ABSTRACT
The industrial relations systems in the United States and Canada are like siblings; they have similar origins and reflect similar values. The industrial relations system in the United States developed from the economic difficulties of the great depression in the 1930s. Among the premises underlying the founding of the industrial relations system in the United States was that strikes over recognition were disrupting the US economy and the low wages were causing ‘underconsumption’ and aggravating the economic stagnation. When the modern Canadian industrial relations system was established after the Second World War, it adopted many of the attributes of the industrial relations system of its more populous neighbor to the south.
