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Over the past four decades, governments have backed away from the promotion of collective bargaining in Canada resulting in a tendency towards anti-unionism. Examining this new reality, this article investigates two interrelated trends in Canadian anti-unionism over the last two decades in an effort to conceptualize the role of the state in regulating labour relations. First, we investigate legislative attempts to undermine or eliminate the ability of workers to collectively bargain and strike. Second, the article unpacks the political economy of anti-unionism in the private sector by focusing on the role of lobby groups that have shaped labour legislation. These two interrelated threads allow us to expose the relationship between employers and governments, which has threatened the strength of organized labour in the private and public sector and shaped a uniquely Canadian anti-unionism. Finally, we conclude by examining both the strengths and limitations of the unique fight-back strategies used by the labour movement, which has sought to elevate aspects of Canadian labour law to be protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This, we argue, offers restrictive possibilities for advancing collective bargaining rights in the existing labour relations framework.

A number of mechanisms contribute to the gender earnings gap – both its level and trends in it. We focus on three of them: occupational demand, the cumulation of disadvantage that originates in the unequal domestic division of labour, and labour market statuses which also may originate in the domestic division of labour. We show that changes in occupational demand associated with the dot-com boom and what followed it have caused substantial shifts in the relative earnings of young male and female university graduates. We provide evidence of how one consequence of the domestic division of labour – differences in hours worked by gender - contribute to the size and growth of the female earnings disadvantage. And, even in our generally young sample, human capital accumulation is more likely to be disrupted for women than for men. We identify several methodological and substantive implications of our results.

With Masters and Servants, Scott P. Stephen has revealed startling truths about the men of the Hudson's Bay Company. Rather than dedicating themselves body and soul to the Company's interests, these workers hired out like domestic servants, joining a 'household' with its attendant norms of duty and loyalty. Through painstaking documentary research, Stephen shines welcome light on the lives of these largely overlooked historical actors. The household system produced a remarkably stable political-economic entity, connecting early Canadian resource extraction to larger trends in British imperialism and its emerging social relations. An essential book for labour historians, Masters and Servants will appeal to scholars of early modern Britain, the North American fur trade, Western social history, or business history, and anyone intrigued by the reach of the HBC. -- Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "The Labour Church: The Movement and Its Message," by Neil Johnson.

Saskatchewan's migrant workers rights regime has been characterized as a "positive national standard" for the rest of the country. Introducing the legislation in 2012, then-Minister of the Economy Bill Boyd argued it would "position Saskatchewan as having the most comprehensive protection for newcomers of any province in Canada." In Safe Passage: Migrant Worker Rights in Saskatchewan, Dr. Andrew Stevens reviews the impact of Saskatchewan's Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act (FWRISA) since its implementation. Using cases of employers and recruiters investigated under the FWRISA, this report explores how the government has addressed the exploitation of migrant workers in Saskatchewan. Dr. Stevens argues that the FWRISA deserves recognition as an important piece of legislation that has strengthened migrant worker protections and explicitly recognizes foreign labour’s unique vulnerabilities in the workplace. However, despite the strengths of the legisltion, Dr. Stevens argues that enforcement still remains a problem, with the complaints-based system too often putting the onus on precariously employed workers to self-report violations. Moreover, there is no requirement for employers to demonstrate comprehension of the province’s migrant labour regime in advance of accessing workers from abroad, resulting in employers that are ill-informed or ignorant of their responsibilities. Dr. Stevens concludes that Saskatchewan's existing migrant worker rights regime could be further improved by investing in a more rigorous audit and inspectorate system and through an expansion of community supports for newcomers.

This article reviews and comments on "Precarious Employment: Causes, Consequences and Remedies," edited by Stephanie Procyk, Wayne Lewchuk, and John Shields, "Precarious Lives: Job Insecurity and Well-Being in Rich Democracies," by Arne L. Kalleberg, "Remaking the Rust Belt: The Postindustrial Transformation of North America, by Tracy Newmann, and "Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres," by Jamie Woodcock.

The article reviews the book, "Biography of an Industrial Town, Terni, Italy, 1831–2014," by Alessandro Portelli.

This article examines the political economy of nutrition as a state-sponsored strategy to extract greater productivity from industrial workers in both wartime and peacetime. During World War II, the state, together with its munitions-industry allies, broadly considered workers’ nutritional health as a critical component to achieving maximum wartime industrial production. Following the war, both the state and industry imagined the nutritional health of workers’ bodies as crucial to Canada’s postwar prosperity. Facilitating as well as frustrating these largely state-directed nutrition agendas was a combination of medico-scientific knowledge, the sometimes uncertain and unpredictable participation of both employers and workers, and wider national and international historical contexts.

For decades Canadian trade unionists have expressed frustration with the grievance arbitration system, but this tends to be limited to criticisms of the legalistic nature of the process and the costs and delays involved in getting a judgement. There is little discussion or debate about the denial of the right to strike, which is the central feature of the system. Nor is there much discussion about approaches to contract enforcement that situate legal strategies in broader political strategies to use worker power effectively, including the withdrawal of labour. This study investigates how the United Electrical Workers (ue), a left-led union, defended workers' rights at Canadian General Electric (cge) and Westinghouse in the early years of the new legal regime. pecifically, it charts the North American origins of grievance arbitration systems, sketches the development of personnel policies in the electrical industry, surveys the ue Canadian district's struggle to establish contractual relations and codify workplace rights at these two corporations, reconstructs the elements of ue's approach to contract enforcement, and reviews a number of mid-contract work stoppages at cge and Westinghouse between 1946 and 1966 to determine how the union, workers, employers, and arbitrators negotiated the ban on grievance strikes as they adjusted to new legislation and new collective agreement language.

In a period characterized by growing social inequality, precarious work, the legacies of settler colonialism, and the emergence of new social movements, Change and Continuity presents innovative interdisciplinary research as a guide to understanding Canada's political economy and a contribution to progressive social change. Assessing the legacy of the Canadian political economy tradition — a broad body of social science research on power, inequality, and change in society — the essays in this volume offer insight into contemporary issues and chart new directions for future study. Chapters from both emerging and established scholars expand the boundaries of Canadian political economy research, seeking new understandings of the forces that shape society, the ensuing conflicts and contradictions, and the potential for social justice. Engaging with interconnected topics that include shifts in immigration policy, labour market restructuring, settler colonialism, the experiences of people with disabilities, and the revitalization of workers' movements, this collection builds upon and deepens critical analysis of Canadian society and considers its application to contexts beyond Canada. --Publisher's description.

Employment Standards (es) legislation sets minimum terms and conditions of employment in areas such as wages, working time, vacations and leaves, and termination and severance. es legislation is designed to provide minimum workplace protections, particularly for those with little bargaining power in the labour market. In practice, however, es legislation includes ways in which legislated standards may be avoided, including through exemptions that exclude specified employee groups, fully or partially, from legislative coverage. With a focus on the Ontario Employment Standards Act, this article develops a case study of exemptions to the overtime pay provision of the act and regulations and examines in closer detail three specific areas in which exemptions apply. Through this study of the overtime pay exemption, the system of exemptions is presented as a contradictory approach to the regulation of es that, in effect, reduces es coverage, contributes to the avoidance of key legislated standards, and undermines the goal of providing protection for workers in precarious jobs.

In 2014, the National Labor Relations Board's Regional Director ruled that scholarship football players at Northwestern University were "employees ". Subsequently, in 2015, the full board, andwithout deciding the players' status, declined to assert jurisdiction effectively ending the dispute. There are parallels between this dispute and lawsuits currently before the Canadian courts involving the Canadian Hockey League ("CHL'). The CHL is nominally an "amateur" league and is the principal development league for players hoping to pursue a career as a professional hockey player. The players claim they are "employees" under provincial employment standards statutes. The CHL maintains that the players are "student athletes ", akin to NCAA Division I scholarship athletes. This article examines the similarities and distinctions between CHL players and NCAA Division I athletes, discusses the CHL litigation, the probable outcome, and the possible ramificationso f this litigationf or the CHL and its players. *

Cet article se fixe deux objectifs, correspondant à ses deux parties : 1- discuter l’analyse d’Allan Flanders (1968) à propos des théories de la négociation collective (collective bargaining theories) identifiées par Neil Chamberlain (1951); et 2- s’appuyer sur la conclusion de Flanders à propos de la participation à la régulation collective (participation in job regulation) du syndicat pour élargir ce raisonnement aux deux négociateurs — syndicalistes et employeurs. L’article propose de lire cela comme un travail — le ‘travail de négociation’. Dans une première partie, l’auteur propose de renommer les trois théories de la négociation collective (collective bargaining theories de Chamberlain et Flanders) et d’y ajouter deux autres théories : les approches ‘marchandes’, ‘constitutionnelles’, ‘décisionnelles’, ‘rationnelles’ et ‘radicales’. Dans une seconde partie, l’auteur commente les spécificités de ce ‘travail de négociation’. Il souligne son originalité : il ne peut s’effectuer solitairement; chacun est pour l’autre un adversaire, mais leur travail conjoint consiste à se muer en partenaires d’interaction; et il combine intra et internégociation. Sont présentées, ensuite, les contraintes pesant sur les négociateurs, le travail de négociation consistant à en réduire le poids et les muer en ressources. Il les nomme ainsi : les contraintes de ‘normativité’, de ‘coopération’, de ‘réciprocité’ et ‘d’efficacité ‘. L’auteur tire enfin quelques leçons de son approche : un, cela permet de la comparer à d’autres activités sociales, pour en comprendre l’originalité. Deux, saisie comme un travail, la négociation collective se prête moins à une lecture idéologique, oscillant entre déploration et dénonciation. Trois, une approche davantage poïétique éclaire les « échecs » du travail conjoint de régulation. Quatre, l’enquête sur ‘le travail’ de négociation collective peut se conjoindre à celle de ses représentations savantes, portant au jour les dilemmes pratiques qu’elles génèrent aux négociateurs.

The article reviews the book, "Beyond the Noise of Solemn Assemblies: The Protestant Ethic and the Quest for Social Justice in Canada," by Richard Allen.

The memoirs of union organizer Marino Toppan, during the union organizing days of the residential construction "jungle" in Toronto: 1955-1980.

The article reviews the book, "Never Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest," by Hanif Abdurraqib.

La Cour suprême des États-Unis a récemment décidé, dans l’affaire Janus, que le précompte syndical imposé par la législation de l’Illinois aux employés de l’État viole les libertés d’expression et d’association que leur garantit la constitution américaine. Cette décision met en évidence le statut profondément différent dont bénéficie la Formule Rand au Canada, où elle est considérée comme un élément essentiel du régime de négociation collective de type Wagner qui prévaut à l’échelle national. Non seulement est-elle partout permise, mais la législation l’a rendue obligatoire, d’une façon ou d’une autre, dans une majorité de juridictions canadiennes, notamment au Québec. De plus, la Cour suprême du Canada a reconnu, il y a de cela près de 30 ans, que le précompte syndical obligatoire n’entravait ni la liberté d’association ni la liberté d’expression protégées par la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés.

The United States Supreme Court has recently ruled in the Janus Case that the agency shop (mandatory dues check-off) imposed by Illinois law on state employees violates the freedom of expression and association guaranteed by the US Constitution. This decision underscores the profoundly different status enjoyed by the Rand Formula in Canada, where it is considered an essential element of the nation-wide Wagner-type collective bargaining system. Not only is it permitted everywhere, legislation has made it mandatory, in one way or another, in a majority of Canadian jurisdictions, including Quebec. Furthermore, almost 30 years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that mandatory dues check-off did not interfere with the freedom of association or expression protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Regulating Strikes in Essential Services" offers a comparative perspective on one of the most sensitive areas of industrial relations: strike in essential services. Designing a fair, effective and acceptable regime that will reconcile public interest and the public's need for an uninterrupted flow of essential services on the one hand, while maintaining the freedom of collective bargaining on the other, is an ever more difficult public policy challenge. This book, the first detailed analysis of existing legal and practical approaches across a spectrum of key national jurisdictions, provides a structured and insightful overview of the law and practice of regulating strikes in essential services. As such it could be of great value for public policy debate and the enhancement of national law in the field. --Publisher's description

For nearly fifty years, Professor Harry Glasbeek has been at the forefront of legal scholars and public intellectuals challenging assumptions and understandings about the injustices embedded in the economic, social, political and legal orders of Western capitalist democracies. His writings and teachings have influenced generations of law students, academics and activists. [This book] brings together eleven incisive contributions from pre-eminent scholars across several disciplines activated by the same desire for democracy and justice that Glasbeek advances, showing how capitalism shapes the law and how the law protects capitalism. This collection foregrounds a class analysis of the laws responses to corporate killing, workplace violence, surveillance, worker resistance and income inequality, among other issues. --Publisher's description