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The article reviews the book, "Du diesel dans les veines, la saga des camionneurs du Nord." by Serge Bouchard and Mark Fortier.

This article reviews the book, "Comment travailler ensemble? Défis de l’intergénération," edited by Henri Savall and Véronique Zardet.

In recent decades an increasing share of Canada’s agricultural workforce has been made up of temporary foreign workers from the Global South. These labourers work difficult and dangerous jobs with limited legal protections and are effectively barred from permanent settlement in Canada. In Harvesting Labour Edward Dunsworth examines the history of farm work in one of Canada’s underrecognized but most important crop sectors — Ontario tobacco. Dunsworth takes aim at the idea that temporary foreign worker programs emerged in response to labour shortages or the unwillingness of Canadians to work in agriculture. To the contrary, Ontario’s tobacco sector was extremely popular with workers for much of the twentieth century, with high wages attracting a diverse workforce and enabling thousands to establish themselves as small farm owners. By the end of the century, however, the sector had become something entirely different: a handful of mega-farms relying on foreign guest workers to produce their crops. Taking readers from the leafy fields of Ontario’s tobacco belt to rural Jamaica, Barbados, and North Carolina and on to the halls of government, Dunsworth demonstrates how the ultimate transformation of tobacco - and Canadian agriculture writ large - was fundamentally a function of the capitalist restructuring of farming. Harvesting Labour brings together the fields of labour, migration, and business history to reinterpret the historical origins of contemporary Canadian agriculture and its workforce. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance and Rebellion," edited by Working Class History.

Cet ouvrage dresse un portrait des allumettières de la E.B. Eddy de Hull en abordant leurs conditions de vie et de travail entre 1854 et 1928. Cette étude s'appuie principalement sur un portrait démographique basé sur les recensements canadiens, mais aussi sur diverses archives (gouvernementales, privées, paroissiales, journaux scientifiques et à grand tirage, etc.) qui nous permettent de mieux comprendre la vie et le travail de ces ouvrières. En raison du nombre restreint d'études sérieuses sur les allumettières et l'industrie de l'allumette au Canada, cet ouvrage se base largement sur les sources historiques et l'analyse approfondie de ces dernières. Cette monographie présente l'histoire des allumettières par le biais de différents grands thèmes : leur rôle au sein de la classe ouvrière, leur vie au quotidien, leurs différents rôles dans la manufacture, les dangers de l'emploi (principalement ceux associés au phosphore blanc), leurs conditions de travail (salaires et heures) ainsi que leur expérience syndicale qui durera de 1918 au départ de la manufacture en 1928. À travers ses sept chapitres, cette monographie vise à peindre un portait détaillé et nuancé de cette main-d'œuvre anonyme, mais aussi à présenter les filles et les femmes qui ont occupé cet emploi. En somme, cette étude permettra de mieux saisir qui sont celles souvent présentées sous les traits de jeunes filles exploitées ou de militantes syndicales engagées. -- Description de l'éditeur

Le développement des outils numériques dans le secteur médico-social pose la question de leur impact sur les activités relationnelles, essentielles dans ce domaine. Cet article repose sur une enquête qualitative menée auprès de salariées travaillant dans l’aide aux personnes âgées, à domicile ou en établissement. Si ces travailleuses mentionnent plutôt des aspects positifs, elles estiment pourtant ambivalents les effets des outils numériques sur leurs conditions de travail, selon s’ils leur permettent ou non d’effectuer ce qu’elles considèrent comme un « bon travail ». Le contexte d’introduction de ces outils semble alors déterminant : lorsqu’il s’agit de rationaliser, voire d’industrialiser l’activité, ils contribuent à une dégradation concomitante de la qualité du travail et du service ; à l’inverse, mis au service de la relation d’aide, ils permettent d’améliorer les conditions de travail.

The article reviews the book, "Purchasing Power: Women and the Rise of Canadian Consumer Culture," by Donica Belisle.

The article reviews the book, "Demanding Equality: One Hundred Years of Canadian Feminism," by Joan Sangster.

The global COVID-19 pandemic acted as an exogenous shock that forced organizations to adopt homeworking as a common form of work for many occupations. Drawing on a real-time cross-occupational qualitative survey, we first examined how compulsory homeworking affected workers’ freedom to define and perform their tasks. Second, we analyzed how different forms of control developed under the new organization of work. Specifically, we studied how the outcomes varied by occupation and along the vertical division of labour. Our findings agree with those of labour process theorists who argue that personal, bureaucratic and technical forms of control complement each other, rather than being stages of a linear succession.

Pays homage to the life and work of Walter Hildebrandt (1951-2021), who published historical studies of Indigenous communities in the Canadian West and Indigenous relations with the Canadian state. A historian for Parks Canada, Hildebrandt later became publishing director of the University of Calgary and Athabasca University presses. Includes an appreciation of Hildebrandt's poetry, with selections from three long poems — "Let Them Eat Grass / The Dakota Wars 1862" and "Winnipeg 1919" — that were originally published in the 2016 collection, "Documentaries: Poems." Also introduces three poems by Tom Wayman — "Reply," "When the Future Wore a Mask: My Parents at War" and "Ars Poetica: Nail" — intended as tributes. A photo of Hildebrandt is also included.

This article argues that while work-places are safer today than they were 50 years ago, the degree to which this change is due to Canada's occupational health and safety (ohs) system is unclear. Examining the literature and reflecting upon the authors' own experiences with work-place safety, the article suggests that fundamental flaws embedded in the principles of the system undermine its effectiveness at keeping workers safe. Specifically, the premise of joint responsibility – which is given life in the internal responsibility system (irs) – appears to ignore the conflicting interests and unequal power relations that exist in Canadian work-places. The circumstances that contributed to the historical effectiveness of the irs no longer exist, undermining the ability of workers to realize safe and healthy work-places.

A powerful, personal critique of capitalist patriarchy as seen through the eyes of a queer radical. Capitalism has infiltrated every aspect of our personal, social, economic, and sexual lives. By examining the politics of gender, environment, and sexuality, we can see the ways straight, cis, white, and especially male upper-class people control and subvert the other - queer, non-binary, BIPOC, and female bodies - in order to keep the working lower classes divided. Patriarchy and classism are forms of systemic violence which ensure that the main commodity of capitalism - a large, disposable, cheap, and ideally subjugated work force - is readily available. There is a lot wrong with the ways we live, work, and treat each other. In essays that are both accessible and inspiring, Lori Fox examines their confrontations with the capitalist patriarchy through their experiences as a queer, non-binary, working-class farm hand, labourer, bartender, bush-worker, and road dog, exploring the ugly places where issues of gender, sexuality, class, and the environment intersect. In applying the micro to the macro, demonstrating how the personal is political and vice versa, Fox exposes the flaws in believing that this is the only way our society can or should work. Brash, topical, and passionate, This Has Always Been a War is not only a collection of essays, but a series of dispatches from the combative front lines of our present-day culture. -- Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Life in Stalin's Soviet Union," edited by Kees Boterbloem.

The article reviews the book, "People, State, and War Under the French Regime in Canada," by Louise Dechêne.

The article reviews the book, "Le genre au travail. Recherches féministes et luttes de femmes," edited by Réseau de recherche MAGE.

We present the results of a research-action initiative to strengthen participation by social dialogue stakeholders (union representatives, managers and workers) in companies that are being digitally transformed. For this, we used activity-centred ergonomics. After presenting a co-design process, i.e., “Social Design,” we describe how the initiative was carried out in a large industrial company and how it was re-designed “in use.” We thus helped certain union representatives participate in dialogue on the topical issue of digital transformation, thereby helping define a new organizational structure in the workplace and further developing the “Social Design” approach.

We explored how company transparency, as measured by ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) disclosure, affected the employee turnover of 212 multinational corporations that were listed in the European capital market during the 2010-2017 period. We also examined the role of the business environment by looking at the company’s ESG reporting system and its economic sector. To analyze how ESG disclosure affected employee turnover at any point of its conditional distribution, we used a panel data quantile regression model. ESG disclosure was found to be negatively associated with employee turnover. Employee turnover, as well as the extent to which it is affected by ESG disclosure, was found to depend strongly on the conditional distribution of the turnover rate, the sector and whether ESG disclosure is mandatory or voluntary. Our findings were confirmed by a robustness check analysis. In conclusion, the relationship between company transparency and employee turnover depends strongly on the institutional context and, especially, on disclosure regulation. The more a company is scrutinized, the more it will try to be socially responsible to maintain and/or improve its reputation and thus reassure and satisfy its stakeholders.

En 2013, le gouvernement du Québec a introduit un nouveau régime forestier qui a transformé la dynamique dans la gouvernance de la forêt publique. Parmi les changements apportés, l’État est désormais chargé de planifier et de gérer les activités d’aménagement forestier. L’aménagement forestier comprend des activités commerciales et non commerciales. De 1986 à 2013, le gouvernement attribuait aux entreprises forestières des volumes de bois à long terme au moyen de « contrats d’approvisionnement et d’aménagement forestier » (CAAF). Ces entreprises avaient également la responsabilité d’assurer les travaux sylvicoles non commerciaux visant la régénération des peuplements forestiers. La Loi sur l’aménagement durable du territoire forestier, en vigueur depuis 2013, a transformé en profondeur l’organisation des activités dans ce secteur. Sur le plan des activités commerciales, l’octroi de CAAF est remplacé par des « garanties d’approvisionnement », lesquelles confèrent à leurs bénéficiaires un volume de bois de la forêt publique à des fins de transformation. Sur le plan des activités non commerciales, l’État assume désormais l’entière responsabilité de la planification et de la gestion des opérations, jadis confiée aux titulaires de CAAF. À partir de données empiriques, ce texte met en lumière la façon dont le régime forestier instauré en 2013 a permis l’émergence d’acteurs, exogènes au champ du droit du travail, dont les pratiques et les schémas d’action façonnent aujourd’hui les conditions de travail des ouvriers et des ouvrières sylvicoles effectuant des tâches non mécanisées. Cette main-d’oeuvre effectue des opérations d’éducation de peuplement au moyen d’une scie débroussailleuse ainsi que du reboisement. Les acteurs identifiés interviennent dans la dynamique d’attribution et de supervision des contrats de travaux sylvicoles non commerciaux et jouent un rôle de contrôle et de surveillance des conditions de travail, laissant aux parties à la relation d’emploi un pouvoir limité.

The article reviews the book, "Empreintes de résistance. Filiations et récits de femmes autochtones et racisées," by Alexandra Pierre.

Introduces the first issue of the journal that is solely available online.