This article examines the evolution of both the domestic and international dimen sions of Canadian labour law in the contemporary context of globalisation. The analysis of the origins and basic features of the domestic system, as illustrated by prevailing legislation in the federal and Quebec jurisdictions, highlights the overall stability of the 'Canadian model', with respect to both the legal framework of collective labour relations and employment standards. The possibility of globalising labour law through tbe insertion of international dimensions is also explored. An analysis of the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation and other sources of inter national law relevant to tbe Canadian scene points to considerable deficiencies in the legal system's handling of transnational labour relations.

La réalité globale de l’entreprise transnationale, l’ensemble intégré de son activité, s’étend à plusieurs pays, même si elle est elle-même le plus souvent juridiquement fragmentée en différentes sociétés nationales. Dans quelle mesure le Droit parvient-il à saisir dans toute sa réalité significative, c’est-à-dire transnationale, cette entreprise ; réussit-il à atteindre son centre de pouvoir ? L’examen porte d’abord sur la normativité applicable. Existe-t-il une normativité commensurable à cette entreprise ? Les droits des pays d’implantation se montrent-ils capables d’applications extraterritoriales à son endroit ? Il y a ensuite à considérer la mise en oeuvre, en particulier juridictionnelle, des normes applicables, tantôt l’intervention du for du pays de la filiale, tantôt celle du for de la société dominante.In the current state of law, multinational enterprises (MNEs) do not have a specific legal status in the field of labour relations. There is not a specific set of rules that govern them. Thus, in labour relations, MNEs are generally subject to the national law of the host countries. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, the supranational law of the European Union recognizes the pan-European enterprise insofar as it obliges the Member-States to ensure that a European enterprise committee is created within a pan-European group. Similarly, MNEs are, on the whole, understood through different instruments decreed by regional or international organizations, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations. These instruments can be characterized as “green” or “soft” law due to their lack of legal “compellability.” Notwithstanding these exceptions, the MNEs’ lack of a transnational legal status reduces legal intervention to a set of national laws, that is, those of the host countries of its legal components and activities. Indeed, national labour laws, whose vocation is, in principle, strictly territorial cannot affect an MNE in its entirety since, by definition, it extends beyond the borders of a single country.Despite their naturally territorial vocation with regard to MNE activities’, national laws could be adapted, albeit marginally, to cover a number of extraterritorial applications of their labour law. The legislator of the subsidiary’s host country or the parent corporation’s country could affect the MNE if the parent corporation presented itself as the “usual” employer, on its own or together with its subsidiary. Moreover, although the conservatism of standard international jurisprudence rejects the extraterritoriality of the law of the parent corporation’s country, it has not stopped the American legislator from expressly recognizing the extraterritorial application of laws on workplace discrimination to foreign subsidiaries of American parent corporations.However, the question of the normativity applicable to MNEs cannot be dealt with on its own. It must be addressed at the same time as the question ...

Perspectives interdisciplinaires sur le travail et la santé 12-1 | 2010 Maintien en emploi des travailleurs handicapés ou porteurs d'une incapacité fonctionnelle, regards croisés en France et au Québec Un milieu de travail diversifié : l'apport de l'obligation d'accommodement raisonnable selon le droit international et le droit canadien A diversified work environment : the contribution of the obligation for reasonable accommodation according to international law and Canadian law Un medio de trabajo diversificado : el aporte de la obligación de un acomodo razonable según el derecho internacional y el derecho canadiense

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