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2025 saw thousands of workers across Canada hit the picket lines, from provincial public servants in BC, who spent eight weeks on strike, to teachers across Alberta, public transit workers in Montreal and higher-education workers in the Maritimes. Postal workers struck for the second time in a year, and Air Canada flight attendants were on strike for just 12 hours before the government tried and failed to send them back to work.

Unfortunately, a disruption in the federal government’s national strike and lockout data means it could be a little while before we’re able to say how 2025’s strike activity compared to previous years.

What are we in for this year? PressProgress took a look at the Government of Canada’s Negotech database to assemble a (comprehensive, but not exhaustive) list of the notable contracts set to expire, and who could be out on the picket line if negotiations go poorly.

(After a collective agreement expires, the terms remain in effect until a new agreement is approved by the workers through a ratification vote. In most cases, new agreements are reached without a work stoppage.)

Airlines

Bargaining at Air Canada didn’t end with the pilots or the flight attendants — two additional groups of workers are bargaining with the airline this year.

Air Canada’s 5,000 customer-service agents, represented by Unifor, are currently in bargaining ahead of their contract expiration on Feb. 28.

Mechanics and workers in Air Canada’s warehouse, finance and administration departments, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), have a contract that will expire on March 31. Bargaining was set to begin this month, but has been delayed because of an ongoing dispute between IAMAW and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association over which union has the right to represent the workers.

Unlike the customer-service agents’ contract, the IAMAW’s current contract is a 10-year agreement, meaning these workers haven’t negotiated new wages or improvements to working conditions since 2016.

Elsewhere in the airline industry, cabin crew at Sunwing Airlines, represented by CUPE Airline Division Local 4055, will also be in bargaining this year, as their current contract expires on May 31. Cargojet pilots, represented by Unifor Local 7478, have a contract that expires a month later, on June 30.

Three contracts covering workers at WestJet and Swoop Airlines (which was fully integrated into WestJet in 2023), including warehousing, ticket agents and flight attendants, all expire this year as well. WestJet workers at Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto airports are represented by Unifor, while the others are represented by CUPE.

Ports

At the end of March, the contract for engineering, maintenance and operational workers at the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation will expire. In 2023, these workers, represented by Unifor, joined other Unifor locals to strike for the first time in 55 years, bringing the St. Lawrence Seaway to a standstill for over a week.

On the other side of the country, barge workers at Seaspan ULC in BC, represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 115, will see their contract expire on April 30.

The contract covering longshore workers at Northern Quebec Stevedoring Company Inc. (a subsidiary of Quebec Stevedoring Limited, or QSL) in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, will expire on Oct. 31.

On Dec. 31, the contract covering almost 400 operations, administration and office workers at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will expire. Those workers are represented by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) Local 517.

Transportation

Grand River Transit workers, members of Unifor Local 4304, went on strike in the spring of 2023, picketing the GRT’s operations centre in Kitchener, Ontario. (Pic via Unifor Canada on Facebook.)

Bus drivers and maintenance workers at Coast Mountain Bus, which operates more than 96% of the Metro Vancouver region’s bus service, have a contract that expires on March 31. Those workers are represented by Unifor. Buses in Vancouver were brought to a standstill in January 2024 when transit supervisors, represented by CUPE Local 4500, went on strike for two days and their Unifor-represented coworkers respected their picket lines.

Unifor also represents drivers, mechanics and service attendants at Ontario’s Grand River Transit, which serves Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo and surrounding townships. Those workers went on strike in 2020 and 2023. Their current contract expires on April 30.

Workers at Overland West Freight Lines and Canada Cartage, both represented by the Teamsters, have contracts that expire on Dec. 31.

Agriculture

Workers at Viterra, the agribusiness giant that merged with Bunge in July 2025, will bargain for a new contract this year, as their current one expires on Oct. 31. The Grain & General Services Union, which represents workers at Viterra-Bunge, released a statement criticizing the merger and the federal government’s conditions for it, which guaranteed that the Viterra-Bunge headquarters would stay in Regina for only another five years. “This short-term commitment offers little comfort to workers who are now facing profound uncertainty and anxiety about their futures.”

Newfoundland and Labrador

Members of the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland & Labrador rallied at the Confederation Building in St. John’s in February 2024 to oppose privatization of healthcare, joined by members of the Association of Allied Health Professionals. (Pic via the Facebook page of the latter.)

Three big public sector unions are in bargaining with the province’s newly elected Progressive Conservative majority government this year. The Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees has three contracts expiring on March 31 covering workers in healthcare and public administration. Healthcare workers represented by the Association of Allied Health Professionals and the Registered Nurses’ Union will also be in bargaining with the province, as both unions have contracts expiring on June 30.

Post-secondary education

Three contracts at Newfoundland’s Memorial University expire in 2026: administrative, instructional and technical support staff represented by CUPE Local 1615 have their contract expire on March 31, while teaching assistants and faculty members, respectively represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association, have contracts that expire on Aug. 31.

Contracts covering faculty at the University of Ottawa (April 30), Wilfrid Laurier University (June 30) and Brock University (June 30) all expire this year.

Non-academic staff at the University of Manitoba (March 27, represented by the Association of Employees Supporting Education Services) and service workers at the University of Toronto (June 30, represented by CUPE 3261) also expire this year.

K-12 public education

The contract covering teachers in New Brunswick, represented by the New Brunswick Teachers’ Federation, will expire on Feb. 28. Teachers in Nova Scotia, represented by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, will be in bargaining ahead of their contract expiration on Aug. 31. On the West Coast, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation continues to negotiate with the province.

Federal workers

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) marching in Gatineau on the ninth day of their spring 2023 strike. (Photo via PSAC-AFPC on Flickr.)

Marine communication officers with the Canadian Coast Guard, represented by Unifor, will see their contract expire on April 30.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees’ contract covering federal government workers in economics and social science services expires on June 21. Later that month, workers at the National Film Board, represented by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and CUPE, and Canada Council for the Arts (PSAC) will have their contracts expire on June 30.

Auditors at the Canada Revenue Agency, represented by PIPSC, will likely begin bargaining this year ahead of their contract expiration on Dec. 21.

Municipal workers

Workers for the City of Whitehorse, represented by PSAC, will bargain for a new contract ahead of their current contract expiration on Aug. 31. Municipal workers in Calgary (CUPE) and Sherbrooke (Fédération indépendante des syndicats autonomes) are also in bargaining this year, as those contracts expire on Dec. 31.

Retail

Just ahead of Christmas, a rep for UFCW Local 401 visited members working at the Real Canadian Superstore at South Edmonton Common.

On Jan. 31, a contract between Winners and Workers United, covering workers in the company’s Ontario warehouses, expires.

Three contracts covering Real Canadian Superstore workers in Alberta, who are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), expire on Oct. 31. Another Superstore contract, covering workers at the retail giant’s Whitehorse location, who are represented by the Teamsters, expires on Sept. 14.

Workers at The Beer Store in Ontario, represented by UFCW, will bargain this year ahead of their contract expiration at the end of December.

Media

Four contracts at Bell Media expire in 2026, covering hundreds of workers represented by multiple unions. On March 31, the CUPE contract covering technical and creative services workers at Bell Media’s Montreal office will expire. These workers first unionized in 2019, and voted 93% in favour of their first agreement in April 2022.

At the end of December, three contracts covering different divisions of CTV — itself a division of Bell Media — in Toronto (Unifor), Ottawa (Communications Workers of America – Canada) and Montreal (Unifor) will expire.

The contract covering workers at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), represented by the Canadian Media Guild (a local of CWA Canada), expires on April 24.

Unifor also represents workers at the National Post, who will be in bargaining ahead of their contract expiration on July 18.

Workers at Global Montreal, represented by CUPE, will be in bargaining ahead of their contract expiration on Aug. 31.

And at the end of December, the contract covering workers at the Toronto Star, represented by Unifor, expires.