Labour In Canada Research Articles

Re-Thinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage, eds., Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2012, pp. 196.

Re-Thinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage, eds., Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2012, pp. 196.

Boom, Bust and Crisis: Labour, Corporate Power and Politics in Canada, edited by John Peters, Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2012, 199 pp., ISBN: 978-1-5526-6518-3.

Boom, Bust and Crisis: Labour, Corporate Power and Politics in Canada, edited by John Peters, Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2012, 199 pp., ISBN: 978-1-5526-6518-3.

Ross, Stephanie and Larry Savage, eds. 2012. Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada.

Ross, Stephanie and Larry Savage, eds. 2012. Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada.

Accreditation Requirements and the Speed of Labour Market Adjustment in Canadian Building Trades

We investigate the influence of accreditation requirements on the speed of adjustment in the markets for eight building trades in 20 Canadian cities from 1971 to 2010. We aim to improve our understanding of how labour market institutions and regulations may impede adjustment in the markets for skilled labour, and therefore lead to persistent skills imbalances. Our estimates for the speed of labour market adjustment in construction trades cast doubt on characterizations of markets for skilled labour in Canada as “inflexible” and we find little evidence that longer apprenticeship programs are associated with slower labour market adjustment.

Transient servitude: migrant labour in Canada and the apartheid of citizenship

Shifts in Canada’s immigration policy, most recently linked to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) with the US and Mexico, have created an increased reliance on temporary migrant workers, who constitute a disposable workforce, driven from their own countries by the same forces of neoliberal capitalism which foster their super-exploitation in the Canadian labour market. In this article, the operation of two migrant worker programmes, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), are considered in the context of the province of British Columbia. The various means by which migrant workers are maintained in a state of vulnerability, available as a pool of cheap labour but excluded from belonging to the nation, are discussed. The article concludes by examining examples and further possibilities of alliances across social movements in BC in order to advance the struggle for human dignity.

Labour Welfare in Canada: An Examination of Occupational Assistance

This article explores labour welfare in Canada across three distinct periods of occupational assistance: welfare capitalism that began with the Industrial Revolution and persisted through the depression of the 1930s; occupational alcoholism programming that emerged during World War II and the typically unreported domestic labour strife of the 1940s, lasting through the postwar economic boom into the 1960s; and the employee assistance programming era with the introduction of the broad-brush approach to workplace-based assistance that also witnessed organised labour in Canada provide fundamental supports to workers that were originally introduced by workplace owners during the welfare capitalism period, though now to benefit workers rather than to control them. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and into the new information and technological era of work, organised labour has had a distinct role in shaping and providing services to enhance worker and community wellness in Canada.

Minimum Wage Impacts on Older Workers: Longitudinal Estimates from Canada

AbstractWe use the longitudinal nature of the master file of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics in Canada for the period 1993–99 to estimate the employment impacts for older workers of the large number (24) of minimum wage increases that have occurred across the different provincial jurisdictions over that period. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the minimum wage increases have positive impacts on the employment of older workers compared with the negative impacts that are commonly estimated for youths in Canada. The results are robust across various comparison groups and measures of the minimum wage increases. Reasons for this unusual finding are discussed.

From Fields of Power to Fields of Sweat: the dual process of constructing temporary migrant labour in Mexico and Canada

This article examines the social construction of migrant labour forces through an analysis of the exterior and interior conditioning in an agricultural contract labour programme between Mexico and Canada. I argue that forms of exterior conditioning, especially employers' point-of-production control, establishes the context within which migrant workers' experience unfolds, for which reason it contributes to their ‘interior conditioning’. But I argue as well that the result is shaped by workers' employment of a ‘dual frame of reference’ through which they gauge Canadian wages and working conditions the only way they can, which is in relationship to Mexican ones. Given that neoliberal policies have reduced the options available in Mexico, and diminished the attractiveness of those that remain, contract labour in Canada presents one of the few opportunities many poor, rural Mexicans have to acquire the income necessary for a minimally dignified life. Consequently most workers in this programme do everything possible to please their employers and continue in the programme.

Neo-Liberalism, NAFTA, and the State of the North American Labour Movements

The 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.

Jackson, Andrew. 2005. Work and Labour in Canada: Critical Issues. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press. 252 pages, incl. illustrations.

Jackson, Andrew. 2005. Work and Labour in Canada: Critical Issues. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press. 252 pages, incl. illustrations.

Union Leaders and the Economic Crisis : Responses to Restructuring

The restructuring of the Canadian economy continued throughout the recession of the early 1990s. How do union leaders see this situation and what are their reactions ? We discuss the current economic restructuring, examining the "competitiveness" analysis of Michael Porter, the initiatives of capital and the state, such as the FTA and NAFTA, and the restructuring of the workplace through "flexibility initiatives". We explore the response of the unions to this complex situation as seen through the eyes of selected leaders and draw some tentative conclusions on the future directions of labour in Canada.

Management Options for Preterm Labour in Canada

Management Options for Preterm Labour in Canada

Management Options for Preterm Labour in Canada

Objectives: (1) To determine the current use of treatment options for preterm labour and (2) to review the relative safety and efficacy of each class of tocolytic agent.Methods: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were searched using the terms “preterm delivery, ” “preterm labour, ” and “tocolysis” alone, and in combination with the terms “betamimetics, ” “ritodrine, ” “magnesium sulfate, ” “calcium channel blockers, ” “nifedipine, ” “prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors, ” “indomethacin, ” “glyceryl trinitrate, ” “nitroglycerin, ” “oxytocin antagonists, ” and “atosiban. ” Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effect of a tocolytic with a placebo or other tocolytic in women with preterm labour were selected. Trials were assessed according to Jadad’s validated quality scale for assessing the quality of RCTs. Thirty-two RCTs retrieved met the inclusion criteria. Information not evident from RCTs was sought from non-randomized clinical trials, cohort studies, case control studies, case series, and case reports. Data from the Canadian Survey on Tocolytic Use was obtained directly from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).Results: The available evidence on the use of tocolytics to prolong pregnancy fails to show benefits in neonatal survival and reduced disability. This uncertainty of benefit makes the issue of fetal and maternal drug toxicity more important. There is great concern among SOGC members over the lack of effective and safe treatment options for the management of preterm labour.Conclusions: Further well-designed placebo-controlled trials are necessary to study the efficacy and safety of tocolytics in managing preterm labour

Contract Labour in Canada and The United States: A Critical Appreciation of Tanya Basok's Tortillas and Tomatoes: Transmigrant Mexican Harvesters in Canada

Between the mid 1960s and mid 1970s the Canadian government entered into agreements with Mexico and various Caribbean nations the largest being Jamaica to supply contract workers to farmers in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and Manitoba. The government was responding to powerful agricultural lobbies that had pushed for years to secure something more than stop-gap measures to rectify what they claimed was a chronic labour shortage. The program made it possible for Third World workers and peasants to spend between six weeks and eight months annually in Canada, working mainly in tobacco, greenhouses, and open field fruits and vegetables. Perhaps because of its small size (until recently less than 10,000 workers annually), reputed success as measured by the high percentage of return migrants, and geographically limited reach (southern areas of four provinces), the program attracted little attention from Canadian politicians, the Canadian public, or academics (though see Cecil and Ebanks, 1 99 1 , 1 992). Public and academic interest in Canadian contract labour has increased since the late 1990s.1 Not only has the number of offshore

“Brain Abuse”, or the Devaluation of Immigrant Labour in Canada

Many professional and skilled Canadian immigrants suffer from de‐skilling and the nonrecognition of their foreign credentials. Consequently, they are underrepresented in the upper segments of the Canadian labour market. Rather than accepting this devaluation of immigrant labour as a naturally occurring adjustment period, I suggest that regulatory institutions actively exclude immigrants from the upper segments of the labour market. In particular, professional associations and employers give preference to Canadian‐born and educated workers and deny immigrants access to the most highly desired occupations.Pierre Bourdieu's notion of institutionalised cultural capital and his views of the educational system as a site of social reproduction provide the entry point for my theoretical argument. I find that the nonrecognition of foreign credentials and dismissal of foreign work experience systematically excludes immigrant workers from the upper segments of the labour market. This finding is based on data from interviews with institutional administrators and employers in Greater Vancouver who service or employ immigrants from South Asia and the former Yugoslavia.

Policing Labour in Canada

Recent research on the policing of labour disputes suggests that there have been substantial historical changes in policing practices and policies in North America and Europe. Much of the literature points to a postwar movement from reactive policing grounded in the threat and use of force to a more preventive consent-based approach which relies on communication, negotiation and self-policing. At the same time, there have been conflicting reports of increased use of police force and confrontation with labour in some countries such as Britain, while police actions in a number of recent anti-globalization protests in Canada, the United States and Europe have demonstrated readiness of the police to use substantial force in certain public disorder situations. These developments speak to the need to examine more fully the ways in which the police construct their role and the role of labour unions in labour strikes and public protests. Based on interviews with police in 38 different cities and 10 provincial jurisdictions across Canada, this article looks at the ways in which the police understand and implement policies in strike and protest situations. It is argued that the police in most services have constructed a minimalist role for themselves in "normal" strike and protest situations which is grounded in processes of responsibilization, flexible policing and privatization. As they understand most situations, the "best way" to maintain order is to limit the show and use of force, while relying on negotiation and persuasion to resolve conflicts, and civil court or labour board proceedings and the threat of court imposed fines. At the same time, in contexts where the police perceive a clear threat to public interest or safety, in particular when unions or more typically other radical groups refuse to play by the rules of the game, police thinking shifts markedly to the view that extraordinary force is necessary and justified both to prevent and control public disorder.

Women and Wage Labour in Australia and Canada, 1880-1980

A CENTURY of women’s work history in Australia and Canada reveals both similarities and contrasts. Women workers in both countries have faced persistent occupational segregation and lower pay, just...

Immigration and Labour: Australia and Canada Compared

NO PERSUASIVE ACCOUNT of labour in Australia and Canada can ignore the impact that immigration has wrought on the composition of the working class and preoccupations of workers, unions, and the varied political parties they have sponsored. Highlighting both similarities and differences between countries, the paper explores the paradoxical relationship that immigration has had with the labour movements of Australia and Canada. Although immigrants have been a critical source of union recruits, new ideas, and leaders (this being especially true for British skilled men), their presence was also long a source of concern, chauvinism, and division within predominantly white, Anglo-Celtic, and male-dominated union movements that adopted exclusionary policies, particularly regarding Asian and continental European workers. A more recent shift towards non-racist and inclusive policies unfortunately has not obliterated labour segmentation along racial and ethnic lines, especially job ghettos for immigrant women. Meanwhile, global restructuring and the loss of hard-earned union protections have increased immigrant workers’ historic vulnerability. In explaining differences in the two countries —for example, Australia’s greater ‘success’ at restricting non-white immigration before 1945 and Canada’s earlier experience with a racially diverse work force — the paper cautions against easy generalizations, pointing instead to a series of historically contingent factors (such as ‘accidents’ of geography and differing political developments) that on some occasions led to rather different outcomes.

Labour and Politics in Canada and Australia: Towards a Comparative Approach to Developments to 1960

This chapter seeks to move the discussion of labour and politics beyond the contest of political ideologies in the movement and the constraints of the liberal democratic state. To explain the different political histories of the Australian and Canadian movements we use a model with three dimensions: the changing balance between labour and politics; the different social forces that labour seeks to represent; and the different conceptions of politics that labour holds. After a discussion of the literature on labour and politics in the two countries, the paper applies this model to distinguish two periods, a formative period up to the early 1920s, in which labour entered politics, and the period from the 1920s to the 1950s when parties or governments took politics into the labour movement. The model enables us to characterize the politics of the Australian Labor Party as a form of class-based labourism, with significant moments of working-class socialism. We characterize the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party as a form of populist socialism. The paper concludes with some insights gained from using a common model in a comparative exercise.

Immigration and Labour: Australia and Canada Compared

No persuasive account of labour in Australia and Canada can ignore the impact that immigration has wrought on the composition of the working class and preoccupations of workers, unions, and the varied political parties they have sponsored. Highlighting both similarities and differences between countries, the paper explores the paradoxical relationship that immigration has had with the labour movements of Australia and Canada. Although immigrants have been a critical source of union recruits, new ideas, and leaders (this being especially true for British skilled men), their presence was also long a source of concern, chauvinism, and division within predominantly white, Anglo-Celtic, and male-dominated union movements that adopted exclusionary policies, particularly regarding Asian and continental European workers. A more recent shift towards non-racist and inclusive policies unfortunately has not obliterated labour segmentation along racial and ethnic lines, especially job ghettos for immigrant women. Meanwhile, global restructuring and the loss of hard-earned union protections have increased immigrant workers' historic vulnerability. In explaining differences in the two countries — for example, Australia's greater 'success' at restricting non-white immigration before 1945 and Canada's earlier experience with a racially diverse work force — the paper cautions against easy generalizations, pointing instead to a series of historically contingent factors (such as 'accidents' of geography and differing political developments) that on some occasions led to rather different outcomes.