Projects Under Theme 1: Profiling The New Economy

1. Cultural Production in the Periphery
2. Union Coverage and Wages in the New Economy
3. How is the New Economy Shaping the Hinterland: An Investigation of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia
4. The New Economy, the World Market and the Canadian Economy Impasse
5. Restructuring Work in the ‘New Economy’: A Comparative Analysis
6. Student Workers in ‘New’ Small Urban Economies: The Case of Peterborough and Kingston
7. Changes in Work-Nonwork time as a Feature of the New Economy: Case Study of Older Workers
8. Work Restructuring and Call Centres in the Public Service: An Examination of Federal, Provincial and Local Government Needs
9. Part-Time, Casual and Contingent Employment in the Canadian Public Sector
10. The Tipping Study - Counting Tips and Tip-Outs in the Hospitality Industry
11. Organizing Call Centres

 

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Cultural Production in the Periphery
Larry Haiven, 
St. Mary's University

A distinct part of any definition of the "New Economy" is cultural production. Within this we find services such as tourism, museums, and the various physical products inextricably connected to them such as crafts, antiques, art, and collectibles. Once peripheral, these types of commercial activities have come to occupy a major part of the industry of many regions. This research project explores the question of cultural production in peripheral and marginalized communities, wherein there is a potential for community economic renewal. This project approaches the problem in two stages: first, a review the scholarly and popular literature on the phenomenon of peripheral cultural revival to establish a context beyond Atlantic Canada; second, a series of case studies of particular cultural products in peripheral communities in Atlantic Canada would be conducted, including a study of the Celtic revival in western Cape Breton Island, its uptake in other Atlantic communities, and its success in the core regions of Canada and the U.S.; the development of miner culture, and the craft industry in the Acadian communities of Cape Breton Island.

Union Coverage and Wages in the New Economy
Andrew Jackson,
Canadian Labour Congress

This project will contribute to an understanding of the ÎNew Economyâ in union coverage and union/non-union wage differentials. The goal is to decompose changes in the rate of union coverage and in union/non-union wage differentials into changes driven by structural change in the economy (in terms of changes in the occupational and industrial structure of employment consistent with movement to a ÎNew Economyâ) and changes within occupations and industries. These changes will be further disaggregated by sex and by age, as well as by province/region. The research will be based on detailed analysis of micro-data from the 1997 and 2002 Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey.

 

How is the New Economy Shaping the Hinterland: An Investigation of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia
Luis Aguiar, Okanagan University College

The time-space compression of globalization has brought hinterlands like the Okanagan Valley to a crossroads: They are either re-invented to be relevant for the global economy or risk a quick demise to economic backwardness. This research project takes aim at understanding what is ‘new’ in the new economic paradigm of the Okanagan Valley.

To do so, it investigates the labour processes and marketing strategies of the tourist and wine industries in the Okanagan Valley. In our view, these industries appear to be shaping, as well as being shaped by the new economy paradigm itself. Thus, our purpose is to decipher the ways by which these sectors adjust and change to conform and innovate within larger economic forces such as globalization, with a particular focus on the human being who participate in those endeavors.

See the related article in Just Labour:
CLEANERS AND POP CULTURE REPRESENTATION
Luis LM Aguiar
http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/Aguiar.pdf

The New Economy, the World Market and the Canadian Economy Impasse
Greg Albo, York University

Current economic transformations encompass the national production structures and interstate system of the entire world of capitalism. Even the postwar ‘miracle’ economies of Germany, Sweden and Japan have not been insulated from economic crisis and the loss of national autonomy from globalization. Indeed, global economic transformations have provoked, as David Harvey has foremost argued, ‘a temporal displacement piling debt upon debt’ and ‘a spatial revolution in global trading and investment.’ These developments are fundamental to profiling the new economy.
This research project has several research questions. Theoretically and conceptually, what is the new economy debate, and what is particular about the debate in Canada? Is the contemporary economic impasse in Canada to be interpreted as only a temporary economic adjustment to the new economy, a cumulative process of economic failure specific to Canada, a mere regional effect of a general crisis of capitalism, or a decline of more recent advent, whose institutional origins need to be traced to earlier historical processes? What are the implications of these new economy developments for the restructuring of work, for workers and Canadian unions?

Restructuring Work in the ‘New Economy’: A Comparative Analysis
Wallace Clement, Carleton University

This project focuses on four categories influencing the restructuring of work:

1. Post-industrial, meaning a sectoral analysis of the rise of the service economy;
2. Knowledge, focusing on training and education;
3. New Technologies, including the effects of computerization and digitization; and
4. Contingent Work, focusing on the quality of jobs, hours, pay, benefits and conditions.

The project will ask how these four processes are embedded in the new economy. It will do so comparatively, locating Canada in the context of other advanced capitalist societies, examining and utilizing four data sources including OECD, ILO, LES and Eurostat.

See the related article in Just Labour:
REVEALING THE CLASS-GENDER CONNECTION: SOCIAL POLICY, LABOUR MARKETS AND HOUSEHOLDS
Wallace Clement
http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume4/Clement.pdf

Student Workers in ‘New’ Small Urban Economies: The Case of Peterborough and Kingston
Steven Tufts, Trent University
John Holmes, Queen’s University

This project investigates the role post-secondary student workers in Kingston and Peterborough play in shaping local consumption spaces that have a ‘bohemian’ aesthetic deemed to be important to attracting ‘new economy’ workers. More specifically, the project will examine the following:

1. Changes in the participation of post-secondary students in local labour markets (consumer services, part-time work, etc.) and the effect that the deregulation of post-secondary education is having on student labour market participation.
2. The role students play in establishing an aesthetic (e.g., bohemianism) in consumer services (e.g., foodservices, independent retailers, galleries and cultural spaces) that may attract ‘new economy’ workers to smaller urban labour markets such as Kingston and Peterborough.
3. The role these consumer services play in the retention of workers in the local economy post-graduation as either ‘new-economy’ employees or as consumer services workers.
4. The impact of student commuting (i.e. students who for largely financial and part-time employment reasons commute to university without changing their secondary school living arrangements) on student participation in local labour markets and the retention of university and college students in the local labour market post-graduation.

This project has implications for local economies competing to attract and retain skilled ‘new economy’ knowledge workers and enhance our understanding of some of the hidden long-term impacts of post-secondary deregulation on smaller urban labour markets.

Changes in Work-Nonwork time as a Feature of the New Economy: Case Study of Older Workers
Norene Pupo, York University
Anne Duffy, Brock University

In Part One of this proposal, attention is focused on providing a historical and cross-national examination of changes in work-time. Particular attention is focused on part-time work, contract work, multiple job holding, over-time, flextime, and job sharing. This segment of the research examines the existing research and statistical record on work/non-work time in Canada and other national contexts.

In Part Two of this research, the project focuses on the implications of work/non-work time changes for the aging populations in industrialized countries. Clearly, the aging workforce has dramatic implications for the overall stability and prosperity of Canada and other western countries.
The project entails an examination of the growing research and statistical information on the aging workforce and work-time issues. It will examine interview material on the attitudes of aging workers to continued paid employment, particularly in non-traditional work-time contexts. Further, the researchers will consider the ways in which organized labour is responding to the aging work force, mandatory employment and post-65 work-time issues.

Work Restructuring and Call Centres in the Public Service: An Examination of Federal, Provincial and Local Government Needs
Norene Pupo, York University
Jane Stinson, CUPE
Lorne Crawford, PSAC

This project will identify key issues emerging for workers, their unions and the public with the growth of call centres to provide public services. It provides an analysis of current issues and concerns associated with public service call centres and identifies potential future directions for both call centres and e-government as well as potential avenues of protection for workers through their unions.

The phenomena of government call centres will be located in the broader development of e-government characterized by a greater reliance by governments to deliver information and services to the public through computer and communications technology. This project will focus specifically on the establishment of call centres where staff use telephones to provide service. It will also explore the theme of work intensification with call centres. How has the nature and intensity of work changed with the establishment of a call centre? What indicators exist of greater work intensity, number and frequency and ability to take breaks, how workers are feeling at the end of a shift. Most importantly, what impact does the intensity of work in call centres have on workers’ health and well-being?

 

Part-time, Casual and Contingent Employment in the Canadian Public Sector
Rosemary Warskett, Carleton University Jane Stinson, CUPE

This project will analyze in more detail the trend to part-time and casual employment in the broad public sector. Key themes that will be explored through this research include the restructuring of employment relations; employment outcomes of public sector budget constraints; work intensification; the gender, age and immigrant status of changing work arrangements; and the extent to which worker rights and benefits can be protected as work becomes more precarious.
The project will attempt to answer questions such as:

What, generally, is the extent, type, and location of increases in precarious employment in the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ (CUPE) membership and the broader public sector?

1. How do the findings about CUPE compare to trends for the comparable broader public sector, based on labour force data from Statistics Canada?
2. Is there a regional dimension to part-time and casual work?
3. Is there a relationship between increasing casualization and the concomitant trend to increased contracting out and privatization of public sector work?
4. Are part-time and casual workers in the public sector more likely to be women, youth and/or people of colour?

The implications, constraints and opportunities for unions related to organizing part-time and casual workers as well as protecting their workplace rights will be canvassed through exploration of the project themes.

 

Part-Time, Casual and Contingent Employment in the Canadian Public Sector
Rosemary Warskett, Carleton University
Jane Stinson, CUPE

Full employee benefits (for services such as extended health, dental, and pharmaceutical coverage) are generally not available for part-time workers in the Canadian public sector. Many part-time and casual workers are either entitled to no benefits at all, or have inadequate benefits coverage. This reality is increasingly problematic in the context of sharply rising benefits costs and pressure from many employers to reduce, rather than improve, benefits coverage.

This research project will examine the extent and nature of benefits coverage for Canadian public sector part-time and casual workers – particularly part-time and casual employees who are members of Canada’s largest trade union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The project will also examine options for improving and extending benefits coverage for these workers. Its key themes include work restructuring, reduced employment security, implications for publicly provided social programs of inadequate workplace provisions, and the poverty and health consequences of the casualization of work.

The Tipping Study - Counting Tips and Tip-Outs in the Hospitality Industry
Judy Haiven, St. Mary's University

Tourism is one of the major industries in Halifax and in Nova Scotia.  Every year thousands of university students and graduates work in bars, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels. For example, Cape Breton’s reputation as the heartland for coal mining and steel production has recently been supplanted by a new claim to fame.  Recently it was dubbed the world’s second best tourist destination by National Geographic Traveler Magazine.  Tourism has changed the look – and the fortunes – of industrial Cape Breton.  Despite the high profile of tourism, actually working in the hospitality industry can be considered precarious work.  Hallmarks of precarious or marginal work include unsocial hours of work, short-term employment and low pay.  Clearly those who work in hotels and bars often work late into the nights and weekends. In addition, the life expectancy of their job is determined by the length of the tourist season.
Questions this project will seek to answer include:

• what effect does the NF law have on the wages of gratuity-earning workers in St John’s tourist industry?
• in NF, where tips are owned by the serving employee, does it mean cooks and kitchen staff make less money than in NS?
• how do earnings between St John’s and Halifax servers compare?
• what (if any) difference Labour Standards legislation means for hospitality workers?
• what role, more generally, do labour standards such as regulation of overtime, hours of work and holiday pay play in the lives of  precarious workers?

The Call Centre Research Project
Norene Pupo, York University
Loren Crawford, PSAC

For the federal government, the New Economy means, among other things, a shift to the delivery of on-line services. Many federal government workers now work in call centres, dealing with Canadians on issues related to taxation, health, employment, veterans affairs, etc. The trend is likely to have far reaching consequences for federal government workers and public service delivery. This project proposes to gather information that will give us insight into this work environment and what issues might develop for both employees and Canadians as a result of the new "culture" of public service provision.