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I t concluded that the language of the franchise agreement was not determinative of the reality of the relationship between Mr Bourque and Modern, and that despite the language in the franchise agreement, Mr Bourque was in fact an "employee" as defined by the Act, not an independent contractor. Once Mr Bourque terminated his relationship with Modern, it was Modern, not Mr Bourque, who reassigned the contracts which Mr Bourque had paid to obtain. Similarly, the renewal of the franchise agreement between Mr Bourque and Modern was contingent on Mr Bourque's compliance with the obligations to the Bank as set out in the cleaning services contract. Modern paid Mr Bourque through direct deposit, after deducting amounts for franchising fees, the loans and the products sold by Modern to Mr Bourque. [Extracted from the article]

This article concerns a case study in labor history which represents an interesting example of union action in a workers' community characterized by intersections between ethnic and class belonging. The focus of the article is on labor conflicts in Toronto's construction industry between 1968 and 1973. In that period, the Torontonian residential sector represented a sort of ethnic niche dominated by Italian immigrants, who populated this industry both as workers and as contractors. At the same time, important economic, technological, and organizational innovations formed part of this niche. In particular, it refers to the new Toronto real estate boom and to the introduction of new building techniques such as the drywall technique, or concrete forming, as well as business innovations such as the flying form or the creation of teamwork. This article tells the story of successful unionization in a peculiar industry dominated by continuous formal and informal bargaining. Moreover, the powerful presence of the phenomenon of mafiosi and widespread racism made the context still more difficult. In this situation, despite the ambiguities, the final result was the unionization of thousands of workers and the successful signing of collective contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a benefit index based on collective agreements in each Canadian province to understand the effects employee contracts have on absenteeism of full-time nurses. In particular, I estimate the impact of this benefit index on the number of hours nurses take off in a reference week. Month and year dummy variables, as well as nurses' individual and work-related characteristics, are included in both ordinary least squares and two-part model regressions. My main finding implies full-time nurses in the most generous collective agreement show a nineteen percent increase in the number of hours taken off work in comparison to the least generous collective agreement. This study illustrates how the generosity of benefits in collective agreements varies the rate of absenteeism and highlights that employees and employers still have gains to be made from readjusting employee contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Commonwealth Bank of Australia v. Barker the High Court of Australia refused to impose an implied duty of mutual trust and confidence into the employment contract, reasoning that doing so would take the Court beyond its legitimate authority. Issued two months later, the Supreme Court of Canada went in a different direction. In Bhasin v. Hrynew, the Court crafted a new substantive doctrine of honest contractual performance, based on a newly-recognized central organizing principle of good faith in contract law. A few months later the Court applied the organizing principle of good faith to circumscribe the exercise of an employer's discretion in Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission. This article offers an assessment of the potential impact of Bhasin and Potter on the future direction of Canadian employment law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates first contract arbitration's ( FCA) capacity to foster bargaining relationships and deter misconduct by analyzing its effect on decertifications. Using time-series cross-sectional ( TSCS) analysis with data from nine Canadian provinces over a four-decade period, it shows: (1) FCA correlates with 20 to 37 percent fewer decertifications in provinces that have an FCA provision relative to those that do not; (2) of the various types of FCA, the automatic and fault forms have the most robust effect on decertifications while the mediation-arbitration form may have the largest effect on decertifications; and (3) the effect of FCA is heightened in the presence of card-check certification such that the best results for fostering bargaining relationships may be found in the presence of both policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines the Supreme Court of Canada's treatment of the contract of employment in its wrongful dismissal jurisprudence over the last 25 years, with the aim of challenging the view that only by exempting the contract of employment from the ordinary workings of contract doctrine or by resorting to public policy considerations can the common law of dismissal provide adequate protection for employees. The Court's jurisprudence reveals a commitment to what this paper calls the presumption of employer freedom, a view of the contract of employment which has its origins in the status-based master and servant relationship and which continues to permeate the common law of wrongful dismissal. This paper offers a more straightforwardly contract-based account of these same entitlements, grounding them not in policy but instead in the work-for-wages exchange at the core of the contract of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the possibility that general strike would be launched by medical residents in Quebec, following differences in working hours and pay contracts. Other issues raised by medical residents include a demand of government for more shifts and longer hours at night, a 17 percentage increase in wages, and maternity and educational leaves. The statement of Health Minister Gaetan Barrette about these issues are offered.