Excavating the Labour Dispute Data from Statistics Canada: A Research Note

Abstract

Has worker militancy changed as a result of restructuring and globalization? Have the gender-specific impacts of the 'new economy' politicized women workers in particular, especially those in the public sector? These two research questions are guiding this project.

The first step has been to seek out the available Canadian statistical data which might help map worker militancy. This research note introduces the reader to the ways that Statistics Canada surveys handle militancy. The Labour Force Survey [LFS] and the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics [SLID], in which the proxy for the larger concept of 'worker militancy' is 'labour dispute' will help make visible the demographic characteristics of the striker. The Workplace and Employee Survey [WES] differentiates 'work-to-rule, work slowdown, strikes, lockouts and other labour related actions' and will offer a profile of the striker in the worker questionnaire, and a profile of the firm in the employer questionnaire.

Although the statistical tables have not yet arrived, the design of the surveys provides an interesting window into Statistics Canada's perceptions about unions and their relevance. In fact, the process of excavating these surveys reveals absences that are intensely ideological and ways of posing questions that prevent the significance of union activity from emerging.