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Full-Text Articles in Law
Collective Representation And Employee Voice In The Us Public Sector Workplace: Looking North For Solutions?, Martin Malin
Collective Representation And Employee Voice In The Us Public Sector Workplace: Looking North For Solutions?, Martin Malin
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Legislation enacted in many states following the 2010 elections in the United States strengthened unilateral public employer control and weakened employee voice. This rebalancing of power occurred in the context of state public employee labour relations acts modeled on the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), but with a narrower scope of bargaining than in the private sector. This narrow scope channels unions’ voice away from the quality of public services and towards protecting members from the effects of decisions unilaterally imposed by management. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that the freedom of association guaranteed by the Charter of …
Attacks On Public-Sector Bargaining As Attacks On Employee Voice: A (Partial) Defence Of The Wagner Act Model, Joseph Slater
Attacks On Public-Sector Bargaining As Attacks On Employee Voice: A (Partial) Defence Of The Wagner Act Model, Joseph Slater
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
The attacks on public-sector union rights in the United States that began in 2011 are one of the most important developments in labour law in recent memory. These events shed light on employee voice issues, and on the continuing viability of the “Wagner Act” model. While declining union density rates in the private sector have prompted some to question this model, high-density rates in the public sector show that unions can flourish under it. This article gives an overview of public-sector unions in the US and summarizes the recent attacks on their rights. It then addresses rulings in both Missouri …
Employee Self-Representation And The Law In The United States, Matthew W. Finkin
Employee Self-Representation And The Law In The United States, Matthew W. Finkin
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Collective representation has been a legal focal point in the United States for nearly a century. Little attention has been paid to the law in the obverse situation: individual self-representation. This essay explores how, on some issues, the law supports a regime of individual bargaining while, on others, is antithetical to it. In other words, US law is incoherent on the matter. By reference to law in Australia and New Zealand, this paper argues that more legal space can be created for employees to represent themselves.
A Model Of Responsive Workplace Law, David J. Doorey
A Model Of Responsive Workplace Law, David J. Doorey
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
The North American model of workplace law is broken, characterized by declining frequency of collective bargaining, high levels of non-compliance with employment regulation, and political deadlock. This paper explores whether the theory of “decentred regulation” offers useful insights into the challenge of improving compliance with employment standards laws. It argues that the dominant political perspective on workplace regulation today is managerialist. Politicians with a managerialist orientation reject both the pluralist idea that collective bargaining is always preferred and the neoclassical view that it never is. Managerialists accept a role for employment regulation and unions, particularly in dealing with recalcitrant employers …
Accommodating Equality In The Unionized Workplace, Katherine Swinton
Accommodating Equality In The Unionized Workplace, Katherine Swinton
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
This article explores the appropriate relationship between human rights and collective bargaining laws through an examination of the Supreme Court of Canada's jurisprudence on the duty to accommodate. While collective bargaining can be an important force to promote equality for disadvantaged groups, resistance to changing the terms of collective agreements to accommodate those groups can arise, especially when other employees' seniority rights are affected. The emerging jurisprudence suggests that seniority rights will be respected in many situations, especially in layoffs, but the article outlines circumstances in which accommodation will be necessary to vindicate equality rights.