Readers' Corner - Globalization

Julie Gilbert and Edward Popoff
Service Canada / HRSDC Library
Source: Workplace Bulletin, February 15, 2007

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Globalization

Flanagan, Robert J.
Globalization and Labor Conditions: Working Conditions and Worker Rights in a Global Economy
New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
HD7795 F52

The author explains how the four mechanisms of globalization, trade, international migration and international capital flows alter working conditions and labour rights. The roles of national and international labour policies in improving worldwide labour conditions are taken into consideration. Some of the questions addressed concern labour condition improvement, whether general economic growth influences labour conditions and whether free trade degrades labour conditions in industrialized or developing countries. What is not considered is how globalization influences environmental quality, social spending or the chance of international financial crises.

Globalization and the Labour Market: Trade, Technology and Less-skilled Workers in Europe and the United States
Edited by Robert Anderton, Paul Brenton and John Whalley
New York: Routledge, 2006
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This book examines the long-term decline in economic fortunes of unskilled labour in major industrialized countries. It states that the wages of unskilled workers have declined in the United States and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, in Europe, the unskilled have a higher probability of unemployment for longer periods of job loss. Given that, globalization is blamed but also technological change has increased skilled worker demand with higher benefits therein. Labour market impacts of globalization differ in firms, industries and countries where technological change and trade are interwoven.

Haddow, Rodney and Thomas Klassen
Partisanship, Globalization and Canadian Labour Market Policy: Four Provinces in Comparative Perspective
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006
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The authors compare labour market policy in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta between 1990 and 2003 to determine if globalization restricts the freedom of policy makers from making distinctive policy choices. In addition, to measure the effect of partisanship and globalization on policy makings, the authors examine industrial relations, compensation, occupational health, employment standards, training and social assistance. This analysis is related to the political economy of developed democracies and the role of institutions in labour market policy therein.

Working in a Global Era: Canadian Perspectives
Edited by Vivian Shalla
Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006
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Various authors provide critical analyses about work and the changing world of work in Canada. These changes have occurred within the context of globalization, economic restructuring and policy shifts. The post 1970s workplace has been redesigned to compete in the global economic milieu. With globalization, the nature of labour markets and employment relationships has changed. Labour migration to developed countries is now a global phenomenon. The concept of a highly skilled and highly educated workforce required for a knowledge based economy is debateable. With globalization, the Canadian labour movement has weakened considerably.