1,721,110 research outputs found
Brave New Words: Labour, The courts and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
No full textIn Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining
Association v. British Columbia, [2007] 2 S.C.R.
391, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned precedent and
concluded “that the grounds advanced in the earlier decisions for
the exclusion of collective bargaining from the Charter’s protection
of freedom of association do not withstand principled scrutiny
and should be rejected” (at para. 22). The author explores
the Supreme Court of Canada’s change of heart and what this
change implies, not only for constitutional doctrine, but also for
what the Court understands about the governance of the post-
Fordist world of work. She situates the Court’s reasoning in a
few key cases dealing with labour’s distinctive rights – to bargain
collectively and to strike – in the social context that both shapes
the legal discourse about labour rights and influences organized
labour’s power. She considers the paradox of the Supreme Court’s
embrace of Fordist labour rights in a post-Fordist economy, and
suggests a modest, though important, role that the Court could
play in fostering social justice in the brave new world of work.
Dans l’arrêt Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector
Bargaining Association c. Colombie-Britannique [2007]
2 R.C.S. 391, la Cour Suprême du Canada a invalidé un précédent
et a conclu que «les motifs avancés dans les arrêts précédents
pour exclure les négociations collectives de la protection
accordée par la Charte à la liberté d’association ne résistent pas
à un examen fondé sur les principes pertinents et qu’ils devraient
être écartés» (au para. 22). L’auteure explore le revirement de la
Cour Suprême du Canada et ce qu’implique ce changement, non
seulement pour la doctrine constitutionnelle, mais aussi pour ce
que la Cour comprend au sujet de la façon de gouverner dans le
monde post-Fordiste du travail. Elle situe le raisonnement de la
Cour dans quelques cas-clés traitant des droits distinctifs des travailleurs
– la négociation collective et la grève – dans le contexte
social qui à la fois détermine la forme du discours juridique au
sujet des droits des travailleurs et influence le pouvoir du mouvement
syndical. Elle considère le paradoxe que la Cour Suprême épouse des droits des travailleurs Fordistes dans une économie post-Fordiste, et suggère un rôle modeste, mais important, que pourrait jouer la Cour pour favoriser la justice sociale dans le nouveau monde prometteur du travail
Privatization, Law and the Challenge to Feminism
No full textPrivatization has caused a large reconfiguration of the relations between the state, the market, and the family in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, all of which has had a profound effect on the lives of women. This collection of essays address this timely issue by examining eight case studies on the role of law in various arenas such as fiscal and labour market policy, family and immigration law, and laws designed to regulate health services and to prohibit child prostitution.
Starting from the shared assumption that privatization signals a transition from welfare state to neo-liberal state, the authors illustrate the role of law in this process, and its impact on women and on the gender order. In doing so, the contributors lay bare the complex interplay between a globalized political economy, social reproduction and legal regulation, providing an important contribution to feminist political theory and legal theory. Of great relevance to political science and law practitioners scholars and students - especially those interested in the areas of public policy and the state - these essays contribute strongly to debates about gender and will attract a wide feminist audience.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty_books/1194/thumbnail.jp
Constitutional Labour Rights in Canada: Farm Workers and the Fraser Case
No full textOn 29 April 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada released its much-anticipated decision in Attorney General of Ontario v Fraser, which dealt with the scope of constitutional protection of collective bargaining. The case involved a constitutional challenge to an Ontario statute on the grounds that it violated agricultural workers’ freedom of association and right to equality by excluding them from the statutory protection that is available to virtually all other private sector workers and by failing to provide them with alternative legislative support for meaningful and effective collective bargaining rights. Although the Court upheld the constitutionality of the legislation by an eight to one majority, it provided four different, and incommensurable, sets of reasons. For the union that instigated the litigation, Fraser is a defeat. For the labour movement and their advocates, Fraser is ambiguous. What is clear, however, is that the Supreme Court of Canada was badly divided over the scope of protection that freedom of association provides to the right to bargain collectively.
This collection of original essays untangles the two stories that are intertwined in the Fraser decision—the story of the farm workers and their union’s attempt to obtain rights at work available to other working people in Ontario, and the tale of judicial discord over the meaning of freedom of association in the context of work. The contributors include trade unionists, lawyers, and academics (several of whom were involved in Fraser as witnesses, parties, lawyers, and interveners). The collection provides the social context out of which the decision emerged, including a photo essay on migrant workers, while at the same time illuminating Fraser’s broader jurisprudential and institutional implications.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty_books/1163/thumbnail.jp
Feminist Reflections on the Scope of Labour Law: Domestic Work, Social Reproduction and Jurisdiction
Get PDFDrawing on feminist labour law and political economy literature, I argue that it is crucial to interrogate the personal and territorial scope of labour. After discussing the “commodification” of care, global care chains, and body work, I claim that the territorial scope of labour law must be expanded beyond that nation state to include transnational processes. I use the idea of social reproduction both to illustrate and to examine some of the recurring regulatory dilemmas that plague labour markets. I argue that unpaid care and domestic work performed in the household, typically by women, troubles the personal scope of labour law. I use the example of this specific type of personal service relation to illustrate my claim that the jurisdiction of labour law is historical and contingent, rather than conceptual and universal. I conclude by identifying some of the implications of redrawing the territorial and personal scope of labour law in light of feminist understandings of social reproduction
Informal Sectors and New Industries: The Complexities of Regulating Occupational Health and Safety in Developing Countries
No full textArts, Education & Law Group, School of LawNo Full Tex
Beyond Vulnerable Workers: Towards a New Standard Employment Relationship
No full textIn this paper the author considers the relationship between the proliferation of vulnerable workers in the Canadian labour market and the deterioration of the standard employment relationship. In her view, law reform and policy initiatives aimed at improving the situation of vulnerable or precarious workers fail to address a crucial related problem, namely the decline in standard employment, as evidenced by such indicia as the stagnation of median wages, the growth in earnings inequality and the drop in defined-benefit pension plan coverage. The author traces this decline to labour market restructuring, and in particular to the effects of globalization, demographic change and deregulation. At the same time, the author points out that the traditional employment relationship, which was based on an anachronistic division of labour between men and women, and an inflexible model of work organization, is no longer viable in the new economy There/ore, she argues, the key issue is whether it is possible to create a new form of standard employment, one which ensures equal access to the labour market and increases flexibility while continuing to protect employees from economic and social risk. Ultimately, the author contends, policy-makers must address the underlying issue of the distribution of power in the labour market
Informal Workers in India: Reconceptualizing Labour Law to Promote Capabilities
No full textThe Constitution of India provides the basis of labour jurisprudence in the country. It promises right to work, right to livelihood, right against forced labour, right against child labour, equal treatment of all workers, equal pay for equal work, appropriate conditions at work, and the overall social, economic and political justice to the people. These constitutional promises find specific expression in the numerous labour-related statutes enacted in furtherance of workers’ welfare. However, the constitutional promises remain unrealized for the approximately 92% of informal workers who are largely excluded from the purview of the labour laws and accordingly, lead marginalized and precarious lives devoid of dignity. Against this backdrop, I analyze whether a capabilities-inspired approach to labour law can address the concerns of informal workers in India and promote their dignified life.
After reviewing the literature around informal economic activities, I argue that it is important to adopt a worker-centered approach that focuses on informal employment. Informal employment is varied and because of this the problems and concerns associated with the different categories of informal workers differ. For this reason, I focus on one specific category of informal activity – waste-picking – in one city – Kolkata – in order to ascertain whether a human development approach to labour law is capable of addressing the specific concerns of these waste-pickers. Drawing on the work of labour law scholars who develop the capability approach formulated by Amartya Sen, I consider whether it is suitable as a basis for labour law designed for informal workers in general and waste-pickers in particular. Using a case study of the informal activity of waste picking in Kolkata, I identify the specific capability deprivations suffered by waste-pickers and argue that the capabilities approach can supplement the International Labour Organization’s social dialogue pillar of its Decent Work Agenda to address the work-related concerns of waste-pickers. Based on the International Labour Organization’s social dialogue strategy, I envisage a mechanism through which waste-pickers along with other stakeholders could be integrated in a democratic dialogue process leading to the formulation of a capability-promoting labour [email protected]
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