A. What kind of institutions and institutionalization for the new workplace?

B. What is the impact of globalization on national and local institutions for work and employment?

C. Is there and can there be a citizenship at work in the new workplace?

Each of these questions entails a set of theoretical propositions that are subject to the kind of interdisciplinary debate and empirical enquiry that should take us the forefront of debates about work and employment. Each is organized in distinct sub-projects at different levels of analysis (workplace and firm or organization; forms of collective representation and negotiation beyond the workplace; public policy). Each entails significant dialogue between the research projects. Each seeks to respond to three important types of query. First, empirically, what are the significant trends? Second, theoretically, what are the appropriate theories and paradigms that allow us to understand these trends? Finally, in normative terms, what are the paths for institutional renewal that are likely to result in better outcomes for workers and organizations? In other words, what does the research tell labour market actors and public policy makers about the new world of work in a global era?

The sub-projects are structured around three cross-cutting, interdisciplinary research themes: (I) the understanding and emergence of institutions for work in the new production models; (II) the interface between national and transnational sources of work regulation in the global economy; and (III) citizenship at work in a global era.

Each of these themes also concerns different institutional levels of analysis (domains) for work and employment: (A) the way that production and work are organized; (B) the degree to which there is collective representation about work, the way that actors are structured in that representation and the institutional understandings that may or may not underlie the interactions of these collective actors; and (C) public policies concerned with work, be they in terms of employment policy, social policy, or labour law or some other dimension of state policy.


International and Interdisciplinary Focus

Our focus is international because in the context of globalization it is only through comparative and transnational enquiry that we can understand emerging patterns and the role of different institutional configurations. It is also interdisciplinary because the core problems that concern us require multiple lenses and, undoubtedly, the emergence of new theoretical frameworks.


Teaching and Scientific Activities

CRIMT students pursue degrees in a variety of disciplines. The Centre is developing interdisciplinary and inter-university courses and further helps students to engage in research exchanges with other institutions affiliated to its projects. It is embedded in both national and international research networks and sponsors collaborative international research teams on its core projects. Under the auspices of its SSHRC-MCRI Project on Rethinking Institutions for Work and Employment in a Global Era, it organizes frequent conferences, seminars and symposia, most often in partnership with labour market institutions and actors, and sponsors annual Global Research Fellows from countries of the South.


Resources

Besides receiving contributions from its affiliated universities and funding towards individual projects from various provincial, national and international agencies, CRIMT has been awarded two major structuring grants: one from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), through its Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) and a second from the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture/ Quebec’s Research Funds on Culture and Society (FQRSC), through its strategic grouping program. The Centre employs scientific and administrative coordinators and provides substantial funding to graduate students.