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[Discusses] the concept and practice of community unionism and demonstrates the potential for building a union-community alliance for labour movement renewal through an analysis...of the Workers' Action Centre (WAC) in Toronto. --Editors' introduction

[Examines] forms of self-employment by select dimensions of precarious employment and finds a gendered continuum of precarious self-employment. The chapter also illustrates that many dimensions of precarious employment characterize key forms of self-employment, such as part-time and full-time solo self-employment. The conclusion...supports challenges to contemporary definitions of "entrepreneurship"...yet the adoption of a gender lens allows them to interrogate and challenge the notion of "choice" underpinning prevailing understandings of main reasons for self-employment. --From editor's introductory chapter (p. 34).

This paper is the first systematic attempt to provide an overview of industrial relations practices at firm level in Mozambique. Through a nationwide survey of firms, the paper assesses the extent to which specific sets of practices are associated with particular regions, and/or sectors, and explores the relationship between IR practice and national institutional realities. The survey revealed that informalism and autocratic managerialism characterize the practice of employment relations. But it would be mistaken to assume a convergence towards a global systematic archetype of low wage/low skill/low security of tenure set of practices. Instead, the authors conclude, contemporary Mozambique employment relations are an example of external market pressures being channelled and moulded by the persistence of national level realities that stretch back to the colonial era. In the absence of effective institutional mechanisms, familiar conventions are likely to persist because people know how these work in practice.

[E]valuation of the B.C. Organizing Institute, an initiative of the British Columbia Federation of Labour.... [P]rovides valuable insights into the problems that have to be overcome in developing coordinated education and training programs for leadership development, promoting inter-union cooperation, and creating a culture of organizing. --Editors' introduction

[E]xamines the Paid Education leave (PEL) program, a negotiated employer-funded worker education program administered by the Canadian Auto Workers. The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate the ability of the PEL to develop membership knowledge, activism and leadership to facilitate union renewal. [The author's] paper, based on survey research and interviews, maintains that the PEL program does contribute to leadership development and to the union renewal process by serving to alter the perceptions and attitudes of its participants. --Editors' introduction

The article reviews the book, "Mothers of the Municipality: Women, Work, and Social Policy in Post-1945 Halifax," edited by Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford.

Le 1 Mai 1952 les 1200 travailleurs du grand magasin et du comptoir postal de Dupuis Frères à Montréal, ont vote en faveur de la grève. D'une durée de trois mois, l'interruption du travail oppose une locale de la Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada [CTCC] à une puissante entreprise commerciale et symbole national de l'économie canadienne-française (Dupuis Fréres). L'historiographie de l'après-guerre n'accorde pas une grande place à ce conflit, qui, à l'encontre d'aurres conflits mieux connus — telle la grève de l'amiante (1949) et la grève de Murdochville (1957), s'est solde par une éclatante victoire du syndicat. L'article examine d'abord le contexte général et les conditions spécifiques qui ont entraîné le déclenchement de la grève. Il analyse ensuite l'enchaînement des événements, qui se sont déroulés en quatre phases ou séries de faits dans le temps. Il importe de prendre le temps de reconsidérer les événements dans l'ordre, car il ressort de l'exercice une perspective nous permettant d'appréhender l'enjeu fort thé àtralisé du conflit qui se deroule dans une conjoncture de croissance économique et d'effervescence syndicale. Nous offrons un canevas preliminaire, que d'autres pourront compléter à leur manière, le but de I'exercice étant, dans un premier temps, de faire ressortir cette grève des boules à mites de l'Histoire.

This paper is concerned with workplace accommodation and the extent to which people feel able to disclose disabilities at work. Disclosure is central to accommodation in the sense that workers must feel comfortable describing their needs to employers. Where this is not the case, for example, where workers are concerned about the precariousness of their position and the fact that disclosure may result in dismissal, legal requirements for accommodation can be ineffective. To explore this issue, the paper uses qualitative data from interviews with fifty-nine people with physical, learning, psychiatric and sensory disabilities in the Hamilton labour market. Analysis indicates that most respondents viewed disclosure as a risky endeavour, and a significant minority did not disclose due to concerns about not being hired or being dismissed. The conclusion discusses the need for accommodating workplaces and the implications for the labour movement.

[E]xamines the ways in which union organizing gender-baised and highlights possible union strategies to overcome the bias and improve organizing success. ...The paper draws on the survey of union organizers in Ontario and British Columbia conducted by the authors in 2000 and 2001. --Editors' introduction

The article reviews the book, "When Women Come First: Gender and Class in Transnational Migration,"Sheba Mariam George.

The article reviews the book, "Minding the Machine: Languages of Class in Early Industrial America," by Stephen P. Rice.

It's the second oldest profession in the world. Until recently, a society without them was considered inconceivable. Yet they are one of the most invisible and silent groups of people in Canadian history: the servants. The maid, the butler, the footman, the coachman, the groom, the nurse, the laundress: most of them were either illiterate or too busy to have left a record of their lives. The literati hardly mentioned them. They were part of the furniture. In fact, artists lavished more attention on the furniture. --Introduction

Analyzes the conflicted terrain of the Canadian labour movement as a result of neoliberal restructuring of the economy and the frayed relationship with the social democratic NDP. Compares union densities in Canada and the US. Concludes that transformative union renewal must include the political rebuilding of a worker-based socialist movement.

English/French abstracts of the articles in the current issue.

English/French abstracts of articles in the Spring 2015 issue.

The article reviews the book, "Taking Back the Streets: Women, Youth, and Direct Democracy," by Temma Kaplan.

The central focus of this article is the effort by Canadian unions to organize Wal-Mart. Organizing the world's largest corporation is considered to be critical because the company's business "template" calls for wages and benefits considerably inferior to those of unionized workers. To date, although a few bargaining units have been certified, Wal-Mart has managed to thwart all attempts to negotiate collective agreements. However, because the United Food and Commercial Workers have certified units in a few provinces with first contract arbitration, the achievement, eventually, of a collective agreement appears to be likely.

Building cleaners are increasingly portrayed in pop culture. This article seeks to provide reasons for their increased visibility, and then examines precisely how they are constructed. The analysis reveals three overriding themes of representation: (1) cleaners as a discourse for Americanism; (2) cleaners as stand ins for the rehabilitation of ‘whiteness’; and (3) cleaners as endure the neoliberal workplace.