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  • As a result of the recession that began in 2008, many employers are look- ing for ways to cut labour costs. One way of doing so is to impose two-tier compensation schemes, whereby younger employees do essentially the same job as older ones, but for lower wages and benefits. The key concern of this paper is how Canadian labour, employment and human rights law could respond to the differential impact of two-tier schemes on younger workers. First, the author reviews the use of two-tier systems in the United States and Canada, showing that they affect not only workers' wages and benefits but also their pensions, as employers move from defined benefit to defined contribution plans. In the next part of the paper, he analyses arbitral, labour board and human rights tribunal case law, arguing that lower-tier workers face significant barriers in seeking legal recourse through duty of fair representation or human rights complaints. The author concludes with an overview of the restrictions on two-tier schemes in the Quebec employment standards statute, and discusses the difficulties of enacting similar legislation in other Canadian jurisdictions.

  • In April 2005 Wal-Mart Canada closed a store in Jonquière, Quebec, following a successful certification application by the United Food and Commercial Workers and an impasse in collective bargaining. When the union succeeded in having an arbitrator appointed (under the "first contract" provisions of the Quebec Labour Code') to decide on the terms of a collective agreement, Wal- Mart immediately announced that it would close the store. It did so less than two months later, putting 190 employees out of work. The union and the affected workers claimed that the closing violated the Quebec Labour Code because it interfered with freedom of association and discriminated against employees who had exercised rights under the Code. The matter reached the Supreme Court of Canada. On November 27, 2009, that Court decided two cases arising from the Jonquière store closing - the leading case of Plourde and the companion case of Desbiens. In Plourde, where the Court was split 6 to 3, Justice Binnie's majority judgment concluded that the laid-off workers could not obtain relief under s. 15 of the Quebec Labour Code, prohibiting discrimination against workers who exercise rights.

Last update from database: 11/28/24, 4:10 AM (UTC)

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