Professor helped build a ‘collaborative and constructive’ labour relations culture

Over half a century of scholarship, arbitrations, international consulting and quiet advocacy, Mark Thompson exerted a far-reaching influence on industrial relations policies that advanced the cause of workers, while steering clear of the trenches that often mark labour confrontations. Although unwavering in his belief that unions are a legitimate part of society, the long-time professor of industrial relations at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business was nevertheless renowned for his fair and judicious approach.

His rich legacy covered areas as diverse as farm workers toiling in the fields of the Fraser Valley, public-sector bargaining, unions in Mexico, occupational health and safety in Eastern Europe, and the rarefied halls of academia, where he was on the ground floor of successful efforts to bring collective bargaining rights to university faculty. He considered labour relations not merely as policy but as a path to a more just society.