Just Labour (E-Journal - York University)
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Jim Stanford and Leah F. Vosko (Eds.) (2004). Challenging the Market: The Struggle to Regulate Work and Income. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 416 pages.
Get PDFDuty to Accommodate
Get PDFWorkers traditionally accommodated co-workers. But, as accommodation law developed, tensions emerged. In Meiorin: accommodation is the norm. Employers must eliminate standards, rules, practices, etc. that discriminate on prohibited grounds, up to undue hardship. In the Canadian Human Rights Act, undue hardship includes only cost, health and safety. Other jurisdictions, following Central Alberta Dairy Pool, consider: impact on the collective agreement, other workers’ rights, employee morale, size of operation, workforce and facility adaptability. O’Malley clarifies adverse affect discrimination. A rule, although made in good faith, may discriminate “if it affects a person … differently from others”. Accommodation may override contract provisions (Renaud), including seniority (Goyette). While employers have principal responsibility for accommodation, unions have a role too (Gohm). Unions reduce accommodation tensions by: auditing collective agreements, reviewing accommodation procedures, educating members and leaders
The Global Union Research Network: A Potential for Incremental Innovation?
Get PDFOne of the current paradoxes for trade unions is that organizing is an essentially local or national affair whilst the most pressing challenge for unions, which is globalization, can only be faced in a global context. This paper analyzes to what extent the Global Union Research Network (GURN) has the potential to be regarded as an incremental innovation for research within the international labour movement. The paper argues that the GURN can become an incremental innovation and there are three stages to this argument. Firstly the GURN in conceptualized within the international trade union movement. Secondly the term 'innovation' is defined and the GURN is presented as a potential, albeit incremental, innovation. The final stage examines GURN sustainability and the barriers to its institutionalization
Individualisation and Resistance at the Coal Face
Get PDFThis paper examines the implementation of a model of systematic individualisation of the employment relationship by a large multinational corporation in Australia, operating with the support of a pro-corporate state, and the nature and effects of resistance. Principally through interviews with affected workers, we show how the symbolic and the real effects of employment practices, relational practices and informational practices were all aimed at removing freedom of association and replacing it with uncontested, union-free managerial control. We consider how workers and their families were affected by these strategies and how they and their union responded.Cet article examine la mise en place d'un modèle systématique d'individualisation de la relation d'emploi par une grande multinationale australienne, cela avec le support d'un gouvernement partialement favorable au patronat. La nature et l'impact de la résistance des travailleurs syndiqués sont également mis à jour. Nous montrons, principalement à l'appui des témoignages des travailleurs en cause, comment les effets réels ou symboliques des pratiques d'emploi, ceux des pratiques relationnelles et informationnelles ont été utilisés de concert pour dénier la liberté d'association et la remplacer par un contrôle gestionnaire incontestable et exempt de présence syndicale. Nous relatons comment les travailleurs et leurs familles ont souffert de ces stratégies patronales et comment leur syndicat a rétorqué
Can Joint Training Increase Union Knowledge and Power?
Get PDFGlobalization has been accompanied by a decline in unionization; however, while globalization presents extremely serious challenges to unions, globalization does not necessarily result in weakened unions. It is important for unions to identify and utilize ways to increase and leverage union power that are responsive to the pressures of globalization. Companies frequently introduce training during restructuring efforts aimed at remaining competitive in a global environment. This paper describes a joint union-management training program which offers an example of a pro-active union approach to joint training initiatives. The training took place in early 2004 in a typical paper mill in central Wisconsin. While the training was designed and undertaken in response to various competitive pressures, the content of the training was primarily determined by employee focus groups. The training design is examined against criteria for successful union involvement in joint ventures. The paper argues that, while joint ventures typically address management's production concerns at the expense of labor, a pro-active union can work to ensure that benefits also accrue to the union. Recent literature on union power in a globalized economy suggests that this training model could be used in other industries to enhance union knowledge and power
Contractors or Disguised Employees? A Case Study of Couriers in Winnipeg
Get PDFThe courier industry in Canada is rapidly expanding. This is due to a number of factors including greater international trade in goods; more use of just-in-time inventory strategies; and the rapid development of internet commerce. Significant technological and organizational developments within the industry have led to greater segmentation of markets. As a result, large national and international parcel delivery firms dominate the international and intercity markets, while there has been a proliferation of smaller firms in the same-city, same-day markets. The research findings from a case study conducted in Winnipeg reveal that couriers in certain parts of the industry are relatively well paid, with benefits and employment conditions negotiated by their union, while others are independent contractors with low incomes, no benefits and insecure tenure. The article compares the experience of these two types of couriers and examines what is being done to improve the terms and conditions of work for same-day couriers. It is concluded that nature of the same day courier industry means that union organizing will be very difficult and there is no guarantee of success. Unionization, however, is a necessary prerequisite for the improvement of conditions and wages in this growing industry
Neo-Liberalism, NAFTA, and the State of the North American Labour Movements
Get PDFThe consolidation of neo-liberalism since the 1980s has presented several challenges to unions in North America. Through the restructuring of the state and the promotion of globalization, neo-liberalism has made the terrain of struggle more daunting for unions. Changes in the organization of work are also implicated in the common threats to organized labour and workers more generally. These common pressures on labour in Canada, the United States and Mexico, however, have resulted in different outcomes for the three movements. Many have suggested that these common pressures should be met with an increased emphasis on transnational labour cooperation. It is argued here it is possible to build international solidarity without first building union capacities at the level of the local plant and at the level of the nation state
Réponses syndicales à la sous-traitance
Get PDFLa sous-traitance est l'un des plus importants défis pour les syndicats à l'heure actuelle. Cet article explore quatre positions syndicales en matière de sous-traitance : opposition, défensive, abstention et offensive. Différents exemples tirés de nos observations sur le terrain permettent d'illustrer ici les différentes attitudes adoptées et les ressources susceptibles d'être mobilisées par les syndicats pour répondre à la sous-traitance. Le principal constat demeure que la réponse syndicale à la sous-traitance est bien souvent plus subtile et nuancée qu'une simple opposition inconditionnelle. Afin de conserver une certaine marge de manœuvre dans le développement et l'adoption d'une position en matière de sous-traitance, il est nécessaire pour un syndicat de travailler sur ses ressources de pouvoir. Quelques pistes sont suggérées pour y parvenir : le développement d'une vision globale, la mobilisation à l'interne, la construction de liens de solidarité à l'externe.
Subcontracting is one of the most important current challenges for unions. This article explores four union positions with regard to subcontracting: oppositional, defensive, abstentionist and proactive. It draws on different examples and cases from the author's research in the field to highlight the different union stances and the resources likely to be mobilized by unions in response to subcontracting. The major finding is that rather than a simple position of unconditional opposition, union responses to subcontracting are highly varied and finely nuanced. Moreover, in order to enlarge its scope to develop a position on subcontracting, a union must work on its power resources. Several avenues are identified in order to reinforce these resources. It was found that a global vision, internal mobilization and the development of solidarity with outside groups all contribute to a greater capacity on the part of the union to deal with subcontracting
Les syndicats français pris dans le tourbillon de la négociation - Collective French Trade Unions Caught in the Swirl of Collective Bargaining
No full textLe présent article interroge l'action syndicale en France dans un contexte caractérisé par une remise en cause de la loi relative à la réduction de la durée du travail. En prenant appui sur le cas d'un établissement qui s'engage dans un processus d'allongement de la durée du travail, l'auteur retrace le cheminement parcouru par les acteurs en présence qui débute par la renégociation de la règle sur les 35 heures pour aboutir à l'invention d'une nouvelle régulation entre salariés et direction. Loin d'abroger les lois Aubry, ce mouvement d'allongement de la durée du travail questionne la capacité des acteurs à mener des négociations collectives.This paper questions the way French trade unions have dealt with the effects of the legislation purporting to limit maximum working time to 35 hours per week. The research is based on a case study of a manufacturing firm. The author examines the ways in which local actors evolved from the negotiation over the implementation of the 35 hour work week to the development of new relationships between the employees and their employer. In this specific case study, the negotiation actually ended up lengthening working time. This result does not deny the importance of working time legislation but it does call into question the capacity of local unions to achieve in collective bargaining the objectives set out legislatively