The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that unionized workers achieved significant wage gains last year, negotiating the highest annual increases since at least 2016, according to new federal government data. The Globe's Vanmala Subramaniam writes that in the first eight months of 2025, average annual wage increases for unionized workplaces of more than 500 employees reached nearly 4 per cent, a figure that surpassed inflation and was materially higher than gains in the years before the pandemic. The updated data from Employment and Social Development Canada show that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 last year, the average annual wage increase in settlements was 3.9 per cent across private- and public-sector unions. In 2023, it was 3.3 per cent, and in 2024, it was 3.4 per cent. In previous years, wage increases had hovered between 1.5 and 3 per cent, closely tracking inflation. Unions have been scoring some major wins on wages in recent years. In 2025, 10,000 CUPE flight attendants at Air Canada defied a federal back-to-work order in August and continued striking, resulting in an agreement that, for the first time, saw company flight attendants begin to get paid for the work they do before a plane departs.