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Drawing on nurses’ strikes in many countries, this paper explores nurse militancy with reference to professionalism and the commitment to service; patriarchal practices and gendered subordination; and proletarianization and the confrontation with healthcare restructuring. These deeply entangled trajectories have had a significant impact on the work, consciousness and militancy of nurses and have shaped occupation-specific forms of resistance. They have produced a pattern of overlapping solidarities – occupational solidarity, gendered alliances and coalitions around healthcare restructuring – which have supported, indeed promoted, militancy among nurses, despite the multiple forces arrayed against them. The professional commitments of nurses to the provision of care have confronted healthcare restructuring, nursing shortages, intensification of work, precarious employment and gendered hierarchies with a militant discourse around the public interest, and a reconstitution and reclamation of ‘caring’, what I call the politicisation of caring. In fact, nurses’ dedication to caring work in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries may encourage rather than dissuade them from going on strike. This paper uses a trans-disciplinary methodology, qualitative material in the form of strike narratives constructed from newspaper archives, and references to the popular and scholarly literature on nursing militancy.

The article reviews the book, "La dispersion au travail," by Caroline Datchary.

Combining contemporary articles with historical documents, this engaging reader examines the rich history of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. The 30 articles - half of which are original to this volume - explore a diverse range of topics, including spirituality, colonialism, self-identity, federal policy, residential schools, labour, and women's rights. With in-depth coverage of events and processes from the earliest times through to the modern day, [the reader] offers students a new appreciation for the long and complex history of Canada's First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. --Publisher's description

La France se caractérise aujourd’hui par une forte proportion de salariés ayant des contraintes familiales et par un nombre élevé d’entreprises qui flexibilisent la durée et les horaires de travail : comment la diffusion de ces nouvelles contraintes temporelles affectent-elles les femmes, et plus particulièrement les mères ? Une typologie des conditions temporelles d’emploi des salariés français intégrant la durée du travail, la souplesse horaire dont bénéficie le salarié et la « localisation » de son temps de travail, construite à partir de l’enquête « Familles et employeurs » (Ined-Insee, 2004-2005), fait apparaître une surreprésentation des femmes dans les emplois les plus souples, mais aussi les plus contraignants temporellement, alors que l’effet de la présence d’enfant semble assez mineur.Trois hypothèses sont testées pour expliquer les conditions temporelles d’emploi : la préférence des salariés pour des horaires de travail commodes, les caractéristiques productives des emplois et le rapport de force salarié-employeur. Les résultats montrent que le fait d’avoir de jeunes enfants n’est pas corrélé aux conditions temporelles d’emploi. Être une femme accroît la probabilité d’avoir des horaires hyper-souples (plutôt que standards contraints) et diminue la probabilité d’avoir des horaires longs souples et non standards contraints. L’hypothèse d’une sélection en fonction des préférences n’est pas confirmée par l’analyse alors que les exigences productives des emplois et des employeurs ainsi que le pouvoir de négociation des salariés exercent des effets significatifs et expliquent la surreprésentation des femmes dans les horaires fragmentés contraints.

Analyzes the effects of the off-shore oil boom of the late 1990s in Newfoundland and Labrador, that has exacerbated the urban-rural divide. Concludes that despite the rhetoric of transformation, the provincial economy has not basically changed.

In 1973 the Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling in Murdoch v Murdoch, denying Irene “Ginger” Murdoch an interest in the cattle ranch that she and her husband, James Alexander “Alex” Murdoch, had built together over many years. Irene performed extensive manual labour on the farm, including driving, branding, vaccinating and de-horning cattle, haying, raking, and mowing. She often did this work alone due to long, off-ranch, work-related absences by Alex. When their marriage began to break down, Irene sought to receive her ownership interest in the ranch property. However, the certificate of title to the property showed that the land belonged solely to Alex Murdoch. For Irene to receive an interest in the property it would be necessary for a court to declare that a portion of the title to the ranch was held by Alex Murdoch in trust for his wife. The principal basis for finding such a trust, her lawyer argued, was her contribution through labour to the ranch operations. That argument was rejected at trial and ultimately also by the Supreme Court of Canada, which held that under existing Canadian law no property claim was available to Irene Murdoch in the circumstances of her case. --Introduction

The article reviews the book, "Strike! The Radical Insurrections of Ellen Dawson," by David Lee McMullen.

Since the onset of the Great Recession, anti-union conservatives have been hammering out an arguably bogus yet politically potent argument: collective bargaining with government workers is unaffordable as their wages, health benefits, and pensions are driving states into deficits. What is going on in Wisconsin and other states ought to be seen for what it is: an attempt to exploit the economic crisis to win an eminently political victory over organized labour and allied Democrats. Even in their weakened state, US unions can mobilize opposition to the anti-government, anti-labour agenda of a Tea Party-shaped Republican Party. It is this capability that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and other conservative Republicans are determined to undermine by taking away public-sector workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively.

The article reviews and comments on several books including "Solidarity Transformed: Labor Responses to Globalization and Crisis in Latin America," by Mark S. Anner, "The Struggle for Maize: Campesinos, Workers, and Transgenic Corn in the Mexican Country," by Elizabeth Fitting, and "Global Maya: Work and Ideology in Rural Guatemala," by Liliana R. Goldín.

The author, who was the farm workers' legal representative before the Supreme Court in the Fraser case, provides historical background and analyzes the court's decision, including its reliance on judicial deference to the legislature. Concludes that the court was preoccupied with the larger political battle rather than the constitutional merits of the case.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there are differences in satisfaction with pay and benefits between Canadian-born and immigrant workers, and if differences exist, to examine the factors associated with immigrants' pay and benefits satisfaction. Using Statistics Canada's 2005 Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), immigrants are examined both as a single group, and in four cohorts based on the year of arrival. Results show significantly lower pay and benefits satisfaction for immigrant cohorts, with the exception of the pre-1965 cohort, compared to Canadian-born workers. Our findings also suggest that existing theories and conceptual models on pay and benefits satisfaction may not be appropriate when examining them as they relate to immigrants.

In a context of changing demographics and workplace transformations, a number of authors are concerned about the issues related to knowledge transmission in organizations. The vast experiential knowledge and diverse skills developed by workers to cope with the numerous situations encountered in the course of their work constitute part of the intangible assets vital to the sustainability of expertise, if not to the survival of the organization itself. Based on three case studies, this article describes the impact of precarious employment, flexible management practices and work intensification on knowledge transmission in real work situations. Possible avenues for research are proposed with a view to ensuring better support for the transmission of experiential knowledge in organizations.

The aim of this study is to conceptualize and empirically validate the "perceived fairness in the context of collective bargaining", which refers to employees' justice perceptions formed during the collective bargaining process. Using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and hierarchical regressions, we find support for discriminant, convergent, and predictive validity. Overall, the results show that this concept includes eight distinct dimensions, combining the two sources of (in)justice (employer and union) and the four types of justice perceptions: procedural, distributive, relational (interpersonal) and informational justice. Employees clearly distinguish eight justice dimensions, which have a differential effect on their attitudes: trust in the employer and satisfaction with the union. Adding to the structural model (Leventhal, 1980) and the process control model (Thibaut and Walker, 1975), this study highlights new bases of justice: usefulness and profitability (cost-benefits ratio).

The article reviews the book, "Through Feminist Eyes: Essays on Canadian Women's History," by Joan Sangster.

Discusses whether capital's mobility always gives it bargaining power over labour, how labour markets are socially regulated and embedded in specific places, how workers can sometimes shape the economic system, the consequences of migration for labour, and possibilities of alternative or noncapitalist labour geographies. Under "Defending Place: Worker Actions in Situ" (pp. 172-174), the authors describe the role of the Canadian Auto Workers in shaping economic development and production in southern Ontario in the 1990s-2000s.

Written from a neo-institutionalist standpoint, this paper focuses on the influence of employers' networks on the dissemination of managerial practices through the example of skill management in French companies. Previous studies suggest that employers' organizations can be perceived as social networks that affect Human Resources policies. Studying the development of skill management confirms the idea that this type of management becomes institutionalized under the influence of such networks. We evaluate this influence through the use of a quantitative methodology that shows the correlation between the dissemination of skill management techniques and the number of chief executives belonging to employers' networks in a given company. We use data that were collected from 3,000 companies by the French Ministry of Labour for the Reponse survey. Our approach led us to formulate a brief--but new--account of employers' networks in France. But mostly, it allowed us to measure the impact that belonging to these networks has on the implementation of skill management. Though almost three quarters of all 3,000 companies belong or are related to employers' networks, the reality behind this fact is complex and concerns a limited number of the companies considered. We then show that a connection with an employers' network -- especially with clubs of heads of human resources or with entrepreneurs' organizations -- is one of the reasons why a skill management-oriented human resources policy is adopted. The most influential employers' networks are therefore those that rely on voluntary subscription, the research of legitimacy and the exchange of tools and ideas.

The article reviews the book, "Indigenous Screen Cultures in Canada," edited by Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson and Marian Bredin.

La théorie de l’action raisonnée et les modèles du roulement volontaire ont toujours considéré l’intention de quitter son emploi pour un autre employeur comme le meilleur prédicteur du roulement de personnel. Cependant, dans les faits, les employés disposent de deux autres options, à savoir progresser vers un autre emploi au sein de leur entreprise (roulement interne) ou encore rester dans leur emploi actuel pour une certaine période. Dans une perspective de prévention du roulement, la recherche aurait avantage à identifier des profils d’intentions en fonction de ces trois options. La présente étude vise à vérifier si les employés présentent des profils d’intentions différents et si leur satisfaction au travail, leurs comportements de recherche d’emploi et les taux de roulement volontaire et interne diffèrent selon ces profils.L’analyse des résultats recueillis auprès de 434 agents issus de trois centres d’appels suggère l’existence de quatre profils d’intentions à peu près équivalents en nombre : (1) rester dans l’emploi actuel (forte intention de rester dans l’emploi actuel, faible intention de progresser à l’interne et faible intention de quitter à l’externe); (2) rester en attendant de progresser (forte intention de rester dans l’emploi actuel, mais forte intention de progresser à l’interne et faible intention de quitter à l’externe); (3) priorité à la progression (faible intention de rester dans l’emploi actuel, forte intention de progresser à l’interne et faible intention de quitter à l’externe); (4) priorité à la mobilité (faible intention de rester dans l’emploi actuel, forte intention de progresser à l’interne et de quitter à l’externe).Les résultats de l’étude montrent que ces quatre profils d’intentions présentent des niveaux de satisfaction au travail et des comportements de recherche d’emploi différents. De même, les taux de roulement volontaire du personnel et le taux de roulement interne, mesurés un an plus tard, diffèrent selon les profils d’intention// The theory of reasoned action and voluntary turnover models have always regarded the intention to terminate employment in order to go to another employer as the best predictor of turnover. However, in practice, employees have two other options: to move to another job within the same company (internal turnover) or stay in their current job for an indefinite period. From the perspective of turnover prevention, it would be advantageous if research would identify intention profiles according to these three options. This study aims to explore the different intention profiles of employees and whether job satisfaction, job-search behaviour and rates of voluntary and internal turnover differ according to these profiles. The analysis of results collected from 434 agents from three call centres suggests the existence of four intention profiles, which are about equal in number: (1) Stay in present job (strong intention to remain in current job, low intention to progress internally and low intention to leave for a job externally); (2) Stay whilst waiting to progress (strong intention to remain in current job, but strong intention to progress to a job internally and low intention to leave for a job externally); (3) Priority is to progress (low intention to stay in current job, strong intention to progress internally and low intention to leave for an external job); (4) Priority is to move on (low intention to stay in current job, strong intention to progress internally and leave for a job externally). The results of the study show that these four intention profiles reveal different levels of job satisfaction and job-search behaviour. Similarly, the rates of voluntary staff turnover and internal turnover vary according to the intention profile.

At the close of the American Revolution thousands of American Loyalists were forced into exile and made their way to British colonies beyond the United States. Most of the Loyalists landed in British North America, particularly the Maritimes. Along with the trauma and losses of the conflict, the Loyalists brought with them a way of doing things, an intense political history, and ideas concerning the imperial structure that framed their everyday lives. This dissertation is a study of the Loyalists. Specifically, it explores a prominent Loyalist and his journey from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia along with family members, servants, and labourers, including enslaved persons. A central objective of the dissertation is to illuminate the story of the enslaved and magnify their place in Nova Scotia’s eighteenth century colonial history narrative. The objective is addressed by adapting a holistic perspective that considers a single geography – the plantation. The holistic perspective, developed through an interdisciplinary methodology, explores the people, places and culture that formed the Loyalist plantation and were informed by it. The picture that emerges is one that puts into place the structure and organization of a Loyalist plantation in the late eighteenth century. This dissertation argues that an interdisciplinary approach is fundamental when exploring the subject of the plantation and its inhabitants in Nova Scotia. Through study of the slaveholder and the comparison of his plantation spaces, the dissertation argues for Loyalist continuity. Such continuity confirmed a slaveholding culture during the mass migration. Finally, this dissertation argues that the Loyalist period can be described as Nova Scotia’s Age of Slavery. The Loyalist migration represents an unprecedented arrival of enslaved persons to the province. Furthermore, the Loyalist migration represents the unprecedented arrival of a political and ideological framework that carried within it perceptions of race and seeds of discrimination that took root.

[T]his chapter identifies different forms of anti-poverty work being pursued in Canada today and examines the relations among poor people, poverty and labour unions. ...[The author] concentrates on examples of three main intersections of labour union and anti-poverty relations: union organizing of low-wage workers, poor workers' organizations, and multi-organization campaigns and coalitions. --Editors' introduction