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Canadian Law of Work Forum (CLWF)
Law of Work Archive

Should HRM Support or Fight Against Move towards Precarious Work?

by David Doorey November 23, 2011
written by David Doorey November 23, 2011

Check out this very interesting short documentary news story about the growth of precarious work in Britain–which mirrors our own experience in Canada in the past 15 years or so.  
At the centre of the story is Professor Guy Standing of Bath University, and his new book The Precariat.  An important point Guy makes is that the shift away from decent, secure jobs is a result of deliberate HR strategy supported by governments that believed a cheaper, “more flexible” workforce was key to attracting investment and saving jobs. Not surprisingly, the result has been the deterioration of the middle class, a growing army of under-employed workers and working poor, and a funnelling of wealth produced by this precarious work force to fewer and fewer executives and shareholders at the top of the income pyramid.   This is the same point being made by the Occupy movement around the world.

 

For HR students:
Since HRM claims to be the mechanism that can protect worker interests (thus, unions and government regulation are unnecessary), what responsibility does the HR profession have to halt this shift away from secure and decent paying jobs towards precarious, low pay, flexible employment that serves employer bottom line, but creates an army of poor and vulnerable workers?
Should the HRM profession be calling for less use of employment agencies and for more full-time jobs with benefits?
Or is the HRM profession’s job to promote whatever forms of employment allow the employer to maximize its profits and remain ‘flexible’?

Here is another clip of Professor Standing discussing his book.

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David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is the Director of the School of HRM at York and Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and on the Advisory Board of the Osgoode Certificate program in Labour Law. He is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program and a member of the International Advisory Committee on Harvard University’s Clean Slate Project, which is re-imaging labor law for the 21st century

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@SCLSclinic and I were so fortunate to represent this client last year. I am thrilled that this decision brings more clarity for family status accommodations rights amidst a pandemic that has tested parents, caregivers, and families like never before. https://twitter.com/CanLawWorkForum/status/1364605259071561730

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New from @RSandill (counsel for applicant), discussing important new "family status" discrimination decision from OHRT:

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TheLawofWorkDavid J. Doorey@TheLawofWork·
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Here's my latest in @jacobinmag.

If Ontario's labor laws applied in Alabama, the Amazon vote would have been held months ago so workers could get back to their jobs. Instead, the NLRA permits Amazon to conduct a months' long onslaught of anti-union propaganda. https://twitter.com/jacobinmag/status/1364613560425275392

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Amazon workers in Alabama are voting on whether to unionize, but the company is bombarding them with anti-union propaganda. In Canada, by contrast, votes are held quickly, making it harder for companies to stack the deck — a model that can work in the US. http://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/amazon-alabama-canada-labor-law-union-vote

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CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
24 Feb

New from @RSandill (counsel for applicant), discussing important new "family status" discrimination decision from OHRT:

"Kovintharajah v. Paragon Linen & Laundry: When Failure to Accommodate Child Care Needs is “Family Status” Discrimination"

https://lawofwork.ca/13360-2/

Reply on Twitter 1364605259071561730Retweet on Twitter 13646052590715617304Like on Twitter 13646052590715617304Twitter 1364605259071561730
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