https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X17753065 Labor Studies Journal 2018, Vol. 43(1) 74–96 © 2018 UALE Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0160449X17753065 journals.sagepub.com/home/lsj Article Lived Experiences of Social Unionism: Toronto Homecare Workers in the late 2000s Cynthia Cranford 1 , Angela Hick 1 , and Louise Birdsell Bauer 1 Abstract This article examines workers’ experiences with a union characterized by a social unionist framing and repertoire in the political realm and bureaucratic servicing of problems in the workplace realm. It analyzes interviews with members and officials about union strategies within privatized homecare predominately provided by immigrant women in Toronto. Workers report both consensual and tense relations with clients prompting them to praise their union’s political strategies yet criticize its limited workplace support. Findings indicate the importance of framing and repertoire that connect quality work with quality care, yet indicate a complex labor process that requires more conceptual and strategic attention. Keywords immigration, homecare work, social unionism, social movment unionism, labor process, Canada It is well accepted that if unions are to improve workers’ conditions and challenge class and social inequalities in the face of restructuring and austerity, they must reject a narrow business unionism focused only on the workplace in favor of a more social unionism that links economic and social justice issues in the political realm. Drawing on recent Canadian work (Camfield 2013; Ross 2013), we use the term social union- ism here to denote unions’ engagement with workers in framing issues and developing a repertoire that links economic and social justice, both inside and outside the work- place. 1 However, different variants of social unionism operate differently across 1 University of Toronto, ON, Canada Corresponding Author: Cynthia Cranford, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, North Mississauga, ON, Canada L5G 3W7. Email: c.cranford@utoronto.ca 753065LSJ XX X 10.1177/0160449X17753065Labor Studies JournalCranford et al. research-article 2018