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Academia increasingly faces pressures of corporatization and flexibilization. Of particular concern is the segmentation of academic labour into stable tenured or tenure-track professors and “flexible” sessional and adjunct faculty. In this paper, I review evidence of the segmentation of the Canadian academic labour market, examine the conditions that permit segmentation to exist, discuss why academic geographers in both segments comply with a segmented labour market and, finally, propose potential strategies to address the issue of segmentation.

This paper examines the variability of workers' earnings in Canada over the period 1982-1997. Using a large panel of tax file data, we decompose total variation in earnings across workers and time into a long-run inequality component between workers and an average earnings instability component over time for workers. We find an increase in earnings variability between 1982-89 and 1990-97 that is largely confined to men and largely driven by widening long-run earnings inequality. Second, the pattern of unemployment rate and GDP growth rate effects on these variance components is not consistent with conventional explanations and is suggestive of an alternative paradigm of how economic growth over this period widens long-run earnings inequality. Third, when unemployment rate and GDP growth rate effects are considered jointly, macroeconomic improvement is found to reduce the overall variability of earnings as the reduction in earnings instability outweighs the widening of long-run earnings inequality.

Illustrated history of the 2000-2001 strike of the Mine Mill/Canadian Auto Workers Local 598 strike against Falconbridge in Sudbury, Ont. Published in collaboration with Laurentian University's Labour and Trade Union Studies' Program.

Using responses from a telephone survey of 589 low wage, low skill workers in US hospitals, the authors investigate the workplace features that influence workers' perceptions of dignity at work. Both work organization variables and union representation are investigated as potential factors affecting workers' perceptions of fair treatment by their employer, intrinsically satisfying work, and economic security. Work organization and union representation have little effect on dignity at work with the exception of their association with higher wages and therefore a greater degree of economic security. Results indicate that higher pay, adequate levels of staffing and resources, and access to training are the variables that are most closely associated with dignity on the job.

The article reviews the book, "Le travail non qualifié : permanences et paradoxes," edited by Dominique Méda and Francis Vennat.

À partir d’un questionnement concernant le faible investissement des PME en formation, cet article tente de démontrer l’importance de l’environnement institutionnel par rapport aux seuls effets de taille. Par une analyse systémique de divers facteurs pouvant expliquer la formation dans une quarantaine de PME, l’article met en relief l’existence de trois configurations d’entreprises ayant des rapports différenciés à la formation; celles-ci vont de l’entreprise familiale qui offre peu de formation à l’entreprise indépendante offrant une formation structurée en passant par diverses formes d’entreprises qui, sur la base de leur insertion sous des bannières ou franchises ou encore de l’action des comités sectoriels ou d’organismes régionaux, accordent une importance de plus en plus grande à la formation et la structurent en conséquence. L’article conclut sur la nécessité d’une prise en compte « systémique » des dispositifs institutionnels pour la mise en place de politiques publiques adéquates.

The courier industry in Canada is rapidly expanding. This is due to a number of factors including greater international trade in goods; more use of just-in-time inventory strategies; and the rapid development of internet commerce. Significant technological and organizational developments within the industry have led to greater segmentation of markets. As a result, large national and international parcel delivery firms dominate the international and intercity markets, while there has been a proliferation of smaller firms in the same-city, same-day markets. The research findings from a case study conducted in Winnipeg reveal that couriers in certain parts of the industry are relatively well paid, with benefits and employment conditions negotiated by their union, while others are independent contractors with low incomes, no benefits and insecure tenure. The article compares the experience of these two types of couriers and examines what is being done to improve the terms and conditions of work for same-day couriers. It is concluded that nature of the same day courier industry means that union organizing will be very difficult and there is no guarantee of success. Unionization, however, is a necessary prerequisite for the improvement of conditions and wages in this growing industry.

Focuses on considering community unionism as a strategy for labor organizing with emphasis on autonomous community-based labor group organizational model. Background on the concept of community unionism; Information on the two examples of community unionism, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops; Limitation of community unionism in making the type of economic gains for their members that a trade union can through collective bargaining.

The article reviews the book, "La gestion environnementale et la norme ISO 14 001," by Corinne Gendron.

The article reviews the book, "Le malaise des soignants : le travail sous pression à l’hôpital," by Yvan Sainsaulieu.

The article reviews the book,"Les cadres : grandeur et incertitudes," by Olivier Cousin.

The study aimed to determine whether the incidence and duration of certified sick leave (CSL) among nurses had increased during major restructuring of the health care system in the province of Quebec, and to determine whether nurses exposed to adverse psychosocial factors at work showed an increased incidence of CSL. It involved nurses working in 13 health facilities. Sickness absence data were retrieved from administrative files (n = 1454). Incidence of CSL for all diagnoses and for mental health problems was examined. Telephone interviews were conducted to measure psychosocial factors at work with validated instruments. There was an increase in CSL among nurses during the restructuring, particularly for mental health problems. Modifiable adverse psychosocial work factors were identified and provide basis for interventions. Since human resources are the mainstay and primary resource of the health network, it is essential that people be able to perform their work under optimal conditions.

Si la gestion des compétences est encore un sujet d’actualité à la fois pour les gestionnaires de ressources humaines et pour bon nombre de responsables d’entreprise, c’est que l’objet même de cette gestion ne cesse de prendre de l’importante au sein des nouveaux systèmes productifs et face aux nouvelles contraintes de l’environnement. Pourtant, ces nouvelles approches, dont on parle beaucoup, sont peu et mal connues, et ne sont que très rarement mises en perspective au plan international. Il peut donc être intéressant, partant d’un enjeu « théoriquement » similaire — la compétence — de voir de quelle façon ces logiques et ces modes de gestion ont été conceptualisés, instrumentés et implantés de chaque côté de l’Atlantique. L’analyse conduit à observer que si les deux systèmes se sont constitués de façon contingente, et que certains facteurs lourds leur sont encore associés aujourd’hui, d’autres forces poussent vers une certaine standardisation, pour ne pas dire universalisation des approches dans ce domaine désormais central de la gestion des ressources humaines.

Abundantly illustrated update of "A Miner's Chronicle" from 1998 to 2004, that emphasizes union-related activities and events. Also includes a list of mining fatalities.

The article reviews the book, "Masters, Servants, and Magistrates in Britain and the Empire, 1562-1955," edited by Douglas Hay and Paul Craven.

The article reviews the book, "Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography," by June Purvis.

The article reviews the book, "Florence Nightingale and the Health of the Raj," by Jharna Gourlay.

The Blackwell Companion to Social Inequalities is a first-rate collection of social science scholarship on inequalities, emphasizing race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, age, and nationality. Highlights themes that represent the scope and range of theoretical orientations, contemporary emphases, and emerging topics in the field of social inequalities. Gives special attention to debates in the field, developing trends and directions, and interdisciplinary influences in the study of social inequalities. Includes an editorial introduction and suggestions for further reading. --Publisher's description

The book Handbook of Work Stress, by Julian Barling, E. Kevin Kelloway, and Michael R. Frone, is reviewed.

A major demand of public sector unions in recent years has been for greater control over their members’ pension plans. Recently, several provincial governments, most notably British Columbia, have agreed to joint trusteeship, a development which gives union trustees a voice in investment policy. This article focuses on the implications for union trustees of investments in Public Private Partnerships (P-3s) and related privatization initiatives. Examples of such investments include: transportation infrastructure projects, hospitals and health services, schools, municipal water and sewer systems, electrical utilities, and other projects that, historically, have been within the public sector. It argues that trustees should be wary of such investments. Public sector unions have criticized privatization initiatives as a threat to public sector jobs and services. P-3 investments are problematic because they may threaten the jobs of their union’s members, undermine the credibility of their union’s public policy objections to privatization and, in the end, may prove far more risky than P-3 promoters contend.