Projects Under Theme 2: New Organizing, Bargaining and Alliances

1. Worker Militancy in the New Economy
2. Canadian Chartered Bank Worker Organizing Strategies
3. From Urban Cleaners to Rural Route Couriers: CUPW's Organizing Experience
4. Advancing the Equity Agenda – What’s Needed?
5. Human Rights Violations in the Communications Industry
6. The New Economy and Old and New Collective Bargaining Pressures on Canadian Unions

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Worker Militancy in the New Economy
Linda Briskin,
York University

As a result of economic and political restructuring and globalization, Canadian workers are facing changing conditions of work, loss of jobs to low wage sectors, dismantling of social programs, decreases in the social wage and a discursive shift to radical individualism. This project examines the degree to which the understanding and practice of worker militancy has shifted as a result of the new economy. It also explores whether the gender-specific impacts of the 'new economy' have politicized women workers in particular, especially those in the public sector, and brought them to the forefront of resistance.

This project makes substantial progress in four areas: exploring the raw data on work stoppages from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), mapping the Statistics Canada data available on this subject; seeking a statistical way to understand gender work stoppage data; and reviewing the scholarly literature on strikes and work stoppages in Canada.

See the related article in Just Labour:
THE WORK STOPPAGE DATA FROM HUMAN RESOURCES AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CANADA [HRSDC]”: A RESEARCH NOTE
Linda Briskin
http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/Briskin.pdf

 

Canadian Chartered Bank Worker Organizing Strategies
Rosemary Warskett, Carleton University

This research will investigate union organizing of Canadian chartered bank workers since the mid-1980s. What organizing strategies have been successful, and in what ways are these related to the construction of a viable bank bargaining unit? In this respect we examine the restructuring of banksâ labour process during this period and identify changes that may reflect on the construction of viable bargaining units. The banksâ labour processes are also examined through the lens of pay and employment equity. How have legal equity requirements and adjustments fed into the restructured labour processes within the banking industry? In terms of the construction of successful organizing strategies the research will identify the issues that are currently important to bank workers and their representatives and examine to what extent equity considerations are being taken into account.

From Urban Cleaners to Rural Route Couriers: CUPW's Organizing Experience
Geoff Bickerton, CUPW

This project examines the organizing strategies of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) as it has attempted to move beyond its traditional membership of Post Office employees. We will examine the role and influence that other unions, academics and community organizations have had on CUPW and its organizing strategy. We will also examine the efforts of the Union to restructure in order to better service and involve new groups in its political structures. Finally, we will undertake a comparison of CUPW's organizing efforts to that of other postal unions in England and the U.S.

Advancing the Equity Agenda – What’s Needed?
Janice Foley, University of Regina
Linda Briskin, York University

The lack of democracy within unions has been an issue much discussed in the literature since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was released in the early 1970s documenting women’s inequality. As institutions representing both men and women, trade unions have attempted over the years to promote women’s equality, but the male-dominated culture within unions has been a formidable obstacle, and as a result, the types of gains female activists would deem necessary have yet to materialize. A sizable wage gap still exists, and women continue to feel that their interests are not fairly represented. As the traditional white, male memberships has declined as a result of minorities into union ranks in large numbers is increasingly being seen as essential to keep the labour movement viable in the future.

This study will identify areas where activists feel their interests have been under-represented to date, as well as areas where significant advances have been made, and attempt to account for these varying outcomes. Hopefully, through this analysis, the critical factors associated with successful and less successful outcome will be identified.

Please see the web site for the Advancing the Equity Agenda Conference relating to this project.

 

Human Rights Violations in the Communications Industry
Norene Pupo, York University

The purpose of this research is to examine the nature and extent of human rights violations as they exist within workplaces in the communications industry organized by the Canadian Media Guild (CMG). For the purpose of this research, human rights violations are being conceptualized as discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace. Surveys and and in-depth interviews with workers will attempt to not only discover how much discrimination does occur, but also how frequent is the perception of discrimination; as workers may experience discrimination or harassment without perceiving it as such, and, conversely may perceive discrimination/harassment where none exists. Certain areas of discrimination have been identified for investigation: discrimination around hiring and access to jobs and promotions, family issues (i.e. benefits and leave provisions), Age discrimination, union activity, Religion, and compensation. This project also examines other rights violations within these workplaces, including both personal/sexual harassment, violations of privacy and failure to accommodate disability. The objectives of the project are:

1. To provide CMG with better data and a true understanding of numbers and issues, the effectiveness of workplace programs, and members' needs and concerns regarding human rights violations.
2. To help set priorities for CMG and to identify areas of systemic discrimination.
3. To determine where member education is needed the most.
4. To provide a better understanding of how human rights issues affect programming and hiring decisions.

The New Economy and Old and New Collective Bargaining Pressures on Canadian Unions
Greg Albo, York University

The new economy has placed a variety of series of pressures on collective bargaining in Canada. Initially, these pressures need to be placed in the long-term context of the Canadian relative economic underperformance to more particular issues about bargaining around wages, competitiveness and restructuring in the context of neoliberalism. A first part of this project is to provide some assessment of longer-term pressures on bargaining, and recent ‘emergent’ models, such as the social pacts of EU unions, and the liberal flexibilization agreements that have been common in both North American and parts of Europe. This will place bargaining in Canadian unions in the new economy in a comparative context.

In a second part, to move from aggregate trends, I propose a detailed analysis of collective bargaining and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). After a series of mergers, the USWA has become the largest private sector union in Canada, giving it a strategic and political importance within the labour movement. Furthermore, these mergers have expanded the scope of the USWA beyond the manufacturing sector, transforming it into a general union that also represents workers in the service sector. As such, the USWA will provide an insight into bargaining in various parts of the new economy.

These characteristics lend themselves to several important research questions. First, how successful has the USWA been at resisting concessions in an era of union decline? Similarly, it is important to investigate the extent to which the union has negotiated co-management or partnership agreements with employers, what the terms of these agreements are, and what limits these put on the union’s ability to represent its members? Third, has the union diversified its bargaining tactics and demands in bargaining in response to new economy? Finally, has the USWA used similar strategies and demands in service sector bargaining as in its traditional workplaces, and to what effect?