Associate Professor

John Peters

Areas of Expertise

International Business, Labour Relations

Personal Profile

John Peters is an associate professor in the Faculty of Business Administration and the Department of Sociology. He holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Michigan and a PhD in political science from York University.

His research interests include trade unions and labour relations, inequality and comparative public policy, as well as decarbonization and environmental labour studies.

His most recent publications include Jobs with Inequality: Financialization, Post-Democracy and Labour Market Deregulation in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2022) and Canadian Labour Policy and Politics (with D. Wells) (University of British Columbia Press, 2022).

In addition to his role at Memorial, Dr. Peters is a research fellow at the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) at the University of Montreal, where he is also an associated professor with the School of Industrial Relations (ÉRI).

At Memorial, Dr. Peters teaches labour relations as well as sustainability and just transition polices in the Master of Employment Relations (MER) Program.

Honours/Awards/Accreditations

• 2023: SSHRC Engage Grant (co-investigator). Les Syndicats Face à la Crise Climatique: Analyse Stratégique des Resources et des Moyens d’action à Mettre en Ouvre au Plan Local.
  
  
• 2022: SSHRC Connection Grant (co-investigator). The Climate Crisis and the Future of Work.
  
  
• 2022: Hill Times Best 100 Books of 2022 for Canadian Labour Policy and Politics, edited with Don Wells.
  
  
• 2017: SSHRC Partnership Grant (co-investigator). Institutional Experimentation for Better Work.
  
  
• 2017: SSHRC Insight Development Grant (co-investiagor). Renewing Unions as Social Movements.

Research Highlights

Books

• Peters, J. (2022). Jobs with Inequality: Financialization, Post-Democracy and Labour Market Deregulation in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
  
  
• Peters, J. and Wells, D. (eds.) (2022). Canadian Labour Policy and Politics. University of British Columbia Press.

Journal Articles

• Dupuis, M., Peters, J. & Scrimger, P. (2020). Financialization and Union Decline: The Influence of Sectors and Core Industries. Competition and Change. (24, 3-4: 268-290).
  
  
• Kollmeyer, C. & Peters, J. (2019) Financialization and the Decline of Organized Labour: A Study of 18 Advanced Capitalist Countries, 1970-2012. Social Forces. (98, 1: 1-30).

Book Chapters

• Peters, J. Climate Jobs New York: A Labour-led Climate Coalition. In Murray, G. & Laroche, M. (eds.). Experimenting for Union Renewal: Challenges, Illustrations and Lessons. Geneva: International Labor Organization. (Forthcoming)
  
  
• Peters, J. (2022). Finding Better Ways out of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In Peters, J. & Wells, D. (eds.). Canadian Labour Policy and Politics. University of British Columbia Press.
  
  
• Peters, J. (2022). Globalization, Work and Employment Regulation. In Peters, J. & Wells, D. (eds.). Canadian Labour Policy and Politics. University of British Columbia Press.
  
  
• Peters, J. (2022). Provincial Governments and the Politics of Deregulation. In Peters, J. & Wells, D. (eds.). Canadian Labour Policy and Politics. University of British Columbia Press.
  
  
• Peters, J. (2020). Inequality. In Whiteside, H. (ed.). Canadian Political Economy: University of Toronto Press.
  
  
• Peters, J. (2019). The Ontario Growth Model: The ‘End of the Road’ Or the Rise of a “New Economy”? In Albo, G. & Evans, B. (eds.). Divided Province: Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Applied Research Reports

• Peters, J. Ontario Has a Dirty Gas Addiction That’s Worse than You Think. Environmental Defence. (Forthcoming).
  
  
• Peters, J. (2021). Building Newfoundland and Labrador’s Low-Carbon, Jobs-Rich Economy – A Roadmap for the Newfoundland and Labrador’s Federation of Labour. Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Policy Report.
  
  
• Peters, J. (2021). Building Canada’s Clean Energy Economy with a Just Transition. Blue Green Ideas Submission to Canada’s Just Transition Consultation.