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The article reviews the book, "The Taming of the American Crowd: From Stamp Riots to Shopping Sprees," by Al Sandine.

[Analyzes] the dialectic of co-optation/domestication and resistance as manifested in the experience of racialized Canadian trade unionists. The seven research participants are racialized rank-and-file members, elected or appointed leaders, retired trade unionists, as well as staff of trade unions and other labour organizations. In spite of the struggle of racialized peoples for racial justice or firm anti-racism policies and programmes in their labour unions, there is a dearth of research on the racialized trade union members against racism, the actual condition under which they struggle, the particular ways that union institutional structures domesticate these struggles, and/or the countervailing actions by racialized members to realize anti-racist organizational goals. While the overt and vulgar forms of racism is no longer the dominant mode of expression in today’s labour movement, its systemic and institutional presence is just as debilitating for racial trade union members. This research has uncovered the manner in which the electoral process and machinery, elected and appointed political positions, staff jobs and formal constituency groups, and affirmative action or equity representational structures in labour unions and other labour organizations are used as sites of domestication or co-optation of some racialized trade unionists by the White-led labour bureaucratic structures and the forces in defense of whiteness. However, racialized trade union members also participate in struggles to resist racist domination. Among some of tools used to advance anti-racism are the creation of support networks, transgressive challenges to the entrenched leadership through elections, formation of constituency advocacy outside of the structure of the union and discrete forms of resistance. The participants in the research shared their stories of the way that race and gender condition the experiences of racialized women in the labour movement. The racialized interviewees were critical of the inadequacy of labour education programmes in dealing effectively with racism and offer solutions to make them relevant to the racial justice agenda. This study of race, resistance and co-optation in the labour movement has made contributions to the fields of critical race theory, labour and critical race feminism and labour studies.

In this richly detailed study, Kamala Nayar documents the social and cultural transformation of the Punjabi community in British Columbia. From their initial settlement in the rural Skeena region to the communities that later developed in larger urban centres, The Punjabis in British Columbia illustrates the complex and diverse experiences of an immigrant community that merits greater attention. Exploring themes of gender, employment, rural and urban migrant life, and the relationships between the Punjabis and surrounding First Nations and other immigrant groups, Nayar creates a portrait of a community in transition. Shedding light on the ways in which economic circumstances affect immigrant communities, Nayar presents findings from interviews conducted with over one hundred participants. She details the relocation of Punjabi populations from the Skeena region to British Columbia's lower mainland during the decline of the forestry and fishery industries, how their second migration changed their professional and personal lives, and how their history continues to shape the identities and experiences of Punjabis in Canada today. A nuanced look at the complexities of social and cultural adaptation, The Punjabis in British Columbia adds an essential perspective to what it means to be Canadian. --Publisher's description

Considers the life of Quebec labour organizer Madeleine Parent, notably her role in the Dominion Textile strike of 1946, in the context of work as a social relation, the impetus of the Canadian labour movement, and the conservative political climate in Quebec.

The author reflects on his interview with Nova Scotia activist Lynn Jones, who fought racial discrimination in her community, work place, and union.

Social movements are significant to change mainstream ideologies and values over what is seen to be critical for society. The women´s movement helped to change ideas about women and their roles in society. One significant change, for more universal maternity, only occurred through the alliance with CUPW. This paper will illustrate that the alliance between the women´s movement and CUPW was significant to change public opinion and help to gain paid maternity leave for the majority of working women in Canada. In sum, the power these two groups generated in alliance produced one of the most important social benefits we currently enjoy as Canadian citizens. As a result, alliances are powerful and should be used to further any movement to towards equality.

The article reviews "Street Vendors in the Global Urban Economy" by Sharit Bhowmik.

The article reviews the book, "Liberalism: A Counter-History," by Domenico Losurdo, translated by Gregory Elliot.

This study describes the difficulties and challenges that instructors encounter when implementing structured training sessions to teach apprentices how to debone meat on the production line of an SME in the agri-food sector. The results obtained through our ergonomic approach showed that, in order to organize learning situations, the instructors, who were experienced employees, had to consider physical, material, and organizational conditions and choose between "what they would have liked to do" and "what they could really do." The results also showed that the work group can contribute to the training activity. The observations made in our study can serve as food for thought for anyone interested in workplace training conditions.

Introduces articles in the issue including on the Knights of Labor in Quebec, a 1913 protest by Jewish students against antisemitic remarks at Aberdeen School in Montreal, and a tribute to the labour activist and organizer, Madeleine Parent.

A eulogy is provided for the Canadian labour leader and social activist Madeleine Parent.

The article reviews the book, "Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism," by Erik S. McDuffie.

What constitutes proletarianization? The conventional answer to this seemingly simple question often stresses waged labour. Yet many workers, past and present, are routinely unable,to secure paid employment, in part because of the persistence of capitalist crises of various kinds. This study of indigent workers in Toronto from the 1830s to the 1930s is premised on an understanding of proletarianization as dispossession, on the one hand, and, on the other, of the ways in which capitalism necessarily produces recurrent crises, leaving many workers wageless. It addresses how wagelessness and poverty were criminalized through the development of institutions of ostensible charitable relief, such as the Toronto House of Industry, in which those seeking shelter and/or sustenance were required to chop wood or, more onerously, break stone in order to be. admitted to the ranks of those 'deserving' of such support. By the end of the nineteenth century-resistance to such "labour tests" was increasingly evident. Protests took place in Toronto, where the black flag was carried in demonstrations demanding "work or bread." Refusing to "crack the stone" and demands that relief be administered differently were common features of mobilizations of the wageless in the opening decades of the twentieth century, in which socialists often took the lead. By the time of capitalism's devastating collapse in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Toronto's wageless were well situated to mount an outcasts' offensive.

The article presents a speech delivered by the Canadian labor leader Madeleine Parent at the 50th Anniversary of Paul Robeson's Concert at the Peace Arch at the border of Blaine, Washington and Douglas, British Columbia on May 18, 2002. Parent discusses several issues, including peace activism in the U.S., peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the persecution by the U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and a call for the international unity of the labour movement.

The article reviews the book, "Down But Not out: Community and the Upper Streets in Halifax, 1880-1914," by David Hood.

Despite acute labour shortages during the Second World War, Canadian employers—with the complicity of state officials—discriminated against workers of African, Asian, and Eastern and Southern European origin, excluding them from both white collar and skilled jobs. Jobs and Justice argues that, while the war intensified hostility and suspicion toward minority workers, the urgent need for their contributions and the egalitarian rhetoric used to mobilize the war effort also created an opportunity for minority activists and their English Canadian allies to challenge discrimination. Juxtaposing a discussion of state policy with ideas of race and citizenship in Canadian civil society, Carmela K. Patrias shows how minority activists were able to bring national attention to racist employment discrimination and obtain official condemnation of such discrimination. Extensively researched and engagingly written, Jobs and Justice offers a new perspective on the Second World War, the racist dimensions of state policy, and the origins of human rights campaigns in Canada. --Publisher's description

From factory workers in Welland to retail workers in St. Catharines, from hospitality workers in Niagara Falls to migrant farm workers in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Union Power showcases the role of working people in the Niagara region. Charting the development of the region's labour movement from the early nineteenth century to the present, Patrias and Savage illustrate how workers from this highly diversified economy struggled to improve their lives both inside and outside the workplace. Including extensive quotations from interviews, archival sources, and local newspapers, the story unfolds, in part, through the voices of the people themselves: the workers who fought for unions, the community members who supported them, and the employers who opposed them. Early industrial development and the appalling working conditions of the often vulnerable common labourer prompted a movement toward worker protection. Patrias and Savage argue that union power – power not built on profit, status, or prestige – relies on the twin concepts of struggle and solidarity: the solidarity of the shared interests of the working class and the struggle to achieve common goals. Union Power traces the evidence of these twin concepts through the history of the Niagara region's labour movement. --Publisher's description

Light and shadow have the capacity to move us emotionally and create atmospheres that allow us to better understand stories. This thesis explores how light and shadow can propel the design of a music hall and museum space to commemorate the miners that lived and worked in the former industrial landscapes of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Boom, Bust, and Crisis addresses...how work has changed across Canada, from the auto and steel industries of Ontario, to the tar sands of Northern Alberta and First Nations casinos in Saskatchewan. This edited collection explains the massive lay-offs in unionized manufacturing industries, the expansion of low-wage work and the rise of increasingly aggressive employers by critically examining Canada’s political economy and assessing the impact of government policy and labour market deregulation on Canada’s workers. The book also explores the recent policy changes to employment standards and health and safety protection in the context of neoliberal globalization. Written by leading political scientists, sociologists and journalists in concise, accessible language, this volume provides a rich and vibrant assessment of why some businesses have boomed while others have failed and why, through it all, Canadian workers have paid the price. --Publisher's description. Contents: Pt.1. The shifting political landscape. Free markets and the decline of unions and good jobs / John Peters -- The spoils of the Tar Sands: profits, work and labour in Alberta / Diana Gibson and Regan Boychuk -- Boom, bust, and bluster: Newfoundland and Labrador's "oil boom" and its impacts on labour / Sean T. Cadigan -- Steel City meltdown: Hamilton and the changing Canadian steel industry / Stephen R. Arnold -- Pt.2. Deregulation and changes in provincial labour market policy, politics and institutions. The biggest roll-back of worker rights in Canadian history: the Campbell government and labour market deregulation in British Columbia / David Fairey, Tom Sandhorn and John Peters -- Whither the Quebec model? Boom, bust and Quebec labour / Peter Graefe. Pt.3. New challenges facing labour organizing, health and safety. Indigenous workers, casino development and union organizing / Yale D. Belanger -- Precarious employment and occupational health and safety in Ontario / Wayne Lewchuk, Marlea Clarke and Alice de Wolff.

Docments the rising inequality, financialization of the economy, erosion of the manufacturing sector, the growth in resource industries and construction, changes in the workforce, and ithe decline in union density in the context of the neoliberal poltiical climate in Canada. Concludes that unions must contribute to a broader working class organization that redresses the balance.