Search

Le droit de grève a reçu une protection constitutionnelle au Canada en 2015. Dans certaines juridictions où le droit de grève est explicitement protégé dans la constitution, l'interdiction du recours aux briseurs de grève est reconnue comme découlant de ce droit constitutionnel. Seules deux provinces canadiennes interdisent le recours aux travailleurs de remplacement durant une grève ou un lockout. Au Québec, cette interdiction s'applique au sein de l'établissement de l'employeur. Le concept mal défini d'établissement a été interprété par des tribunaux et des arbitres comme se limitant au lieu physique de production, sans égard pour les avancées technologiques qui permettent aux travailleurs d'oeuvrer à distance. Cet article examine comment une telle interpretation restrictive facilite une forme de recours aux briseurs de grève qui avait été identifié par la cour constitutionnelle espagnole, à savoir les briseurs de grève technologiques (esquirolaje technologico), soit le recours à la technologie pour contourner les restrictions prévues à la loi même lorsqu'il ne s'agit pas de technologie généralement utilisée. l'impact de la technologie est examiné au moyen de deux études de cas: les lockouts successifs au Journal de Québec et au Journal de Montréal. Durant ces lockouts, les publications ont continué de façon ininterrompues grâce à des collaborateurs externes qui fournissaient du matériel électroniquement. En utilisant le modèle de Kochan et Katz, cet article examine comment les briseurs de grève technologiques ont modifié l'équilibre de pouvoir, ont affecté le niveau stratégique de négociation et ont eu des impacts considérables sur l'issu du lockout. enfin, même si les lockouts ont mené à des appels de réforme législatives en 2011, de telles réforme ne sont pas nécessaires pour que les dispositions antibriseurs de grève rencontrent leur objectif initial, à savoir la réduction de la durée des conflits de travail. The right to strike has been constitutionally protected in Canada since 2015. In other jurisdictions where the right to strike is explicitly recognized in the constitution, protection against strikebreaking is recognized as part of that right. only two Canadian provinces restrict the use of replacement workers during a strike or a lockout. Quebec's Labour Code has provisions that prohibit the use of replacement workers at the employer's establishment. Quebec arbitrators, courts, and boards have interpreted this ill-defined concept as a strictly physical location of production, while ignoring technological advances that make remote work possible. this paper examines how the restrictive interpretation of establishment allows a form of strikebreaking that the Spanish Constitutional Court has described as 'technological strikebreaking' (esquirolaje technologico), while also allowing the use of technology already at the employer's disposal to circumvent restrictions on replacement workers even when such technology is not routinely used. The impact of technology on strikebreaking is examined through two case studies: the successive lockouts at the Journal de Québec and the Journal de Montréal. In both cases, external contributors provided the newspapers with content electronically, thus allowing uninterrupted publication. Using Katz, Kochan and Colvil's three-tier model of collective bargaining, this paper looks at how technological strikebreaking disrupts not only the balance of bargaining power but also bargaining strategy, and how, in the case of the Journal de Montréal, it led to devastating bargaining outcomes. Though the lockouts led to a call for legislative reform in 2011, legislative change is not necessary to align existing provisions with the goal of shortening labour disputes. Quebec's anti-strikebreaking provisions allow a form of strikebreaking known as technological strikebreaking. Quebec's Labour Code prevents the use of replacement workers during a strike or a lockout at the employer's establishment. The concept of establishment, though ill-defined, has been interpreted by the courts as being limited to a physical location of production, an interpretation that ignores technological reality. The inherent limits of this interpretation are examined through two newspaper lockouts where easily accessible technology allowed publication to continue uninterrupted and, thus, fundamentally altered the balance of bargaining power. Though the lockouts led to a call for legislative reform in 2011, legislative change is not necessary to align existing provisions with the goal of shortening labour disputes. Keywords: replacement workers, technological strikebreaking, lockout, right to strike, Introduction In 1977, the province of Quebec became one of the first jurisdictions in North America to prohibit the use of replacement workers at an employer's establishment during a strike [...]

In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization By Mark R. Reiff (2020) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 432 pages. ISBN: 978-1-10884-978-4. In his recently published book, Reiff proposes [...]

Labour Arbitration in Canada By Morton Mitchnick and Brian Etherington (2018), 3rd edition, Toronto: Lancaster House, 730 pages. ISBN: 978-0-920450-66-6. Since its publication in the 1970s, the 'bible' of the [...]