2015
Cairn
Mélanie Laroche et al., « L’accroissement de la durée des conventions collectives de travail québécoises depuis 20 ans : nouvelle normalité, partenariat consolidé ou manifestation du pouvoir patronal ? », La Revue de l'Ires, ID : 10670/1.c31f55...
Extending the Duration of Collective Bargaining Agreements in Quebec over the Past Twenty Years: New Normality, Strengthened Partnership, or Display of Employers’ Power?What link is there between the duration of collective bargaining agreements and their content ? The article focuses on the private sector in Quebec, where agreements have been growing longer since 1994, to explore the management and union points of view on this evolution in a decentralised system of industrial relations. An analysis of nearly 5,300 collective bargaining agreements offers a testing ground for three hypotheses put forward to explain this development : 1. it reflects a new normality arising from a desire on both sides to work with longer periods of stability to meet the challenges of globalisation ; 2. it is concomitant with new subjects of negotiations discussed by partners at the level of the company ; 3. it is a new lever of power used by employers to put pressure on working conditions for employees. The results demonstrate that longer conventions have broadly become the new “norm”, but that the power relations that favour employers would appear to explain why longer conventions are less favourable for employees and trade unions.