Doer became president of the Manitoba Government Employees' Association in 1979, and served in this capacity until 1986. He also held prominent positions with the Manitoba Federation of Labour and the National Union of Public and General Employees, served as a director of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and became a governor of the University of Manitoba. In 1983, he negotiated an agreement with the provincial government of Howard Pawley in which civil servants agreed to delay a wage increase in return for a guarantee of no layoffs or wage rollbacks. The following year, he openly criticized Dennis McDermott's leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress.