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Assistant Professor, Labour Relations, McMaster University

Dr. Sean O’Brady’s research focuses on how labour relations, HRM practices, and institutions affect job quality in low-skilled service work. He has also developed an interest in work and technology. Sean’s research has received awards from the Labor and Employment Relations Association, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, Canadian Industrial Relations Association, and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux. His work can be found in Industrial Relations, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the European Journal of Industrial Relations, and elsewhere. He is a co-researcher with the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT), and an expert researcher with the Tompkins County Living Wage Working Group. Prior to his appointment at McMaster University, Sean completed postdoctoral research at Cornell University, and a PhD from Université de Montréal.

Experience

  • 2020–present
    Assistant Professor, McMaster University

Education

  • 2019 
    Cornell University, Postdoc
  • 2018 
    Université de Montreal, PhD

Publications

  • 2021
    Fighting precarious work with institutional power: Union inclusion and its limits across spheres of action, British Journal of Industrial Relations
  • 2020
    Partnering against insecurity? A comparison of markets, institutions and worker risk in Canadian and Swedish retail, British Journal of Industrial Relations
  • 2019
    Rethinking precariousness and its evolution: A four-country study of work in food retail, European Journal of Industrial Relations