The 1990s and 2000s

This chapter focuses on major changes that happened in labor and management interaction in the 1990s and 2000s. Neo-liberal economic theory was ascendant during those decades. The Cold War drew to a close in the early 1990s and the global economy altered. Management in both countries – public and private – engaged in significant conflicts with unions. The labor movements of both countries principally became public sector movements as private sector union density continued to decline. New technology, particularly the rise of the Internet, led to profound changes in how people work, and those developments were reflected in labor and management interaction. Canadian labor was in a stronger position in relation to management when compared with its American counterpart.