ALLIANCE ON CONTINGENT EMPLOYMENT

NEWS AND EVENTS

Recent Events

Workshop for "Precarious Employment: The Canadian Labour Market in Transition", York University, September 26-27, 2003.

Recent and forthcoming publications

Self-Employed Workers Organize: Law, Policy, and Unions. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press (forthcoming).

"The Legal Concept of Employment: Marginalizing Workers."

Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society; Special Forum on Precarious Employment

Privatized Employment Services in Toronto

"Precarious Jobs: A New Typology of Employment."

BULLETIN On Precarious Employment

"The Legal Concept of Employment: Marginalizing Workers."

Now available on the Law Commission of Canada's web site, this topical research report was written by Judy Fudge (University of Saskatchewan), Eric Tucker, and Leah Vosko (York University). The report provides an interesting statistical, historical and legal analysis of self-employment in Canada. The report, which was funded by the Law Commission of Canada and Human Resources Development Canada, was produced for a project examining law reform and policy options to better meet the needs of vulnerable workers in Canada. For more information on the project, see also the "Vulnerable Worker" page on the Law Commission's web site.

Document de recherche – Le concept légal de l'emploi : la marginalisation des travailleurs

Un rapport de recherche très intéressant intitulé « Le concept légal de l'emploi : la marginalisation des travailleurs » est maintenant disponible sur le site Web de la Commission du droit du Canada. Le rapport offre une analyse historique, juridique et statistique du travail indépendant au Canada. Le rapport, financé par la Commission du droit du Canada et Développement des ressources humaines Canada, a été produit dans le cadre d'un projet examinant la réforme du droit et les options politiques pour mieux répondre aux besoins des travailleurs vulnérables au Canada. Pour plus de renseignements concernant ce projet, veuillez consulter le projet sur « Le travailleur vulnérable » sur le site Web de la Commission du droit du Canada.

Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society
Special Forum on Precarious Employment, Volume 3 (Fall 2003)

Edited by Leah Vosko, this issue of Just Labour focuses on precarious employment and features four articles from ACE members:

Leah F. Vosko, "Precarious Employment in Canada: Taking Stock, Taking Action"
Precarious employment is an increasingly common term used to highlight labour market insecurity. This piece is an introduction to the Just Labour volume that examines precarious employment in Canada.

Cynthia Cranford, Leah F. Vosko and Nancy Zukewich, "Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market: A Statistical Portrait."
"Precarious employment" is a better concept for understanding labour market insecurity than the dominant concept in Canada, "non-standard work". This article examines dimensions of precariousness between and within mutually exclusive forms of employment. The growth of 'non-standard work' was fuelled by increases in forms of employment that lack regulatory protection, such as own- account self-employment. Wage work falls along a continuum of precariousness measured as regulatory protection, control and income. Finally, social location shapes workers' experiences of precarious employment. White men are concentrated in the least precarious forms of employment, while white women, women of colour and youth are concentrated in the more precarious forms.

Wayne Lewchuk, Alice de Wolff, Andy King and Michael Polanyi, "From Job Strain to Employment Strain: Health Effects of Precarious Employment."
This article examines the relationship between health and the organization of precarious employment. It develops the concept of "employment strain" to capture the complex dynamic of precarious employment. Preliminary evidence suggests that workers in precarious employment report poorer overall health than other workers in Canada and higher levels of stress than workers in standard employment relationships. They face high levels of uncertainty regarding access to work, the terms and conditions of work, and future earnings. They engage in additional effort searching for work and balancing the demands of multiple employers. Many also have low earnings, few benefits, and reside in low income households.

Judy Fudge, "Labour Protection for Self-employed Workers"
Self-employed workers have an ambiguous legal status. Traditionally self-employment is equated with entrepreneurship and legally it is considered to be a form of independent contracting and thus outside the ambit of labour protection and collective bargaining laws. But evidence suggests that most of the self-employed, especially those who do not employ other workers, are much more like employees than they are like entrepreneurs. Instead of attempting to draw a new line between employment and independent contracting for the purpose of determining the scope of labour protection, collective bargaining, and social insurance laws, all workers, including the self-employed, who depend on the sale of their capacity to work should be covered by these laws, unless there are compelling public policy reasons for a narrower definition. This article draws on case studies by Cranford, Fudge, Tucker, and Vosko to underline its main argument.

Cynthia J. Cranford and Deena Ladd, "Community Unionism: Organising for Fair Employment in Canada"
More Canadian workers are in and out of work or in insecure jobs, prompting the (re)emergence of community unionism. Community unionism is a form of mobilization that occupies the centre of a continuum of community organizing and trade union organizing. After comparing the dominant model of industrial unionism to the process-oriented community development mode of organizing, the article illustrates the power of drawing on elements of both trade union and community organizing with a case study of Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment (TOFFE). Community unionism, like efforts of union renewal, can help build a stronger labour movement.

Privatized Employment Services in Toronto

This ACE Working Paper by Alice de Wolff examines government policy that affects how non-profit agencies conduct employment assistance, and in turn how agencies' actions affect workers and the growing precarious labour market. Released December 1, 2003.

Leah F. Vosko, Nancy Zukewich, and Cynthia Cranford. "Precarious Jobs: A New Typology of Employment." Perspectives on Labour and Income October 2003.

Many Canadians are in employment situations that differ from the traditional model of a stable, full-time job: one in which a person works for only one employer, is employed full year, full time on the employer’s premises, has extensive benefits and entitlements, and expects to be employed indefinitely. Work that differs from the standard is described in several different ways, "non-standard" and "contingent" being two commonly used terms. In recent years, "precarious employment" has come into use. This article addresses a new typology of employment aimed at enabling analysis to better understand precarious jobs.

BULLETIN On Precarious Employment

October 2003, Alliance on Contingent Employment