Your search

"This book is a history of hypocrisy." So begins Daniel Francis, BC's leading popular historian, as he explores the colourful and ultimately tragic story of prostitution in Vancouver. He writes: "The city's political and social leaders consistently have treated prostitutes as pariahs whose presence was tolerated, sometimes exploited, but never approved. All the while, the authorities collected millions of dollars in fines and licence fees from businesses that everyone knew were, and are, fronts for the sex trade." Working in long overlooked archives and drawing on personal interviews, Francis shows how in some ways commercial sex has been both a reflection and a result of Vancouver's essential character, with its tolerant social mores, ethnic diversity--and political opportunism. It's a tale that takes in mayors and masseuses, police chiefs and pimps, judges and johns. Francis explains: "Sex workers have never lacked for customers. What they have lacked is a secure place to conduct their business. A vast off-street sex trade flourished while police, at the urging of politicians vowing to purify the city, concentrated their attention on the comparatively small number of street prostitutes who worked out in the open. Because they were considered a nuisance, these sex workers were hounded from street to street and neighbourhood to neighbourhood [... These efforts salved the conscience of the morally righteous, but each attempt to discourage prostitution simply forced women to work in increasingly dangerous circumstances." The end result, ultimately, was the tragedy of the Missing Women--murdered sex workers from the Downtown Eastside--and the sensational criminal case that followed. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Syndicats : lendemains de crise ?," by Jean-Marie Pernot.

The countersummit of the Americas, held in Quebec City in April 2001 under the auspices of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) and in opposition to the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), promised to be a prelude to a new phase in how trade unions handle the issue of globalization. There was hope that trade unions would truly take charge of this issue. In terms of political organization, logistics, and the number ofactive participants, Quebec trade union organizations dominated the event....This article addresses two central questions. First, does the mobilization of Quebec trade unions against neoliberal globalization represent a break, both quantitative and qualitative, in their approach to international trade union relations? Second, what does the Quebec example tell us about the sociohistorical dynamics of international trade union relations in the Americas, and even beyond? We have attempted to investigate thoroughly how relations between trade unions have been conducted internationally before and after April 2001. For the most part, this study was undertaken at the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, with some updates made in 2004. --From introduction

The article reviews the book, "La méthode des cas. Recueil de cas en gestion des ressources humaines et en relations du travail," by Roch Laflamme.

The article reviews the book, "Modernisation de l’État et gestion des ressources humaines," edited by Louise Lemire, Denis Proulx and Luc Cooremans.

The focus of the USW case study is the [Humanity] Fund, an initiative to build international exchanges and solidarity and alliances in response to growing power of multinationals through capital mobility. ...[The paper] describes the working of the Fund and then assesses how the global connections with Chile and Peru in the mining sector have contributed to the union renewal in the USW. --Editors' introduction

Les militants du GST étaient surtout présents dans les secteurs de l' éducation, de la santé et des services publics, beaucoup moins dans le secteur privé. Le GST comptait également un bon nombre de militants jeunes qui intervenaient principalement dans les organisations étudiantes. Dans le mouvement ouvrier, les militants du GST sont intervenus dans les syndicats locaux, les fédérations et les instances, centrales et régionales, des centrales syndicales, principalement à la CSN et à la CEQ. Ils ont influencé l'orientation et participé à la direction d'importantes batailles, dont celles du transport en commun à Montréal (grèves des employés d'entretien de la Commission de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal1 ), des fronts communs des secteurs publics et parapublics, du secteur universitaire (grève professorale de quatre mois à l'UQAM en 1976-1977), des enseignants de l'Alliance des professeurs de Montréal et de la CEQ et du secteur de l'édition (grève de 21 mois des employées du CEC contre les géants Hachette et Power Corporation en 1977-1978). --Introduction

Le Groupe socialiste des travailleurs (GST) a été fondé en septembre 1974 à l'initiative d'un noyau de militants, le Groupe trotskyste du Québec (GTQ), qui intervenait depuis la fin des années 1960 dans les organisations syndicales, dans les Comités d'action politique qui ont été à l'origine du Front d'action politique des salariés de Montréal (FRAP) et dans le FRAP lui-même, de sa fondation en 1970 à sa dissolution en 1973. Ses militants sont intervenus en 1973-1974 dans le cadre d'une initiative du Comité régional intersyndical de Montréal (CRIM), le Regroupement Action-Montréal (RAM), dont l'objectif de départ était de prolonger, avec l'appui des trois centrales (CSN, FTQ et CEQ), l'expérience d'action politique municipale du FRAP à Montréal qui avait reçu l'appui de la seule CSN, puis au sein du Regroupement des militants syndicaux (RMS) qu'ils ont contribué à mettre sur pied en mai 1974 après l'échec du RAM.... --Introduction

The article reviews the book, "Unwilling Mothers, Unwanted Babies: Infanticide in Canada," by Kirsten Johnson Kramar.

The article reviews the book, "Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London," by Seth Koven.

The article reviews the book, "Restructuring Strategy: New Networks and Industry Challenges," edited by Karel O. Cool, James E. Henderson and Rene Abate.

The article reviews the book "Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, 1890-1919," Volume 1 and 2, edited by Falk Candace.

This thesis investigates several issues related to the provisions afforded by aspects of the Canadian welfare state to protect the rights of migrant labour participating in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. In the introduction and literature review, I provide the background of the program and present the nature of the issues that surround it. I also outline the problems that migrant agricultural workers face while participating in the program. These are mainly due to the few provisions that are extended to this secondary sector labour group, a group of workers that is barely visible to Canadian society. In the main part of the thesis, I analyze the two instruments that allow the entry of these workers into Canada and the different pieces of Canadian legislation that are relevant to protecting legitimate rights of any person who works in this country. More importantly, I also present findings derived from interviews with migrant agricultural workers and key informants from advocacy groups and the labour movement regarding those provisions. Based on their in Sights and on the dual market theory, I scrutinize the position of the Canadian welfare state concerning the legitimate provisions migrant workers should be entitled to and how the globalization context influences that position. I conclude with a series of ideas that, in my opinion, could positively affect this labour group's welfare status.

An essay is presented on work environment tolerance. It offers a history of employment and examines the possible role of employers in the proliferation of work culture. The author relates his first experience with unionized environment and discusses conversations he has had with several employees on the subject of labor union.

Editorial introduction to the theme of the issue. Includes bibliography.

This article elaborates the concept of knowledge activism as a way of understanding effective health and safety representation within the current Ontario legal regime of internal responsibility. Based on interviews with unionized health and safety representatives in the auto industry, we suggest that knowledge activism is a form of political activism by worker health and safety representatives that is organized around the strategic collection and tactical use of technical, scientific and legal knowledge. We argue that knowledge activism is more effective with reference to larger scale changes in work processes, workplace organization and technologies, and with reference to occupational health issues. Knowledge activism is conceptualized as an effective adaptation to a legislative regime which involves worker representatives in decisions without providing substantive power or proactive enforcement support.

The article reviews the book, "Pension Law," by Ari N. Kaplan.

The article reviews the book, "Pension Power: Unions, Pension Funds and Social Investment in Canada," by Isla Carmichael.

The article reviews the book, "Pro-Family Politics and Fringe Parties in Canada," by Chris MacKenzie.