Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from December 1997

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from December 1997

Looking for a role.(trade unions must find new ways to function effectively in conservative economic climates)(includes related article on mechanization of the textile industry)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 1, 1997... The economic theories of the conservative right have been in vogue for 15 years. In Canada, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was the standard bearer for the right wing until 1992. The Liberal Party which followed the Tories in Ottawa has been...

The labour market.(history of trade unions and changes in the nature of work)(includes related articles)
December 1, 1997... In the last 150 years, we've changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one, and now we've moved into a post-industrial age where information and communications technology rule. Along the route, life has improved for some while others...

United they stand.(development of trade unions in Canada, surveys of public opinion regarding unions)
December 1, 1997... The only workers could fight to end their bleak working conditions in the 19th century was to unite. British immigrants introduced trade unions to Canada early in the 19th century but the small craft unions that did exist were weak; and, they...

Getting it all together.(organization of trade unions)(includes related articles)
December 1, 1997... Organizing individual workers into a strong group is the major task of the labour movement. For members it means giving up certain individual rights and obligations for group action Locals are the smallest units in the trade union movement....

Bargaining by the rules.(workers' rights, trade unions)(includes related articles on strikes)
December 1, 1997... When workers and management sit down to negotiate a contract, they must follow a clear set of rules Collective bargaining is the process that labour and management use to come to a working agreement. Negotiators on both sides of the...

The referee.(the Canadian government and trade unions)(includes related article on proposed changes to the Canadian labor code)
December 1, 1997... Most of the time, the balance between employees and employers tilts in favour of the latter; Canada's governments have enacted many laws to even out the strength of the two groups In 1907, the federal government passed Canada's first major...

The British disease.(the power of trade unions, state of British labor at the start of Margaret Thatcher's term)(includes related articles union corruption)
December 1, 1997... Trade union aren't always white knights going into battle on behalf of the little guy; during the 1970's unions in Britain had so much power they brought down a democratically elected government, and violence and corruption are by no means...

Sweatshop economics.(working conditions in the developing world)(includes related articles)
December 1, 1997... In many parts of the world trade unions, if they exist at all, are facing battles Canadian labour fought and won 150 years ago Those great new sneakers cost $80. The woman who made them in a factory in South Asia got $2. Somewhere between...

Trying a comeback.(strong Canadian economy strengthens bargaining power of trade unions, labor disputes causing record levels of lost time)
December 1, 1997... Labour took a beating during the recession and downsizing of the 1990s but, as the economy gets healthier, unions are getting more militant, particularly in the public sector In October 1996, the antigovernment protests that hit Toronto were...

Workers at the helm.(employee buyouts)
December 1, 1997... When companies hit hard times, workers are more willing to take a drop in pay if there's something in it for them; something big like ownership and joint decision making Late in 1996, Canadian Airlines International was close to...

Holding back progress. (introduction of sewing machines into factories in 1852 in Canada is delayed for two years after workers protest)
December 1, 1997... The Luddites were textile workers who rose up and smashed the new knitting machines and powered cotton looms that were being installed in British factories. These working people of the early 19th century feared that mechanization would rob...

Fact file. (common sociology of cities that riot)
December 1, 1997... A French sociologist who has studied urban rioting in First World cities says that in almost every case the communities that riot share a common sociological profile: most are formerly working-class communities left behind by the transition from...

A city of dreams. (how abolishment of price controls led to low unemployment in Prague, Czech Republic)
December 1, 1997... In 1991, the Czech government abolished price controls on everything but housing and energy, and widely distributed ownership of public enterprises to Czechs through "coupon vouchers." The immediate result was a 30% crash in industrial output...

Keep those tips coming. (employees of a restaurant chain in Ontario, Canada, complain because they are expected to live on tips alone, not wages)
December 1, 1997... In 1996, an Ontario restaurant chain was criticized for not paying its servers; they worked only for tips. The Ontario Federation of Labour condemned the practice as illegal, given than provincial legislation set the hourly wage rate for...

Fact file. (statistic about the pay of workers who are laid off)
December 1, 1997... The New York Times reported in 1996 that 65% of workers who ultimately find jobs after a layoff do so only at lower levels of pay.

A 'people company' gone lean. (change in work environment makes Dofasco a less desirable employer; desire grows for employees to unionize)
December 1, 1997... Dofasco was long considered more than just a steel company with a difference: it was held up as a fine corporate example of excellent employee relations. Business articles on employee profit-sharing weren't complete without reference to...

Union casualties. (Canadian industries that are not unionized have enjoyed greater employment than those that are unionized)
December 1, 1997... Between 1947 and ;992, employment in manufacturing increased by 148% in the U.S. in jurisdictions that protect an individual's right not to be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. By comparison, in states without such laws,...

Fact file. (annual statistics about layoffs)
December 1, 1997... According to a Statistics Canada study published in 1997 permanent layoffs varied little between 1978 and 1993. In 1982, during the worst of the decade's recession, 1,205,000 people lost their jobs. In 1989, when the economy was roaring, the...

Small is risky. (small businesses account for more layoffs than large businesses in Canada)
December 1, 1997... While layoffs at large companies make headlines. Statistics Canada points out that small companies generate far more layoffs -- relative to their size -- than their bigger counterparts. In 1988. for example, companies with fewer than 20...

Life off the farm. (how industrialization caused farmers to become factory workers in Great Britain in the 1800s)
December 1, 1997... Britain's Corn Laws protected domestic agriculture for 400 years. After pressure from industrialists. Parliament lifted the Corn Laws in 1846. Author Ethan Kapstein describes this as a classic example of a policy consciously designed to...

Fact file. (statistics about trade union membership in Canada)
December 1, 1997... About one-third of Canadian workers -- more than 3.5 million -- belong to trade unions today. Membership in unions climbed from 2.1 million in 1967 to its peak of 3.8 million in 1990 and has declined slowly since then.

Fact file. (statistics, by province, about labor union membership)
December 1, 1997... Newfoundland and Quebec have the highest unionization rates; Alberta has the lowest.

Fact file. (higher rate for unionization by Canadian government employees than employees of same industry)
December 1, 1997... According to Statistics Canada, government employees are almost three times more likely to belong to a union compared with their private sector counterparts.

How do you spell silly? (employee practice initiated by Sam Walton of Wal-Mart is considered demeaning)
December 1, 1997... In the 1970s, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton visited a Korean tennis ball factory where workers chanted at work while doing physical exercises. He liked the idea and decided to give it a try with his employees. The ritual morning chant (Give me a...

Turf wars. (disagreement between the Canadian Auto Workers Union and United Steelworkers of America over mergers with smaller unions)
December 1, 1997... With falling union membership, different unions are sometimes trying to sign up the same new members. In some cases, the view is that they're treading on each others territory. It's enough to make once friendly rivals turn against each other,...

Keeping it together. (changes in unionization rates for Canada, Japan and the United States)
December 1, 1997... Canada has maintained a higher unionization rate than many industrialized countries during the 1980s and 90s. From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, the percentage of unionized workers in Japan dropped from 33.2% to 28%. In the United States,...

Fact file. (membership statistics for labor unions in Canada)
December 1, 1997... The four unions with the largest membership in 1992 were the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Auto Workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Fact file. (pay for banking chief executive officers compared with that of tellers)
December 1, 1997... The head of the Bank of Montreal makes 100 times the income of a teller; in the U.S. the average big company chief executive officer makes 131 times what workers do.

When is a strike not a strike? (teachers in Ontario, Canada, make political protest over proposed legislation giving more power to government over the education system)
December 1, 1997... Teachers in Ontario work in the fall of 1997, presenting an interesting situation. The teachers called their walkout a political protest rather than a strike. While teachers picketing outside their schools gave the outward appearance of a...

When it's OK to strike. (steps that must be taken before a union can call a strike)
December 1, 1997... When unions are mentioned a lot of people immediately think of a group of angry workers marching with placards verbally trashing their employers. Strikes make headlines. but most disputes are settled without work stoppages. Strikes and...

Too much of a good thing? (effects of proposed changes to Canada's Labour Code on unions and union workers)
December 1, 1997... The Fraser Institute uses the British problems with over-powerful unions in the 1970s as an example of how destructive they can be. There is nowhere near the same labour imbalance in Canada but the Institute says union security measures --...

Fact file. (how often replacement workers were hired to replace striking union workers)
December 1, 1997... In federally regulated industries, replacement workers were hired in only 12 of the 48 work stoppages between 1991 and 1994.

Fact file. (number of strikes in Great Britain in the 1970s and 1990s)
December 1, 1997... Between 1975 and 1979, Britain was averaging 2,345 strikes a year; by 1994, this had dropped to 205 strikes a year.

Scab - a definition. (strikebreakers)
December 1, 1997... Unions do use threats, intimidation, and violence as techniques for keeping members in line during strikes. Such actions may not be common but they do happen and they are usually directed at what trade unionists call "scabs." These are people...

Labour and the mob. (corruption in the Teamsters Union due to ties with the Mafia)
December 1, 1997... Black in the days of horses and buggies, the men who drove delivery wagons (known as team drivers) got together to form the Teamsters. By 1902, one of their leaders was able to brag that "there is no industry today that can carry on its...

Fact file. (number of people whose wages do not exceed $1 a day)
December 1, 1997... In 1996, it was estimated that 1.3 billion people in the world earned less than $1 a day.

Guessing game. (why Guess Jeans moved its manufacturing facilities out of the United States)
December 1, 1997... Guess Jeans captured a big slice of the high-end designer jeans market in the early 1990s. Then, the company started taking a lot of heat from the U.S. labour movement. Guess and its sub-contractors were accused of paying their mostly...

Fact file. (how laborers physically fought to obtain jobs in the late 19th century)
December 1, 1997... In his book London, Edward Rutherfurd tells of casual workers in the late 19th century being allowed to fight each other for the right to a day's labour in the city's docks.

Owner operators. (poor working conditions of miners in Potosi, Bolivia, who work for themselves)
December 1, 1997... You might get the impression that it's always the big, bad capitalists who are exploiting the poor workers. But, in Potosi, Bolivia that's not the case. People have been mining silver and tin out of the Andes Mountains around Potosi for 450...

Fact file. (decline in union certifications in Ontario, Canada in 1996)
December 1, 1997... For the last nine months of 1996, union certifications in Ontario totalled 290, leading to the projection that the annual rate would be 49% lower than in the last full year of the previous NDP government's labour laws.

Fact file. (pay of chief executive officers compared with pay of employees)
December 1, 1997... Canada's top-paid chief executive officer was paid $19.1 million in 1996; the average Canadian employee earned about $586 a week in 1996.

Fact file. (prospects of companies with financial difficulties)
December 1, 1997... Generally, experience has shown that if a company or plant is not viable in the long-term, wage concessions do not seem to help.

Fact file. (how much Canadian Airlines saved in 1997 with reduced aviation fuel taxes)
December 1, 1997... The Alberta governments plan to reduce aviation fuel taxes in January 1997 instead of 1998 saved Canadian Airlines $8 million in the first year that the tax cut took effect.