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In its landmark decision in B.C. Health extending protection to collective bargaining under section 2(d) of the Charter, the Supreme Court of Canada relied heavily on international labour law and principles, especially as defined by the International Labour Organization. In particular, the Court treated as a "cornerstone" of the international law in this area the opinions of the ILO’s Committee of Experts and Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA), and cited those opinions in support of its finding that freedom of association under ILO conventions includes a right to bargain collectively. This paper argues that in B.C. Health and other cases involving constitutional labour rights, the Supreme Court has misunderstood and oversimplified the ILO supervisory process....

The article reviews the book, "The Guy in the Green Truck: A Biography of John St. Amand," by James N. McCrorie.

The article reviews "Morbid Symptoms: Health Under Capitalism," edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, the 46th volume (2010 edition) of the annual Socialist Register.

This article critically examines the 1983 British Columbia (BC) Solidarity experience, a period that marked the first comprehensive neoliberal policy revolution in Canada. It also marked the launch of an extensive movement of extra‐parliamentary resistance to neoliberal attempts to undo social and economic gains achieved during the period of Keynesian consensus. The character of this progressive movement of trade unions, social groups and civil society was however limited to “defensive defiance”. A number of questions are posed such as: What was the nature of the resistance to neoliberalism in BC in 1983, and to what extent did it succeed? Leftist analysts hotly debated these questions at the time, and a review in hindsight of their views is instructive. And to what degree have the neoliberal agenda and strategy and tactics changed in the ensuing years? Our review in this article suggests both a remarkable continuity and some fundamental changes. Analysis of these events therefore remains historically relevant to those concerned with pan‐Canadian political trends.

The article reviews the book, "NAFTA and Labor in North America," by Norman Caulfield.

As many of the traditionally unionized sectors of the economy experience crisis, unions are turning to social unionist strategies of coalition-building and community mobilization as a means of defending jobs through external solidarity. This paper explores the politics and dynamics of the Canadian Auto Workers' (caw) organization of a union-community coalition and rally in Windsor, Ontario as a means of defending the manufacturing base. The paper contends that while Windsor's May 2007 Manufacturing Matters rally was quite successful in its short-term aims, due to the caw's strong mobilizing structures and longstanding relationships between local unions and community organizations, internal coalition dynamics and framing processes led to decisions which limited the longer-term capacities of the campaign. The coalition opted to emphasize place over class as the unifying element, to produce non-adversarial discourses and tactics so as to avoid appearing anti-business, and to marginalize more militant talk and tactics. These outcomes raise questions about both the sustainability for ongoing solidarity and mobilization amongst the Windsor working class, and the capacity of the local labour movement to articulate counter-hegemonic interpretations of economic problems and promote policy options not dominated by the needs and interests of economic and political elites.

The article reviews the book, "Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies: Assessing the Contribution of Union Organising," edited by Gregor Gall.

Historically, teachers’ unions have been some of the major organizational sites of social justice leadership in K-12 education (Kuehn, 2007; M. Murphy, 1990; Urban, 1982), but until the mid 1990s, the term “social justice unionism” (Peterson & Charney, 1999) had little currency in teacher union circles. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the concept of social justice unionism in context. In particular, I asked how teacher union activists contributed and responded to the institutionalization of social justice in their organization. I used a critical constructionist (Ball, 1987; Berger & Luckmann, 1966; D. E. Smith, 1987) perspective to analyze 25 career history (Goodson, 1994) interviews with teachers, staff and elected officials affiliated with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation between 1967 and 2007, and found that successive generations of union-involved activists dedicated to labour solidarity, feminism, multiculturalism, anti-colonialism and anti-homophobia used networks of like-minded colleagues to counter bureaucratic norms within their organization, the education system and society. A qualitative depiction of these changes suggests that they were layered, multi-dimensional and uneven. They played out on a contested, uphill gradient shaped, but not determined, by four factors: the organizational prioritization of teacher welfare over social justice; historically persistent micro-political struggles between two federation caucuses; the centralizing tendencies of union leadership in response to the provincial government’s centralization of educational authority; and broader ruling relations in Canadian society. Still, despite this uphill gradient, all activist networks left a durable trace on federation history. The major significance of this finding for critical theorists and social justice activists is a modestly hopeful alternative to the traditional conceptions of change embedded in organizational theory: revolution, evolution or despair.

La Loi relative à l'extension juridique des conventions collectives de travail est adoptée par le gouvernement du Québec en 1934 pour protéger les travailleurs frappés par la crise économique et favoriser leur syndicalisation. Fruit de revendications des syndicats catholiques, elle porte un modèle particulier de relations de travail qui ne s'imposera pas ailleurs en Amérique du Nord. La loi, qui mise sur la collaboration patronale-syndicale, permet au gouvernement d'étendre par décret à toutes les entreprises d'un secteur industriel, dans un territoire déterminé, les termes d''une convention collective conclue par un syndicat. Sa philosophie est issue de la doctrine sociale de l'Église catholique avec comme but ultime la formation de corporation professionnelle, cellule de base de la société corporatiste. La loi est adoptée une année avant le Wagner Act, la «Magna Carta» du mouvement syndical aux États-Unis, qui inspire l'adoption de lois similaires Canada et au Québec pendant la Deuxième Guerre. Cette loi apporte une dure concurrence à la loi des décrets qui demeure présente cependant dans les industries où la concurrence est vive et où la main d'œuvre représente une forte proportion des coûts de production. Dans les années 1970, la loi connaît un regain d'intérêt du coté des syndicats et des spécialistes de relations indus- trielles afin de faciliter l'accréditation sectorielle ou multi patronale. On juge que le cadre de négociation très décentralisé selon le Code du travail ne répond plus aux transformations du marché du travail. Depuis les années 1980, le régime des décrets est touché par la libéralisation des relations de travail dans le sillage du courant de pensée néolibéral. Dans cet esprit, le gouvernement abolit en 1999 les décrets de l'industrie du vêtement, ce qui affecte 23 000 sala- riés. Au Québec comme ailleurs, c'est tout le système de relations de travail né des années 1930 qui s'érode à mesure que le gouvernement se laisse gagner par la déréglementation des rapports collectifs de travail.

Working Life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis, edited by Paul Thompson and Chris Smith, is reviewed.

[The author] argues that the union local, as an institution of working-class organization, was a key agent for the Canadian working class as it sought to create a new place for itself in the decades following World War II. Using UAW/CAW Local 27, a broad-based union in London, Ontario, as a case study, he offers a ground-level look at union membership, including some of the social and political agendas that informed union activities. As he writes in the introduction, "This book is as much an outgrowth of years of rank-and-file union activism as it is the result of academic curiosity." Drawing on interviews with former members of UAW/CAW Local 27 as well as on archival sources, Russell offers a narrative that will speak not only to labour historians but to the people about whom they write. --Publisher's description

Examines the representation of migrant workers in Canada, in particular the social representation of Chinese migrant workers in Québec City's daily newspapers from 1891 to 1926. The Chinese workers who established themselves in Québec City during this time period consisted mostly of men with a peasant background. Lacking education, they performed jobs such as catering and laundering. The daily newspapers mentioned include "L'Action Catholique," "Le Soleil," and "Quebec-Chronicle."

The article reviews the book, "Breadwinners: Working Women and Economic Independence, 1865-1920," by Lara Vapnek.

The article reviews the book, "Questions sociales : analyses anglo-saxonnes – Socialement incorrect ?," by Julien Damon.

Archival documents (news clippings, reports, photos, and sound recordings) with annotations on the causes and consequences of the Estevan Riot of 1931. The riot occurred during a strike of the United Mine Workers of Canada against the Estevan Bienfait Coal Mine. This website presentation was prepared for a history course offered by Saskatchewan Learning.

There are widely divergent views about racism in Canada. Some believe that racism is a fundamental feature of Canadian society and national identity. This dystopian view of Canada as a fundamentally and irrevocably racist society carries considerable currency in some academic and activist circles. Others argue that racism is oversold as a social problem: while pockets of racism do exist, Canada remains a fundamentally fair place for people of diverse backgrounds to prosper and flourish.Vic Satzewich's short and accessible book explores how racism operates in Canadian society, past and present. Racism is a complex aspect of Canadian society; while it may not be an inherent and invariant feature of our country, it is also more prevalent than many people may realize. The book examines a variety of issues including racism and the immigration system, racial profiling, racism and First Nations and Islamophobia. It concludes with a discussion of some of the dilemmas and challenges associated with anti-racism theory and practice. --Publisher's description

Nuclear energy is one of the predominant false solutions being offered up by contemporary capitalism's power elite in a futile effort to reconcile the goal of environmental sustainability with limitless growth, profit, and accumulation. Incorporating environmental needs into the economy ultimately means not only developing new eco-friendly products and technologies, but changing everything about how people produce and consume and how they travel and live. To this end, the contemporary labor movement needs to increasingly put its own independent and proactive vision of progress and ecological transformation on the table instead of simply allying with employers and perpetuating its dependence upon existing structures of production and consumption. The Canadian Nuclear Workers Council's (CNWC) alliance with the nuclear industry reflects not only the organization's stake in protecting jobs, but also its inability and unwillingness to challenge the deceptive employment versus environment discourse and the dominant mode of economic growth.

The article reviews the book, "The ABCs of Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know," by Fred Magdoff and Michael D. Yates.

The article reviews the book, "Work in a Modern Society: The German Historical Experience in Contemporary Perspective," edited by Jürgen Kocka.

The pipeline theory suggests that increasing the number of women in male-dominated fields should lead to more equality in the labour market. This presumes that women and men in the pipeline expect comparable career outcomes. This study explores differences in academic preparation, career expectations, and career priorities among 23,413 Canadian post-secondary students. Our results indicate that women have lower salary expectations and expect longer times to promotion than men, and this gap is greater in male-dominated fields. Furthermore, women pursue career priorities that are associated with lower salaries. Gender explained the greatest amount of variance in expectations, regardless of field of study, academic achievement, or career goals. Our findings suggest that inequities in the labour market originate as gendered expectations within the pipeline. We offer recommendations to increase gender equality.