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‘Enabling dissent’: Contesting austerity and right populism in Toronto, Canada

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  • Mark Thomas
  • Steven Tufts

Abstract

Following the 2008 financial crisis, austerity measures have been introduced in many national contexts to reorganise public sector work and redesign labour laws and labour policies. At the same time, right-populist discourses and movements have arisen in ways that give both legitimacy and voice to the politics of austerity. Toronto, Canada, provides a world-renowned case of populist experimentation at the metropolitan scale, as the actions of Mayor Rob Ford typified this nexus of austerity and populism. Set in the context of Ford’s term as Mayor of Toronto (2010–2014), this article asks how the combined rise of austerity and right populism creates both new challenges and new opportunities for public sector labour in urban spaces. We argue that public sector unions are central in both the making and unmaking of populist austerity and identify potential trajectories for organised labour in the face of the continuation of austerity-driven politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Thomas & Steven Tufts, 2016. "‘Enabling dissent’: Contesting austerity and right populism in Toronto, Canada," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(1), pages 29-45, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:27:y:2016:i:1:p:29-45
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304616628409
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margit Mayer, 2013. "First world urban activism," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 5-19, February.
    2. Ian Thomas MacDonald, 2014. "Towards Neoliberal Trade Unionism: Decline, Renewal and Transformation in North American Labour Movements," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 725-752, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austerity; Canada; neoliberal urbanism; populism; public sector unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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