Labour markets in Canada and elsewhere are rapidly shifting if not transforming. Whether in places like Canada where the norm was the standard employment relationship, based on the ideal of full-time, full-year, continuous employment, or in the global South in which informal work relations have prevailed, efforts are afoot to rollback long-term commitments (including by imposing part-time and temporary work), erode or undercut protections and impose austerity. These changes pose a significant challenge for laws and policies governing work relations. Not only are these laws/policies in a state of flux, but arguably our current regimes are incapable of ensuring the needs of ordinary working people and their kin are met.
The seminar explores how laws and policies respond to and shape the changing nature and conditions of work. We will do so by focusing on controversies in the content, scope and boundaries of labour/employment law and policy. We engage in open-ended exploration, questioning prevailing assumptions, including widespread acceptance of binary distinctions between law and policy, labour and employment, theory and action. We will also consider the authority of the state and its production of ‘Others’ as a basis for reckoning with tensions, paradoxes and contradictions in law/policy surrounding capitalist work.
While it takes Canada as the point of departure, the scope widens to tease out the implications in the global context. The pace and intensity of work restructuring makes this an exciting yet perplexing time to engage with the subject matter. In all, the intent is to thrust students into the heart of the most pressing challenges of work regulation in these times — to interpret the world with a view to supporting transformative change. You can expect to be exposed to a range of critiques, from reformist to radical, and supported to think hard about work injustices in late capitalist life, including through evaluation of theories and proposals for social transformation.
Seminar sessions will consist of class discussion, student presentations and, from time to time, we will welcome guest speakers to support our learning and engagement. Given the requirement of a prerequisite, we will approach the course as an advanced treatment of labour and employment law and policy.
Method of Evaluation: Research paper (80%), seminar participation (20%).