128,000 workplaces and one million people across the country. It is present in all federally regulated sectors of the economy:
transportation, communications, banking, Crown Corporations and others.

The Labour Program:

assists employers and unions by providing mediation and conciliation services
monitors to ensure compliance with labour legislation
legislates to protect workers' health and safety
negotiates international labour agreements
collects data to provide information on the workplace

Working closely with employers and unions

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service provides expert assistance to help resolve workplace differences. It also provides tools for workers in the federal jurisdiction to challenge unjust dismissals and to recover unpaid wages. These services and tools support cooperation and encourage fairness amongst employers and workers, leading to more productive workplaces and preventing strikes that disrupt the lives of Canadians and the economy.

Enforcing labour legislation and regulations

Labour standards such as minimum wage, hours of work, working conditions and fairness in the workplace depend on legislation such as the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Equity Act. The Labour Program administers and enforces these and other laws and regulations to ensure that all Canadian workers are treated fairly and receive proper compensation for their work.

Promoting and applying occupational health and safety

Health and safety in the workplace extends from regulations requiring hard hats and harnesses to investigating refusals to work and providing advice about how best to prevent or manage workplace illness. Rules and regulations also exist to protect Canadian workers from discrimination, violence and harassment. The Labour Program helps to ensure that Canada's workplaces remain safe and secure places to work and do business.Collaborating with our international partners Helping Canadian businesses compete on a level playing field is important to their success on the international scene. That is why the Labour Program negotiates Labour Cooperation Agreements alongside each new Free Trade Agreement. These robust Labour Cooperation Agreements commit partner countries to enforce and respect core labour standards.

Providing information on Canada's workplaces

To understand what changes need to be done in order to improve working conditions for Canadians, we must first understand today's workplace realities. To this end, the Labour Program collects, analyzes and disseminates information on collective bargaining trends to help us better understand the challenges we face.

To find out more, call these toll-free numbers:

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
1-800-563-5677

Collective bargaining information and analysis
1-877-259-8828

Employment standards, health and safety, employment and pay equity, workers' compensation and fire protection
1-800-641-4049

Labour Program

You can order this publication by contacting:
Publications Services HRSDC
Place du Portage, Phase IV, 12^th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0J9
Fax: 819-953-7260
Online: Publicentre - Publication Search

This document is available on demand in alternate formats (large print, braille, audio cassette, audio CD, e-text diskette, e-text CD, or DAISY), by calling 1-800-O-Canada (1-800-622-6232), (TTY) 1-800-926-9105.

Paper:
Cat. No.: HS24-49/2009
ISBN: 978-0-662-06626-2

PDF:
Cat. No.: HS24-49/2009E-PDF
ISBN: 978-1-100-12163-5
Call 1-800-O-Canada

Primary navigation (left column)

Footer

Date Modified:: 2012-05-01

Top of Page

Important Notices