“We work by the second !” Piecework remuneration and occupational health and safety from an ethnicity- and gender-sensitive perspective

Abstract

The main objective of our study is to describe qualitatively, in the context of a Montréal garment factory, the mechanisms through which piecework affects health, and to identify the role of ethnicity and gender in these dynamics. A secondary objective is to compare the realities of piecework with the way it is depicted by the various parties involved, as reported in appeal decisions on workers' compensation claims. This study is based on data from two sources: individual interviews, and appeal decisions on compensation claims. These are entirely separate samples, meaning that in analyzing the decisions on claims, no attempt was made to include claims that might have been made by subjects interviewed, and vice versa. Between 2004 and 2006, we did 25 interviews with 15 women workers and 10 men workers born in 14 different countries (22 immigrants and 3 non-immigrants), selected because they reflected the ethnic make-up of the work force and because they covered a range of ages, immigration periods, linguistic skills, family situations, job categories and work-related health status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)