Économie politique

G10(a) - Labour & Class: Canadian Conflicts and Concerns

Date: May 31 | Heure: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: Classroom - CL 420 Room ID:15724

Chair/Président/Présidente : Angela Carter (University of Waterloo)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Stephen McBride (McMaster University)

The Political Economy of Skills in Canada: Brent Toye (York University)
Abstract: The paper investigates the differences in labour market training across three provincial settings: Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. Preliminary research has demonstrated considerable differences between these provincial training regimes in terms of the relationship between vocational training and general higher education, the level of coordination between employers and labour over policy development, and the quantity and quality of apprenticeships. As opposed to neoclassical theories of skill formation based on a self-adjusting market logic of the supply and demand for skilled labour, the argument I develop points to differences in industrial relations as key in determining not only the nature of training institutions, but the preferences of key actors in the skill formation process: firms, workers, and their organizational representatives (employers’ associations and unions). The paper uses the power resources perspective to investigate the resources and leverage that labour market actors utilize to influence policy outcomes and impact institutional change. A historical approach is adopted that traces the differences in provincial skill regimes over time, their relationship to economic and technological transformations, and the changing preferences of labour market actors. Time-series data on levels of unionization, sectoral/occupational composition, and government spending is employed in addition to qualitative data on the history and nature of provincial training regimes. This paper contributes to the understanding of provincial differences in political economy and labour market policy as well as to a growing revival in the power resources perspective and the role of economic actors in influencing policy outcomes (e.g. Culpepper 2015; Paster 2015; Emmenegger 2014).

The Constitution in the Workplace: Employer-Union Relations After SFL v. Saskatchewan: Charles Smith (St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan)
Abstract: In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Charter of Rights and Freedom’s protection of freedom of association includes the ability of workers to strike. In SFL v. Saskatchewan (2015), the court ruled that the Saskatchewan government’s attempt to declare virtually all public-sector workers essential violated their constitutional rights to strike and as a result, limited public sector workers’ ability to freely bargain. Following the decision, Saskatchewan’s public-sector workers declared victory as the Saskatchewan Party was constitutionally mandated to introduce a much more modest essential services policy that respected workers’ rights to bargain and strike. Outside of these legal changes in Saskatchewan, however, what are the implications of SFL v. Saskatchewan for workers in other jurisdictions and in other sectors? Does the constitutional right to strike, for instance, shift the balance of power at the collective bargaining table or in the workplace? Does the decision have any traction in the private sector? Using interview data from union representatives, this paper explores the implications of SFL v. Saskatchewan for workers and their unions and argues that the results are mixed: while workers have positive feelings about the decision, few feel that the constitutional right will alter the balance of power at the bargaining table or in the workplace.

Innovation and Social Security in the Age of Populism: An Evaluation of Inclusivity: Alix Jansen (University of Toronto), Mark Robbins (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Innovation reshapes not just the organization of production and services but also the distribution of incomes in a given society. Automation anxiety has reared its head again: machine learning relying on big data and heavy computing power, combined with advances in mobile robotics have generated a wave of scholarly and popular interest in the displacing effects of these general purpose technologies on labour. Technological change may destroy jobs for certain segments of society, or even for society as a whole. At a minimum, we are likely to see significant labour market disruptions and the reshuffling of workers into new patterns of employment and production. There is now widespread uncertainty regarding whether the principle of creative destruction, previously held to be sacrosanct, will ensure that technological progress would create new and equivalent employment elsewhere. Labour disruption is both a real economic threat and a politically potent fear. The decline of stable work is tied to the rise of populism by many commentators, suggesting automation anxiety can operate as a heady political force. Motivated by a concern about economic exclusion and political instability, this paper assesses Canada’s current policy mix to identify whether it is capable of addressing the differential effects that labour market disruption will have on Canadian workers. It evaluates four policy arenas: skills and education, entrepreneurship support, income support, and labour market policies. The work concludes that recent policy measures in Canada address the most immediate impacts of labour disruption without systematically or sustainably resolving the core issues at

The Place of Class in Canadian Politics: Industrialization, Path Dependence, and the Politics of Inequality: Daniel Troup (Queen's University)
Abstract: Why is socio-economic class a conspicuously marginal facet of Canadian politics and political science? The relative lack of class politics in Canada has been explained as a consequence of other overriding cleavages, most notably regionalism. This paper proposes and assesses an alternative hypothesis that the obscurity of class politics in Canada is a path dependent outcome of economic conditions in the era of Confederation. In their account of the 1988 federal election, Letting the People Decide, Johnston, Blais, Brady, and Crête (1992, 46) observe that the Canadian economy in the years following Confederation had a scarcity of both capital and labour, which generated perceived compatibilities of interests. Accordingly, this paper hypothesizes that the early history of post-Confederation development marked a critical juncture whereby class conflict was suppressed through economic circumstances rather than being overridden by regional cleavages. This exerted a lasting effect on the politicization of the Canadian economy, and undermined efforts to establish a partisan vehicle for working class interests. The paper assesses the validity of the labour-capital scarcity observation, and tests the claim that this exerted a path-dependent influence over subsequent political developments. Additionally, it applies recent developments in process-tracing methodology and counterfactual analysis as a means of qualitative hypothesis testing in a single-case context.