In this Q & A with Emeritus Professor of Political Economy and Industrial Relations John Crispo of University of Toronto, the conversation ranges from the greatest pressures on the Canadian IR system to how Canada fared after a decade of free trade, what’s happening to workers, and the future of unions in Canada.
Strategic Human Resources Management: Challenges and Opportunities
In this interview, IRC Senior Research Associate Mary Lou Coates talks to Dr. David Weiss about the challenges and opportunities in strategic human resources management. Dr. David Weiss is a Partner in the international organizational change and human resources consulting firm of Geller, Shedletsky & Weiss and a Senior Fellow of the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre.
Canadian Labour Law and Industrial Relations: Back to the Future?
In a Q & A with Harry Arthurs, an eminent Professor of Labour Law from York University’s Osgoode Hall, the discussion ranges from the most important forces shaping employee relations in Canada to influences on legislation and the public policy framework.
Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution Systems in Canadian Nonunionized Organizations
Responding to a growing interest in the subject in recent years, this study is intended to improve our understanding of conflict management and dispute resolution systems in nonunionized workplaces in Canada. It sets out the key reasons for the increased interest in effective systems, describes the various procedures being used, and evaluates their effectiveness. The authors identify the strengths and pitfalls of various systems.
A Change Strategy for Industrial Relations: When the Old Meets the Future at CP Rail
This article from 1996 takes a look at CP Rail, and the tremendous pressures for change it was being confronted with. Environmental forces, government policy and the responses of management and labour to their environment had a significant impact on industrial relations policies and practices at CP Rail. The story at CP Rail represents a classic case of an old system of industrial relations finally yielding to overwhelming forces for change.
Transforming Workplaces
While Robert McKersie was visiting the Queen’s University School of Industrial Relations and the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre to give the annual Don Wood Lecture in Industrial Relations, Mary Lou Coates took the opportunity to talk with Robert about his views and theories on the future of industrial relations and human resource management. Robert McKersie is a Professor in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he holds the Society of Sloan Fellows Professorship.
Business Strategies and Human Resource Policies
In this interview, IRC Senior Research Associate Mary Lou Coates talks to Lee Dyer about business strategies and human resource policies. His teaching and research interests focus on human resource strategy, human resource planning and decision making, and comprehensive employee relations. Professor Dyer has served as a consultant in the development of human resource strategies, policies, and planning processes in several major organizations and has lectured widely on a variety of human resource management topics in the US, Canada, Europe, Venezuela and Australia. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, books and monographs.
During his visit to Queen’s University to give the annual Don Wood Lecture in Industrial Relations, Professor Dyer kindly agreed to an in-depth interview to share his views on the role of human resource management in today’s business climate.
Is There a Future for the Canadian Labour Movement?
The labour movement in Canada has been under tremendous pressure in recent years. Intense global competition, economic integration and restructuring, trade liberalization initiatives such as the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, rapid and pervasive technological change, the growing service economy and dramatic changes in the growth and composition of the workforce have ushered in a drastically altered economic, labour market and public policy environment within which unions operate.
There is speculation that Canadian unions will not be able to rise above these challenges, that they are becoming weaker, their future is jeopardized and they are destined to follow the same path as their counterparts in the United States, where there have been significant declines in union membership levels and density.
On the other hand, others feel confident that, despite enormous pressures, the Canadian labour movement has shown remarkable resilience and adaptiveness. Based on a broader approach embodied in its active social unionism strategy, it is felt that unions in Canada are destined to remain dynamic and will therefore continue to diverge from the fate that has befallen American unions.
This report examines the Canadian labour movement:
- The decline in union density by sector and industry.
- The reasons given to explain the decline — the new economic, labour market and public policy environments.
- The new forms of work organization to respond to the changing business environment.
- The effect of the ‘new human resource management’ on Canada’s unions.
- The two divergent views on the future of the Canadian labour movement.
Employee Ownership: How Do You Spell Success?
In this paper, the authors look at the evidence of increased employee ownership in Canada. Employee ownership of a company may involve a 100 percent buyout to avoid closure, a transfer of ownership to employees (e.g., at the retirement of the owner), or the establishment of a company stock purchase plan.
The paper looks at case studies of seven employee-owned firms in Canada. The studies show that employee ownership has meant survival, a return to profitability, and in many situations continued growth for these companies.
