Guylaine Vallée

What is corporate social responsibility? : The case of Canada

The question of responsibility is not new to labour law. The earliest developments in labour law and social law sprang from a “legal revolution” to borrow the words of Georges Scelle, considering the concept of responsibility that prevailed in common law. Civil responsibility which was originally based on fault could now be based on the risk inherent to a socially useful activity so as to ensure that the responsibility for damages that might result from it be equitably shared. This development took place under the generalization of the industrial production mode, first within the frame work of laws respecting compensation for industrial accidents.

The Re-Regulation of Labour in a Global Context: Conceptual Vignettes From Canada:

nature of that re-regulatioll. Drawing on three vignettes of labour ieg7ilation in Canada, the ar-ticle seeks to provide a theoreticalaccoll11t of the nature of labour regulation and re-1-egulatioll ill the contexts ofglobalisntion. After identifying diffei-eiit dimensions of globalisatioll, it explo7-esfoiti-featill-es of labour regulation with pmticular attention to the consequences of globalisatioll on them. These features are: the nature of the employment relationship; the r ole of oi-ga7iisatioiialpi-ocesses and corttingency in the sbaping of work 17t1es; the strategic interdependence of adors and, in pmticulO1; the impo1tance of tbe balance of power between them in shaping labour regulatio11; and, finally, the rratrcr e of 17t1es about wor k, especially their dynamic attd social charactel:

Beyond Formal Equality: Closing the Gender Gap in a Changing Labour Market - A Study of Legislative Solutions Adopted in Canada

This article looks at the position of women in the Canadian labour market and at the legislative measures adopted to address their segregation in terms of occupation, wages and working conditions. Federal and provincial legislators have, with relative success, attempted through a series of measures to respond directly to the issue of discrimination against women in the workplace and in the labour market. They have, however, remained relatively insensitive to other factors that make the situation of working women precarious, such as the rise of ‘non-standard’ work. These inequalities are not peculiar to Canada and legislative responses to these questions vary according to specific national realities and legal traditions. A study of the legislative evolution in Canada serves to illustrate some of the challenges faced to redress this gender gap.

Labour Law in Canada as a Site of Legal Pluralism

The law that applies to paid work includes a plurality of rules, including a plurality of stated-based laws (i.e. labour law statutes, civil law, human rights protections) and rules emanating from social actors in the workplace (rules found in collective agreements, individual contracts of employment, corporate policies, workplaces practices and customs). The specificity of labour law is derived in large part from the ways in which these diverse sources of law co-exist and interact. At the same time, labour law has historically affirmed legal pluralism, according special legitimacy to rules created by workers and employers through the processes of collective negotiation. From a human rights perspective, labour law can be understood as part of a global movement towards the affirmation of economic and social rights of workers. As such, it endeavours to secure rights that are collective and diverge from the traditional individual rights of liberal legalism. In this chapter, these themes are explored by examining two areas where adjudicators have confronted the intersection of the plurality of sources that constitute labour law. The first area reviews the approach of labour arbitrators regarding the interface of state-based human rights guarantees and the resolution of grievances in the workplace; the second concerns judicial assessments of the interface of state-based laws and collective agreements, focusing on cases implicating protections for the rights of vulnerable workers.