On November 4th, 2022, Osgoode Hall Law School in partnership with the Nathanson Centre hosted a hybrid International Symposium entitled “New Perspectives on Worker Subordination”. This symposium featured two panels with labour law experts discussing the core elements of work law. The event welcomed close to 100 attendees throughout Canada, the US, and Europe (among others), who joined us both in person and online.
One of the lynchpins of the employment relationship globally is the control of employers over work performance. However, a modern collective reflection on subordination and control at work in current societies is somehow still missing. This is a crucial gap in labour law scholarship because how managerial prerogatives are exerted at work has not ceased threatening workers’ individual and collective fundamental rights. Furthermore, many of the managerial technologies currently being introduced at the workplace can augment ever more the opportunities for abusive control and surveillance of workers. This project aims to fill these gaps, chiefly by organising a public discussion at Osgoode Hall Law School among scholars who have authored works relevant to these issues.
Sponsors: Generously supported by the Harry Arthurs Fund, the Canada Research Chair program, and The Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security.
Co-Chairs: Valerio De Stefano, Sara Slinn, Eric Tucker (Osgoode Hall Law School)
Speakers: Cynthia Estlund (NYU Law), Dáire McCormack-George (Dublin, Ireland), Gali Racabi (Cornell ILR School)