Public-Sector Labour Relations in an Era of Restraint and Restructuring

The 1990s in Canada will probably go down as the most stressful decade for public-sector industrial relations since the inception, 25 years earlier, of collective bargaining in the public service. Government debt and deficits became the rationale for downsizing, outsourcing, privatization, layoffs, buyouts, and early retirement packages at both the federal and provincial levels. When workers' bargaining units did not bend to government demands at the negotiating table, and when their leaders did not blink at the threat of restrictive legislation, then governments of both the right and the left at times found it expedient to legislate rule changes to suit their fiscal or ideological purposes.

Although collective bargaining is still alive, a major conclusion of this study is that collective bargaining in the Canadian public sector is decidedly not well. The cases reported here demonstrate that governments have adopted the attitude and policy that they may engage in bargaining or suspend it whenever they find that course of action to be convenient. Viewed from a broader international standpoint, as discussed in the concluding chapter, the unilateral suspension of the bargaining rights of public sector employees by Canadian governments cannot be justified by the norms and agreements that Canada has shared with the international community.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195415914
• ISBN13: 9780195415919
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Canada
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"