Les droits fondamentaux du travail et le développement économique du Québec : obstacles et perspectives

Abstract

To say that labor law is inherently linked to the economic system is a truism. The existence of the employment contract is a necessary condition to the establishment of a market structured by the capitalist firm as a production unit. Thus, since wage labor first started to emerge in the West, labor law has aimed to establish some “ rules of the game” to structure the market. However, the reduction of trade barriers and the free movement of persons and capital which we witness in today’s world tend to generate a high level of competition between jurisdictions. This new situation operates a reversal of the hierarchical relationship between juridical and economical logics. As outsourcing of the production and the search for greater flexibility on the employment market exacerbates concerns for the workers, the social rights that have already been granted to them are being strongly criticized on the grounds that they constitute barriers to the proper functioning of firms and to foreign investment attractiveness. What needs to be retained from this huge upheaval ? What is the future of social law in Quebec ? This text proposes to revisit the genesis of labor law and to study the connexions that may exist between this field of law and the economic system, in light of the current context of globalization.