ALLIANCE ON CONTINGENT EMPLOYMENT

ACE PUBLICATIONS

ACE publications are sorted by stream, then listed alphabetically by the first author. Authorship is alphabetical in co-authored works to reflect equal contribution, unless otherwise noted. If no author is named, publication is listed by title. [R] denotes refereed publication.

statistics | work organization and health
labour laws, legislation, and policy | association building

General ACE Publications

Vosko, Leah F. (ed.). (under review). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity.

Vosko, Leah F. (ed.). (2003). Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society
Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3. [R]

Vosko, Leah F. (2003)."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. In Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society: Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3 [R]

 Statistics Publications

Anderson, John. (under review). "The Union Dimension: Mitigating Precarious Employment?" in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Armstrong, Pat and Kate Laxer. (under review). "Mapping Precariousness in the Canadian Health Industry: Privatization, Ancillary Work and Women's health," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia J. and Leah F. Vosko. (under review). "Conceptualizing Precarious Employment: Mapping Wage Work across Social Location and Occupational Context," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia J., Leah F. Vosko and Nancy Zukewich. (2003). "Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market: A Statistical Portrait." [R]
"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. In Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society: Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3.

Cranford, Cynthia, Leah F. Vosko and Nancy Zukewich. (2003). "The Gender of Precarious Employment in Canada." Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations. 58 (3): 454-482. [R]

Laxer, Kate. (2002). "A Guide to the Availability of Data on Non-Standard and Contingent Work at Statistics Canada." Ottawa: Statistics Canada [R]

Tompa, Emile et al. (under review). "Precarious Employment Among People with Disabilities," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Vosko, Leah F. and Nancy Zukewich. (under review). "Precarious by 'Choice': Gender and Self-Employment," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

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

Back to top ^

 Work Organization and Health Publications

Lewchuk, Wayne, Alice de Wolff, Andrew King, Michael Polanyi. (under review). "Beyond Job Strain: Employment Strain and the Health Effects of Precarious Employment" International Journal of Health and Safety. [R]

Lewchuk, Wayne, Alice de Wolff, Andrew King, Michael Polanyi. (under review). "Hidden Costs of Precarious Employment: Health and the Employment Relationship," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Lewchuk, Wayne, Alice de Wolff, Andy King and Michael Polanyi. (2003). "From Job Strain to Employment Strain: Health Effects of Precarious Employment." [R]
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. In Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society: Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3.

Back to top ^

 Labour Laws, Legislation, and Policy Publications

Bernstein, Stephanie. (under review). "Adapting Minimum Employment Standards Legislation to Mitigate Precarious Employment: Flexibility and Security for Workers in Non-Standard Employment Relationships in Quebec?" in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia J., Judy Fudge, Eric Tucker, and Leah F. Vosko. (forthcoming). Self-Employed Workers Organize: Law, Policy, and Unions. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. [R]

Fudge, Judy. (2003). "Labour Protection for Self-employed Workers" [R]
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. In Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society: Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3.

Fudge, Judy. (2001). "Flexibility and Feminization: The New Ontario Employment Standards Act." Journal of Law and Social Policy. 16: 1-22. [R]

Fudge, Judy, Mary Gellatly and Chris Schenk (2001). Out with the Old, In with the New: An Analysis of the ESA 2000 (Bills 147 and 57). Toronto. (extended report)

Fudge, Judy, Eric Tucker, and Leah F. Vosko. (2003). “Changing Boundaries in Employment: Developing A New Platform for Labour Law.” Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal 10(3). [R]

Fudge, Judy, Tucker, Eric and Leah F. Vosko. (2003). "Employee or Independent Contractor? Charting the Legal Significance of the Distinction in Canada." Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal. 10 (2): 193-230

Fudge, Judy, Eric Tucker, and Leah Vosko. (2002). "The Legal Concept of Employment: Marginalizing Workers." Report for the Law Commission of Canada.

Fudge, Judy and Leah F. Vosko. (2003). “Gendered Paradoxes and the Rise of Contingent Work” in Clement, Wallace and Leah F. Vosko, (eds.). Changing Canada: Political Economy as Transformation. McGill-Queen’s University Press: 183-212. [R]

Fudge, Judy and Leah F. Vosko. (2001). “By Whose Standards? Re-Regulating the Canadian Labour Market.” Economic and Industrial Democracy. 22 (3): 327-356. [R]

Fudge, Judy and Leah F. Vosko. (2001). "Gender, Segmentation and the Standard Employment Relationship in Canadian Labour Law and Policy." Economic and Industrial Democracy. 22 (2): 271-310.

Gellatly, Mary, Deena Ladd and Chris Schenk. Workshop Materials, "In with the New, Out with the Old: the New Ontario Employment Standards Legislation".

Jackson, Andrew. (under review). "Regulating Precarious Labour Markets: What can we learn from new European models?" in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Lippel, Katherine. (under review). "Precarious Employment and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation in Quebec," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Schenk, Chris. (under review). "Union Renewal and Precarious Employment: A Case Study of Hotel Workers," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Spink, Lynn. (2003). "Temp Agency Workers. Why Should We Care?" The Scoop, Windsor, Ontario.

Spink, Lynn. "Temp Agency Workers. Why Should We Care?" Brochure for workers.

Spink, Lynn (ed.). (2003). Fact Sheets on: Minimum Wage, Temporary Agency Workers Need Protection; Hours of Work; Corporate Responsibility to All Workers; Enforcement of the Employment Standards Act; and Exemptions from the Employment Standards Act.

Tucker, Eric. (under review). ""Will the Vicious Circle of Precariousness be Unbroken?: The Exclusion of Ontario Farm Workers from the Occupational Health and Safety Act," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Vosko, Leah F. (2004). “Standard-Setting at the ILO: The Case of Precarious Employment,” in Kirton, John and Michael J. Trebilcock (eds.). Hard Choices, Soft Law: Combining Trade, Environment, and Social Cohesion in Global Governance. New York: Ashgate: 139-157. [R]

Back to top ^

 Association Building Publications

Aggarwal, Pramila. (2004). "A Teacher's Tale." Our Times: Canada's Independent Labour Magazine 23 (1): 45-47.

Borowy, Jan. (under review)."Restructuring Ontario's Public Service,"in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia J. (2004). "Contesting 'Flexibility' in the Deregulated City: the Justice for Janitors Union Movement in Los Angeles," in Challenging the Market: The Struggle to Regulate Work and Income, eds. J. Stanford and L. F. Vosko. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia, Tania Das Gupta and Leah F. Vosko. (under review). "Conceptualizing Community Unionism: Organizing for Fair Employment in Toronto," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

Cranford, Cynthia J. and Deena Ladd. (2003). "Community Unionism: Organising for Fair Employment in Canada" [R]
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. In Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society: Special Forum on Precarious Employment 3.

Das Gupta, Tania. (under review). "Racism, Anti-Racism, Precarious Employment and Unions," in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

de Wolff, Alice. (under review). "Privatizing Public Employment Assistance and Precarious Employment in Toronto,"in Vosko, L. F. (ed.). Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity. [R]

de Wolff, Alice. (2003). "Privatized Employment Assistance in Toronto".
This study examines government policy that affects how non-profit agencies conduct employment assistance programs and how, in turn, their interaction affects workers and the growing precarious labour market. The research focused on the Toronto region, with a particular focus on programs for and experiences of ethno-racial minority and immigrant workers. The Report encourages community based agencies to collectively assess the systemic impact of the recent privatization of employment assistance, and then to work on creating a system that is better for workers.

de Wolff, Alice. (2000). "Breaking the Myth of Flexible Work: Contingent Work in Toronto".
This study contributes to a more detailed understanding of the polarization that is developing in the Canadian labour market, between the wages and working conditions of those who have permanent full-time jobs and those of the growing number of contingent workers who are self-employed, or employed on contract, temporarily, or part-time.

de Wolff, Alice. (2002). Workshop materials, prepared for Conference on Organizing & Representing Contingent Workers, Ontario Federation of Labour, November.

de Wolff, Alice. (2002). The Boom in Temporary Work in Toronto. Report.

de Wolff, Alice. (2002). Temp Work in Toronto. Fact Sheet.

de Wolff, Alice. (2001). "Guide to Fair Employment Contracts" Informational Booklet

Spink, Lynn. (2000). "Living on the Edge". Our Times: Canada's Independent Labour Magazine.
“In the media,” says Deena Ladd, “we get the image of the happy person working at home, having control over their work, not having to deal with a boss. Are these the people you know?” The Toronto Contingent Workers forum.

Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment. Working Through a Temporary Agency?

Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment. Working on Contract? What you Should Know

Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment. Fair Contracts for Community Service Workers

Back to top ^