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The Ghosts of Wagnerism: Organized Labour, Union Strategies, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2019

Charles W. Smith
Charles W. Smith*
Affiliation:
Political Studies St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SKcsmith@stmcollege.ca
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Abstract

Wagnerism has been at the centre of Canadian labour relations since the end of World War II. Wagnerism rests on a so-called balance between workers and employers. Between 2007 and 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the constitution includes protections for good faith collective bargaining and to strike. In these cases, the Court stated that it is not constitutionally enshrining Wagnerism, yet it also leaned heavily on Wagner principles in arriving at its decisions. Building on interviews with national union leaders, I argue that the ambiguity between the Court’s decisions and Wagnerism has left workers uncertain about how these rights alter the material conditions of unions. I conclude that the court’s embrace of labour freedoms will only have material benefit if workers are willing to use these newfound freedoms to build working class capacities to directly confront ongoing attacks by governments and employers on core union freedoms.

Résumé

En 2007, la Cour suprême du Canada a statué que la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés prévoyait la négociation collective de bonne foi. En 2015, la Cour a déterminé que la Charte protégeait le droit de grève. Ce faisant cependant, la Cour déclarait qu’elle n’entendait pas constitutionnaliser les politiques canadiennes en matière de relations de travail inspirées de Wagner. Ironiquement, la jurisprudence de la Cour suprême a toutefois été fortement influencée par les politiques de Wagner. L’ambiguïté entre les décisions de la Cour suprême et le wagnérisme lui-même a ainsi créé une série de questions pour les militants syndicaux et les chercheurs en politiques du travail. Quelles sont, par exemple, les implications de cette décision pour les lois canadiennes en droit du travail s’inspirant de Wagner? De plus, comment les syndicats qui s’appuient actuellement sur les protections de Wagner réagissent-ils à ces nouvelles libertés constitutionnelles? Le présent article répond à ces questions en suggérant que la Cour suprême a créé une jurisprudence ambiguë qui amplifie les tensions au sein du mouvement syndical actuel.

Keywords

labour rightsfreedom of associationstrikesCharter of Rights and FreedomsChartes des droits et libertésdroits syndicauxnégociation collectivedroit de grèvewagnérismeslois syndicales
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , April 2019 , pp. 99 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association / Association Canadienne Droit et Société 2019 

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