TY - BOOK T1 - Continental Crucible: Big Business, Workers and Unions in the Transformation of North America Y1 - 2015 A1 - Arregui, Edur Velasco A1 - Richard Roman KW - Canada KW - capitalism KW - Free Trade Agreements KW - labor unions KW - Mexico KW - organizing AB -

The crucible of North American neo-liberal transformation is heating up, but its outcome is far from clear. Continental Crucible examines the clash between the corporate offensive and the forces of resistance from both a pan-continental and a class struggle perspective. This book also illustrates the ways in which the capitalist classes in Canada, Mexico and the United States used free trade agreements to consolidate their agendas and organize themselves continentally. The failure of traditional labor responses to stop the continental offensive being waged by big business has led workers and unions to explore new strategies of struggle and organization, pointing to the beginnings of a continental labor movement across North America. The battle for the future of North America has begun.

PB - Fernwood Publishing Company CY - Winnipeg, Canada L2 - eng ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Education and Wage Gaps: A Comparative Study of Immigrant and Native Employees in the United States and Canada Y1 - 2015 A1 - William C. Smith A1 - Frank Fernandez KW - Canada KW - education KW - immigrants KW - wage gap AB -

The United States and Canada are destination countries for immigrants, attracting more than half of all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) immigrants and two-thirds of the OECD immigrants who have received tertiary education. Initial comparisons of immigrant wages to their native peers using data the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) reveal within country immigrant wage gaps in these two countries with immigrants making, on average, over $200 less per month than their native peers. This study uses PIAAC to examine potential explanations for these immigrant wage gaps using an additive path analysis approach that allows us to match populations by occupational field and segment out the direct effect of immigrant status on wage from the indirect effect of immigrant status on wage through education and literacy and numeracy skills. Results suggest that factors attributing to the immigrant wage gap differ by country. In the U.S. immigrants are disproportionately concentrated in low wage jobs. Wage gaps disappear, however, once immigrants and natives in the U.S. are matched by occupational field. The strong link between education and wage in the U.S., combined with the immigrant educational attainment gap present in the country, suggests that to reduce the within country wage gap policies should be adopted that (a) aid persistence in education by supporting the transition of immigrants into the American education system, and (b) train educators to properly support learners that are culturally and linguistically diverse. The initial wage gap in Canada remains present in nearly all occupational fields suggesting that immigrants in Canada that work in the same field and have equivalent education and literacy and numeracy skills as their native peers earn significantly less money, controlling for key demographic variables. We conclude that in Canada, the wage gap results from underemployment, marginal returns on education and discriminatory wage practices.. These findings suggest that the point-based immigrant policy in Canada is successful in attracting highly educated immigrants but may fail to properly support them once they arrive in-country.

PB - American Institute for Research (AIR) CY - Washington, D.C. L2 - eng UR - http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51bb74b8e4b0139570ddf020/t/54da784be4b026d7c8ca7e4e/1423603787112/Smith_Fernandez_PIAAC.pdf ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Between Accommodation and Transformation: The Two Logics of Union Renewal JF - European Journal of Industrial Relations Y1 - 2014 A1 - Melisa R Serrano KW - Canada KW - Canadian Auto Workers KW - Germany KW - IG Metall KW - logic of accommodation KW - logic of transformation KW - trade unions KW - union renewal AB -

This article distinguishes between two logics of union renewal: accommodation and transformation. It examines the functioning and potential of these logics in two industrial unions in Germany and Canada, exploring factors that influence decisions to give priority to one renewal logic. The findings suggest that the two logics can coexist, and that unions are able to alternate between them. Of particular relevance in comparative perspective are some similarities and differences in the renewal processes and strategies pursued by the two unions.

VL - 20 L2 - eng CP - 3 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Rethinking the Attractiveness of EU Labour Immigration Policies: Comparative Perspectives on the EU, the US, Canada and Beyond Y1 - 2014 A1 - Carrera, Sergio A1 - Guild, Elspeth A1 - Eisele, Katharina A1 - Ruhs, Martin A1 - Ryan, Bernard A1 - Cholewinski, Ryszard A1 - Triandafyllidou, Anna A1 - Kahanec, Martin A1 - Acosta Arcarazo, Diego A1 - Gabriel, Christina A1 - Fullerton, Maryellen A1 - Groenendijk, Kees A1 - Peers, Steve A1 - Popova, Natalia A1 - Desiderio, Maria Vincenza KW - Canada KW - EU KW - EU labor migration policies KW - Europe KW - immigration KW - immigration policy KW - labor migration policies AB -

Is Europe's immigration policy attractive? One of the priorities driving current EU debates on labor immigration policies is the perceived need to boost Europe's attractiveness vis-á-vis 'talented' and 'highly skilled' immigrants. The EU sees itself playing a role in persuading immigrants to choose Europe over other competing destinations, such as the US or Canada.This book critically examines the determinants and challenges characterising discussions focused on the attractiveness of labor migration policies in the EU as well as other international settings. It calls for re-thinking some of the most commonly held premises and assumptions underlying the narratives of ‘attractiveness’ and ‘global competition for talent’ in migration policy debates. How can an immigration policy, in fact, be made to be 'attractive' and what are the incentives at play (if any)? A multidisciplinary team of leading scholars and experts in migration studies address the main issues and challenges related to the role played by rights and discrimination, qualifications and skills, and matching demand and supply in needs-based migration policies. The experiences in other jurisdictions such as South America, Canada and the United States are also covered: Are these countries indeed so 'attractive' and 'competitive', and if so what makes them more attractive than the EU? On the basis of the discussions and findings presented across the various contributions, the book identifies a number of priorities for policy formulation and design in the next generation of EU labor migration policies. In particular, it highlights important initiatives that the new European Commission should focus on in the years to come.

PB - Centre for European Policy Studies CY - Brussels, Belgium L2 - eng UR - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2524309 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Building More Effective Labour-Management Relationships Y1 - 2013 A1 - Chaykowski, Richard P. A1 - Robert S. Hickey KW - Canada KW - collective bargaining KW - employment relations KW - labor relations KW - labor-management relations KW - management AB -

Building More Effective Labour-Management Relationships combines valuable insights into new approaches to relationship-building and collective bargaining with unique knowledge and concrete lessons garnered from some of the foremost industrial relations practitioners in Canada.

PB - McGill-Queen's University Press CY - Montreal, Quebec L2 - eng ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Labour Struggles for Workplace Justice: Migrant and Immigrant Worker Organizing in Canada JF - Journal of Industrial Relations Y1 - 2013 A1 - Choudry, Aziz A1 - Mark Thomas KW - Canada KW - immigrant workers KW - labor organizing KW - migrant workers KW - temporary foreign worker programs AB -

This article explores the dynamics of labour organizing among migrant and immigrant workers in Canada, focusing on two case studies: first, recent efforts to organize migrant farmworkers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Program; and, second, the work of the Immigrant Workers’ Centre in Montreal. The Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Program, which employs workers from Mexico and Caribbean countries, is often viewed by policymakers and employers as an example of ‘best practices’ in migration policy. Yet workers in the program experience seasonal employment characterized by long hours and low wages, and are exempt from many basic labour standards. The Immigrant Workers’ Centre formed in 2000 to provide a safe place for migrant and racialized immigrant workers to come together around problems in their workplaces. Through these case studies, we examine labour organization efforts including advocacy and grassroots organizing through the Immigrant Workers’ Centre and legal challenges attempting to secure recognition of freedom of association rights for farmworkers. The article explores the ‘limits and possibilities’ of these strategies, and concludes by assessing the implications for labour organizing among the growing numbers of migrant and immigrant workers employed in a wide range of low-wage, low-security occupations due to the recent expansion of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

VL - 55 L2 - eng CP - 2 ER - TY - CONF T1 - The Emerging Anglo-American Model: Convergence in Industrial Relations Institutions? T2 - 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association Y1 - 2009 A1 - A. J. Colvin A1 - Darbishire, O. R. KW - Australia KW - Canada KW - dispute resolution KW - industrial relations KW - Ireland KW - labor rights KW - New Zealand KW - United Kingdom KW - United States AB -

The Thatcher and Reagan administrations led a shift towards more market oriented regulation of economies in the Anglo-American countries, including efforts to reduce the power of organized labor. In this paper, we examine the development of employment and labor law in six Anglo-American countries (the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) from the Thatcher/Reagan era to the present. At the outset of the Thatcher/Reagan era, the employment and labor law systems in these countries could be divided into three pairings: the Wagner Act model based industrial relations systems of the United States and Canada; the voluntarist system of collective bargaining and strong unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland; and the highly centralized, legalistic Award systems of Australia and New Zealand. Indeed, such a historical perspective contradicts the idea that there has been a longstanding Anglo-American model of liberal market economic ordering as has sometimes been suggested, e.g. in the varieties of capitalism literature. However, looking at the current state of the employment relations systems in these six countries, we argue that there has been growing convergence in two major areas.

There has been a convergence in the area of labour rights toward private ordering of employment relations and away from the idea of work and employment being a matter subject to public ordering. By private ordering, we mean the idea that work and employment terms and conditions are primarily determined at the level of the individual organization, whether through collective bargaining between unions and employers at the organizational level, through individual negotiations, or through unilateral employer establishment of the terms and conditions of employment. The shift away from public ordering of work and employment is most dramatic in the cases of Australia and New Zealand, where the publicly established system of centralized Awards has given way to organizational level ordering of employment relations through workplace or individual level agreements. In the United Kingdom, the shift to greater private ordering is most evident in the breakdown of multi-employer collective bargaining, the weakening of industry wide standards enforced by strong unions, and the growth of nonunion representation at the enterprise level. By contrast, the much lesser degree of change in the labour rights area in North America reflects the historical situation that the Wagner Act model was from the outset a model built around the idea of private ordering. When we turn to the area of employment rights, we also see a convergence across the six Anglo-American countries toward a model in which the role of employment law is to establish a basket of minimum standards that are built into the employment relationship, which can then be improved upon by the parties.

Within these general trends, we do see some variation in the degree of convergence on these models of labour and employment rights regulation across the Anglo-American countries. The strongest degree of similarity in adoption of the private ordering in labour rights and the minimum standards basket in employment rights is found in four of the countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and, with recent legislative changes, Australia. Each of these countries has adopted labour laws that favour organizational level economic ordering, but with reasonably substantial protections of trade union organizing and bargaining rights, and a set of minimum employment standards that includes similar sets of minimum wage, basic leave entitlements and unfair dismissal protections.

The first outlier in this study is Ireland. The Irish employment relations system stands out as the only one that has continued to have a significant degree of central coordination and public ordering of employment relations. Although there is substantial coordination at the central level, at the organizational level, the Irish system resembles the other Anglo-American countries much more closely, suggesting that it has the potential to evolve in a similar direction. The other outlier is the United States. Structurally its system is similar to the other Anglo-American countries in emphasizing private ordering in labour law and the role of employment law as being to establish a minimum basket of basic standards. However, where the United States diverges from the other countries is that its system has involved a general favouring of the interests of employers over those of employees and organized labour in the implementation of the model.

JA - 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association CY - Sydney, Australia L2 - eng UR - http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/conference/32 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Labour and the Challenges of Globalization: What Prospects for Transnational Solidarity? Y1 - 2008 A1 - Bieler, A. A1 - Lindberg, I. A1 - Pillay, D. KW - Argentina KW - Brazil KW - Canada KW - China KW - Germany KW - globalization KW - India KW - Japan KW - South Africa KW - South Korea KW - Sweden KW - trade unions AB -

This book critically examines the responses of the working classes of the world to the challenges posed by the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Neoliberal globalisation, the book argues, has created new forms of polarisation in the world. A renewal of working class internationalism must address the situation of both the more privileged segments of the working class and the more impoverished ones. The study identifies new or renewed labour responses among formalised core workers as well as those on the periphery, including street-traders, homeworkers and other 'informal sector' workers. The book contains ten country studies, including India, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. It argues that workers and trade unions, through intensive collaboration with other social forces across the world, can challenge the logic of neoliberal globalization. (publisher’s statement)

PB - Pluto Press CY - London L2 - eng ER - TY - BOOK T1 - What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace Y1 - 2007 A1 - Boxall, P. A1 - R. Freeman A1 - Haynes, P. KW - Australia KW - Canada KW - Ireland KW - New Zealand KW - United Kingdom KW - United States KW - workers AB -

[Excerpt] This book is about employee voice in the workplaces of the highly developed Anglo-American economies: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. These are among the most economically successful countries in the world. Despite being located in three different geographic areas, the Anglo-American countries have a common language and legal tradition, have close economic and political ties, and are linked by flows of people, goods, and capital. Many of the same firms operate in each country. The unions in each pay more attention to their counterparts within the group than to unions in other countries. The Anglo-American brand of capitalism – market oriented and open to competition, with modest welfare sates and income transfer systems – differentiates the countries from countries in the “social dialogue” model of the European Union (although the United Kingdom and Ireland are part of the Union) and from the highly unionized labor system in Scandinavia.

PB - Cornell University ILR Press CY - Ithaca, NY L2 - eng UR - http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/books/36/ ER -