OPINION: The province’s precarious-work review points out the limits of labour law. But unless it addresses weakened collective-bargaining rights and non-unionized workplaces, it won’t do much to protect employees

During an earlier era of globalization, at the end of the 19th century, European economies able to open their borders and take advantage of expanding trade were also willing to offer workers protection from the insecurities associated with it. Countries such as England, Switzerland, and Germany introduced laws that forced employers to make workplaces safer and compensate employees injured on the job. They established new rights for workers to bargain collectively and implemented regulations to limit working hours and eliminate child labour.

Today, in Europe and in North America, globalization faces resistance from politicians and workers. For a growing core of the labour force, the current wave of globalization has seen a loss of collective bargaining rights, stagnant earnings, and increased insecurity. It’s in this context that the Ontario government is currently reviewing two key pieces of legislation: the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act.

The province launched this review in response to a growing sense among Ontarians that workers are not being treated fairly. Federal finance minister Bill Morneau recently cautioned workers to get used to “job churn” and short-term contract work. The 1980s model of permanent full-time jobs, in which terms of employment are negotiated through collective bargaining, is in decline. Temp work and self-employment are on the rise. Having a secure, well-paying job today is no guarantee that you’ll have one tomorrow.

Government-appointed advisers have done good work so far in assessing the limitations of the Employment Standards and Labour Relations acts, and in identifying ways to correct them. As they point out, both were drafted when many more Ontarians were employed full-time, worked in manufacturing, and were union members. Today, those work forces are a shadow of what they were 30 years ago. In their place, employment has increased in the retail, non-profit, and knowledge sectors, and at smaller (often non-union) workplaces.

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