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  • This study examines 54 cases of restructuring public services in towns and counties in upstate New York. The 54 cases include 39 cases of privatization in the form of contracting out, nine cases of contracting back in, and six cases of contracting out services to another government. Local government privatization was found to have some harmful effects on workers. Few local employers had adjustment policies to protect affected employees and disproportionate negative impacts were found on women and minorities. Privatization was also found to have significant de-unionizing effects. On the other hand, it had no clear impact on wages and benefits. The role of unions in the restructuring process is more complex than was previously thought. Unions were the catalyst for opposition actions but only in cases involving for-profit restructuring. In the nine cases that involved contracting work back into the public sector, unions supported restructuring changes, and in the six cases of contracting out to another government, union opposition was not significant.

  • Using a comprehensive collective bargaining data set, we examine dispute resolution patterns of all bargaining units in the province of Ontario over a 10-year period. A central finding is that bargaining units covered by legislation requiring compulsory interest arbitration arrive at impasse 8.7 percent to 21.7 percent more often than bargaining units in the right to strike sectors. Even after controlling for legislative jurisdiction, union, bargaining unit size, occupation, agreement length, time trend, and part-time status, strong evidence was found that compulsory arbitration has both chilling and dependence effects on the bargaining process. The problem of failure to reach negotiated settlements is particularly acute in the health care sector, especially among hospitals. Our results also call into question the use of interest arbitration in a central bargaining context. The centralized structure appears to exacerbate the negative effects of interest arbitration

  • This text presents a hands-on examination of industrial relations balanced in both theoretical and practical coverage, as well as union and labour coverage. Industrial Relations in Canada is grounded in leading research and examines true-to-life issues. Experiential exercises, cases, and collective bargaining simulations bridge the academic content of the text with real-world issues in the field. --Publisher's description of 2011 edition.

Last update from database: 4/3/25, 4:10 AM (UTC)

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