Precarious Employment in Canada: taking stock, taking action.

Forum on precarious employment

By Just Labour

The forum published online in Just Labour considered the nature and shape of precarious employment in Canada based on preliminary findings of four research projects of the Community University Research Alliance on Contingent Employment (ACE).

The first article, "Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market: a statistical portrait", draws on data from Statistics Canada to explore the contours of precarious employment in Canada. Its main objectives are to show the limitations of conventional statistical measures of precarious employment and to explore how precarious employment is gendered and racialised.

A health survey of the health effects of precarious employment on home care workers employed by occupation-specific placement agencies, temporary agency workers in construction and social services, and manufacturing and office support workers on contract has been undertaken by researchers. They have developed a concept of employment strain to replace the one job specific job strain concept.

The significant effects of uncertainty are highlighted by the research.

In another article, the dynamics of self-employment in Canada are explored through a multi-disciplinary approach drawing on statistics, sociological and legal analysis and case studies on how self-employment limits access to collective bargaining.

This article is complemented by a look at resistance strategies adopted by workers who lack access to legal rights and entitlements. They look at organising activities that differ from the usual union approach. The Toronto Organising For Fair Employment (TOFFE) is a contemporary example of what unions need to do.

(Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society Volume 3 (Fall 2003))