An Era of Wildcats and Sick-outs in Canada? The Continued Decline of Industrial Pluralism and the Case of Air Canada

Bibliographic Data

ID11229677
AuthorsAntony Stevens (0000-0003-2079-3397, University of Regina, corresponding author), Andrew Stevens (University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada), Doug Nesbitt (Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada)
Year2014
Volume39
Issue2
Pages118-139
Publication date2014-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLabor Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0160-449X • E-ISSN: 1538-9758
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0160449x14531681
OpenAlexW2315368101
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited9

In the winter of 2012, the Canadian federal Conservative government introduced back-to-work legislation prohibiting work stoppages at Canada’s largest airline, Air Canada. In the following weeks, wildcat strikes by baggage handlers, ground crew, and even pilots rattled the company. These disputes were preceded in 2011 by another instance of back-to-work legislation and threats of legislation against Air Canada’s customer service workers and flight attendants, respectively. In all cases, the union leadership was legally forced to police their membership and order their members to cease job actions when they erupted. This article situates the Conservative government’s coercive measures to deal with labor unrest at Air Canada within a broader anti-union context, highlighting the continued decline of industrial pluralism in Canada and questioning whether the repeated use and threat of federal back-to-work legislation will open up space for civil disobedience as a new norm in Canadian industrial relations

Economics · Government (linguistics · Labour economics · Legislation · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Trade union · Unrest · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration · Industrial Relations

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub