Mounting Union Wage Demands Risk Impeding Canada Inflation Fight

Wages negotiated by union workers in Canada are creeping higher, complicating the central bank’s bid to restore price stability.

Unionized workers have staged 78 major strikes in the first six months of 2023 and pushed the average yearly wage settlement up to 2.9%, government data show. That’s the highest level in at least a decade, a partial recovery in purchasing power that risks refueling inflation expectations if momentum continues.

Canada’s largest private-sector syndicate, Unifor, which represents 37,000 auto workers, is now in negotiations with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV where improving wages and pensions are ...