Your search

The article reviews the book, "Management de la flexibilité," by Christophe Everaere.

The article reviews the book, "Angels of the Workplace: Women and the Construction of Gender Relations in the Canadian Clothing Industry, 1890-1940," by Mercedes Steedman.

Ce livre amorce une réflexion sur la mobilité des travailleurs miniers du Nord en exploitant une variété de sources, parmi lesquelles figurent les archives des sociétés mineurs qui composent le matérial le plus riche de l'ouvrage. Non seulement la mobilité géographique des travailleurs y est examiné, mais aussi leur mobilité interne. En fait, les mines ont aussi une lieu d'apprentissage pour une minorité des travailleurs et non uniquement une lieu de confrontation, comme les historiens ont l'habitude de la faire. Un des thèmes marquants de l'étude demeure le fait que les politiques d'embauche des entreprises ont fortement influencé la composition ethnique de la force de travail, et conséquemment, celle de la population de nord ontarien et québécois. --Quatrième de couverture

The article reviews the book, "Just Another Car Factory ? Lean Production and its Discontents," by James Rinehart, Christopher Huxley and David Roberts.

The article reviews the book, "After Marxism," by Ronald Aronson.

The article reviews the book, "'We Are All Leaders': The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930's," edited by Staughton Lynd.

This paper adopts a critical sociological approach to analyze how labor law shaped a 23-day strike at a western Canadian university in the fall of 1995. A chronology of the strike is provided, followed by a brief analysis of how both economic and sociological models contribute to understanding the rationale of the strike. The implications of specific labor laws for this rationale are discussed, with an extension of the critical legal studies tradition by an establishment of how legal biases against unions shape strike activity.

The article reviews the book, "Hard Bargain: Transforming Public Sector Labour-Management Relations," by Peter Warrian.

Analyzes the 1997 film, "Good Will Hunting," as a romantic comedy that foregrounds character-in-spiritual-at the expense of any serious consideration of class or the individual's position within the social. The author also discusses the film's reception, including by her students.

The article reviews the book, "San'ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo," by Edward Fowler.

Facing industrial unrest in each of its Canadian petroleum refineries, the Imperial Oil Company embarked on a wide-ranging industrial-relations initiative in 1919. Patterned after Mackenzie King's "Rockefeller Plan," the logic was clear: joint worker-management councils would alleviate shop-floor discontent; a package of welfare benefits would reduce absenteeism and turnover; and a share-purchase plan would enhance worker loyalty to the Company. Where similar attempts at corporate welfarism in Canada generally failed, Imperial Oil enjoyed a union-free status until 1946, and freedom from work stoppages until the early 1950s. What made it unique in this regard was its willingness and capacity to buy labour harmony; and in an era hostile to organized labour, its workers succeeded in extracting important monetary concessions as the price of their loyalty. Imperial Oil thus offers a cogent example of the conditions necessary for King's variant of welfare capitalism to flourish.

The application of merit pay in Canadian universities is examined. Designed to motivate and reward greater productivity, the effectiveness of merit pay depends upon the relative importance of competitive versus cooperative behavior in the academic workplace, the capacity to evaluate individual performance, and the ability to design clear financial signals appropriate to the objectives of the institution. Differences among universities can be expected to produce differences in compensation methods. A logit analysis is conducted that suggests that an institution's likelihood of having a merit pay scheme varies according to region; that it increases with the emphasis placed on graduate training and research; and that it declines in the presence of a unionized faculty association. This suggests that the adoption of performance-based pay is apt to meet stronger resistance in undergraduate and unionized institutions.

The article reviews the book, "The New Left and Labor in the 1960s," by Peter B. Levy.

The pressures for the harmonization of labor laws and policies under trade liberalization are outlined, with particular attention to inter-jurisdictional competition for investment and jobs. This is followed by an analysis of the linkages that are necessary for there to be downward harmonization, with some discussion of the empirical evidence (and lack of evidence) on those linkages. Opposing pressures towards divergence and away from convergence and harmonization are also discussed. The paper concludes with some observations on the advantages and disadvantages of harmonization and the appropriate policy responses.

The recent accession to power of a conservative government in Australia would seem to mark a major change in Australian industrial relations. However, a more subtle reading of events suggests that key ingredients of the new government's reform package were actually foreshadowed, even partially implemented, by the former Australian Labor Party government. The latter was well known for its enthusiastic implementation of orthodox economic policies, albeit in a context of corporatism. This suggests a degree of continuity between the policies of the ALP and Liberal/National Coalition governments. At the same time, there are ingredients of significant change, some of them on the face of it minor, but which, over time, are likely to erode the power of unions and sharpen the divide between the union and non-union sectors.

The outspoken leader of the Canadian Auto Workers Union now offers his passionate perspective in Labour of Love: The Fight to Create a More Humane Canada. Buzz Hargrove offers his reasons for his strong belief in unions, a scathing critique of Bob Rae's NDP and the Tories' "Common Sense Revolution," and an insightful analysis of Canada. Hargrove believes that "Days of Action" protests are vital in a society whose governments are threatening to unravel the already suffering Canadian social programs. Political and labour junkies will be riveted by Hargrove's unflinching look at the conservative policies that could destroy a country he loves. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "The Slumbering Volcano: American Slave Ship Revolts and the Production of Rebellious Masculinity," by Maggie Montesinos Sale.

A framework for analyzing illegal public sector strikes is developed that explains observed patterns of behavior of employees, unions, managers, and third parties. It is found that no-strike laws diminish such positive effects of right-to-strike bargaining systems as eliciting information, adjusting expectations, and providing catharsis. A new theoretical outline helps understand and explain such illegal strike characteristics as the suddenness of strike development, the rank-and-file nature, lack of union control, conflict without clearly defined union objectives, and breakdown of the conflict regulation process by neutral agencies. Three policy issues emerge: 1. some conflict could have been avoided with a broader scope of bargaining, 2. mandatory and more responsive third party procedures should be legislatively provided, and 3. such information about worker discontent as grievance usage should be made available to dispute settlement agencies and mediators before conflict escalates out of control.

When The Vertical Mosaic first appeared in 1965, it became an instant classic. Its key message was that Canada was not the classless democracy it fancied itself to be. In fact, Canada was a highly inegalitarian society comprising a 'vertical mosaic' of distinct classes and ethnic groups. This collection of papers by five of Canada's top sociologists subjects John Porter's landmark study to renewed scrutiny and traces the dramatic changes since Porter's time - both in Canadian society and in the agenda of Canadian sociology. Based on papers written for a conference held in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of The Vertical Mosaic's publication, the five essays revisit the central themes of the original work, including gender and race inequality; citizenship and social justice; and class, power, and ethnicity from the viewpoint of political economy. An introduction by the editors provides a historical biography of Porter and discusses his influence on Canadian sociology. --Publisher's description. Contents: Power, ethnicity, and class: Reflections thirty years after The vertical mosaic / Wallace Clement -- Ethnicity and race in social organization: Recent developments in Canadian society / Raymond Breton -- Missing women: A feminist perspective on The vertical mosaic / Pat Armstrong -- Three decades of elite research in Canada: John Porter's unfulfilled legacy / Michael Ornstein -- Social justice, social citizenship, and the welfare state, 1965-1995: Canada comparative context / Julia S. O'Connor.