Canada's New Deal in the Needle Trades

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Canada's New Deal in the Needle Trades
Abstract
The drafting of Canada's industrial standards legislation and its consequences in the clothing industry are examined. In particular, it is argued that the legislation formalized the subordination of specific sectors of workers in the clothing shops. Although the traditional unions made some efforts to organize women, the presence of women in the union bureaucracy was limited. Because of this, the move away from shop-floor unionism towards industry-wide collective bargaining ensured that women had, at best, a peripheral position in union decision making. When the men in the industry sat down to negotiate the legal framework for their trade, most of the political maneuvering went on in a domain exclusive of women. In the negotiations for the legislation in Ontario and Quebec's clothing industry, men reaffirmed the gendered nature of the work in the trade through legal language enshrined in the industrial standards schedules set for the industry.
Publication
Relations Industrielles
Volume
53
Issue
3
Pages
535-563
Date
Summer 1998
Language
English
ISSN
0034379X
Accessed
3/9/15, 10:54 PM
Library Catalog
ProQuest
Rights
Copyright Universite Laval - Departement des Relations Industrielles Summer 1998
Citation
Steedman, M. (1998). Canada’s New Deal in the Needle Trades. Relations Industrielles, 53(3), 535–563. http://www.erudit.org/revue/ri/1998/v53/n3/index.html