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Michael Lynk on Labour Law and the New Inequality

by David Doorey June 10, 2009
written by David Doorey June 10, 2009

   A while back, I advertised that Professor Michael Lynk of Western Law School was presenting the Rand Memorial Lecture on labour law at the University of New Brunswick.  His talk is now a law journal article that will be published in the forthcoming UNB Law Journal.  A copy of the paper is now available for free download on Michael’s SSRN site.  Here is the link:
Here is the abstract:

Rising economic inequality in Canada and the Western world has become an 
unspoken but influential political theme over the past quarter century. 
The Great Compression between the late 1940s and the 1980s – which 
brought an unlamented end to the pre-war Gilded Age and its social 
inequities, established a post-war middle-class society in the 
industrial democracies, and created a host of equalizing institutions, 
including a vibrant union movement – has been unravelling since the rise 
of modern political conservatism. A hydraulic relationship exists 
between unionization and inequality. Countries that have higher 
unionization rates tend to have lower patterns of economic inequality. 
And as unionization rates decline, inequality tends to rise. In Canada, 
the political impulse to reform labour laws has been waning since the 
early 1990s, shortly after Canadian unions had reached their numerical 
zenith. As income and wealth inequality levels rose, labour’s share of 
the Gross Domestic Product has declined to record lows in the post-war 
era, wages have stagnated and most of the economic productivity gains 
over the past 25 years have been captured by those at the very top of 
the income scale. One significant explanation for the eroding levels of 
unionization in Canada has been the country’s stagnant labour laws. In 
particular, statutory changes to the union certification process in a 
number of Canadian jurisdictions has diminished the ability of unions to 
protect their representational levels. Empirical social science suggests 
that labour laws matter, not only for unionization levels, but as an 
important tool to enhance economic egalitarianism.

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David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is Academic Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. Professor Doorey is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B., Ph.D), London School of Economics (LLM Labour Law), and the University of Toronto (B.A., M.I.R.).

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Law Prof. Talking #labor & #employment #law to the masses. @YorkUniversity @OsgoodeNews @LSELaw @CLJEHarvard @Jacobin @OnLaborBlog https://t.co/5V9r8VPHsh

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Off to Vancouver folks. Please be sunny.

David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @TheLawofWork

Speaking of middle aged guys who talk about Labour Law, I’m returning to my old stopping grounds in beautiful Vancouver later this month!

Thanks to @AllardLaw & @SFU_LBST for the invitation.

Hope to see you there, or join on-line:

https://www.sfu.ca/labour/community/news-events/news-2023/mapping-the-future-of-canadian-labour-law-lecture-by-dr--david-d.html

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thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
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Pitching @Uber as a ‘green’ company is some next level shit.

Uber Canada @Uber_Canada

UberX Share provides a greener way to get from A to B, by moving more people with fewer cars. Now available in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.

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thelawofwork David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @thelawofwork ·
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For me, this simple little case brings into focus the most important issues for future of Canadian labour law.

What does it mean to say workers have freedom to associate when they can be fired for associating?

Should law protect nonunion workers’ right to strike? How so? …

David J. Doorey🇨🇦 @TheLawofWork@mas.to @TheLawofWork

Was reading a decision again in which a group of daycare workers selected a spokesperson to raise employment related concerns with boss.

She was fired.

Workers struck in solidarity. They too were fired.

Did you know that no Canadian law protects these workers from dismissal?

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