Not Just Nice Guys: The Growth and Constraint of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, 1950-1975
Resource type
Author/contributor
- Robben, Alex (Author)
Title
Not Just Nice Guys: The Growth and Constraint of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, 1950-1975
Abstract
This study traces the mid-twentieth century history of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union (NSTU), with particular focus on the union’s democratic, professional, and bargaining structures. Traditionally underrepresented in labour union histories, teachers’ unions are a keystone public occupation with extremely high industrial density and a complex relationship with numerous levels of government. In the period studied, teachers were paid both by provincial and local governments but were technically only allowed to bargain with the former; this relationship was instrumental in keeping teachers’ demands depressed but was too unstable to contain teacher militancy effectively. Following an interrogation of the union’s restrictive legislative and organizational foundation, the thesis analyzes the adoption of professionalism as a status-raising strategy, but with severe exclusionary tendencies. The thesis continues with a chronological recounting of provincial and local-level negotiations, the contention of which forced the union and the provincial government to renegotiate their bargaining mechanisms.
Type
M.A., History
University
Dalhousie University
Place
Halifax
Date
2024
# of Pages
vii, 154 pages
Language
English
Short Title
Not Just Nice Guys
Accessed
9/2/24, 6:42 PM
Library Catalog
dalspace.library.dal.ca
Extra
Accepted: 2024-08-30T13:51:36Z
Citation
Robben, A. (2024). Not Just Nice Guys: The Growth and Constraint of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, 1950-1975 [M.A., History, Dalhousie University]. https://DalSpace.library.dal.ca//handle/10222/84530
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