The nature of employment is evolving, says the Law Commission of Ontario in its December 2012 report on vulnerable workers and precarious work.

“The standard employment relationship based on full-time, continuous employment, where the worker has access to good wages and benefits, is no longer the predominant form of employment, to the extent it ever was,” the report says. “Today more work is precarious, with less job security, few if any benefits and minimal control over working conditions.”

The report, which cites temporary agency work, self-employment, part-time, casual or temporary migrant work as examples of the trend, is the subject of a symposium on the UWindsor campus this week.

The symposium, entitled “Workers’ Rights in the Age of Precarity: Seeking Solutions,” is open to the public. Presented by the Centre for Studies in Social Justice and the UWindsor labour studies program, it is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, May 23, in McPherson Lounge, Alumni Hall.

Presenting are:

• Alan Hall, acting director of the labour studies program;
• law professor Bruce Elman, chair of the Law Commission of Ontario; and
• Patricia Hughes, executive director of the Law Commission of Ontario.

The report recommends a provincial strategy aimed at improving support to vulnerable workers and reducing employment precarity, and an additional 46 reforms in policy and legislation governing employment standards, health and safety, and training and education.