Hydraulic Relationships: Labour Law and the New Inequality · Andrew Sharpe, Jean-François...
Transcript of Hydraulic Relationships: Labour Law and the New Inequality · Andrew Sharpe, Jean-François...
Hydraulic Relationships: Labour Law and
the New Inequality
17 June 2010
CRIMT / CIRA
Professor Michael Lynk Faculty of Law University of Western Ontario
“The different sorts of equality are finally inseparable but up to a certain point they are sufficiently distinguishable, and one may speak of political equality, equality before the laws and economic equality. Without the last, the first and second exist only measurably, and they tend to disappear as it shrinks.”
-- William Dean Howells
The Lecture’s Three Arguments:
1. Widening Inequality
2. Falling Unionization
3. Somnolent Labour Laws
PAUL KRUGMAN
The Gilded Age
The Great Compression
The New Inequality
Inequality
Health Education Obesity Teenage Births Imprisonment + Punishment Social Mobility Social Trust
Gini coefficients of income inequality in OECD countries, mid-2000s
Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries - OECD © 2008
Trends in income inequality
Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries - OECD © 2008
Top 0.5% Income Share in Canada and the United States 1920-2000
A QUARTER CENTURY OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN CANADA: 1981–2006 By Lars Osberg
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives © 2008
Share of Aggregate Incomes Received by Each Quintile of Families and Unattached Individuals (%)
A QUARTER CENTURY OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN CANADA: 1981–2006 By Lars Osberg
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives © 2008
Percent Change in Real Taxable Income 1982-2004
A QUARTER CENTURY OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN CANADA: 1981–2006 By Lars Osberg
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives © 2008
Share of total wealth
Revisiting wealth inequality René Morissette and Xuelin Zhang
The Distribution of Wealth in Canada 1970-2005
Revisiting wealth inequality René Morissette and Xuelin Zhang
Labour's Share, Canada, Total Compensation as a Share of GDP, 1961-2007
Why Have Real Wages Lagged Labour Productivity Growth in Canada? Andrew Sharpe, Jean-François Arsenault and Peter Harrison
Average Weekly Wages Adjusted for Inflation
RISING PROFIT SHARES, FALLING WAGE SHARES By Ellen Russell and Mathieu Dufour
1980 -- $41,348 (in 2005 dollars)
2005 -- $41,401 (in 2005 dollars)
“[Recent economic studies show] …a clear negative correlation between unionization and inequality: the countries in which income inequality is on average lower in the period 1989-2005 tend to be those in which a greater proportion of workers is affiliated to trade unions.”
ILO, World of Work Report 2008
Union Density Rate Changes 1970-2003
International Patterns of Union Membership David G. Blanchflower
Trends in Union membership and density
Whither Unionism: Current State and Future Prospects of Union Renewal in Canada Pradeep Kumar
Province Unionization Rate, and Rank – 1998
After Tax Inequality Ratio of Highest and Lowest Quintiles, and Rank – 1998
Newfoundland 39.7% (1) 4.90 (4) Quebec 35.7% (2) 4.90 (4) Manitoba 34.9% (3) 4.70 (3) British Columbia 34.8% (4) 5.10 (7) Saskatchewan 33.6% (5) 4.60 (2) Nova Scotia 28.9% (6) 5.40 (8) Ontario 28.0% (7) 5.50 (9) New Brunswick 26.6% (8) 4.90 (4) Prince Edward Island 26.3% (9) 4.20 (1) Alberta 23.0% (10) 6.10 (10) National Average 30.7% 5.40
Figure 9: Comparative Provincial Unionization Levels and After-Tax Inequality Ratios
Sources: R. Morissette, G. Schellenberg & A. Johnson, “Diverging Trends in Unionization” (2005) 6:4 Perspective on Labour and Income (Statistics Canada) 5, Table 3, at p. 8; and D. Sanga, “Income Inequality within Provinces” (Winter 2000), 12:4 Perspectives on Labour and Income (Statistics Canada) 33, at p. 35.
Labour Law Legislative Stagnation Since 1990, most reforms to labour legislation has been to
curb trade union bargaining power
Exceptions that prove the rule: BC (1992), Ontario (1992), Saskatchewan (1994)
All rolled back by subsequent change in government
1982-2007: 179 pieces of enacted legislation that have curbed or denied collective bargaining
Broad consensus among American and Canadian industrial relations scholars – differences in union density between US and Canada explained in large part by differences in labour laws
Union Certification: Card Check v. Automatic Vote Post WWII: every Canadian jurisdiction used card-check
system for union certification If majority of employees (either 50% or 55%) signed
individual membership cards, LRB would certify without vote.
Nova Scotia – 1970s – automatic certification regardless of card count
Since 1984, 5 other jurisdictions – BC (1984/1992/2002), Alberta (1988), Newfoundland (1994), Ontario (1995) & Saskatchewan (2008) – have adopted automatic certification vote
Ontario: Automatic Vote
Card check lasted from 1947-1995
Changed to automatic vote in Bill 7 reforms under Harris government
McGuinty government: maintained automatic vote, except for construction industry
Post-1995 – substantial downward impact on certification: 21% lower likelihood of certification.
British Columbia: Automatic vote
Late 1970s to 1984 – Union certification success under card-check: 86%-92%
1984-1993: automatic vote – 70%
1993-2002: card-check – 90%
2002–present: auto vote – 70%
The Future: Wagner Act Plus? Challenges: Decline in manufacturing, which was traditional base of
unionism Growth in atypical and contingent labour force, from 15%
in 1980 to 32% today (Part-time, casual, self-employed) Growth in global trade and global labour markets, exerting
downward pressure on labour conditions Lack on effective international institutions on labour
conditions Growth of economic inequality creates its own momentum
on domestic institutions
The Future: Wagner Act Plus? A Way Forward: Permit Minority Unit Bargaining
Wage Degree System
Permit More Cluster and National/Industry Bargaining
Tie Minimum Wage to Average Wage
Restore Card-Count