Your search
Results 3 resources
-
This dissertation inquires into the relationship between labour law and union organizing and related dynamics. Following a critical review of alternative theoretical perspectives on the relationship between labour law and union growth, it is argued first that there remains significant space for an institutionalist perspective and second that that this debate is at least partly dependant upon underlying models of union behaviour. Such existing models are then critically assessed, and a model of union organizing behaviour based upon bounded rationality is developed. Following a description of why the province of Ontario comprises a good "case" for examining this question, hypotheses about the relationship between labour law and various indicators of new union organizing are derived and tested through quantitative analysis of data from the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The impact of labour law upon other related phenomena such as "raiding" activities, "Unfair Labour Practice" complaint activity, and "Duty of Fair Representation" complaint activity is also tested in this manner. As an additional test of the model and hypotheses derived, qualitative case studies are performed of the organizing behaviour of two large general unions in Ontario: the Canadian Auto Workers union and the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Much of the quantitative evidence and certain of the qualitative evidence is interpreted as providing qualified support for the importance of the timing of labour law shifts, and of bounded rationality, in explaining union organizing dynamics in Ontario in recent decades. However, certain qualitative evidence contrary to the theoretical framework suggests the competing importance of alternative models of strategic/moral union behaviour. Overall, the evidence is interpreted as providing qualified support to the conclusion that labour law remains a policy instrument with significant capacity to affect aggregate union organizing behaviour over time.
-
It is fair to say that the first two decades of labour's experience with Charter litigation raised a note of caution concerning its utility as a strategy for labour empowerment. The early refusal of the Supreme Court of Canada, in its widely known "labour trilogy" cases.' to find space within s. 2(d) of the Charter for protection of the right to engage in collective bargaining and the right to strike lett many within the labour movement and the academic community doubtful about labour's prospects in the realm of Charter litigation; such observers suggested that labour must, at a minimum, proceed with caution. There also remained liberal "romantics," who were convinced of the Charter's progressive potential for labour.2 Others associated the proliferation of Charter litigation with the rise of a so- called "Court Party," a complex network of social actors and activists with an increasingly privileged status in Canadian society.'
-
This paper provides the first analysis of aggregate raiding activity in Ontario by isolating raid applications from available certification data. Raiding in Ontario generally decreased over the 1975 to 2003 period save for the huge increases in 2000 and 2001 involving the CAW and SEIU. Bargaining units are significantly larger in raids, and legislative changes had little effect on aggregate raiding levels. Over most of the period raiding activity has been quite modest. Thus analyses of union organizing and its effect on union density are unlikely to be affected by leaving raids in the organizing data. An important exception occurs in 2000 and 2001, where the certification data seriously overstate new organizing. Corrected measures show that new (non-raid) union organizing continues to decline in Ontario. The decline in new organizing has been greater than the decline in raiding, resulting in an increased proportion of organizing due to raids in recent years.
Explore
Resource type
- Journal Article (2)
- Thesis (1)