Le syndicalisme est-il la réponse au problème des « cadres »?

Après avoir souligné la modification relativement récente, en divers milieux québécois, des attitudes traditionnelles à l'endroit des«  cadres » d'entreprise, l'auteur déplore la faiblesse lexicologique du terme«  cadres » dans ce contexte, de même que l'ambiguïté de ce vocable globaliste, eu égard à la grande diversité des agents qu'il recouvre. A partir donc d'une esquisse de typologie des«  cadres », il s'interroge ensuite sur leursproblèmes présumés ou réels— qu'il s'agisse plus largement d'«  aliénation » ou plus spécifiquement de divers malaises concrètement identifiables à partir d'une échelle donnée de besoins. Pour chacun de ces problèmes, l'auteur examine enfin diversessolutions institutionnelles qui sont à la disposition des«  cadres » : action patronale, association de cadres, syndicalisme de cadres et législation élargieIn recent years, managerial and supervisory personnel have elicited quite a bit of interest, not only from top managementwithin the business organization — this is, of course, not a new development, since top management has always seen all their levels of management and supervision as one monolithic block—, but also from various quartersoutside the firm proper, namely :1)university pofessors (and especially sociologists and industrial relations specialists), who have always been sympathetic and sensitive to collective problems and solutions, to proletarian miseries (are we not now talking and writing more and more about the « new proletarians of knowledge » ?) and to democratic values everywhere, respect and freedom for man ; and who easily see in unions of all types and levels of employees an « irreversible » trend, and a good and necessary one at that, which should be fostered by intellectuals and legislation ;2)union leaders, who used to blast any and all executives or foremen as capitalistic exploiters or technocrats, and who now discover in them a great reservoir, both strategic and numerous, to be tapped in order to multiply union strength tenfold ;3)government people, who are quite ambivalent about management and. supervision, since they act as both employer and lawmaker ; in the first rote, they are stuck with very difficult problems of an administrative nature : assaults by politicians, a history of nepotism, and an increasingly large bureaucracy spread over a broad territory ; in the second, they are tempted to enact all-embracing legislation (for all employees of all sectors, whether public or private) to solve problems which initially and basically could and should be solved at home.This newly-oriented interest in management and supervision from outside groups coincides with some aspirations of some levels of management, mainly in the public and para-public sectors, toward some form of unionization, especially in the Province of Quebec.All this interest, however gratuitous or selfish, should blind no executive to the basic postulate that he, and he alone, should be the one to define his problems and to find appropriate solutions for them, according to the great variety which is evident among his ranks : does he act in a line or a staff capacity, and then, at what level of supervision or management ? Obviously, problems and solutions will differ in kind and intensity according to the nature of the function held by the executive.And then, if one turns to theproblems of managers or supervisors, one should not « overkill » with such broad diagnoses as « alienation », which today means just about everything and then nothing, not being specific enough and leading nowhere in terms of remedies. What needs are not met by managers and supervisors : are they, or do they feel, relatively powerless, meaningless, normless, isolated, and self-estranged ? Is it a problem of not having enough of the primary needs satisfied : physiological-hygienic or safety (not enough money, not enough security) ? Or does it go deeper and more diffuse in terms of lack of belonging, esteem, and self-achievement ?And finally, if we now turn to solutions.Which are the ones most closely adapted to the specific problems diagnosed ? Will it be a new realization by top management, aided by lower levels, of the need for more of the behavioral satisfactions : more communication, more information, more participation in decision-making, more warmth in the day-to-day relation-ships ? Should this fail, will it lead to in-firm managerial or supervisory associations ? Should these appear inadequate, will they be turned into regular unions, with the standard paraphernalia of collective bargaining ? And then, will these affiliate to an outside federation of managerial people exclusively, or rather will this affiliate with a central labour body ?Before deciding, managerial and supervisory personnel should first evaluate their problems realistically, and then reach first for the means closest to their reach. Unions carry their own brand of bureaucracy and « alienation » ; they are not a dogma or a postulate any more, even among their own membership ; they have not yet made much headway in North America, at the professional and managerial levels ; for the time being, at least, they may seem like a jack-hammer cracking a nut. So, legislation at this level of personnel seems at this time inopportune and would create much ambiguity

Les rapports linguistiques à l’Hydro-Québec

Dans cet article l'auteur fait état des résultats d'une recherche, entreprise par le Département de sociologie de l’Université de Montréal, portant sur les rapports linguistiques à l’Hydro-Québec. Après une analyse de la composition du groupe de langue française et du groupe de langue anglaise au niveau de la direction et de la maîtrise avant et après la nationalisation, l’auteur présente les initiatives entreprises à la suite de cette recherche.The second phase of the nationalization of the private electric power companies in the Province of Quebec was set in motion on May 1st 1963. Hydro-Quebec not only more than doubled its personnel but also enlarged its territory, until then largely centered in greater Montreal, to the dimensions of the whole Province. But for this state owned enterprise, the recent nationalization has meant much more a change in its nature than a change in its dimensions. In a very short time, it had to give itself a new interpretation, under all aspects, and readapt itself to constantly changing situations. In short, most of the measures taken by this large public enterprise in the last two years originate from nationalization.It is symptomatic, in such a context of total reorganization, that hardly more than a month after the official nationalization, the Quebec Hydroelectric Commission should have asked the Department of Sociology of the University of Montreal to conduct a survey on the language relations among its personnel and more particularly among its middle and top management, comprising an executive personnel numbering 312 and a supervisory personnel of 1,510.Following a thorough study of the structures of Hydro-Quebec and its subsidiaries, numerous and lengthy interviews with its personnel as well as the compilation of comprehensive statistical data, the sociologists Jacques Brazeau and Jacques Dofny submitted, in May 1964, an « exploratory » report on « Communications within Hydro-Quebec from a language point of view ».The object of this paper is to sum up the essential elements of the report ; points covered in this résumé were discussed with the authors of the report, a first summary of which was made by Mr. André Thibault, a sociologist employed by Hydro-Quebec.SOME HlSTORICAL FACTSIt will no doubt be useful, for a good comprehension of the language situation at Hydro-Quebec, to review a few historical facts. When in 1944, the corner stone of the structure of a state owned public service of electricity was laid by nationalizing the Montreal Light, Heat and Power Co. Ltd., and the Beauharnois Power Company, the majority of the executive and technical personnel was English speaking and English was the language of communication. At that time, the French-speaking Universities were producing very few engineers, and this was particularly true in the fields of mechanics and electricity. Moreover, existing traditions in recruiting and acceptance of a given language in internal communications were just as important factors as technical training in assigning members of each ethnic groups to respective tasks within the enterprise,The first phase of the nationalization was slow in changing the language of communication and the ethnical composition of the executive personnel. The first French-Canadians to rise to this level of management were trained by English-speaking executives and, forcibly, spoke the only language which these executives could use. And the use of French as much as English came gradually with the rise of more French-speaking employees to the level of management, until French was in greater use than English. The remarkable headway made in the development of dams, electric power plants and substations during the fifties on the one hand and the increasingly rapid number of French-speaking electrical and mechanical engineers on the other hand, were at the origin of this transformation as well as the overall growth of the enterprise, the rate of growth being far beyond the capabilities of absorption of the English executive personnel. These ethnical changes produced mainly French-speaking language zones which are constantly gaining ground with respect to the English-speaking sectors. In the early sixties, Hydro-Quebec decided to act as its own general constructor for most of its dams, power plants and transmission lines as was the case at Carillon, Manicouagan, Outardes and other sites. Accordingly, French became the official language first on construction sites, and than at its Head office.The second phase of the nationalization, on the other hand, has introduced into this language situation, at the managerial level, elements differing in ethnical composition and in work methods. This is very true in the case of Gatineau Power Company, and that of Northern Quebec Power and somewhat less true in the case of Shawinigan Water and Power and that of Southern Canada Power ; Quebec Power, on the other hand, is almost entirely French speaking ; and, as for both Lower Saint Lawrence Power Corporation and Saguenay Electric, French is the only language used at the management level with which we are dealing here. The net result then, following the second phase of the nationalization, is that French is the predominant language : this new situation must be analysed and, possibly, requires a language policy more sharply defined than that of the old laissez-faire tradition.THE PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGICAL PROBLEMSuch a policy can be strictly utilitarian and pragmatic, entirely devoid of any ideology of cultural conquest or emotional nationalism ; the enterprise must, for purely practical reasons, guarantee the efficiency of its operations by smooth communications. However, one cannot deny the fact that Hydro-Quebec, small as it may be, if looked upon on a provincial basis, does occupy a privileged position in the context of Quebec taken as a whole. The problem of language communication at Hydro-Quebec reaches far beyond the structures of the enterprise. Can this problem be effectively dissociated from the technical and economical world to which Hydro-Quebec belongs ? For, one must not forget that the members of each of the two ethnic groups are bound by attitudes and socio-cultural objectives in larger context with Hydro-Quebec being a privileged field of application.A language policy for the enterprise can only be appraised from several angles ; lacking the necessary amount of time I shall only enumerate these, so as to draw your attention to the complexity of the problem.1. From the technical point of view, what are the imperatives which will impose the use of what language in such and such a sector? The enterprise, as we have seen, draws much from the outside and produces for the outside : what then will be the modalities and the frequency of each language in external communications ?2. The « technical imperatives » are the results of value judgments of personal choice on more general questions, of a search for an equilibrium, of conflicts of interests and of struggle for power. In other words, any modification to a given language policy has a direct effect on established positions and acquired rights according to the ethnic sector concerned.3. Some choices, easily justified from a technical point of view, bear the mark of a certain vision of the future ; thus, overall nationalization being a fait accompli, resistance to the French language becomes on the part of the English-Canadian executive who wishes to pursue his career at Hydro-Quebec, meaningless and without justification.4. Finally, the successful implementation of a language policy is wholly conditioned by the proper choice of the important sectors which from a strategic point of view are most liable to this successful implementation. This successful implementation depends on the need and the desire expressed by each individual.THE STATISTICAL DATABefore establishing a language policy at Hydro-Quebec a certain amount of information had to be known. Some statistical data had to be collected, the numerical dimensions of the problem of the contact of two languages had to be estimated and the geographical limits of the principal sectors of difficulty had to be established. All this had to be accomplished at both the executive and supervisory levels, in Hydro-Quebec and in each one of its subsidiaries, and in all departments therein. Various tables of statistics will be found on the last three pages of this paper. At this stage, I will only discuss the more revealing aspects of these statistics.In the original Hydro-Quebec, that is prior to May 1st 1963, management (executive and supervisory personnel) was 86% French speaking (executive, 72%; supervisory, 88%). These percentages have been somewhat modified by the nationalization. In the Hydro-Quebec of today, that is, on a provincial basis, 77% of the managerial personnel is French speaking, hence, a decrease of 9% ; as for the executive personnel, the percentage has dropped from 72% to 53% ; and in the case of supervisory personnel, from 88% to 82%. Thus, it is principally at the executive level that a regression in the predominance of French-speaking personnel following nationalization can be observed. At this level, French predominance has passed from a stage of a comfortable numerical advantage to that of simply nominal majority.If one now effects a breakdown of the data found in the tables according to each company, one discovers a group of situations clearly differentiated one from the other. If we now look at the French sectors on a provincial scale, we find that at the level of management in which we are interested, there are three companies with percentages comparing favourably with the old Hydro-Quebec which was 86% French speaking : these are Lower St. Lawrence Power Corporation and Saguenay Electric where this proportion is 100% and Quebec Power which is 93% French speaking. The other four companies constitute a sector which is dominated by the English element at the executive level, but where the French element is predominant at the supervisory level (although somewhat less predominant than in the other four companies). Thus, Shawinigan is 62% French (executive level, 28%) (supervisory level, 71%) ; Southern Canada Power, 60% (executive level 45%, supervisory 66%) ; Gatineau Power, 60% (executive 45%, supervisory 66%); Gatineau Power, 57% (executive 10%, supervisory 63%); and finally Northern Quebec Power is 45% French speaking (executive 0% and supervisory, 56%).If we now turn to operations, provincial scale, we arrive at conclusions very similar to that above. On the one hand, one finds that in the engineering departments, 33 1/3% of the executives and 70% of the supervisors are French speaking. On the other hand, in the Personnel departments, these proportions are respectively 84% and more than 90%. In the other departments, French speaking elements have a slight majority among the executives while the same elements constitute more than 4/5 of the supervisory personnel.These classifications based on the language spoken according to geographical areas and sphere of activity are not without relationship with classifications based on the concept of « generation ». On the whole, more French-speaking elements were recruited after 1945 than prior to this date ; the opposite is true as far as English-speaking elements are concerned. Similarly, in the predominantly French-speaking companies, including the old Hydro-Quebec, 3/4 of the managerial personnel joined after 1945, while this proportion is less than 50% in companies where management is predominantly English speaking. The French elements have thus profited from both factors of time and change while the English elements have been favoured with much stability.As far as formal education of the managerial personnel is concerned, each group compares equally with the other, independently of the language spoken. On the whole, 36% of this personnel holds a university degree ( 65% of the executive personnel, 30% of the supervisory personnel). Finally, among the English-speaking elements of both the executive and supervisory levels of Hydro-Quebec taken on a provincial scale, 200 have declared that they speak very little or no French at all, another 200, fairly well and 27, fluently. In the French sector (that is the old Hydro-Quebec and the three predominantly French companies) the majority of the English elements claim to speak French fairly well. In the English sector, the corresponding majority has declared that it speaks little or no French ; this majority is larger at the executive level than at the supervisory level.OPINIONS AND ATTITUDESThe sociologists, using an unstructured interview technique, endeavoured to go beyond their statistical data and discover the opinions and attitudes of the managerial personnel towards the problems of languages in Hydro-Quebec, on a provincial basis.Beyond the « physical » dimensions of the problem of languages at Hydro-Quebec, one finds individual human beings, with human sensitivity and emotions, who define this problem in terms of their own attitudes, their own interests and their own objectives. The enquirers directed their efforts in view of gathering opinions regarding the value of each language in the prominently industrial world of the North American context of today, particularly in the electrical field. On the whole, the managerial personnel of the old Hydro-Quebec and of the predominantly French-speaking companies that are witnessing intensive efforts in the last few years to give the French language its proper place in technical and administrative fields, think that it is just as possible and advantageous to use French as English for language communications in daily business operations. Many of them see an even greater advantage, from the strict point of view of efficiency in using the language of the majority. On the other hand, many among the English-speaking personnel (and some French-speaking elements who have pursued their career in companies predominantly English speaking) of subsidiaries such as Shawinigan Water and Power, Southern Canada Power, Gatineau Power and Northern Quebec Power rather think that English is decidedly the only language used in industry and commerce in North America, and therefore the efforts to re-introduce the use of French in the same sectors are utopic and can only lead to an undesirable situation ; according to some, it is impossible to re-introduce the use of French among technicians, even as a language of internal communications, bearing in mind overall external context.As for the language of external communications all agree that it should be the one used by the customer and in the case of large suppliers of machinery and materials, Hydro-Quebec will have to use the English language for some time to come. Some people therefore insist on the need of Hydro-Quebec, on a provincial basis, to employ and recruit English-speaking employees, or employees that are bilingual, to treat in a fair manner employees whose mother tongue is English, and even appoint an English-speaking Commissioner.Many of those interviewed gave their own definition of bilingualism, insisting on many ways of applying it and its usefulness to the whole of Hydro-Quebec, on the verge of becoming exclusively French speaking. Idealistically, it would be reading, writing, understanding and speaking both languages fairly well, in this order of progression and difficulty. Before reaching this stage, however, our wish is that is that everyone could at least read and understand the two languages, so that it would be possible for everyone to speak or write in the language he knows best, with the assurance of being understood by a person of the other tongue, who, in turn, can act in the same manner.Members of both ethnical groups, at the management level and with regards to the integration of Hydro-Quebec subsidiaries, voiced their opinions with all frankness. Among many English-speaking employees coming from the subsidiaries, the experts noted a strong feeling of insecurity before an uncertain future.They showed a certain anxiety at the thought that the personality of their original privately owned company would be dissolved in an heartless state controlled company or its efficiency lost in the vastness of a Public Corporation. They were afraid of political interference, unfair distinctions, retaliations ; they feared the loss of acquired rights ; they were afraid of becoming mere official numbers or of entering into a misalliance.On the other hand, many French-speaking employees belonging to the same subsidiaries expressed a feeling of satisfaction and hope following the nationalization. These employees believe that in a predominant French-speaking public service, their chances of advancement have been greatly increased. It should also be mentioned that certain French-speaking elements of the old Hydro-Quebec fear that the integration will bring in new competitors, their avenues of promotion having seemed until then free from any opposition.THE RESULTS OF THE BRAZEAU-DOFNY REPORTThe experts advocated a well defined language policy for the whole of Hydro-Quebec in order to bring to perfection, give form to and accelerate the natural process described above by removing any irritating elements from it. They foresaw the immediate and unchalenged priority of the French language in the French sectors of the old Hydro-Quebec, Saguenay Electric, Quebec Power and the Lower Saint Lawrence Power Corporation without an exclusion of English where the latter would be required in external communications. For the English sector (Shawinigan, Southern, Gatineau and Northern) the experts foresaw an intermediate and transitory phase of systematic bilingualism ; knowledge of French as a condition of employment, comprehensive translation services, a marked preference for memos and reports written in French and finally, transfers of personnel from one region to the other so as to enhance the knowledge of French, now in more general use. But above all, the sociologists recommended accelerated French language courses for the English speaking managerial personnel, so as to reach a minimum level of bilingualism which would allow every one to express himself in his native tongue with the hope of being understood by everyone.As early as last September in greater Montreal and in October for the Hull region the Quebec Hydroelectric Commission approved French « intra-muros » courses using the excellent method known as « Voix et Images de France ». This method was conceived by « le Centre de recherches et de diffusion du français de Saint-Cloud », in France. The Commission engaged the best teachers from this Institute, it approved the necessary expenditures to make certain that the « students » would be provided with the best teaching aids and find themselves in the most favourable atmosphere.Absolutely everyone of the English-speaking administrators willingly accepted the invitation of the Commission which was formulated in terms conveying the least amount of obligation.In Montreal, 171 students, from the old Hydro-Quebec, from Shawinigan Water and Power particularly as well as from Southern Canada Power have already completed or are attending either the elementary course of 300 hours or one of the two intermediate courses of 90 and 60 hours, according to their needs ; a more advanced course will be offered in due course for those who express either the need or the desire for such a course. In Hull, one administrator submitted a written request to the effect that he and his colleagues should be granted the same opportunity. He wrote :« It is obvious from official pronouncements made by Hydro-Quebec and my observations of the working of committees and discussions that a thorough knowledge of the French language is essential for efficient conduct of business within Hydro-Quebec and its affiliates. It is also obvious that it would not be possible for anyone who is not familiar with French to receive promotions that his other abilities might entitle him to. If the Gatineau Power Company employees are not provided with the same opportunities for learning the French language, they will be at a disadvantage compared to other Hydro-Quebec and affiliated employees. »Along with his colleagues, he has been given the opportunity, today 37 executives from that region have attended or are attending an accelerated 30-week course at the rate of 28 hours per week. In Shawinigan, 27 executives of the Shawinigan Water and Power Company will soon be taking the same course. Various interviews have revealed the enthousiasm of the students and the remarkable results which the Saint-Cloud method used by three full time teachers has on the students' ability to express themselves almost fluently in French and this without any false embarrassment.Another event has taken place, which may have a considerable influence on the language situation. Hydro-Quebec has in effect proceeded with a fundamental administrative and geographical reorganization of its structures which will in the near future and for all practical purposes, dislocate the social groups which felt a particular attachment to either the old Hydro-Quebec or to one of its subsidiaries by replacing them with new groups constituted on a more rational geographical basis. The assignment of personnel to these new regional units is not yet completed. It will certainly influence the proportion of members from each ethnic groups that will be called upon to work together. This will provide an opportunity for observations, which from a strategic point of view will be as interesting as they will be important.PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE RESEARCHThe statistical part of the report has permitted the collecting and i

Lenguas y Lecturas en el mundo de la comunicación digital (Lección magistral con motivo de su investidura como Doctor Honoris Causa por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

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O Dom Quixote de Antônio José Da Silva, as marionetes do Bairro Alto e as prisões da inquisição

Este estudo da peça Vida do grande Dom Quixote de la Mancha e do gordo Sancho Pança, de Antônio José da Silva liga três histórias: a história das adaptações teatrais da Segunda Parte de Dom Quixote, a história de uma prática teatral poucas vezes reconhecida, a do teatro de marionetes, situado entre o divertimento popular e a ópera, e a história de um dramaturgo, três vezes confrontado com a Inquisição e que viveu a dolorosa condição dos conversos às voltas com suas crenças íntimas e as permanentes suspeitas dos Inquisidores. O trágico destino de Antônio José da Silva oferece assim um caso limite para enfrentar a questão da relação entre as experiências de vida e as próprias obras

Poder y escritura : el Príncipe, la biblioteca y la dedicatoria (siglos XV-XVII)

Se muestra cómo la lectura y la escritura son actos sociales perfectamente normativizados en la cultura de la Edad Moderna. Se exponen los ejemplos de la biblioteca, una institución en la que tan importante como el material que conserva son las relaciones sociales que se establecen entorno a ella (así en las "bibliotecas reales" como en las particulares), y de la dedicatoria de libros, en la que los autores desarrollan un lenguage muy sutil que les permitía relacionarse de forma especial con el destinatario.Roger Chartier shows how reading and writing were perfectly normativized social acts in the culture of Modern Age. As a demonstration of his assertions, he sets two examples: the first concerning libraries, institutions where materials preserved there were as important as social relationship established round it (both in regal libraries and in private ones), the second about the dedications written in books, through which their authors developed a very subtle language that allowed them to set up a kind of especial relation with their final addressees

Le syndicalisme de cadres et la législation québécoise du travail

Quelques notions qu'on entretienne sur le syndicalisme de cadres, il convient de le situer, comme concept et comme fait, dans le contexte plus large de la réalité sociale, économique, politique etjuridique du milieu même dans lequel on souhaite ou redoute son épanouissement. De même, il faut tenir compte de la tradition et des structures administratives des entreprises de ce même milieu. Tout emprunt, en cette matière, à des conceptions ou à des structures juridiques et administratives étrangères (pour fertiles que soient les comparaisons) doit s'entourer de beaucoup de circonspection, sous peine de flotter en pleine équivoque ou de n'être qu'une manoeuvre tactique.No matter how one feels about supervisory and managerial. unionism, this level of organization must be pitted, as both concept and fact, against the larger context of law, sociology, economics, politics and business administration in a given society. This essay will develop no thesis, « pro » or « con ». It will lay emphasis on thelegal aspects, hoping for others to indicate, through careful research, the important differences (social, political, economic and administrative) existing between the European context (in which some form of supervisory and managerial unionism flourishes) and the North-American one (in which such unionism is practically non-existent).Legislation in both continents is closely related to such divergent realities. It is clearly restrictive, as regards supervisors, managers and collective bargaining, in all of North America ; on the contrary, it is permissive in Europe, and particularly in France.One distinction must be made at the outset betweenprofessional andmanagerial unionism. The professional employee relates to an intellectual discipline in which he has acquired competence after years of university training ; he often, although not necessarily, belongs to the supervisory or managerial ranks. The supervisor or manager, on the other hand, exercises a given amount of delegated authority, whether technical or administrative; he obviously does not have to be a professional man.In Québec, as well as in the rest of Canada and the U.S., the collective bargaining legislation (the 1944 Labour Relations Act and the 1964 Labour Code) acknowledges two basic categories in organizations : those who manage, at whatever levels, and those who obey. In France, as well as in several European countries, three categories, rather than two, are recognized : the workers-employees, the employers, and the supervisors-managers in between, who are not on the board of administrators and are not responsible for general policies, although they participate in management, control or advising.THE PROFESSIONAL SYNDICATES ACT (QRS 1941, Ch. 162)In Québec, several hundreds of engineers have elected to associate through incorporation under the Professional Syndicates Act, first adopted in 1924 when legislators certainly did not have professional employees in mind, although the latter may legitimately use the law for their purposes of associating and acting collectively in a variety of endeavours : appearing before the courts, acquiring property, establishing indemnity funds, building houses, setting placement bureaus, administering professional undertakings, subsidizing co-ops, and « enter (ing) into contracts or agreements with all other syndicates, societies, undertakings or persons, respecting the attainment of their objects andparticularly such as relate to the collective conditions of labour » ( Art. 6, par. 9 ).Section III of the Act, accordingly, covered the « Collective Labour Agreement », which could not belegally forced upon a reluctant employer.THE LABOUR CODE (12-13 Elis. II, 1964, Ch. 45)The new Labour Code has eliminated articles 21-26 of the Professional Syndicates Act, which constitute precisely Section III on collective bargaining. In other words, collective bargaining under the law, from now on, will be governed by the Labour Code alone.The Code introduces no novelty with respect to the 1944 Labour Relations Act on supervisory and managerial unionism. It covers by its stipulations an association only « recognized » by the employer, but obviously favours an association « certified » by the Labour Relations Board (See articles 6, 21, 38,40ff, 49 and 123 to verify the legislator's preference for certification as illustrating the « plenitude » of the law ).The new Code maintains the very spirit of the 1944 Labour Relations Act as regards the definition of the « employee ». Article 1, par. m excludes from the purview of the law : « 1. a person who, in the opinion of the Board, is employed as manager, superintendent, foreman or representative of the employer in his relations with his employees ; 2. a director or officer of a corporation... ». In other words, managers and supervisors are not to be legally considered as compulsory interlocutors at the bargaining table, although, again, they may be recognized « freely » as such by the employer.For the first time, however, the Québec labour law covers professional employees as such for collective bargaining purposes, provided :1. they belong to the same profession (art. 20) ;2. they hold an absolute majority in a given bargaining unit ;3. they be « employees » according to art. 1, par. m, which specifically excludes supervisors and managers.THE AMBIGUOUSNESS OF THE TWO LAWSAccording to the Professional Syndicates Act, therefore, professional employees « in similar trades, or doing correlated work » (art. 2), mayassociate, whether they belong or not to supervisory and managerial levels, andact collectively in a number of specific endeavours, although, since September 1st, 1964,not for collective bargaining purposes by legal compulsion or intent.What happens, then, to a union of professional employees, both supervisory and non-supervisory, managerial and non-managerial, who have developed among one another a strong level of solidarity and belonging, who are incorporated together under a given law, and who finally ask their employer to recognize them « de facto », telling him at the same time that they do not intend to get a certificate from the Labour Relations Board ? They argue according to the following logic : « The right of association is basic ; we are associated under formal law by incorporation with colleagues of the same profession ; a corollary to this association is collective action, a privileged form of which is collective bargaining. We therefore want to bargain collectively all together for all of us ».The employer may go along with that logic, out of sheer « social realism » or because he is faced with strong economic pressure (as, for instance, the threat of a strike ) on the part of the union. And yet, he is likely to prefer the « plenitude » of the law, that is, certification of the union before the Board. Or else, he may accept « de facto » recognition, provided both parties agree on the bargaining unit in which the union will have to demonstrate its majority ; failing this, the employer will attempt to convince the union to go before the Board for a certificate. And furthermore, his definition of a correct bargaining unit will probably try to equate the intent of the legislator as expressed in article 1-m of the Code ; in other words, he will attempt to exclude from the bargaining unit all professional employees who act in a supervisory or managerial capacity, thus painfully amputating the union for collective bargaining purposes. Should he decide to go beyond the spirit of the law, he may be accused by other employers of creating « dangerous precedents » and of « playing legislator » in a legal and administrative context which runs against such precedents.Should the employer « play it safe » and stay at the level of article 1-m of the Code, he may be threatened with a strike. Should the strike occur, the legal position of the parties seems to be as follows :1. If the union groups only non-supervisory professionals, i.e. « employees » under the Code, the latter may not legally strike to compel their employer to recognize them « de facto », since they may go before the Board to get a certificate which will impose bargaining upon the employer. If they strike, there is a breach of individual contract, with all accompanying risks for the individual professionals.2. If the union groups only supervisory or managerial professionals, i.e. « employees »not covered by the Code, these would in vain ask for a certificate from the Board. They remain bound by their individual contract ; should they strike, this will be a breach of individual contract, which may be followed by strong disciplinary action, including dismissal.3. If the union groups both supervisory and non-supervisory professionals, these may not legally strike to forcibly bargain with the employer, for reasons given above for each of the two categories of professionals.Facts and precedents, however, are often more decisive than laws, provided they be backed by strong economic power and patient resistence by a sufficiently numerous group of useful employees. Such forceful « precedents » are often what makes new laws.CONCLUSIONIt is to be hoped that the intent of the legislator will be clarified as soon as possible and that, once made perfectly clear as representing the mores and the will of a majority of the people, it will be respected by all interests groups, so that, inasmuch as it is humanly possible, the individual business concerns (whether government or private) be not the scene of costly and painful tests of strength

Planification par l’entreprise du recrutement des diplômés universitaires

Il y a une vingtaine d'années, la plupart des entreprises ne se livraient que dans une mesure très limitée au recrutement systématique des diplômés universitaires: ceux-ci étaient peu nombreux et les directeurs des entreprises qui étaient sortis du rang n'étaient pas disposés à les affecter à des postes supérieurs. Aujourd'hui, la situation a changé. L'auteur aborde le problème tant du point de vue théorique que du point de vue pratique.COMPANY PLANNING FOR UNIVERSITY RECRUITMENTThis essay discusses company planning for university recruitment. Implicit in the notion of planning is, of course, the setting of goals, the evaluation of needs, and the selection of means [steps, procedures, techniques] most conducive to the attainment of the goals and the gratification of the needs ; in other words, planning is knowing why and where, and determining how, prior to direct action on a given problem.Essential, on the other hand, to the concept of recruitment as it is used nowadays is the idea of outer-directedness, of seeking out, of reaching for someone or something. Two decades ago, most companies did little seeking or reaching of a systematic nature for university graduates ; these were relatively few, and many a company executive who had come up from the ranks with only limited formal education were still wondering whether they should lay emphasis on that so-called high-talent manpower for high-level jobs when it was customary to promote from within and to hire even college graduates for low-level jobs. For most employers, the company grapevine, or contacts with professional clubs or associations, or an anonymous ad in the papers, were considered sufficient to fill in immediately-needed replacements. Any plan or step beyond those would have been termed exaggerated and too costly.Since the end of World War II, however, university recruitement by corporations has gradually become more deliberate and elaborate. With the advent of the new technology and the development of the behavioral sciences as applied to industry, there has emerged a fresh realization by top management of the need for ever more university graduates with more knowledge to join the ranks of industry. Formal training in institutions of higher learning has ceased to be opposed to practical experience without theoretical knowledge and has slowly taken precedence over it. Tight markets for high-talent manpower and tougher competition between firms have led the latter at the doorsteps of pertinent universities, so as to better get the ear of the placement directors and to get a closer look at potential candidates for employment still in the making. When Mohammed does not go to the mountain, or rather to one's specific little mount, all individual mounts must go to Mohammed, however costly, time-consuming or mortifying the process may be !Such a process, which I believe to be irreversible, is likely to increase in amplitude and importance during the coming years, since we are only on the threshold of what Mr. Hann [Arthur S., & George S. Odiorne. Effective College Recruiting. Ann Arbor, Mich. : Bureau of Industrial Relations, University of Michigan, 1961.] has called the « Age of Growth », and which could also be named the « Age of Knowledge » : technical and administrative knowledge at all levels of the business concern, and especially at the top. And irrespective of the fact that universities are already producing and will presently develop more and more graduates, demand from industry will far outweigh supply, so that scarcity of university graduates will for years to come invite company recruiters to knock at the door of the university with much competition around.Such being the prospect, how should companies plan their recruitment in the universities ? This is the object of this paper, and no small one at that. I fulfil it by relying on two different levels of discussion, namely : the theoretical and the practical. Theoretically, I tackle the following topics : planning and needs determination ; developing cooperation within the company ; allocating responsibility for college recruiting ; the recruiting team ; recruiting procedures ; and relationships between the firm and the university. Discussion of the practical aspects includes : the structural relationships within the organization and the evaluation of present and future needs ; the application of the mixed formula of recruiting ; the recruiting team ; recruiting practices and relations between the team and the universities and graduate students

Les conseillers en relations industrielles et la profession

Le conseiller en relations industrielles est-il vraiment un professionnel? Il est significatif qu'on se pose la question, aussi bien à l'intérieur de la nouvelle société des conseillers en relations industrielles, qui jouit pourtant depuis plus d'un an d’un statut juridique non équivoque, à l’instar de groupements professionnels plus anciens.Tel n'est pas le propos de ce document de travail de démontrer à tout prix que la réponse à la question précitée doit être affirmative. Il ne part, au contraire, d'aucune idée préconçue, visant modestement à étaler des éléments de réponse et à susciter la méditation sur les critères de la profession dans la mesure où ils s'appliquent au cas des conseillers en relations industrielles.Whether the Industrial Relations Specialist is a professional or not is still and important question within the new « Society of Industrial Relations Counselors » as well as outside, at a time when it is recognized by a legal status in a non-equivocal manner when compared to older professional groupings.The purpose of this working paper is not to demonstrate at any rate that the above question should be given a positive and clear-cut answer. On the contrary, I am starting out with no preconcieved ideas. I intend to point out some elements of an answer and provoke thinking about the criteria of a profession as long as they pertain to the situation of « Industrial Relations Counselors ».A profession can be defined as an occupation characterized by a specialized and protracted intellectual education, by the application of a technique which rests on a theoritical bedrock, by the emergence of a professional association, and also by the idea of service rendered to a client for a certain amount of money.The tendency toward professionalization evolves from the very characteristics of an emerging industrial society. Large-scale bureaucratic organizations present an extensive division of labor and require a certain degree of impersonality. Professional associations provide a shield against a possible loss of identity or a possible feeling of alienation since one of the dominant features of a profession resides in the possibility for the individual to be independent and autonomous. An additional explanation of this tendency toward professionalization can be found in the tremendous development of scientific knowledge and the need for the expert to protect his self-image.The professionalization can be looked upon as a moving and dynamic process which unrolls itself along a continuous line of development characterized by the following stages:1 — A regular full-time work in the area of a speciality.2 — The creation of an association.3 — A formal academic education usually offered by a university.4 — The classification of would-be members according to established normsof eligibility for membershipholding.5 — The struggle for setting the boundaries of a specific field pf knowledge.6 — A code of professional ethics.7 — A political pressure for legal recognition.8 — An attempt to control university education.The definition of a profession which has been given above contains most of the earmarks for differentiating a professional occupation from a non-professional one. Keeping those criteria in mind, it is interesting to examine the situation of a professional working for a large-scale organization. Here are some possible conflicting issues. The salaried-professional will serve other people through the social system of a business enterprise, a government agency, or a trade-union. He is not providing a service for a specific client. The opportunity for autonomous decion-making is narrower, since top-management defines the order of priorities. His view of administrative efficiency may be at odds with top-management's. Those are only some possible conflicting points that have to be dealt with in modem bureaucracies by a category of experts which also encompasses « Industrial Relations Counselors ».« Industrial Relations Counselors » have passed through the phases of professionalization. Most of them enjoy full-time work and are members of legally-recognized association, Most of them have benefited from an university education and have been exposed to advanced specialization. All of them are providing services, but the majority does it in a bureaucratic framework, The main features of those services are incongruent with traditional professional services. In a near future, the association will have its code of ethics

Reading without books

Lector de Pierre Bourdieu se bien las seducciones y trampas de la ilusión biográfica. Escribir recuerdos personales es siempre (conscientemente o no) plasmar una representación de si mismo que construye un pasado deseado, imaginado, que no corresponde necesariamente a lo que fue realmente