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The article reviews the book, "Influenza 1918: Disease, Death, and Struggle in Winnipeg," by Esyllt W. Jones.

The article reviews the book, "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better," by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

In 2006, the Conservative government declared its intention "to create the best educated, most skilled, and most flexible workforce in the world." Temporary workers are an important piece of the federal conservative government's efforts to create this "flexible" workforce. In their 2007 budget, close to $150 million were provided over five years to federal departments having responsibilities related to the TFWP, with an additional $35.5 million annually thereafter. The allocation was designed to improve the processing of employer applications for temporary workers, reduce delays and respond effectively to regional labour shortages. Close to 80% of this funding went to HRSDC, to service employer requests for temporary workers (OAG 2009). * In the summer of 2006, the B.C. Labour Relations Board heard complaints that approximately 40 construction workers were brought to Canada by an international employer under the TFWP and FTA exemptions with offers of employment that were never honoured. The workers from South and Latin America had their visas confiscated by their employers upon entering Canada, and were paid as little as $5/hr, while wages for a similarly qualified construction worker were in the range $25/hour. Canadian construction unions provided the temporary workers support to challenge their situation, and pointed out the employer's claim that importing specialized temporary construction workers was dubious.3 The employer responded by intimidating and attempting to coerce the temporary workers to accept their fate or return home. The case went to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, and in December 2008 a ruling was issued confirming the presence of systemic of wage discrimination (BCHRT 2008). The employer is appealing the ruling and Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism is on public record for inappropriately impugning the ruling (CLC Correspondence 2008). 3 Correspondence with BC & Yukon Building Trade Council research staff. "The workers were not NOC A and B. They were labourers. The employer filled out the applications and put down bogus titles like 'Supervisor of Segment Transport Beam. 'That meant the worker operated a conveyor belt, it was a job that anyone could learn in two hours according to testimony at the BCHRT. The locomotive operator was similarly 'Supervisor of Rail Train. 'There was an interview at the Canadian consulate to approve the incorporate transfer applications, but the Canadian official didn't verify the claims about the specialized skills the workers had (by asking for certifications, letters of experience, precise questions about what the job entailed)."

The article reviews the book, "Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China," by Tiantian Zheng.

At the end of World War I, Canada was poised on the brink of social revolution. At least that is what many Canadians, inspired by the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, hoped and others dreaded. Seeing Reds tells the story of this turbulent period in Canadian history during the winter of 1918-19, when a fearful government led by Prime Minister Robert Borden tried to suppress radical political activity by branding legitimate labour leaders as "Bolsheviks" and "Reds." Canada was in the grip of a widespread Red Scare promoted by the government and the media in order to discredit radical ideas and to rally public support behind mainstream political and economic policies. The story builds toward the events of the Winnipeg General Strike in May-June 1919 when the authorities, believing that the expected revolution had begun, sent soldiers into the streets to put down with force a legitimate labour dispute. Author Daniel Francis examines Canada's Red Scare in a global context, including government responses to similar activities in the United States and western Europe, as well as its ramifications for the contemporary war on terror, in which issues of free speech and political dissent are similarly compromised in the name of national security. Based on government documents and first-hand accounts by the participants themselves, Seeing Reds is a gripping account of a little known episode in Canadian history. --Publisher's description.

An original adventure in public history — a tour of 50 sites where families, workers, unions and communities have recognized the place of workers in 20th-century New Brunswick history. Ten short chapters, with explanatory notes, illustrations and a map. // Une aventure originale en histoire publique — une tournée de 50 lieux où des familles, des travailleuses et des travailleurs, des syndicats et des communautés ont reconnu la place des travailleuses et des travailleurs dans l’histoire du Nouveau-Brunswick du 20e siècle. Dix courts chapitres, des notes explicatives, des illustrations et une carte. --Publisher's description

In Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Association v. British Columbia, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 391, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned precedent and concluded “that the grounds advanced in the earlier decisions for the exclusion of collective bargaining from the Charter’s protection of freedom of association do not withstand principled scrutiny and should be rejected” (at para. 22). The author explores the Supreme Court of Canada’s change of heart and what this change implies, not only for constitutional doctrine, but also for what the Court understands about the governance of the postFordist world of work. She situates the Court’s reasoning in a few key cases dealing with labour’s distinctive rights – to bargain collectively and to strike – in the social context that both shapes the legal discourse about labour rights and influences organized labour’s power. She considers the paradox of the Supreme Court’s embrace of Fordist labour rights in a post-Fordist economy, and suggests a modest, though important, role that the Court could play in fostering social justice in the brave new world of work.

This paper looks at the “deep roots” of striking as a social practice in Canada, by providing an analytic framework for approaching the history of the right to strike, and then sketching the contours of that history. Focusing on the three key worker freedoms — to associate, to bargain collectively, and to strike — the authors trace the jural relations between workers, employers and the state through four successive regimes of industrial legality in Canada: master and servant; liberal voluntarism; industrial voluntarism; and industrial pluralism, the latter marked by the adoption of the Wagner Act model. On the basis of their review of those regimes, the authors argue that long before the modern scheme, workers enjoyed a virtually unlimited freedom to strike for collective bargaining purposes. Although government-imposed restrictions on the freedom have increased significantly, especially under industrial pluralism, legislatures have typically provided workers with compensating trade-offs, including rights enforceable against their employers. However, in contrast to the historical pattern, public-sector workers have with growing frequency been subjected to “exceptionalism,” i.e. the suspension or limitation of freedoms without a grant of compensatory rights. In the authors’ view, it is the imposition of such measures that will likely provide the context for consideration of whether the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right to strike.

Work on Trial is a collection of studies of eleven major cases and events that have helped to shape the legal landscape of work in Canada. While most of the cases are well-known because of the impact they have had on collective bargaining, individual employment law, or human rights, less is known about the social and political contexts in which the cases arose, the backgrounds and personalities of the judges and the litigants, the legal manoeuvres that were employed, or the ultimate fate of all those who were involved. These studies, written by some of Canada's leading labour and legal historians, provide this context. Beginning with Toronto Electric Commissioners v. Snider, one of the earliest and most important cases involving the division of powers in the Canadian federation, to the events leading to the articulation of the "Rand Formula" in the immediate post Second World War period, and on to the struggles of women workers in the late 20th century in challenging the continu-ing employment practices based on hegemonic gender-based assumptions, each study tells a compelling story, rich in detail and full of perceptive insights into the complex relationship between law and work. -- Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction / Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker -- pt 1. Constitutions and institutions. "Capitalist ’justice’ as peddled by the ’noble lords’": Toronto Electric Commissioners v. Snider et al. / R. Blake Brown and Jennifer J. Llewellyn -- John East Iron Works v. Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board: a test for the infant administrative state / Beth Bilson -- pt. 2. Responsible unions: security, orderly production, and dissent. How Justice Rand devised his famous formula / William Kaplan -- Dissent, democracy, and discipline: the case of Kuzych v. White et al. / Mark Leier -- Organizing offshore: labour relations, industrial pluralism, and order in the Newfoundland and Labrador oil industry, 1997-2006 / Sean T. Cadigan -- pt. 3. Courts and collective action in the post-war regime. The Royal York Hotel case: the "right" to strike--and not be fired for striking / Malcolm E. Davidson -- Hersees of Woodstock Ltd. v. Goldstein: how a small town case made it big / Eric Tucker -- A certain "malaise": Harrison v. Carswell, shopping centre picketing, and the limits of the post-war settlement / Philip Girard and Jim Phillips -- pt. 4. Human rights norms at work. Debating maternity rights: Pacific Western Airlines and flight attendants’ struggle to "fly pregnant" in the 1970s / Joan Sangster -- Challenging norms and creating precedents: the tale of a woman firefighter in the forests of British Columbia / Judy Fudge and Hester Lessard -- pt. 5. Changing common law norms. The micropolitics of Wallace v. United Grain Growers Ltd. / Daphne G. Taras -- Afterword: looking back / Harry Glasbeek.

The article reviews the book, "L'argent noir des syndicats," by Roger Lenglet, Jean-Luc Touly and Christophe Mongermont.

During the period of early capitalism in Ontario, disabled workers were forced to find ways to survive following an injury. Affordable insurance offered by fraternal societies provided limited protection for many working-class families but was not a reliable source of financial support for injured and disabled workers. Even when insurance disability benefits were a factor, many injured workers soon found themselves in a position of financial hardship. Fraternal insurance reflected many of the same barriers facing disabled workers and as a result, represents a microcosm of wider social and institutional treatment of individuals with disabilities during this period.

Nous comparons la fonction d’encadrement de premier niveau en France et au Québec. Nommés en France « agents de maîtrise » et « contremaîtres », ils sont, selon la terminologie québécoise, des superviseurs, des contremaîtres ou des gestionnaires de premier niveau, des first-line managers ou middle management en langue anglaise. Au premier niveau d’encadrement, ils exercent une responsabilité hiérarchique auprès des techniciens supérieurs et des opérateurs. Nous avons analysé cette fonction dans deux entreprises similaires de transports urbains de voyageurs (Paris, Montréal). Nous avons comparé son statut, ses rôles complexes de régulation, ses compétences, ses identités dans le travail et ses évolutions. Notre typologie des postures identitaires au travail des contremaîtres-agents de maîtrise en France s’applique en partie au Québec, soulignant donc l’hétérogénéité de ce groupe professionnel dans ces deux contextes nationaux.

The article reviews the book, "The Yankee Yorkshireman: Migration Lived and Imagined," by Mary H. Blewett.

Temporary foreign worker programs have been both passionately criticized and applauded. They have been analyzed from multiple stakeholder perspectives - employers, workers, governments and unions - and in relation to various thematic arenas, including labour markets, employment standards, communities, health, and so on (see other authors in this issue). The implications of temporary workers and these programs for rights and citizenship have also been taken up (Basok 1999 and 2002, Preibisch 2004, Sharma 2006, Bauder 2007), although such discussions circulate less widely than those focused on employment. My purpose here is to situate temporary worker programs in relation to the concept of precarious status in order to contribute to discussions regarding citizenship and nation building - where the latter invokes questions about political community, rights, bases for membership, and belonging. I make a two-fold argument: 1 ) that temporary worker programs should be understood as one of several elements of policy practice that contribute to precarious status in Canada; and 2) that the connection between precarious status and citizenship needs to be analyzed and debated because it has important implications for citizenship and nation building in Canada. Since the 1970s, Canadian immigration and citizenship policy has selected immigrants and focused on supporting their transition to settled citizens, creating a nation where membership is framed in civic and multicultural terms. Recent policy shifts establish a two-tier system, with settled residents and citizens and an array of presumably temporary "others ."At the heart of the matter is whether Canada wants to pursue immigration and citizenship policies that entrench legal exclusion and cUscrimination based on migratory status, and potentially erode rights for all by virtue of reducing or eliminating them for some, or whether Canadians want to develop policies and strategies that provide alternatives, such as expanding social, civil and perhaps political rights for non-citizens, as well as earlier and more effective pathways to citizenship. Debating these issues can contribute to the ongoing process of defining and negotiating Canadian identities, values and norms as well as policies designed to expand social inclusion - for citizens as well as non -citizens in Canada. The discussion is organized into three sections. The first defines precarious status. The second situates temporary worker programs as contributing to a form of precarious status. The third section outlines and discusses implications of precarious status for citizenship, inclusion and nation building. Temporary entrance categories and the growth of precarious status. Forms of precarious status associated with temporary entrance categories are likely to persist and increase through two mechanisms: 1) as a continuation of the increase in temporary entries as well as the number of temporary residents present in Canada. The current economic crisis may put a dent in the admission of temporary workers (Galloway 2009), but this is unlikely to alter their long-term increase;7 and 2) through movement from authorized to unauthorized precarious statuses. It is possible to transition from temporary status to permanent resident status, as when foreign students or refugee claimants become permanent residents. This possibility is, however, extremely limited for most temporary workers; exceptions include those in the Live- in Caregiver Program and the recently created Canadian Experience Class, as well as through the Provincial Nominee Program, which has been used as a pathway to permanent residence for small numbers of workers in some provinces ([Elgersma] 2007, Byel 2007). What is also possible is movement from authorized to unauthorized precarious status. However, there are no systematic data relative to overstaying for the temporary resident category.

Este artículo analiza el aumento de trabajadores afiliados y la recuperación de la tasa de afiliación en relación a otros períodos históricos, en particular los años 1990 en la Argentina, en un contexto generalizado de caída de ese indicador en gran parte de los países desarrollados de la OCDE.La pregunta central que orienta el estudio refiere a conocer: ¿Qué factores explican la incipiente recuperación de la tasa de afiliación sindical? La respuesta a este interrogante se inscribe en una serie de debates nacionales e internacionales acerca de la definición de la afiliación sindical, su medición (o elaboración), su significado y particularmente los factores endógenos o exógenos que inciden en los trabajadores a afiliarse. En este sentido, la literatura reconoce factores exógenos al sindicato, como los económicos (Bain y Elsheikh, 1976; Metcalf, 2005; Visser, 2006), políticos (Wallerstein y Western, 2000; Frege y Kelly, 2003) y jurídico institucional (Freeman y Pelletier, 1990). En cuanto a los factores endógenos, se hace referencia a las técnicas de reclutamiento y estructura organizativa de los sindicatos (Undy et al., 1981; Herry, 2006). La información utilizada proviene de una encuesta de Relaciones Laborales realizada por el Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social. La muestra comprende 1.553 empresas, representativas de un universo total de 53.038 firmas que emplean a 2.450.400 asalariados.Los resultados de la investigación revelan que los factores exógenos de orden jurídico institucional se han mantenido sin alteraciones durante décadas, sin embargo la tasa de afiliación cae durante los 1990 y se recupera a partir de 2003. La principal hipótesis del trabajo es que esta recuperación de la tasa de afiliación y aumento de afiliados se debe fundamentalmente a factores exógenos de orden político y económico como el aliento a la afiliación, el aumento general del empleo registrado y la expansión de la negociación colectiva. // This article analyzes the reasons for the increase in the number of affiliated workers and the upsurge in the unionization rate in Argentina, in relation to other historical periods, in particular the 1990s, in a generalized context of a drop in this indicator in a large proportion of OECD countries. The main question which directs this study is which factors explain the sudden increase in the unionization rate. The literature recognizes the existence of explanatory factors exogenous to the union, such as economic (Bain and Elsheikh, 1976; Metcalf, 2005; Visser, 2006), political (Wallerstein and Western, 2000; Frege and Kelly, 2003), and judicial institutional factors (Freeman and Pelletier, 1990). The research results reveal that even if exogenous judicial institutional factors were stable for decades, the unionization rate nevertheless fell during the 1990s, and then went up again beginning in 2003.

Explanations of the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship are often vague and-or misleading. Authors have frequently failed to distinguish between institutional bases for cooperation and the ideological orientations of employers and employees. Previous theorizing has typically presented cross-sectional views where the employment relationship is presented outside of its temporal context. Here it is argued that the extent and nature of conflict and cooperation between employers and their workforce should be understood through appreciating that interest alignment changes as an employment relationship moves from a short to a long term. In practice, the institutional basis for conflict mostly exists in the short and long term and cooperation in the long term exclusively. Using survey data obtained from fast food workers, the theoretical and strategic consequences of this view are explored in relation to new employment forms which have a modified concept of a long term.

Hired Hands or Human Resources? Case Studies of HRM Programs and Practices in Early American Industry, by Bruce E. Kaufman, is reviewed.

Social policy innovation in Canada remains stunted despite recent attempts at social policy renewal via intergovernmental agreements. The fusion of accountability and policy learning is typically blamed, yet this ignores other potential factors. This article examines the Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities to highlight impediments to social program expansion and reform within governments as well as between governments, and how the design of recent agreements serves to reinforce those impediments. We find that the linkage of accountability and policy learning means that learning gets caught up in long-standing federal-provincial disputes over jurisdiction, and leads to a perverse form of learning. We also [End Page 45] find significant barriers to innovation in the nature of federal government funding, which provides neither incentives for “have provinces” to expand their programming nor sufficient funds for “have not” provinces to successfully transform their programs.

The article reviews the book, "In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada," by Julia Roberts.