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Effective as of December, 2006, an end to mandatory retirement was legislated in Ontario. Prior to this move, some employers and labour organizations were opposed to eliminating mandatory retirement and expressed concern about the negative impact such a move would have on business and on individual workers. This exploratory descriptive study examines HR managers' (N = 415) perceptions of the impact of the elimination of mandatory retirement in Ontario. Compared with HR managers in organizations not practicing mandatory retirement, HR managers in organizations with a mandatory retirement policy reported their organization had significantly fewer HR practices in place tailored to older employees and would be significantly more likely to respond to the elimination of mandatory retirement by implementing new HR practices or by modifying existing HR practices.

The article reviews the book, "Disciplining Statistics: Demography and Vital Statistics in France and England 1830-1885," by Libby Schweber.

Collective Bargaining on Working Time: Recent European Experiences, edited by Maarten Keune, and Bela Galgoczi, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change Among Transnational Activists," by Shareen Hertel.

The article reviews the book, "Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in Nineteenth-Century Britain," by Jamie L. Bronstein.

The article focuses on the constitutional right to bargain collectively in Canada. Employers in Canada have adopted labour management policies that including resistance to and avoidance of collective bargaining, shifting from secure employment forms and increasing demand on the workforce. It mentions the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) which had successfully fought a long battle to achieve pay equity for its largely female membership.

The article reviews the book, "No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism," by Pamela Nowicka.

The history of the Jewish community in Canada says as much about the development of the nation as it does about the Jewish people. Spurred on by upheavals in Eastern Europe in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, many Jews immigrated to the Dominion of Canada, which was then considered little more than a British satellite state. Over the ensuing decades, as the Canadian Jewish identity was forged, Canada underwent the transformative experience of separating from Britain and distinguishing itself from the United States. In this light, the Canadian Jewish identity was formulated within the parameters of the emerging Canadian national personality." "Canada's Jews is an account of this remarkable story as told by one of the leading authors and historians on the Jewish legacy in Canada. Drawing on his previous work on the subject, Gerald Tulchinsky describes the struggle against antisemitism and the search for a livelihood among the Jewish community. He demonstrates that, far from being a fragment of the Old World, Canadian Jewry grew from a tiny group of transplanted Europeans to a fully articulated, diversified, and dynamic national group that defined itself as Canadian while expressing itself in the varied political and social contexts of the Dominion. --Publisher's description

This article is adapted from a presentation made at a meeting of policy experts of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Trade Union Advisory Council. The presentation provided the "trade union expert perspective" at the seminar held in Paris, October 17, 2007, entitled "Fair Labour Migration" from vision to reality." Tracing an alternative approach to understanding "global labour supply", the article makes links between jobless growth, trade and investment liberalization, and the increased use of temporary migrant workers around the world. The article concludes with proposals for a broad framework of change leading to decent work and sustainable development - in both the global North and the global South.

This study examines the links between personality and the relative attraction of various total rewards components. A survey approach is adopted, with 967 individuals completing a questionnaire. These individuals are currently employed. Results show that, after controlling for the effects of several demographic variables, "Big-Five" personality traits do affect individuals' attraction to the following total rewards components: quality of work and of social relationships, development and career opportunities, variable pay, indirect pay, flexibility of working conditions, and prestige. Among Big-Five personality traits, openness to experience best predicts the relative importance employees give to the various total rewards components.

The article reviews the book, "International and European Protection of the Right to Strike : A Comparative Study of Standards Set by the International Labour Organization, the Council of Europe and the European Union," by Tonia Novitz.

Analyzes the distinctive features of the Canada-Peru trade agreement in the context of accords with other nations.

The article reviews the book, "Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution," by Paul A. Gilje.

The article reviews the book, "The Cypress Hills: An Island by Itself," by Walter Hildebrandt and Brian Hubner.

The current review presents both postulated and empirically tested consequences of university unionization and labor strikes on the North American institution’s administration, faculty, and students. The review explores the impact of collective bargaining on employee working conditions including job security, academic freedom, university governance, and due process. More importantly, this review examines the much neglected issue of organizational work relationships in a unionized academic environment. The relationships discussed include those between faculty members, between the faculty and administration, between the faculty and the university as an institution, and between the faculty and their union. The threat of unionization and labor strikes to the professor–student or mentor–mentee relationship has been a central concern of those opposed to graduate student unions, and this issue is also addressed here. The text concludes with the identification of potential areas for future research.

This thesis is an exploration into the potential for worker cooperatives to be conceptualized and experienced as an alternative to precarious employment for immigrants and refugees. It argues that current analysis and responses to precarious employment fail to fully address the root causes of precarious employment and fail to suggest what forms of alternative employment relations we should be striving to build. It is argued that by tracing the roots of precarious employment to the organization of work, the worker cooperative model can be seen as a potential solution to these root problems. This hypothesis is explored through two case studies of immigrant worker cooperatives, analyzing the employment experiences of several of its members. It concludes that workers cooperatives appear to provide alternatives in the areas of control, security and social capital and empowerment. However, more work is needed to support and facilitate the development and sustainability of cooperatives in order to improve in the areas of wages and formal benefits. Despite the challenges of worker cooperatives, the author argues that they remain an important tool, invoking a politics of the act that seeks to build alternative spaces of employment without relying on government or employers.

The article reviews the book, "A Glowing Dream: A Memoir," by Roland Penner.

This is a comparative study of intergovernmental relations in labour market policy in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) between 1996 and 2006, the first phase of devolution in each country. The study focuses primarily on relations between the central government and a single sub-state in each country (Alberta in Canada and Scotland in the UK) and addresses three research questions: 1) to what extent were there differences in intergovernmental relations between the countries?2) what accounted for these differences? 3) what impact did these differences have on the character and workability of the intergovernmental relations system in each country? Workability was assessed based upon the degree to which trust ties developed between senior officials. The analysis concludes that the structure of the state, the structure of the policy domain, and the presence of two important accommodation mechanisms in the UK not found in Canada (the party system and the civil service) made intergovernmental relations in labour market policy in the two countries fundamentally different. In Canada, intergovernmental relations were multilateral, interprovincial and bilateral, whereas in the United Kingdom they were only bilateral. Despite devolution, the UK Government retained control of most policy levers, whereas in Canada devolution has limited federal control and influence and any notion of a national labour market system. Trust ties were enhanced by consistency between the key players, routinized engagement, reliability, honesty, respect, capacity and willingness to engage, and transparency. Although shared objectives made engagement easier, they were not a prerequisite for a positive relationship. Bilateral relationships that took place within the geographic boundaries of Alberta and Scotland were considered as positive and highly workable. Difficulties arose when relationships became multilateral or bilateral relations were managed at a distance. Despite devolution, multilateral relations in the historically conflicted labour market policy domain in Canada remained competitive, with a low degree of workability. Relationships with respect to disability and immigration issues were more positive. In the UK relationships in the welfare to work policy area were cooperative and highly workable. Relationships in skills and immigration did not fare as positively.

The article reviews and comments on several books including "Changing Governance of Local Economies," edited by Colin Crouch, Patrick Le Galès, Carlo Trigilia, and Helmut Voelzkow, "Convergence and Persistence in Corporate Governance," by Jeffrey N. Gordon and Mark J. Roe, and "The Global and the Local: Understanding the Dialectics of Business Systems," by Arndt Sorge.

There is a growing body of literature on the role and impact of unions in the developing world, and on their ability to mobilize members against a background of neo-liberal reforms. The South African trade union movement represents a source of inspiration to organized labour worldwide, but has faced many challenges over the years. This article engages with debates on union solidarity and worker democracy, and draws on the findings of a nationwide survey of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to explore the extent of fragmentation according to gender, age, skill level and ethnicity. The survey reveals regular participation in union affairs, democratic accountability, participation in collective action, and a strong commitment to the labour movement, but variation in levels of engagement between categories of union members indicates significant implications for union policy and practice.