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The article is the text of the speech given in honour of Shirley Goldenberg as recipient of CIRA's award at its annual conference in 2000.

Drawing on the results of a national survey of labor organizations in Canada, this paper focuses on the changing environment and strategic orientations of unions. It looks at the strategic dilemma facing Canadian unions on the basis of a reading of their organiza tional and bargaining priorities and their relative success in achiev ing them. Key results include the necessity of a strategic mix be tween traditional and new types of objectives as well as the impor tance of policy and the democratic dialogue that underpins that policy in achieving union objectives and pursuing union renewal.

Editorial introduction to the theme of the issue.

La mondialisation n'est pas un phénomène qui détermine la capacité de régulat ion des syndi cats à l 'échelon des établissements. Son impact ne peut être saisi qu'à travers les dynamiques sociales propres aux milieux de travail touchés par le changement. Cet article identifie les conditions et les ressources associées à la régulation paritaire des changements et évalue en quoi les exigences de cette régulation dans les milieux de travail fortement intégrés à l'économie mondiale diffèrent de celles qui caractérisent les milieux de travail moins orientés vers les marchés internationaux. Nous concluons que le syndicat plus exposé à l'économie internationale doit faire preuve d'une plus forte capacité d'action pour assurer sa présence dans le processus de régulation.

The extent and the scope of organizational and technological innovations currently being introduced by many firms present important challenges of adjustment for the union movement. While working to renew their own collective strength, unions must also define their position with regard to new forms of work organization. Current mutations in identities both at work and beyond raise pressing questions about the relationship between the union and its members, particularly the capacity of unions to represent increasingly diverse groups of workers. The question of the link between identity at work and social cohesion will probably be exacerbated in the coming years because the current changes in the organization of work and the management of production are likely to have increasingly significant repercussions on the post-war institutional compromise in the workplace.

Editorial introduction to the issue.

The conflict between property rights and the right of association creates the case for various policy avenues to ensure that employees have effective access to the right to associate for the purposes of collective bargaining. One such labour policy in Canada is first-contract arbitration. The experience of this policy in Quebec over the last three decades has achieved key objectives: ensuring first agreements for newly unionized workers, developing constructive bargaining relationships and overcoming what can be a major obstacle to an effective right to associate. After reviewing this experience, this article provides an overview of the unionization campaigns resulting in union certifications for the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada in six Wal-Mart facilities in Quebec province over the last six years. It then examines two recent cases of first-contract arbitration for these certifications. In one case, the company summarily closed the department concerned after the first contract was awarded. In the second case, the store remains open, with an operative collective agreement. Absent a policy of first-contract arbitration, it appears unlikely that this would be the case. The evolution of the bargaining relationship beyond the first-contract will provide a key test of the relative efficacy of Canadian policy approaches to ensure the freedom of association.

In linking the discontinuities in the development of industrial relations theory in Canada with succeeding historical phases in the evolution of Canadian industrial relations, this article argues that an understanding of industrial relations theory must be historically grounded. It identifies four phases of theoretical development and suggests that the hold of Systems theory on the discipline should be understood as the product of a specific historical period which is now giving way to the emergence of new approaches.

L'actuel régime juridique de représentation syndicale des salariés en vue de la négociation collective survivra-t-il à la transformation contemporaine des modes de production de l'entreprise? Quelle adaptation serait requise ? Répondre à ces questions conduit naturellement à confronter les traits essentiels de cette nouvelle entreprise et ceux de cet aménagement de la représentation collective. Dans le premier cas, la problématique tient en particulier aux changements dans l'environnement de l'entreprise, à l'organisation de son système de production : gestion participative, extériorisation de la production et multiplication des statuts du personnel; dans le second, elle porte notamment sur l'étendue de l'aire de représentation, sur l'objet et le caractère exclusif de la représentation, de même que sur le maintien du caractère conflictuel du régime des rapports collectifs du travail.

This article explores paths for the renewal of the study of industrial relations and labour law. Through a comparative historical review of these two fields of study, it examines their common roots and legacies and a range of renewal initiatives. It is argued that both fields need to reappropriate core values: recognition of the fundamental inequality of the parties to the employment relationship; and recognition of the need to compensate for this inequality through collective processes. The seeds of this renewal are identified in both labour law and industrial relations. Their future lies in the emergence of an integrated field of study of work and employment and in the role and future of work as a vector of democracy.

Cet article explore les voies du renouvellement de l'étude des relations industrielles et du droit du travail. À travers un examen historique comparatif de ces deux domaines d’études, il examine leurs racines et héritages communs ainsi qu'une série d'initiatives de renouvellement. Il est soutenu que les deux domaines doivent se réapproprier des valeurs fondamentales : la reconnaissance de l'inégalité fondamentale des parties à la relation de travail et la reconnaissance de la nécessité de compenser cette inégalité par des processus collectifs. Les germes de ce renouveau sont identifiés à la fois dans le droit du travail et dans les relations industrielles. Leur avenir réside dans l'émergence d'un champ d’études intégré du travail et de l'emploi et dans le rôle et l'avenir du travail en tant que vecteur de démocratie.

Editorial introduction to the themes examined in the issue.

C’est avec tristesse et désarroi que nous apprenions, le 28 juin 2018, le décès de notre collègue et ami, Jacques Bélanger. Comme bien des lecteurs et des lectrices de la revue RI/IR le savent, Jacques Bélanger fut un professeur titulaire renommé du Département des relations industrielles de l’Université Laval, un contributeur fréquent à RI/IR, et le codirecteur et cofondateur du Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la mondialisation et le travail, le CRIMT. Intellectuel brillant, théoricien novateur, pédagogue chevronné, comment, dans un espace si restreint, donner un juste aperçu de ce que Jacques fut et de son immense contribution à la recherche et à l’avancement des connaissances sur le travail humain dans ses multiples déclinaisons ? Jacques Bélanger, chercheur de réputation mondiale, est toujours demeuré profondément attaché à ses origines et à Saint-Vallier de Bellechasse, son village.... / Our reaction to news of the death of our dear colleague and friend, Jacques Bélanger, on 28 June 2018, was one of deep sadness and dismay. As so many RI/IR readers will know, Bélanger was a distinguished Professor in the Industrial Relations Department at Université Laval, a frequent contributor to RI/IR, and the co-director and co-founder of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work, the CRIMT. Bélanger was a brilliant intellectual, innovative theorist and accomplished teacher. In the few words permitted here, we can only provide a glimpse of his multiple contributions to research and the advancement of knowledge across diverse aspects of contemporary work and employment. Despite his international renown, Jacques Bélanger was profoundly attached to his origins and, in particular, to his birthplace and village of origin, Saint-Vallier de Bellechasse.....

This article examines union members’evaluation of the relevance of unions and their identification with a traditional collective value frame for union action. It seeks to take account of the impact of increasing labor market heterogeneity, declining instrumentality, and the behavior of unions and employers. Using Canadian data gathered from individual union members and their local union leaders, the study finds that new labor market identities are notlinked to weaker belief in the relevance of unions but are associated with weaker identification with the traditional value frame. Although declining instrumentality and hostile employer behavior are associated with greater identification with traditional value frames, greater union democracy is associated with less membership disaffection on both the relevance of unions and their collective modes of action. Union democracy is therefore found to be a key tool to address membership disaffection and to generate collective identities for a renewed union project.

Workplace representatives (shop stewards) provide insight into union transformations. This article explores the renewed research interest in terms of the representativeness of unionism and of workplace representatives, the complexity of the sites of representation and employer strategies, the search for new references and the centrality of workplace representatives in union renewal strategies.