The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) is a labour union that represents companies in the construction, healthcare, and food industries. It was established in 1952 to represent workers on the basis of "Christian social principles". The union claims that its approach to labour relations develops workers' sense of responsibility, participation, stewardship, and dignity. It opposes what it calls the undemocratic, adversarial, and monopolistic practices of the labour movement. It has been characterized by other Canadian trade unions for being a "company union" for its support of employer friendly legislation. History Formation A group of Canadians, many of whom were Dutch immigrants who came to Canada after the Second World War, decided to form a union with principles of dignity, justice, stewardship, and respect, and allowed freedom of association. Those immigrants were accustomed to the European model of labour relations, with freedom of association allowed from a variety of unions to choose from. In Canada, however, people who disagreed with the policies of their union had no option to opt out of the union of their workplace, other than to work in a non-unionized shop. Many non-unionized shops had lower safety and wage standards than unionized shops. A group of those immigrants met on numerous occasions in the early 1950s, and on 20 February 1952, the Christian Labour Association (CLAC) was founded. Frans Fuykschot was appointed the general secretary of CLAC and opened the union's first office, in Hamilton, Ontario. Soon afterwards, the first issue of The Guide, the official CLAC magazine, was published. Although the founders of CLAC were Christian and wanted their union to be based on Christian social principles, they did not require members to be Christian. Within two years, CLAC started applying for its first certifications. Early struggles In 1954 CLAC applied for certifications in British Columbia (BC) and Ontario. The BC Labour Relations Board granted certification to a CLAC local, but the Ontario Labour Relations Board denied certification because of a technicality. However, the Board expressed its concern with the fact that CLAC was based on Christian principles and believed that it would discriminate against non-Christian workers. After CLAC was granted certification in BC, the AFL–CIO, a labour federation based in the US, threatened CLAC publicly and took job action against CLAC members. Because of the Ontario Labour Board's decision that CLAC's constitution was discriminatory, BC later refused CLAC's recertification application. CLAC repeatedly tried to