Self-Employed Workers Organize

by Cranford, Cynthia; Fudge, Judy; Tucker, Eric; Vosko, Leah F.; Cranford, Cynthia

• ISBN13: 9780773529014
• ISBN10: 0773529012
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-13
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ Pr

Summary

Over a million self-employed Canadians work every day but many of them not entitled to the basic labour protections and rights such as minimum wages, maternity and parental leaves and benefits, pay equity, a safe and healthy working environment, and access to collective bargaining. The authors of Self-Employed Workers Organize offer a multi-disciplinary examination of the legal, political, and social realities that both limit collective action by self-employed workers and create huge impediments for unions attempting to organize them.Through case studies of newspaper carriers, rural route mail couriers, personal care workers, and freelance editors - four groups who have led pioneering efforts to organize - the authors provide a window into the ways political and economic conditions interact with class, ethnicity, and gender to shape the meaning and strategies of working men and women and show how these strategies have changed over time. They argue that the experiences of these workers demonstrate a pressing need to expand collective bargaining rights to include them.

Author Biography

Cynthia J. Cranford is assistant professor of sociology, University of Toronto Judy Fudge, professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University Eric Tucker, professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University Leah F. Vosko, associate professor and Canada Research Chair, York University

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables	vii
Acronyms	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	3	(26)
1 Star Wars: Newspaper Distribution Workers and the Possibilities and Limits of Collective Bargaining	29	(27)
ERIC TUCKER
2 Deemed to be Entrepreneurs: Rural Route Mail Couriers and Canada Post	56	(40)
JUDY FUDGE
3 From Precarious Workers to Unionized Employees and Back Again?: The Challenges of Organizing Personal-Care Workers in Ontario	96	(40)
CYNTHIA J. CRANFORD
4 The Precarious Status of the Artist: Freelance Editors' Struggle for Collective Bargaining Rights	136	(35)
LEAH F. VOSKO
Conclusion: What Have We Learned?	171	(22)
Notes	193	(40)
References	233	(16)
Index	249