Union donations to community organisations and the dampening effect of government legislation: the case of Bill 32 in Alberta, Canada

Unions in North America have a long history of financial support for charities, non-profits and other community-based organisations. However, very little research has been conducted into how much, to whom and why this financial support is provided. This article reports on a survey examining the financial donation patterns of unions in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta is chosen as the jurisdiction for the study as the provincial government recently enacted legislation (commonly referred to as Bill 32) that may force unions to reduce community-based donations, which would negatively impact those organisations and interfere with a core union function. The survey also examines how union financial support changes due to the implementation of this legislation. The study finds that a small but not insignificant percentage of union expenditures are devoted to community giving and that unions tend to donate to a narrow range of causes and organisations. It also finds that union responses to donation-dampening legislation were mixed, in part due to the politically controversial nature of the legislation.