Full bibliography

Data collected as part of a comprehensive mail survey of unionized Canadian firms conducted in 1991 provided information on industrial relations developments in nearly 1,000 firms across key sectors of the economy in Canada. The survey had 2 related major purposes - to assess the extent of innovations in Canadian firms and their impact on industrial relations. The most common innovation was labor-management committees, followed by flexible work systems and profit sharing. The least common were pay systems, semi-autonomous work groups, and quality circles. Job enrichment was in between. Findings establish the empirical validity of innovations and indicate that industrial relations are indeed in transition. But the data also suggest that this transition is limited. The pragmatic initiatives at the firm-level point towards a change, though far short of a transformation, in Canadian industrial relations.