Résumés
Summary
Constitutional labour rights in Canada now protect workers’ freedom to organize and bargain collectively and to strike. These associational freedoms are especially important for public sector workers, the most frequent targets of legislation limiting their freedoms. However, the Supreme Court of Canada judgments recognizing these rights and freedoms have also introduced important ambiguities about their foundation, scope and level of protection. This brief comment locates these ambiguities in the context of Canada’s political economy and industrial relations regime, which are beset by contradiction and conflict. It then explores the origins and development of the jurisprudential ambiguities in constitutional labour rights through a survey of recent Supreme Court of Canada’s labour rights judgments, including most recently British Columbia Teachers’ Federation and British Columbia (2016).
Keywords:
- Freedom of Association,
- Constitutional Labour Rights,
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
- Collective Bargaining,
- Supreme Court of Canada
Résumé
Les droits constitutionnels du travail au Canada protègent aujourd’hui la liberté des travailleurs de s’organiser, de négocier collectivement et de faire la grève. Ces libertés associatives sont particulièrement importantes pour les travailleurs du secteur public parce que ces derniers constituent les cibles les plus fréquentes de législations limitant ces libertés. De surcroît, les jugements de la Cour suprême du Canada reconnaissant ces droits et libertés ont introduit d’importantes ambiguïtés quant à leur fondement, leur portée et leur niveau de protection. Ce bref commentaire situe ces ambiguïtés dans le contexte du régime d’économie politique et des relations industrielles du Canada, lequel est en proie à des contradictions et à des conflits. Il explore, ensuite, les origines et le développement des ambiguïtés jurisprudentielles dans les droits constitutionnels du travail à travers une étude des derniers jugements de la Cour suprême du Canada sur les droits du travail, dont récemment British Columbia Teachers’ Federation c Colombie-Britannique (2016).
Mots-clés:
- liberté d’association,
- droit constitutionnel du travail,
- Charte canadienne des droits et libertés,
- négociation collective,
- Cour suprême du Canada
Parties annexes
References
- Camfield, David (2007) “Renewal in Public Sector Unions: Neoliberalism and Union Praxis.” Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, 62 (2), p. 282.
- Faraday, Fay, Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker (2012) Constitutional Labour Rights in Canada: Farmworkers and the Fraser Case, Toronto: Irwin.
- Fudge, Judy and Eric Tucker (2010) “The Freedom to Strike in Canada: A Brief Legal History.” Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, 15 (2), p. 333.
- Slinn, Sara (2011) “Structuring Reality so that the Law Will Follow: British Columbia Teachers’ Quest for Collective Bargaining Rights.” Labour/Le Travail, 68, p. 35.
- Slinn, Sara (2012) “Conflict without Compromise: The Case of Public Sector Teacher Bargaining in British Columbia.” In Arthur Sweetman and Sara Slinn (eds), Dynamic Negotiations: Teacher Labour Relations in Canadian Elementary and Secondary Education, Kingston, ON: Queen’s University Press, p. 81.
- Tucker, Eric (2008) “The Constitutional Right to Bargain Collectively: The Ironies of History in the Supreme Court of Canada.” Labour/Le Travail, 61, p. 151.