Labour Left Out: Canada's Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right (review)

In this concise, hard-hitting book, Roy J. Adams, professor emeritus in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, reports on his research into Canada's failure to protect and promote the rights of workers to collective bargaining with their employers. The author argues that Canadian labor policies deviate seriously from international human rights law. For its violations of international norms, Canada has been frequently and strongly condemned by the International Labor Organization's Committee on Freedom of Association. The author is a world-renowned expert on the general topic of "worker rights as human rights" and, in particular, on what it means to have "freedom of association" and the "right to collective bargaining." I have read many of his previous articles and books on these subjects, so I was not surprised to find this book well organized and filled with good information and analytical insights.

The author argues that many of the entitlements we refer to as "labor rights" such as the right to freedom of association at the workplace and the right to bargain collectively with employers are also internationally recognized human rights. Thus, when governments deny the human rights of their employees or when they look the other way so private sector employers can do so, they are engaging in morally reprehensible behavior. His other important thesis, the one that is emphasized by the title of the book, is that "millions of Canadians are being denied daily the exercise of a fundamental human right"¹ —the right to collective bargaining. This second thesis is well supported. The author presents evidence that nearly all Canadian workers want independent workplace representation, but law, custom and practice systemically deny it to them.

In 1998, Adams reports, the ILO's annual labor conference adopted a Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work that affirmed the human rights character of a set of core labor rights, including the right to organize and bargain collectively, and announced the responsibility of all member states to "respect, protect and promote" those rights as human rights. In 2001 the Canadian Supreme Court established that all Canadian workers have, in addition, a constitutional right, over and above whatever statutory rights they may have or lack, to organize and make demands on their employers and have their organizations recognized by their employers. To find out what the federal, provincial and territorial governments were doing to promote the practice of collective bargaining and inform workers of their newly established constitutional rights and employers of their constitutional responsibilities, Adams sent letters to all Ministers of Labor. The book contains copies of the responses. A reading of them indicates that there has been essentially no change in policy as a result of these recent events.

The overall impact of the book is to educate the reader about worker rights issues and to exhort Canadian policy makers to change their ways. It is a "must read" for those who make labor policy in Canada, for worker rights activists, and labor union leaders everywhere in the world. The book should be of special interest to American readers. Although focused on Canada, most of Adams' criticisms are equally applicable (if not more so) to the United States, which has a labor relations system with characteristics very similar to those north of the border.

Students will find Appendix 8, "Frequently Asked Questions about Labour's Human Rights," to be especially informative. In very straightforward language, the author asks and answers some basic questions such as "Who decides what labour issues should be considered human rights?" and "What is the International Labour Organization?" and "What is the international status of the right to strike."

The argument that worker rights are human rights and the way the author develops it will also be of great interest to those conducting research and teaching about human rights. Not only does Adams report on international...