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The article reviews the book, "Continental Crucible: Big Business, Workers and Unions in the Transformation of North America," by Richard Roman and Edur Velasco Arregui.

An extensive review of recent academic and union literature, highlighting the varying experience and approaches to union renewal in differing institutional and environmental context and its general lessons for Canada. [The authors] discuss the meaning and concepts of union renewal, its rational and major thesis, key renewal strategies, comparative experience, obstacles to change and facilitating factors and the challenges of union renewal in the Canadian setting. --Editors' introduction

This book focuses on the efforts and progress of union revitalization and organizing, and documents the renewal initiatives undertaken by unions in Canada. Unions, separately or in coalition with other unions or social groups, have begun to re-examine the basis of their organization and activity in the face of a harsher economic and political climate. Signs of union renewal include increased rank-and-file participation in the life of the union, increased democratic decision-making, evidence of new horizontal union structures, the development of a worker-centred societal vision, and a new emphasis on organizing both internally and externally. Paths to Union Renewal addresses a subject of considerable political and social importance about which there have been a number of debates. A key impetus for this re-examination has originated in the United States where decades-long union decline has engendered new ideas adopted by a number of unions and the national central labour body the AFL-CIO. This in turn has led to debates on renewal strategies in Western Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries from Britain to Australia. Despite this, little detailed research of the processes, structures, and implications of union renewal has been undertaken across Canada. Paths to Union Renewal fills this gap by critically examining union renewal in a variety of unions, providing a basis for informed discussion and debate on the role and place of trade unions in contemporary society. --Publisher's description. Contents: Pt. 1: Union Renewal and the State of Unions in Canada.  Union Renewal and Organizational Change: A Review of the Literature / Pradeep Kumar and Christopher Schenk -- Rowing Against the Tide: The Struggle to Raise Union Density in a Hostile Environment / Andrew Jackson -- Innovation in Canadian Unions: Patterns, Causes and Consequences / Pradeep Kumar and Gregor Murray -- Women are Key to Union Renewal: Lessons from the Canadian Labour Movement / Charlotte Yates -- Globalization and Union Renewal: Perspectives from the Quebec Labour Movement / Christian Lévesque and Gregor Murray. Pt. 2: Case Studies on Union Renewal. The BCGEU [British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union]: The Road to Renewal / Gary Steeves -- Union Renewal and the CUPE / Jane Stinson and Morna Ballantyne -- Union Resistance and Union Renewal in the CAW / David Robertson and Bill Murningham -- Rank-and-File Involvement in Policy-Making at the CEP / Keith R. Newman -- Mobilizing Young People: A Case Study of UFCW Canada Youth Programs and Initiatives / Anna Liu and Christopher O'Halloran -- Renewal from Different Directions: The Case of UNITE-HERE Local 75 / Steve Tufts -- Building Capacity for Global Action Steelworkers' Humanity Fund / Judith Marshall and Jorge Garcia-Orgales. Pt. 3: Unions and Community: Campaigns and Organizing. Community Unionism and Labour Movement Renewal: Organizing for Fair Employment / Cynthia J. Cranford, Mary Gellatly, Deena Ladd, and Leah F. Vosko -- The Workers' Organizing and REsource Centre in Winnipeg / Geoff Bickerton and Catherine Stearns -- A Community Coalition in Defense of Public Medicare/ Natalie Mehra -- Organizing Call Centres: The Steelworkers' Experience / Julie Guard, Jorge Garcia-Orgales, Mercedes Steedman,a nd D'Arcy Martin. Pt. 4: Leadership Development and Education. Increasing Inter-Union Co-ooperation and Co-ordination: The BC Federation of Labour Organizing Institute / John Weir -- Union Education, Union Leadership and Union Renewal: the Role of PEL / Johanna Weststar.

Case study of workers in a large Toronto-based hotel and their campaign first to attain just working conditions, and then to retain them in the face of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003 that disrupted the Toronto hospitality industry.

Case study of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union's strategy for renewal as an ongoing process. A more formal exercise was begun in 1998 to improve union servicing that resulted in the adoption of five objectives as pilot projects; recommendations were adopted in 2000 to improve them. The devastating impact of the provincial government's cutbacks of 2001 is described, as well as subsequent renewal efforts.

[P]rovides an overview of the trends and patterns of union density in Canada and its implications for union renewal. Of particular interest is [the author's] analysis of the opportunities for new organizing in various industries and occupations. --Editors' introduction

[E]xamines the Paid Education leave (PEL) program, a negotiated employer-funded worker education program administered by the Canadian Auto Workers. The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate the ability of the PEL to develop membership knowledge, activism and leadership to facilitate union renewal. [The author's] paper, based on survey research and interviews, maintains that the PEL program does contribute to leadership development and to the union renewal process by serving to alter the perceptions and attitudes of its participants. --Editors' introduction

Case study of unions mobilizing with community groups to defend public Medicare in Canada. The catalyst for the national campaign in 2001-02 was the royal commission on the future of health care in Canada, chaired by Roy Romanow.

[This] study is important for many reasons. it relates to a large local of workers in major hotels in Toronto, owned by multinational firms. The workforce consists largely of immigrant and visible minority women with poor wages and working conditions. As Tufts points out, the gender, ethnic and income segmentation of the hotel labour market creates difficult challenges for building union solidarity and for new organizing and effective bargaining. In this context, Local 75's experience with organizing and pattern bargaining is instructive. --Editors' introduction

[E]valuation of the B.C. Organizing Institute, an initiative of the British Columbia Federation of Labour.... [P]rovides valuable insights into the problems that have to be overcome in developing coordinated education and training programs for leadership development, promoting inter-union cooperation, and creating a culture of organizing. --Editors' introduction

In recent years, poverty-level minimum wages have been the focus of considerable debate across the various provincial jurisdictions and at the federal level in Canada. Similar interest has been expressed in the United States as evidenced by many successful campaigns to raise the minimum wage. Some economists argue that raising the minimum wage will kill low wage jobs, hurting the very people it was intended to assist by pricing them out of the job market. Still others, primarily concerned with poverty and inequality, see raising the minimum wage as an important policy tool for eliminating poverty and promoting equality. How can the latter group engage with others so as to raise the minimum wage above the poverty line? How can they ensure that a person or family earn a decent living - what is commonly termed a “living wage”? -- Publisher's description

[O]utlines the process of decision-making in the union on major policies, emphasizing the involvement of rank-and-file membership. The case study describes how the union formulated the energy policy in 2001 and the benefits of rank-and-file membership participation in policy-making. --Editors' introduction

[E]xamines the development of youth programs and initiatives within UFCW Canada to increase youth involvement and participation in the union. Of interest are the union's national youth internship program, designed to train young union activists by providing them with basic labour education and training, local union youth committees, and youth conferences for exchange of experiences and views on union strategies and campaigns. The authors believe that the youth initiative has led to the integration of young workers into every level of the union and increased their particiaption in decision-making structures, servicing, and organizing. --Editors' introduction

[A]nalyzes the Quebec experience with union renewal, focusing on the critical role of power resources, that is "resources that a union can access and mobilize in order to influence the process of change." --Editors' introduction

[H]ighlights some of the innovations in structures, policies, and practices underway in union organizations in Canada, and the factors underlying the patterns of change. The paper draws on an extensive survey of innovations and change conducted by the authors in 2001 in partnership with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and major unions and federations. --Editors' introduction

[E]valuates the experience of the Winnipeg-based Workers' Organizing And Resource Centre, an initiative of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and community activists drawn from several communities. --Editors' introduction

[D]iscusses the determinants of a strong union movement, the evolution of the union [from 1985 to 2005], and the challenges of union resistance and union renewal. These include making gains in bargaining, expanding democracy, organizing, deepening membership involvement and participation, generational renewal, strengthening social unionism, building alliances with social movements, strengthening our capacity to mobilize, and defining ourselves by what we do. The paper asserts that one of the union's greatest strengths is its culture. -- Editors' introduction

The focus of the USW case study is the [Humanity] Fund, an initiative to build international exchanges and solidarity and alliances in response to growing power of multinationals through capital mobility. ...[The paper] describes the working of the Fund and then assesses how the global connections with Chile and Peru in the mining sector have contributed to the union renewal in the USW. --Editors' introduction

Discusses way and means to rejuvenate union democracy and education, with references to the Canadian labour movement.

[E]xamines the ways in which union organizing gender-baised and highlights possible union strategies to overcome the bias and improve organizing success. ...The paper draws on the survey of union organizers in Ontario and British Columbia conducted by the authors in 2000 and 2001. --Editors' introduction