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Covers perspectives on the evolution of labour law in Canada and the US since the 1980s. Argues that labour law in the future will trend toward sectoral bargaining or some other form of broad-based bargaining, although there will be foreschocks in the nearer term. The paper was presented as the H.D. Woods Lecture at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, Vancouver, May 2019.

Ce texte a initialement été présenté à titre de Conférence H. D. Woods dans le cadre de la Conférence annuelle de l’Association canadienne des relations industrielles (ACRI/CIRA), en mai 2019, à Vancouver.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the recent B.C. Health Services case that the protection of "freedom of association" in s. 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be interpreted to provide "at least as much protection" for associational rights as is provided by Convention No. 87 of the International Labour Organization. The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association sees the convention as giving trade unions a right of access to employer property when attempting to organize employees. However Canadian statute and common law provides employers with an almost unfettered right to exclude union organizers, even when allowing them to have access would not interfrre with the employer's production interests. This paper examines whether that law will have to be rethought in the wake of the Supreme Court s decision.

This paper examines the recent arrival of neutrality agreements in Canada. These are agreements between unions and employers that define the conditions under which union organizing will take place at facilities controlled by the employer. The history of neutrality agreements in the U.S. is reviewed, as is the emergence of these agreements in Canada. Neutrality agreements are a model of private ordering that operate without direct guidance from the state, yet their form and application are influenced by state law. The author examines neutrality agreements from the perspective of decentred regulatory theory, in which regulation is used by the state to steer the private creation of norms that are consistent with state policy. Using Ontario's labour laws as an example, the author explores the role of law in the emergence, form, and likely contribution of neutrality agreements to Canadian industrial relations.

[This second edition] presents a comprehensive overview of all aspects of Canadian employment and labour law. Ideal for a non-legal audience, this resource considers the social context in which these laws are made and draws from various disciplines, including economics, management studies, and history. Through short, focused chapters, students will be introduced to the three regimes of work law: common law, regulation, and collective bargaining. Notable legal cases and explanations of key concepts are featured throughout, alongside practical problem-solving exercises and discussion questions that invite readers to apply the law to real-life workplace scenarios. --Publisher's description

Climate change will dramatically affect labor markets, but labor law scholars have mostly ignored it. Environmental law scholars are concerned with climate change, but they lack expertise in the complexities of regulating the labor relationship. Neither legal field is equipped to deal adequately with the challenge of governing the effects of climate change on labor markets, employers, and workers. This essay argues that a legal field organized around the concept of a ‘just transition’ to a lower carbon economy could bring together environmental law, labor law, and environment justice scholars in interesting and valuable ways. “Just transitions” is a concept originally developed by the North American labor movement, but has since been endorsed by important global institutions including the International Labour Organization and the U.N. Environmental Program. However, the prescriptions that would guide a policy of just transition have been under-explored in the legal literature. This paper marks an important early contribution to this challenge. It explores the factual and normative boundaries of a legal field called Just Transitions Law and questions whether such a field would offer any new, valuable insights into the challenge of regulating a response to climate change.

Across Canada, union coverage is inversely proportionate to inequality. From lifting wages and securing employment benefits to advocating for public programs, union power is a bulwark against inequality.

Canadian Labour Relations: Law, Policy, and Practice, 2nd Edition offers non-legal students an in-depth exploration of work-related law, policy, and current issues. Topics include the unionization process, collective bargaining, regulation of unions, industrial conflict, collective agreement administration, and notable court decisions. Practical problem-solving exercises and questions are featured throughout in order to help readers apply the law to real-life scenarios. This edition includes updated legislation, mock arbitration and negotiation scenarios, and an entirely new section that explores key policy issues and debates. --Publisher's description. "The text is a companion volume to The Law of Work: Common Law and the Regulation of Work. It provides an in-depth exploration of the unionization process, collective bargaining, the regulation of unions, industrial conflict, collective agreement administration, and more." Contents: Part I. The law of work : themes, frameworks, and perspectives. Canadian law of work in a nutshell -- A framework for analyzing the law of work -- Key perspectives that shape the law of work -- What is employment? -- Part II. The collective bargaining regime. Introduction to the collective bargaining regime and the Canadian labour movement -- A brief history of labour and the law -- Why do workers join unions and what effects do unions have on business? -- The unionization process -- Unfair labour practices and the right to organize -- Collective bargaining and making a collective agreement -- The law of industrial conflict -- The collective agreement -- Grievances, the labour arbitration, and "just cause" in the unionized workplace -- The regulation of unions : legal status, the duty of fair representation, and decertification -- Public sector labour relations -- Part III. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and work -- Globalization and the law of work : international labour law and trade law -- Part IV. Issues and debates in industrial relations and collective bargaining. Issue: card-check or mandatory vote: which model better measures employees' desire to unionize? -- Issue: is the Wagner model of collective bargaining good for Canadian workers? -- Issue: should minority unionism be recognized and promoted in Canadian labour policy? -- Issue: should Canada adopt right to work laws? -- Issue: should the use of replacement workers be prohibited? -- Issue: should public sector workers have the right to strike? -- Issue: Has the Charter advanced labour rights?