Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
RI/IR is a bilingual publication whose mission it is to be the foremost site in Canada for the publication of high calibre research papers from both established and new researchers in the industrial relations field. At the same time, the Journal serves as an international forum for contributions and research debates for both Canadian and international researchers. RI/IR is fully not-for-profit. The Journal’s mission includes the promotion of a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach as applied to the study of work and employment, the major fields involved in industrial relations, which traditionally includes human resource management, public policies and labour relations. As a scientific journal, RI/IR contributes to the furthering of knowledge in the industrial relations field both in Canada and abroad, and also contributes to the development of theoretical and methodological approaches applied in this field. RI/IR is an essential resource for academics, students, human resources and labour relations managers, union officials, policymakers and observers. The Journal is distributed in more than twenty countries (paper) and all around the world (online). It is officially recognized by the Canadian Industrial Relations Association.
Université Laval. Département des relations industrielles
Unveiling interactions between individual, entrepreneurial and organizational resilience of entrepreneurs with disabilities
This work aims to understand how individual, entrepreneurial and organizational resilience interact and reinforce each other, in the context of entrepreneurs with disabilities. It appears that individual resilience translates into entrepreneurial one, which in turn reinforces organizational resilience, via identified characteristics, e.g. anticipation, adaptation, empathy. This research also suggests a positive retro-effect of entrepreneurial resilience at the individual level, reinforcing locus of control, self-efficacy and identity. Having to develop solid resilience capabilities, persons with disabilities turn into resilient entrepreneurs, fostering inclusion in their organizations.
Indivdual, entrepreneurial, organizational resilience: Entrepreneurs with disabilities
Copyright (c) 2026 Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
Sustainable Human Resource Management, Trade Unions, and Equality Enabling Practices: A Framework Based Systematic Literature Review and Directions for Future Research
Purpose– Influenced by sustainability development goal V (SDG), organisations integrate sustainability into their strategies by adopting socially responsible HR practices addressing gender equality. Despite this, research lacks how HR practitioners collaborate with trade unions to implement equality-focused HR practices. This study, grounded in a social justice approach, explores the antecedent, decisions and outcomes of sustainable HRM practices that promote workplace equality in collaboration with trade unions. Design/methodology/approach– The research uses a framework-based systematic literature review (SLR) method guided by the Antecedents-Decisions-Outcomes (ADO) framework of Paul et al., (2023). Further, the SLR research followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocols to ensure comprehensive and transparent reporting of systematic review by focusing on initiation, screening, evaluation, and confirming inclusion. Findings– Using the ADO framework, the results identified organizational culture and values, stakeholder involvement, trade union trends, legal framework and regulations, collective agreements, and firm size as ‘Antecedents’ to union-supported sustainable HRM practices that facilitate workplace equality. ‘Decisions’ encompass inclusive recruitment and hiring practices, equal pay and compensation initiatives, diversity and inclusion training, flexible work arrangements, and mechanisms for conflict resolution and grievance handling. The ‘Outcomes’ include improved employee well-being, enhanced productivity and performance, greater support for diversity and inclusion, and a positive impact on employee health and safety. Originality/value- In response to the call for SDG-V related research, this study explores the antecedents, decisions, and outcomes of equality-enabling sustainable HRM practices supported by unions. Additionally, it significantly contributes to future research by highlighting critical gaps that need further investigation.
Labour shortages, job quality and workers’ bargaining power
Labour shortages have been rising steadily since recovery from the 2008-10 financial crisis, driven by increased demand and transitions in the labour market – digital, green and demographic. Covid-19 exacerbated the situation through a shift in workers’ preferences, followed by growing demand in the post-Covid rebound. While these shortages are bad for the economy and can worsen working conditions for workers, they also offer opportunities in terms of bargaining power. While much of the ongoing debate focuses on the issue of specific skills shortages and possible solutions through reskilling/upskilling or expanding the labour force, primarily by migration, it is increasingly recognised that shortages are aggravated by bad quality jobs and that raising job quality is a way to compete for labour. Labour shortages may therefore increase workers’ bargaining power, offering some counterbalance to the trends in the last decades of reductions in workers’ relative power. This paper describes the link between labour shortages and job quality, particularly wages, at aggregate and individual levels. Wages indeed tend to increase more in sectors with higher labour shortages, and particularly so for workers with more vulnerable backgrounds – by gender, migration status or age – or lower bargaining power through less institutional support. This paper points out the complex relation between labour shortages and workers’ job conditions and bargaining power.
Call for Papers - Repercussions of Labour/Skills Shortages
Labor shortage and union bargaining power: between opportunities and challenges
The article suggests possible explanations for the variation in the effects of labour shortages on union bargaining power. To this end, a new conceptual model centred on the effectiveness of power is proposed, which lies at the intersection between ‘power to’ and ‘power over’: it therefore combines both the unions' ability to construct collective strategies and use their resources (power to) and their ability to exert a decisive influence on the other party to generate results that are beneficial to them (power over). In an attempt to avoid the determinism often associated with ‘power over’, this model proposes the integration of elements specific to the negotiation process, thus recognising the importance of actors' strategies. By means of interviews with experienced union negotiators, this article demonstrates that the same phenomenon, in this case the labour shortage, produces differentiated effects depending on the subjects of negotiation and the strategies deployed by the players, by affecting both the quality of the strategic leverages, the challenges posed to the unions' organizational capacity and the nature and strength of the employer resistance in negotiation. Furthermore, this theoretical model facilitates an enhanced dialogue between literature focusing on the unions' agentivity and that focused on negotiation strategies and processes, while providing an analytical framework for labor relations practitioners to understand the effects of environmental changes on their bargaining power.
labour shortage, bargaining power, union
les modes managériales favorisent-elle le harcèlement moral ? une etude juridico-gestionnaire de la jurisprudence française
Incontestablement, les modes managériales entraînent des modifications des pratiques organisationnelles. Ces modifications sont d’autant plus rapides que le cycle de vie des modes managériales s’accélère et se raccourcit, favorisant les changements organisationnels. Partant du postulat qu’il existe un lien entre l’organisation du travail et la santé des salariés, en particulier en matière de harcèlement moral l’objectif de cet article est de mettre en évidence et préciser le lien entre les modes managériales et le harcèlement moral. A partir de l’analyse exhaustive de la jurisprudence, cette étude montre une relation ambivalente entre le harcèlement moral et les modes managériales. Si, en effet, il n’est pas possible d’établir une corrélation directe entre les deux, l’analyse montre que l’adoption d’une pratique à la mode entraine des changements organisationnels qui constituent eux-mêmes un terreau fertile pour le harcèlement moral. Ces conséquences pourtant sont peu interrogées par la littérature sur le harcèlement, qui ignore les modes managériales, comme par la littérature sur les modes managériales, qui questionne peu l’implémentation des pratiques et limite l’analyse à l’alternative adoption / rejet des pratiques à la mode.
When shortages affect day-to-day management: site managers faced with foreign subcontractors
In the construction sector, the use of international subcontracting has been widely described as a business model aimed at mobilising a flexible and inexpensive workforce at the expense of employment conditions. The current context of labor shortage is such that companies must increasingly work to retain their subcontractors, including foreign subcontractors, at the risk of running out of labour to carry out their projects. Consequently, they need to rethink the relationship between companies and their subcontractors. In this paper, we are focusing on the managerial issues involved in the day-to-day management of subcontractors, with a particular emphasis on the role of site managers. The analysis enables us to produce an original argument on the links between subcontracting and scarcity, showing how day-to-day management is essential in understanding the balances that are established between the parties.
Site managers, Construction industry, Labour shortage, retention, Subcontracting.
“It’s social dialogue, stupid”. How to address labour and skills shortages into the future in Ireland.
Labour and skills shortages are a key concern for most countries. Whilst a range of strategies exist to address labour and skills shortages, a much deeper engagement with those strategies is necessary, particularly how those strategies are understood and viewed across a range of actors. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with a range of actors this paper explores the various strategies that may help address labour and skills shortages in the future. In doing so, the paper analyses those strategies from a variety of perspectives. The paper illustrates the challenges that all actors face in addressing labour and skills shortages, in particular, the importance of social dialogue as a means to identify and consider the variety of policies and practices that exist to address those shortages.
The Labor Shortage in Québec: Analysis of its Various Scales and Employers' Perspectives
This article examines the phenomenon of labor shortage in Québec by investigating its demographic and economic dimensions as well as employers' perceptions at various scales. It first highlights the lack of consensus on the definition of the concept of shortage, often conflating lack of workers, skills deficit, and recruitment difficulties. Secondly, the article shows that the labor shortage is a multifactorial phenomenon influenced by demographic, economic, and institutional factors. Young people are often blamed for the problem, even though they are already widely present in the labor market. The analysis of employers' perspectives on the labor shortage, presented in the third section, indicates that they tend to explain the phenomenon by a change in mentalities, particularly among young people, whom they perceive as less engaged in collective team and more demanding in terms of work temporalities. However, the results show that other structural factors, such as unattractive employment conditions and inequalities in labor market access, play a key role. In response to the shortage, employers adapt their recruitment practices, reduce their selection criteria, and diversify their recruitment channels. The analyses presented are based on statistical data from Statistics Canada and qualitative interviews with employers in the Québec region.
labor shortage, employment, employers, recruitment, young people, perspectives
Gaining Political Legitimacy through Social Dialogue: The Interest Representation of European Employers’ Organizations
This article examines the interest representation of European Employers’ Organizations in the European Union. Previous literature in employment relations focused on employer activity in Social Dialogue, while literature in political science focused on political representation and lobbying of business associations towards European Union political institutions. Going beyond this dualism in the literature, this article suggests that to fully understand the interest representation of European Employers Organizations requires analyzing the interaction between the political and social dialogue arenas. We argue that European Employers’ Organizations gain legitimacy through participating in Social Dialogue to facilitate their primary focus of political interest representation. Strategic and institutional perspectives on legitimacy provide insights into how European Employers’ Organizations respond to challenge and manage their environment within the European Union to pursue their interests.
Inclusive Management in Public Administration: The Development of a Work-Centred Training Action
This article examines the development and implementation of a work activity-centred training program designed to promote inclusive management by leaders in a Portuguese Public Administration institution. Using a mixed Design-Based Research methodology, the study engaged leaders in the design and application phases of the program. Data was collected through a focus group to understand leaders’ experiences and training needs, while a monitoring system tracked implementation via pre-, post-, and mid-training questionnaires. The resulting 60-hour b-learning program combined e-learning modules with in-person sessions. Findings highlight the program’s effectiveness in enhancing leaders’ capacity to promote inclusion through work activity analysis and collective reflection. The study underscores the value of participatory, context-specific training and emphasizes collaboration between academia and public institutions to develop impactful inclusion strategies.
A Great Place to Work, also for Senior Women: The Label Impact on their Perception of Fairness and Inclusion
In this research, we investigate the perception of senior women in organizations that have been awarded the Great Place to Work® label in France, compared to organizations that have not been selected. The data used in this study were derived from the anonymous Trust Index© survey results, which was conducted among a total of 346,516 respondents working in 418 organizations. Our study mobilizes hierarchical linear regressions to examine the impact of the Great Place to Work® label on perceptions of inclusion and fairness, in function on respondents’ age and gender. Our findings illustrate that the label has a stronger impact on these perceptions in France than in the United States. While it serves as a barrier against the double standard of aging, encompassing ageism and sexism in the workplace, it has a limited effect on inclusion perceptions for senior women. We suggest that employment branding labels measure demographic characteristics survey differences prior to promoting a fair and inclusive workplace for all employees, with a particular focus on senior women in France.
An evaluation of the financial incentive strategy for the employment of seniors in Quebec
Our research identifies the introduction since 2008 of four types of financial incentives in Quebec and Canada aimed at encouraging the employment of older people: the authorization to combine employment income and retirement pensions, a tax credit to encourage the supply of work, a bonus-malus mechanism on retirement pensions and a tax credit to encourage the demand for work. Those changes represent a reconfiguration of the institutional logic of the retirement system geared towards keeping older people in work for longer. The main objective of our research is to assess the effects of these financial incentives on the participation of the elderly in the labour market, on the type of employment held and on its intensity. Using master microdata from the Labour Force Survey from 2000 to 2023, and employing the difference-in-differences method, we evaluated the effectiveness of four different types of financial incentive within a single model. Our results show that all measures exerted a moderate upward influence on the activity of older people, with the most effective incentive being the possibility of combining employment income with retirement pensions. In terms of working hours, incentives had little impact on work intensity and the use of part-time work, which can be explained by opposite effects depending on the measures implemented. These results lead to the conclusion that greater efforts should be made to accommodate the employment conditions of older people, in order to influence them more effectively to remain in the labour market.
CSA Cooperation : an atypical working relationship to undertake together in an enabling environment
The objective of this article is to analyze the specificities and the entrepreneurial issues of the atypical work relationship that constitutes the CSA cooperation initiated between a small farmer and a group of volunteer consumers. Similar to a specific form of agricultural collective entrepreneurship, the creation of a community supported agriculture (CSA) materializes through a contractualized commitment of consumers in the activity of agricultural production and direct sales of local food products. The commitment of these consumers can then be compared to a real workforce for the small farmer, facilitating access to complementary expertise and skills. Our research aims to understand how CSA cooperation, as an atypical work relationship, makes it possible to stimulate, within a territory, collective rural entrepreneurship between a small farmer and a group of volunteer consumers. Based on a qualitative methodology, our results show that this atypical work relationship is characterized by a system of co-production, co-management and learning reciprocity. Furthermore, it promotes, for the rural entrepreneur, the establishment of an enabling environment thanks to the principles of replacement, support, education and accompaniment which the creation of a CSA obeys and which strengthen the capacity for action and empowerment of the small farmer. Thus, the purpose of this atypical work relationship lies in “undertaking together” to, ultimately, co-create social value. This entrepreneurial and altruistic approach to the atypical work relationship enriches the academic literature which has, until now, considered it mainly from the worker's vulnerable situation. We also propose to consider it based on the worker's ability to take part in a collective entrepreneurship project by providing a community with a set of expertise and skills.
The failure of self-regulation and the market in OHS: noise in the workplace + silent government = deafened workers
Despite legislation designed to protect occupational health and safety (OHS), surveys reveal continuing exposure to avoidable risks. To understand this compliance deficit, this study focuses on noise at work in Quebec, revealing the limits of the system. Based on the holistic model of compliance (Parker and Nielsen, 2017), adapted by Walters et al. (2021) to OHS, the study analyzes the period from 1979 (adoption of the law inspired by the Robens model) to 2023, examining the paralysis of noise regulation and data on inspectorate action, including intervention reports. Despite the prevalence of harmful noise (among manual workers, 24% of men and 16% of women, 2008) and the eight-fold increase in recognized cases of occupational deafness (1997-2021), the paralysis of joint regulatory work prevented the revision of the excessively high exposure threshold for over 30 years, without the government taking action. Although the threshold was indeed lowered, the revised regulation was weakened, under pressure from employers, by the deletion of the reference to the hierarchy of preventive measures, aimed at reduction at source. Between 2002 and 2019, the term “noise” appears in only 3.06% of intervention reports, and articles specific to noise in establishments are used in only 0.06% of derogations. The work of the inspectorate, whose numbers have not kept pace with the growth in the number of workers, is heavily dependent on that of the public health network, which is independent of employers. The ineffectiveness of self-regulation is compounded by the failure of market-based regulation: when employers' costs have risen in line with workers' exposure to noise, the effect of incidence-based pricing has been reduced, if not wiped out, by cost-sharing provisions.
Occupational health and safety regime; Occupational health and safety regulation; Inspectorate; Corporate compliance; Noise; Occupational health; Enforcement deficiency; Women's occupational health and safety.
Inclusive management of tattooed people in France: valuing singularities within the collective
In both European and North American organizations, more and more employees today are tattooed. Yet academic literature, mainly from North America, shows that there is still a great deal of discrimination against them in the workplace. In France, a relatively conservative country resistant to external markers of identity, initial research shows the existence of subtle and discreet but very real discrimination against tattooed people. However, this research remains incomplete, particularly in terms of inclusion. We therefore asked ourselves how psychological safety, which is essential to enable everyone to assert their singularities while respecting a neutral approach to diversity, can reduce the process of discrimination against tattooed people and enhance their inclusion in the workplace. To answer this question, we conducted a double quantitative survey in 2023 and 2024 (n=406) among tattooed people working in organizations in France. Our results show that tattooed people's feeling of discrimination leads to heightened vigilance on their part, prompting them to hide their tattoos and even impacting on their engagement at work, particularly for younger people. They also show how managerial practices aimed at reinforcing the psychological security of employees within teams reduce this process of discrimination and disengagement at work.
CLIMAT DE DIVERSITÉ ET LEADERSHIP AUTHENTIQUE : L’EFFET MEDIATEUR DU STEREOTYPE MASCULIN DU LEADER
L’objectif de cet article est d’évaluer dans quelle mesure la perception du climat de diversité permet d’expliquer le déploiement du leadership authentique. A travers un modèle de médiation modéré, nous tentons de comprendre comment le climat de diversité agit sur le stéréotype masculin du leader performant et influence le déploiement du leadership authentique. A l’aide d’un échantillon composé de 711 managers, nos résultats indiquent que le climat de diversité réduit significativement le stéréotype masculin du leader performant et contribue au déploiement du leadership authentique, tout particulièrement pour les répondants masculins. Nos résultats contribuent à la compréhension des mécanismes par lesquels le climat de diversité oriente les comportements organisationnels.
L’intégration des personnes immigrantes sur le milieu de travail et la valeur ajoutée d’une perspective subjective
Les défis d'intégration professionnelle des personnes immigrantes peuvent atténuer les bénéfices potentiels de la diversité culturelle. La littérature existante offre une perspective limitée sur la réussite de cette intégration et ses déterminants. Cette étude examine l'intégration professionnelle des personnes immigrantes, en mettant l'accent sur les dimensions individuelles, telles que leur engagement au travail et leur propre perception de l'intégration. Elle aborde trois questions : Comment les personnes immigrantes perçoivent-elles une intégration réussie ? Quels facteurs influencent cette perception ? Comment ces facteurs interagissent-ils ? Nous traitons ces questions à travers une étude qualitative utilisant des entretiens semi-dirigés. S'appuyant sur trois théories de l'intégration (théorie du capital social, théorie de l’identité sociale et climat organisationnel), un cadre conceptuel des facteurs influençant la perception qu’ont les personnes immigrantes de leur intégration est proposé. Un test modique de ce cadre sur trois entretiens confirme que plusieurs facteurs influencent la perception de l'intégration des personnes immigrantes, notamment le capital social, le sentiment d'appartenance, le soutien organisationnel, la diversité, l'assistance des collègues, l'accès aux réseaux locaux, la confiance, et les compétences linguistiques. Il est établi qu’un climat organisationnel inclusif et respectueux de la diversité semble renforcer le sentiment d'appartenance des personnes immigrantes et favoriser leur perception d’intégration. Tous ces éléments interagissent de manière synergique, influençant l'intégration perçue des personnes immigrantes. L’étude contribue à la littérature en démontrant que l'intégration des personnes immigrantes sur le lieu de travail est un processus complexe et multidimensionnel qui va au-delà de la simple insertion économique. Elle appelle à des pratiques plus inclusives qui valorisent des expériences des personnes immigrantes pour mieux comprendre et améliorer leur intégration.
Employer brand as a loyalty-building tool? Insights gained from a study of a cohort of new recruits.
This article examines the place and role of the employee experience in relation to changes in the perception of the employer brand (EB) among new recruits. The research question is twofold. Firstly, to empirically verify the general properties of the employee experience theoretically inferred from the literature (interactional; rooted; learning; indefinite and continuous). Secondly, to empirically assess the influence of the lived experience on the internal perception of the ME over time and, consequently, its influence on loyalty. The methodology employed, which is qualitative and diachronic, is based on the follow-up of a cohort of 40 non-commissioned members of the French Army during their first year of contract. Although exploratory and circumscribed, the results of the research lead to an initial validation of the inferred experiential properties. This initial observation partly calls into question the conceptualisation of the ME as a loyalty-building tool based on an external perception, assuming initial expectations on which the application is based, which must then be 'verified' during (internal) employment experience, their incongruence being equivalent to a reduction in loyalty. It is worth noting that the emphasis placed on the ability of experience, by virtue of its properties, to give rise to new expectations and overshadow the initial ones, leads us to discuss such a conceptualisation and to propose a new one.
Gender and conflict between work and family in Europe: a multidimensional analysis
The existing literature has examined the links between gender and work-family conflict, but has done little to explore the differentiated effects of gender as a function of direction (work-family conflict and family-work conflict) and/or dimension (time, tension, behaviour, cognition). This research uses the latest wave of the European Working Conditions Survey to study the effects of gender on four combinations (direction x dimension) of work-family conflict. This shows that, on three of the four combinations, women report a higher level of conflict than men. On the other hand, on the work-family conflict x time combination, there is no significant difference between women and men. These results allow us to discuss the existing literature in the light of gender role theory.
Making Territories Inclusive. Which Actors Are Mobilized in the Process of Cross-Sector Collaboration for Sustainable Employment ?
Enabling people to access all the resources and systems they need is the main challenge of inclusive territories. One priority is access to sustainable employment. Public authorities have tried to support this priority by encouraging the development of partnerships between actors from a variety of sectors (private, public, hybrid and third sectors). Supporting sustainable employment is a complex societal problem that makes such projects necessary. These projects pose real challenges for collaborative work at the territorial level. It is thereby necessary to examine the nature and specificities of this collaborative work, which aims to create inclusive territories and which involves actors from different sectors. It is interesting to ask which actors are involved in this process of cross-sector collaboration for sustainable employment and what challenges are facing this CSC in creating an inclusive territory. Through an exploratory study of two projects that were launched as part of the call for “100 % inclusion projects,” we describe the efforts of cross-sector collaboration in two distinct French territories and examine their specific features. The results portray the concept of “inclusive territory” as a collaborative linear path and furthermore show divergent and revealing conceptions of tensions within the various sectors, some of which are under-represented.
Telework in Canada : Who Is Working from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic ?
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new reality in the world of work. Employers are realizing that to continue business operations during the pandemic they need to think differently about work : how it is organized, who does what and where the work is done. This paper addresses the question of whether there are differences in demographic and human capital characteristics between those who work from home during the pandemic and those who worked from home previously. Thus, this study takes advantage of the natural conditions of a pseudo experiment to identify the sociodemographic (i.e., sex (female/male), immigrant status, age) and human capital factors (i.e., education level, health) of those with access to telework to better understand the impact of the shutdown on these subgroups. This study uses Statistics Canada’s Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS) first survey data on the Impacts of COVID-19, and an analytic sample whose n = 2,653 ; further, the 2016 General Social Survey cycle 30 was used to provide pre-pandemic estimates for descriptive comparisons. We find that females are not less likely than males to participate in telework and that immigrant status is negatively related to work from home during the pandemic. Generally, there is support for an age relationship, with the odds of telework being relatively lower as age increases. Education level is positively associated with telework during the pandemic (e.g., having a bachelor’s or higher university degree is positively associated with telework). Finally, there is no relationship between physical or mental health and telework. This study contributes to the literature by quantifying the impact of a brief mass telework event and its implications for access to telework across sociodemographic and human capital characteristics. In a post-pandemic world, will we carry forward the lessons learned through this ‘experiment’ imposed by the pandemic ?
Dissimuler et révéler : l’impact du stigmate sur la gestion du handicap de la dyslexie en contexte organisationnel
In this article, we will describe the impacts of dyslexia on the behaviours of dyslexic workers within their organization. The learning disabilities associated with the invisible disability of dyslexia can lead to situations of stigmatization in childhood, causing wounds, or stigmas, in the individuals concerned, which remain open throughout their lives and which, when revived in an organizational environment, will lead to a response of concealing the disability. To carry out this research, we used life story methodology (Bertaux, 1997) to analyze the results of a 4-year study of 21 people. A research protocol was adapted to this sensitive topic to facilitate the interviewees’ testimony. The results show that dyslexic workers can develop several types of tactics to hide their disability in order to avoid new suffering induced by the revival of their stigma. Thus, our article focuses on how this stigma impacts dyslexic workers in their tactics of disability concealment and disclosure. These tactics have been discussed by Clair et al. (2005) and Jones and King (2014). Our analysis enriches that literature by demonstrating the existence of tactics other than those described by the above two studies, such as the one we call the tactic of disability transfiguration. Our analysis also offers keys to understanding the consequences of having a stigma, for dyslexic workers, with regard to the process of disclosing this disability.
The Post-Rana Plaza Regime : Multi-level labour regulation in Bangladesh’s RMG sector
Following the Rana Plaza tragedy, two private institutional regulation initiatives, the Accord and Alliance, emerged to address ready-made garment workers’ safety in Bangladesh, alongside the public National Initiative. These three initiatives constitute multi-level regulation with vertical and horizontal layering. Employing this governance framework, this qualitative study analyzes these initiatives using interviews (N=41) and archival data. Our findings suggest an effective vertical flow of private institutional regulation but reveal significant horizontal challenges. We also examine the power dynamics during implementation and in negotiating international regulation after the expiration of the Accord and Alliance, in the absence of a legal basis for international labour regulation. This research contributes to the debate among policy makers and scholars over how to improve workers’ safety in globally dispersed production networks.
Les technologies numériques comme source de revitalisation démocratique : une étude auprès des responsables des communications d’organisations syndicales
This article is about the way unions are using digital information and communication technologies (DICTs) for experiments in new practices of representative, participatory and deliberative democracy within their organizations. We rely here on the theory of the experimentalist approach and the literature on digital democracy. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with the communications managers of thirteen union organizations in Quebec. Our research findings show that DICTs are not replacing traditional practices but are instead being superimposed on older practices. Our findings also highlight the limits to such experiments, these limits being due not to the intrinsic characteristics of DICTs but to the way these technologies are mobilized and used by actors in the union movement.
Prohibiting Use of Recreational Cannabis by Safety-Sensitive Workers in Canada : A Legal Evaluation of the New Workplace Policies
Informed by labour arbitration and Supreme Court decisions, this paper proposes a custom-made test and uses it to assess the enforceability of the new cannabis workplace policies, which prohibit legal consumption for safety-sensitive workers. The analysis identifies two main challenges facing employers. Establishing that a problem exists in the workplace. Consumption of cannabis must have an impairing effect during the period of prohibition. Demonstrating that the policy has sufficient benefits to justify the consequences. The improvements in workplace safety must outweigh the breech of employee privacy. To identify a problem in the workplace, employers will rely on the strongest available evidence linking cannabis to impairment during the entire period of prohibited consumption. Medical research is helpful in this regard. A substantial body of evidence points to significant motor and cognitive deficiencies immediately following consumption (first eight hours). Although some studies indicate a prolonged period of impairment, the evidence is less compelling as a user approaches 30 days of abstinence. At the same time, employers must contend with the difficulty of establishing the benefits of a workplace policy that relies on existing cannabis testing technology and which, at best, identifies an unspecified level of consumption at some time during the preceding 30 days. The employer thus faces a conundrum. On the one hand, the period of prohibited consumption can be shortened to align with current scientific evidence on the length of impairment. The policy will then be more difficult to enforce because existing testing technology cannot prove that the consumption took place during the shorter period. On the other hand, the period can be lengthened to 30 days to align with the limitations of existing testing technology. The policy will then be criticized because the longer period is not justified by current scientific evidence.
Editor foreword: Forward for Historic Edition 76-4
This missive is something of an executive summary of our annual report for your perusal. The team and I are committed to being transparent and encourage external scrutiny. Notwithstanding such commitment, we want to strike a balance between bogging readers down with copious superfluous data and having them unaware of what is going on. In short, we want all involved with the journal to feel ownership of – and get involved in – the work we are doing. I start by making a few philosophical observations and overarching comments. First, as you will see from the tone of this report, more than in the past, we are setting goals for the journal and measuring our performance against these. Second (and relatedly), I have come to believe that it is possible to run a bilingual journal and not have to make excuses for sub-standard performance on the more orthodox success metrics. Third, the key to being effective – broadly speaking – is having a large and diverse network of competent and committed international collaborators. Fourth (and relatedly), very little that Yves and I do impacts greatly the journal’s success – it is who we bring together that counts. Fourth, the field of industrial relations matters – more than ever.
The 21st Century Cometh: The Toughest Mission is Before Us
A new era dawns for Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations. Commencing with 77(1), the journal is now online. This is a seismic shift that comes at the right time – and on the back of two years of solid achievement and reconfiguration. The next phase of development will be about content and universal access – about using the expertise of our contributors to tackle the 21st century`s pressing labour, work and employment-related problems. The difficulties we face are mostly universal challenges. They are tough – but our refurbished journal and its world-class authors are ready for the challenge. To repeat, it is now only content that matters. Appropriately, to start the new era, the focus will be on global matters that impact all of us who work for others for a livelihood, or depend on someone who works for others.
Examining Talent Management Practices in a Canadian Not-for-Profit Context: A Theory-Driven Template Analysis
Despite significant interest in the field of talent management (TM), research has been largely confined to talent management in large corporations. Recent reviews have identified two significant gaps in the literature: 1) excessive focus on large for-profit organizations in North American, Asian and European private sectors; and 2) lack of consensus on TM definitions and activities in organizations. This article examines how TM is perceived and practised in a Canadian context. We used a theory-based approach and drew on previous conceptualizations of TM to examine the perspectives of 30 Canadian decision-makers. Using a conceptual model based on Bolander, Werr, and Asplund (2017), we observed that non-profit organization (NPO) decision-makers have a unique inclusive and competitive view of TM. Their view is defined predominantly by humanistic (acquired talent, inclusive, inputs and outputs) and competitive factors (recruitment dependence and skill development). They felt that talent should be inclusive and acquired, and many indicated that they were looking for people who could be trained. Their emphasis was on cultural fit, motivation and ability to grow intellectually and professionally, rather than on just acquiring the key skills needed for certain roles. The results indicate that TM is an organizational activity and needs to be understood and supported by the whole organization. Specifically, an inclusive view of TM requires adaptable organizational systems, such as collective agreements and accounting systems, which record how value is created in the organization. Future research could compare and contrast the views of those undertaking other functions in the organization, such as accounting, with the views of HR managers.
Le no code et les effets organisationnels de la démocratisation logicielle : du mythe aux pratiques
This article focuses on the no-code movement, which offers the promise of a software creation democratization and more broadly of society. Here we will try to go beyond this deterministic technophile myth by adopting a co-evolutionary perspective to apprehend the recursive relationships between technical objects and organizational forms and specify the opportunities and constraints that carries these technologies in terms of quality of work and quality of life at work. The article is based on an exploratory study conducted in a consulting firm specializing in digital transformations that reflect important organizational changes following the integration of no-code tools: technical and creative professions are hybridizing, promoting intra- and inter-business collaborations. But if these organizational effects manage to be actualized within this company, it is also because the company represents a favorable social ground where organizational silos are voluntarily unstructured, management is barely present, and where the organization promotes the autonomy of employees. The example of this particular structure reveals the profound co-evolution of technical objects and organizational forms, which shape each other more than they are unilaterally determined. On the other hand, these positive organizational effects are also joined by other unwanted and destabilizing effects for the organization and the actors in place. The deployment of no-code platforms may first of all encounter the reluctance of developers that perceive these tools as a threat, compared to the power they traditionally have in the creation of software. The potential of reconfiguration of these tools disrupts business cultures and the games of actors in place. However, no-code tools are not available to everyone : they are primarily used by curious “hackers”, with a strong appetite for digital technology and a minimum of technical skills, with the risk of creating a division between designers and simple users.
Digitaliser le notariat, entre évolution de l’identité professionnelle et maintien du monopole
Since the beginning of the 2000s, the notarial profession is going through a process of modernization, which is today reflected in the digitalization of many activities and services. This article shows how the digitalization of activities has gradually become an opportunity for notaries to assert their added value towards citizens, while strengthening their position in the Belgian judicial system. Based on qualitative research within Belgian notary’s offices, we analyze the implementation of two digital applications (eRegistration and Biddit). Such applications modify two important activities of the profession: the registration of authentic acts and the public sales of real estate. Based on a socio-ergonomic analysis of the activities and discourses of multiple notaries involved in digitalization, we show how such digital applications have contributed to the evolution of the professional identity of notaries. At the institutional level, we discuss the central role played by the notaries’ professional federation (Fednot) in the digitalization of the profession. Our results show that the digitalization of the profession reinforces an already existing tension between two roles related to the notarial activity in Belgium: the role of state officer and that of entrepreneur.