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Is Work Working? Work Laws that Do a Better Job

PART III — WORK LAWS THAT WORK BETTER

Chapter Seven— Regulation and Enforcement

Even if labour market flexibility remains an important aspect of Canada's competitive strategy, there are various ways to provide workers with the kinds of support needed over the course of their working lives to ensure their economic security and well-being through labour market participation. It may be crucial in the new economy to revise and reform our labour market institutions through a range of responses. As the case studies point out, vulnerable workers are from diverse groups with different sources of vulnerability and needs. Any policy or law reform response must be sensitive to these differences.

Moreover, the overall achievements of the market are deeply connected to other political and social arrangements and institutions within a given society.⁶² Our well-being depends on the interaction between the various institutions or systems, such as the democratic system, the educational system, the media, the market and the public distribution system. We need to view them in an integrated perspective, to see what they can or cannot do in combination with each other to evaluate their effectiveness.

Enhancing Compliance and Enforcement

As illustrated by the case of Samuel and Kuc Yaul, some workers are entitled to statutory protections and benefits, but are unable to enjoy real access to these protections. These workers lack the power and knowledge needed to ensure the enforcement of the regulations designed to protect them.

One of the first and least radical steps in ensuring better protection of vulnerable workers might be to examine alternative practices of enforcement and compliance. There may be some merit to compliance mechanisms, such as the audit system. Research is needed to determine what other methods of ensuring compliance work best in different contexts. A very important aspect of the problem likely lies in the issue of worker bargaining power and representation. Unless this is also addressed, the effectiveness of any compliance mechanism may be diminished.

Finally, there is general support for the notion that more resources may need to be devoted to enforcement and compliance.

· Are there ways to enhance enforcement of laws regarding workers' rights and protections?

· Is there a role for the media and educational institutions in this area?

· Would third -party representation, “watchdog” associations or ombudsmen be helpful?

Providing Protection to Temporary Agency Workers

Temporary agencies fill an important role in the labour market. The flexibility and efficiency associated with the use of this type of labour has important benefits for both employers and workers. Thus, it would not likely be helpful to prohibit use of temporary agencies as has been done in some countries. Rather, it might be possible to suggest changes to address problems created by this employment relationship.

Experts suggest that many aspects of the current legislation could be improved. Some of the suggestions are as follows:

· Clarify the employment-related responsibilities of each party to the contract.⁶³

· Create a comprehensive set of protections in areas such as occupational health and safety.⁶⁴

· Guarantee equal treatment with respect to wages and conditions of employment for workers engaged in substantially similar work whether they are permanent or temporary workers.⁶⁵

· Introduce some form of precarity pay to take into account the insecure nature of temporary work.⁶⁶

· Improve anti-discrimination laws and their enforcement to prevent false representations and other abuses committed against immigrant and migrant workers.⁶⁷

· Make it illegal for temporary agencies to charge buy-out fees (the practice whereby the agency charges the customer a fee to hire workers permanently) and to use other mechanisms to restrain firms from hiring temporary agency workers.⁶⁸

Above all, most people urge recognition of the fact that although there may be clear benefits for employers to reduce their labour costs and maintain a flexible labour force through temporary workers, the costs do not disappear. In many cases, they are simply transferred to the workers. The question is whether these workers are able to bear the costs and if not, to what extent efforts should be made to support temporary agency workers so the costs of participating in the labour force do not become so great that, like Catherine O'Donnell, they feel obliged to turn to the social security system for support.

Questions:

· Are the suggested changes to the law desirable?

· What would be the implications of such changes?

· How can we better support the work of groups that help temporary workers?