Robert Paul Hebdon
PhD, Industrial Relations, University of Toronto, Canada
MA, Economics, University of Toronto, Canada
BA, Economics, University of Toronto, Canada
Professor Bob Hebdon joined McGill's Faculty of Management in 2000. After graduating from the University of Toronto with an M.A. in Economics in 1968, he worked for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union for 24 years. He completed his Ph.D. in industrial relations at the Center for Industrial Relations at the University of Toronto in 1992. His academic career began at Cornell University where he taught collective bargaining for seven years at the School of Industrial Relations. In 1999 he taught at the University of Manitoba in the Faculty of Management. Professor Hebdon also has experience as a neutral in labour-management relations acting as an arbitrator in Ontario. He was awarded the prestigious Gunderson prize in Industrial Relations for his contribution to the field in 2007. In 2008 he received a three-year SSHRC grant to study municipal restructuring in Canada.
His research interests include: public sector labor relations and restructuring, collective bargaining, dispute resolution, and industrial conflict. He has published in a wide variety of major journals including: American Economic Review, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Advances in Industrial Relations, Policy Analysis and Management, Industrial Relations (Berkeley), Relations Industrielles (Laval), Local Government Studies, Environment and Planning C, Local Government, Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, Labor Studies Journal, and the Arbitration Yearbook.
Papers in Peer-Reviewed Journals
Campolieti, Michael, Robert Hebdon, and Benjamin Dachis. Forthcoming, “The Impact of Collective Bargaining Legislation on Strike Activity and Wage Settlements”, Industrial Relations.
Hebdon, Robert. “Public Sector Labor Policy: a Human Rights Approach”, University of Nevada Law Journal, forthcoming in Volume 14, (Spring 2014).
Jalette, P., and Hebdon, R. 2012. Unions and Privatization: Opening the “Black Box”. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 65, issue 1, pp. 17-35.
Hebdon, Robert and Patrice Jalette. 2008. “The Restructuring of Municipal Services: A Canada - United States Comparison", Journal of Environment and Planning C - Local Government and Policy, Vol. 26, pp. 144-58.
Bel, Germà, Robert Hebdon and Mildred Warner. 2007. “Local Government Reform: Privatisation and its Alternatives”. Local Government Studies, Vol. 33, Issue 4, pp. 507 - 515
Hebdon, Robert. 2006. “Contracting Public Services in New York State: Labor Effects”. Relations Industrielles, Vol. 61, No. 3., pp. 513-533.
Hebdon, Robert. 2005. “Toward a Theory of Workplace Conflict: The Case of U.S. Municipal Collective Bargaining”, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Vol. 14, pp. 35-67.
Campolieti, Michael, Robert Hebdon, and Douglas Hyatt. 2005. “Strike Incidence and Strike Duration: Some New Evidence from Ontario”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 58, No. 4 (July 2005), pp. 610-630.
Hebdon, Robert and Maurice Mazerolle. 2003. “Regulating Conflict in Public Sector Labour Relations: The Ontario Experience (1984–1993)”, Relations Industrielles, Vol.58, No.4, pp. 667-686.
Hebdon, Robert and Robert Stern. 2003. “Do Public Sector Strike Bans Really Prevent Conflict?”, Industrial Relations, July, pp. 493-512.
Hebdon, Robert. 2001."Fact-Finding Effectiveness: Evidence from New York State", Industrial Relations, Vol. 40, No. 1, (January), pp. 73-82.
Warner, Mildred and Robert Hebdon.2001. "Local Government Restructuring: Privatization and Its Alternatives," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 20, No. 2, (Spring), pp. 315-336.
Hebdon, Robert, Maurice Mazerolle, and Douglas Hyatt. 1999."Implications of Small Bargaining Units and Enterprise Unions on Bargaining Disputes: A Look into the Future?”, Relations Industrielles, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp.503-526.Hebdon, Robert and Peter Warrian. 1999. "Coercive Bargaining: Public Sector Restructuring Under The Ontario Social Contract 1993-96," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol.52, No.2, (January), pp.196-212.
Hebdon, Robert. 1998. "Behavioral Determinants of Public Sector Illegal Strikes: Cases from Canada and the U.S.", Relations Industrielles, Vol.53, No.4, (Fall), pp.667-690.
Hebdon, Robert and Douglas Hyatt. 1998. "The Impact of Industrial Relations Factors on Health and Safety Conflict," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 51, No.4, (July), pp.579-593.
Hebdon, Robert and Robert Stern. 1998. "Tradeoffs Among Expressions of Industrial Conflict: Public Sector Strike Bans and Grievance Arbitrations," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 51, No.2, (January), pp.204-221.Hebdon, Robert and Maurice Mazerolle.1998. "The Impact of Relations by Objectives (RBO) on the Grievance Mediation and Arbitration Processes: Evidence from the Education Sector in Ontario," Labour Arbitration Yearbook, pp. 39-49.
Gunderson, Morley, Robert Hebdon, and Douglas Hyatt. 1996. "Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector: A Comment," American Economic Review, Vol. 86, No.3, (March), pp. 315-326.
Hebdon, Robert and Douglas Hyatt. 1996. "Workplace Innovation in the Public Sector: The Case of the Office of the Ontario Registrar General,"Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 63-81.Hebdon, Robert and Maurice Mazerolle. 1995."Mending Fences, Building Bridges: The Effect of RBO on Conflict", Relations Industrielles, Vol.50, No.1, pp. 164-183.
Hebdon, Robert. 1995. "Contracting Out in New York State: The Story the Lauder Report Chose Not to Tell," Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 3-29.
Hebdon, Robert. 1995. "The Freezing Effect of Public Sector Bargaining: The Case of Ontario Crown Employees," Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, Vol. 24(3), pp. 233-254.
Books and Edited Volumes
Hebdon, Robert and Travor Brown. 2012. “Industrial Relations in Canada” 2nd edition.Toronto: Nelson Thompson, 444 pages.
Dachis, Benjamin and Robert Hebdon. 2010. “The Laws of Unintended Consequences: The Effect of Labour Legislation on Wages and Strikes”. C. D. Howe Institute, 26 pages.
Polushin, William and Robert Hebdon. 2009. “Sustaining and Improving Growth and Competitiveness: Addressing the Needs of the Labour Market in Knowledge-Driven Economies”. Program for International Competitiveness, Faculty of Management, McGill University, 65 pages.
Hebdon, Robert and Travor Brown. 2007. “Industrial Relations in Canada”. Toronto: Nelson Thompson, 384 pages.
Hebdon, Robert and Hazel Dayton Gunn. 1995. "The Costs and Benefits of Privatization at the Local Level in New York State," Community and Rural Development Institute, Cornell University.
Hebdon, Robert. 1994. "The Perils of Privatization: Lessons for New York State", monograph, Cornell University, 80 pages.
Chapters in Books
Hebdon, Robert, Marick Masters, Joe Slater. “U.S. Public Sector Collective Bargaining: Tumultuous Times” forthcoming chapter in Collective Bargaining Under Duress: Case Studies of Major US Industries. Champaign, Il. Labor and Employment Research Association.
Hebdon, Robert and Sung Chul Noh. 2013. “A Theory of Workplace Conflict Development: From Grievances to Strikes,” chapter 3 in New Forms and Expressions of Conflict at Work, edited by Gregor Gall, Palgrave Macmillan.Gunderson, Morley and Robert Hebdon. 2010. “Collective Bargaining and Dispute Resolution in the Public Sector”, Chapter 28 the Handbook of Canadian Public Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gunderson, Morley, Robert Hebdon, and Douglas Hyatt. 2009. “Strikes and Dispute Resolution”, chapter 11 in Labour-Management Relations in Canada, sixth edition edited by Gunderson, and Taras. Toronto: Addison Wesley.
Gall, Gregor and Robert Hebdon. 2007. “Conflict at Work”, in N. Bacon et al. (eds.), Sage Handbook of Industrial and Employment Relations.Hebdon, Robert and Ian Kirkpatrick. 2005. “Changes in the Organisation of Public Services and Their Effects on Employment Relations”, chapter 22 in Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization, Ackroyd, Batt, and Tolbert editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gunderson, Morley, Robert Hebdon, Douglas Hyatt, Allen Ponak. 2004. “Strikes and Dispute Resolution”, chapter 12 in Labour-Management Relations in Canada, fifth edition edited by Gunderson, Ponak, and Taras. Toronto: Addison Wesley, pp.332-370.Hebdon, Robert. “Collective Bargaining”. 2004. Chapter in Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Jack Rabin ed.. New York: Marcel Dekker (CD format), pp.210-213.
Hebdon, Robert. “The Politics of Collective Bargaining”. 2004. Chapter in Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Jack Rabin ed.. New York: Marcel Dekker (CD format)pp.213-216.
Hebdon, Robert and Janet McEneaney. 2001. “Labor Relations in New York State”, chapter in Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector: The Experience of Eight States, Joyce Najita and James Stern editors. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 272 pages.
Hebdon, Robert. 2000. “Labor-Management Relations in the United States, 1999”, Ch. 4 in the Municipal Yearbook 2000. Washington, D.C.: International Cities/Counties Management Association, pp. 22-27.Hebdon, Robert. 1996. "Public Sector Dispute Resolution in Transition, " Dale Belman, Morley Gunderson, and Douglas Hyatt, eds., Ch.3 in Public Sector Employment In a Time of Transition, Industrial Relations Research Association, pp. 85-125.
Awards
2007: Morley Gunderson Prize in Industrial Relation in recognition of outstanding Professional achievement with significant service to the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto
1989: Canadian Pacific Scholarship
Fellowships
1969, 1970: Robarts Fellowship
Grants
2008-2011: Social Sciences and HUmanities Research Grant
2004-2007: Social Sciences and HUmanities Research Grant
2003: Social Sciences and HUmanities Research Grant - Internal McGill
1996: Hatch Grant, Cornell University, Community and Rural Development Institute - Principal Researcher (with Midred Warner of Cornell)
