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In the turbulent 1960s Canadians debated foreign control of the Canadian economy and Canada’s relations with the United States. The Canadian section of the United Auto Workers (UAW) also struggled with these questions as it faced a number of government policies designed to bolster the auto industry and solve balance of payments difficulties, culminating in the 1965 Canada-United States Auto motive Products Trade Agreement (auto pact). The auto pact rationalized the Canadian Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) production into their parent corporations and by 1970 the Canadian industry was fully integrated into a continental system of North American automobile manufacturing. The Canadian UAW played an ineffectual role in shaping this transformation, one which rekindled and exacerbated conflict within the membership and between militant locals and the union’s leadership. Nonetheless, by the end of the decade, the union had become a strong advocate of the new continental auto regime, a reflection of the increased employment and production resulting from the changes. The essay explains the issues the union faced in this period and some of the long-term consequences which the continentalization of the auto industry had on the union.

The book, "Imports, Exports, and Jobs. What Does Trade Mean for Employment and Job Loss," by Lori G. Kletzer, is reviewed.

Canadian communism did not spring out of the ground suddenly at the end of World War I, and it was not smuggled into the country by Russian agents. The men and women who built the new movement were long-time socialist and labour militants in Canada. Inspired by the Russian Revolution and by their own experiences as leaders of the post-war labour revolt in Canada, they set about to create a new kind of party, one that could lead the fight for workers' power. The new Communist Party, formed between 1919 and 1921, quickly became the largest party on the left, with strong roots and influence in the unions and basic industry. Its members led heroic strikes. They fought for labor unity, and engaged in united electoral activity with other currents in the workers movement. They were in the forefront of the struggle for democratic rights. Ten years later, the party was destroyed. Most of its founding leaders were expelled, and three quarters of its membership dropped out. The Communist Party abandoned the program it had adopted in its early years, and turned its back on its principles. The organization still called itself Communist, but it was now "Tim Buck's Party." It had been transformed from a revolutionary party into an agent of the new ruling caste in Moscow. In Canadian Bolsheviks, Ian Angus describes and explains the first attempt to build a Leninist party on Canadian soil, showing why it succeeded so well at first, and why it ultimately failed. The second edition of a book that has been widely hailed as a pathbreaking work, "the best yet to appear" on the origins of Canadian communism. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Labour Politics in Small Open Democracies: Australia, Chile, Ireland, New Zealand and Uruguay," by Paul G. Buchanan and Kate Nicholls.

When first published in 1972, Survival was considered the most startling book ever written about Canadian literature. Since then, it has continued to be read and taught, and it continues to shape the way Canadians look at themselves. Distinguished, provocative, and written in effervescent, compulsively readable prose, Survival is simultaneously a book of criticism, a manifesto, and a collection of personal and subversive remarks. Margaret Atwood begins by asking: "What have been the central preoccupations of our poetry and fiction?" Her answer is "survival and victims." Atwood applies this thesis in twelve brilliant, witty, and impassioned chapters; from Moodie to MacLennan to Blais, from Pratt to Purdy to Gibson, she lights up familiar books in wholly new perspectives. This new edition features a foreword by the author. --Publisher's description.

The article reviews the book, "La révolution technique : essai sur le devoir d'humanité," by Daniel Jacques.

The article reviews the book, "Public Pensions: Gender and Civic Service in the States, 1850-1937," Susan M. Sterett.

The article reviews the book, "New Labor History: Worker Identity and Experience in Russia, 1840-1918," edited by Michael Melancon and Alice K. Pate.

Drawing on the literature as well as themes emerging from interview data collected as part of a multi-year, three-province (Alberta, Nova Scotia and British Columbia), qualitative study (eighty-three semi-structured interviews) of the restructured social services sector in Canada, this article explores discernible types of caring work delineating seven kinds, only one of which is paid. The social service workers' description of their changing worlds show not only extremely heavy workloads but also that their paid, volunteer, community, and union activist work involve many of the same skills, tasks and mind sets, thus blurring the lines between professional and non-professional identities as well as the lines between work and leisure. Moreover, this work was highly gendered and significantly racialized.

[D]ocuments the application of pro-active pay equity legislation to the private sector of the Canadian province of Ontario in the early 1990s. We report substantial lapses in compliance among smaller firms where the majority of men and women work. We also find that the pay equity law had no effect on aggregate wages in female jobs or on the gender wage gap. This experience provides unique perspectives on (1) the tensions between the workings of a decentralized labour market and the principles of comparable worth and (2) the obstacles to its extension to the private sector.

The article reviews the book, "Taking Stands: Gender and the Sustainability of Rural Communities," by Maureen G. Reed.

The book, "Worked Over: The Corporate Sabotage of an American Community," by Dimitra Doukas, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Taxing Illusions: Taxation, Democracy and Embedded Political Theory," by Phillip Hansen.

The BC Labour Heritage Centre Society was founded in 2004 with JJ (Jack) Munro as Chair. The Society preserves, documents and presents the rich history of working people in British Columbia. The Society engages in partnerships and projects that help define and express the role that work and workers have played in the evolution of social policy and its impact on the present and future shaping of the province. --Website "About" page.

Inspirés par les explications « pull » et « push » de la résurgence du travail autonome dans les années 1980 et 1990, nous proposons un modèle inédit de l’entrée dans le travail autonome et une évaluation de sa pertinence à partir des résultats d’une enquête originale via l’Internet auprès de 748 travailleurs autonomes québécois. La principale hypothèse de notre modèle propose que le passage au travail autonome découle le plus souvent d’une décision motivée à la fois par des aspirations personnelles et professionnelles spécifiques et par des conditions d’emploi précaires ou insatisfaisantes. Les résultats de notre étude exploratoire confirment la pertinence de notre hypothèse quant à l’influence combinée des facteurs « push » et « pull » sur la décision d’entrer dans le travail autonome. Elle révèle néanmoins des différences significatives entre les déterminants des décisions des hommes et des femmes.

The article reviews the book, "Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream: Gender, Class, and Opportunity in the Twentieth Century," by Glenna Matthews.

The article reviews the book, "La relation de service : opportunités et questions nouvelles pour l’ergonomie," edited by François Hubault.

The article reviews the book, "La convention collective au Québec," by Gérard Hébert, Reynald Bourque, Anthony Giles, Michel Grant, Patrice Jalette, Gilles Trudeau and Guylaine Vallée.

In Common and Contested Ground, Theodore Binnema provides a sweeping and innovative interpretation of the history of the northwestern plains and its peoples from prehistoric times to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The real history of the northwestern plains between a.d. 200 and 1806 was far more complex, nuanced, and paradoxical than often imagined. Drawn by vast herds of buffalo and abundant resources, bands of Indians, fur traders, and settlers moved across the northwestern plains establishing intricate patterns of trade, diplomacy, and warfare. In the process, the northwestern plains became a common and contested ground. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Binnema examines the impact of technology on the peoples of the northern plains, beginning with the bow-and-arrow and continuing through the arrival of the horse, European weapons, Old World diseases, and Euroamerican traders. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Jacques-Victor Morin: Syndicaliste et Educateur Populaire," by Matieu Denis.