Tucker on Writing Labor Law History: A Reconnaissance @OsgoodeNews

Eric Tucker, York University, Osgoode Hall; Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (Visiting), has published On Writing Labour Law History: A Reconnaissance as Osgoode Hall Legal Studies Research Paper No. 66/2017. Here is the abstract.

Labour law historians rarely write about the theoretical and methodological foundations of their discipline. In response to this state of affairs, this article adopts a reconnaissance strategy, which eschews any pretense at providing a synthesis or authoritative conclusions, but rather hopes to open up questions and paths of inquiry that may encourage others to also reflect on a neglected area of scholarship. It begins by documenting and reflecting on the implications of the fact that labour law history sits at the margins of many other disciplines, including labour history, legal history, labour law, industrial relations and law and society, but lacks a home of its own. It next presents a short historiography of the writing of labour law history, noting its varied and changing intellectual influences. Next the article notes some of the methodological consequences of different theoretical commitments and discusses briefly the possibilities opened up by computer technologies as revealed by two interesting projects that rely heavily on the construction of sophisticated data bases. Finally, the article reflects on the methodological challenges I have experienced in my current project on labour law’s recurring regulatory dilemmas and conclude with some thoughts on the contribution labour law history can make to our understanding of the dynamics that shape its current challenges.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Tucker on When Wage Theft Was a Crime in Canada, 1935-1955

Eric Tucker, York University, Osgoode Hall Law School; Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (Visiting), is publishing When Wage Theft Was a Crime in Canada, 1935-1955 in volume 54 of Osgoode Hall Law Journal. Here is the abstract.

In recent years the term “wage theft” has been widely used to describe the phenomenon of employers not paying their workers the wages they are owed. While the term has great normative weight, it is rarely accompanied by calls for employers literally to be prosecuted under the criminal law. However, it is a little known fact that in 1935 Canada enacted a criminal wage theft law, which remained on the books until 1955. This article provides an historical account of history of the wage theft law, including the role of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads, the legislative debates and amendments that narrowed its scope and the one unsuccessful effort to prosecute an employer for intentionally paying less than the provincial minimum wage. It concludes that the law was a symbolic gesture and another example of the difficulty of using the criminal law to punish employers for their wrongdoing.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.