The Constitutionalization of Labour Rights: What Bliss in this Dawn to Be Alive

In these remarks to an audience of union-side labour lawyers, I caution against excessive optimism concerning the potential of rights-based constitutional litigation to improve the lot of workers. Despite recent pro-labour Charter decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, litigation will not fundamentally alter the underlying conditions which have disempowered workers and unions. This is not to say that the constitution is irrelevant, but rather that its most significant features are economic and political, rather than juridical.