Stéphanie Bernstein

Strategies for Managing Work/Life Interaction among Women and Men with Variable and Unpredictable Work Hours in Retail Sales in Québec, Canada

Increasingly, work schedules in retail sales are generated by software that takes into account variations in predicted sales. The resulting variable and unpredictable schedules require employees to be available, unpaid, over extended periods. At the request of a union, we studied schedule preferences in a retail chain in Québec using observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Shift start times had varied on average by four hours over the previous week; 83 percent had worked at least one day the previous weekend. Difficulties with work/life balance were associated with schedules and, among women, with family responsibilities. Most workers wanted: more advance notice; early shifts; regular schedules; two days off in sequence; and weekends off. Choices varied, so software could be adapted to take preferences into account. Also, employers could give better advance notice and establish systems for shift exchanges. Governments could limit store hours and schedule variability while prolonging the minimum sequential duration of leave per week.

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.

Individualizing Social Risks: International and Legal Dimensions of Privatization of Pension Schemes in Latin America.

The Chilean model of privatized pension schemes has expanded in Latin America in the last ten years and has generated much interest at the international level. This raises important questions in relation to the individualization of social risks and the erosion of the human rights underpinnings of social security. This article looks at the characteristics of Latin American privatized pension schemes and explores some of the motivating factors behind the trend toward privatization. The approaches to pension scheme reform advocated by the World Bank and the International Labour Organization are also compared. The legal standards and principles having generally guided the design of pension schemes until now provide insight for an examination of some of the issues surrounding the implementation of privatized pension schemes. Among these issues are the changing role of the State with respect to social protection and the ability of more vulnerable groups to exercise their right to social security.