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It is a widely held axiom of British Columbia' s labour history that the province' s radical tradition originated among immigrant British workers who formed the social bedrock of Vancouver Island's coaltowns in the 19th century. This paper challenges the stereotype of the British BC worker in the last century by balancing the post-immigration experience against the pre-emigration vocabulary of work, class, race, and politics. I conclude that insofar as a British fountainhead is significant for BC's political history it is in the diffusion of class solidarity to competing claimants for political support. The legacy of the British collier on Vancouver Island was not one of monolithic radicalism or even Labourism; instead it was one of conflicting inclinations which were as politically divisive for labour in Britain as they were on Canada's west coast.

The article reviews the book, "Recasting Steel Labour: The Stelco Story," by June Corman, Meg Luxton, D. W. Livingstone and Wally Seccombe.

Au Canada, le secteur des services privés, qui compte 40,4 % de la main-d’œuvre, n'a qu'une densité syndicale de 10,7 % comparativement à 37,9 % pour le secteur privé des biens (26,9 % de la main-d’œuvre) et 58,6 % pour le secteur public (32,7 % de la main-d’œuvre). Notre enquête démontre pourtant que près de 40 % des travailleurs non syndiqués des services privés des villes de Montréal et de Toronto désirent se syndiquer. Les facteurs explicatifs les plus importants de cette propension à se syndiquer sont les attitudes envers les syndicats, l'influence du groupe informel de travail, la solidarité avec les travailleurs et la satisfaction au travail. Les implications de cette enquête pour les acteurs du système de relations industrielles sont explorées.

The article reviews the book , "Ballots and Barricades: Class Formation and Republican Politics in France, 1830-1871," by Ronald Aminzade.

The article reviews the book, "Mutual Gains. A Guide to Union-Management Cooperation," by Edward Cohen-Rosenthal and Cynthia E. Burton.

Le facteur humain est un sujet de préoccupation constant pour les chefs d'entreprise. La turbulence de l'environnement force les entreprises à s'adapter aux changements de façon à se prémunir contre les menaces et à profiter des opportunités. La littérature en gestion des ressources humaines suggère que la perception d'un degré élevé de turbulence de l'environnement pousse les dirigeants d'entreprises à percevoir favorablement les ressources humaines. Nous avons exploré cette hypothèse auprès des propriétaires-dirigeants de supermarchés d'alimentation québécois.

The article reviews the book, "Les relations du travail au Québec : une analyse de la situation dans le secteur public," by Michel Leclerc and Michel Quimper.

Symposium on the book, "Industrial relations theory: its nature, scope and pedagogy," edited by Roy J. Adams and Noah M. Meltz. Introduction to the symposium by Jean Boivin, with commentaries by Mark Thompson, Richard B. Peterson, and Jean Boivin.

Cet article examine les développements récents de la négociation collective et de l'organisation du travail dans l'industrie québécoise du papier. L'analyse des négociations menées ces dernières années par les syndicats du papier affiliés à la CSN révèle le caractère central des stratégies de flexibilisation du travail chez les employeurs, et de protection de l'emploi du côté syndical. La flexibilité fonctionnelle constitue l'aspect essentiel des changements en cours dans cette industrie depuis la fin des années 1980, les employeurs cherchant à améliorer l'efficacité productive par une rationalisation des tâches et une réduction des emplois. Dans certaines usines, la réorganisation du travail a suscité un renouveau de l'action syndicale à travers l'implication des salariés et de leur syndicat dans la gestion de l'entreprise.

The article reviews the book, "The Westray Tragedy: A Miner's Story," by Shaun Comish.

Quelles seront les incidences du nouveau Code civil sur la Loi sur les normes du travail ? De même que sa réciproque, quel sera l'effet de la Loi sur les normes sur l'interprétation des dispositions du Code ? Cette relation synergique qui devra s'établir entre les textes des deux législations fait l'objet de la présente étude. Cette analyse est à la fois comparative et prospective. L'auteur a retenu six points de comparaison : la prééminence des textes, la notion de salarié, le service continu, la rupture du lien d'emploi, le certificat de travail et l'aliénation d'entreprise.

The author estimates the influence of foreign corporate ownership and international unionism on strike activity in Canadian manufacturing between 1965 and 1985, controlling for several other determinants of strike activity that were largely ignored in previous studies. He finds, contrary to the results of other studies, that the incidence and duration of strikes did not differ significantly between foreign-owned and domestically owned firms or between international and national unions. Strike incidence was significantly lower, however, among unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO than among unions affiliated with a Canadian federation.

The articler reviews the book, "Retraining - Not Redundancy. Innovative Approaches to Industrial Restructuring in Germany and France," by Gerhard Bosch.

The article reviews the book, "The Politics of Work: Gender and Labour in Victoria, 1880-1939," by Raelene Frances.

The article reviews the book, "The Battle for Coal: Miners and the Politics of Nationalization in France, 1940-1950," by Darryl Holter.

The article introduces the edited transcript of sessions of the Mine Mill Centennial Conference held in Sudbury, Ontario, in May 1993. The conference, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers' Union, was attended by 200 people including union stewards, academics, labour leaders, and retired workers. The sessions provided a forum for retired activists to reflect on their lifetime of experience in the union movement as well as to address current political concerns. Themes included the union and communism, the union in the community, relations with other unions, women in the labour movement (notably the Mine Mill Women's Auxiliary), political activism, and the path forward for working people and organized labour. Brief biographies of the presenters are also provided.

The article reviews the book, "Controlling Common Property: Regulating Canada's East Coast Fishery," by David Ralph Matthews.

James Teit played a key role in the native rights movement in British Columbia, and he spearheaded the attempt to bring greater unity to the movement by struggling for the unity of natives and non-natives, and the unity of the interior and coast native peoples. It is simply impossible to understand the history of the native rights movement in British Columbia in the first two decades of the twentieth century without understanding the role played by James Teit. --From Introduction

The article reviews the book, "Les syndicats face au pouvoir. Syndicalisme et politique au Québec de 1960 à 1992," by Roch Denis and Serge Denis.

The article reviews and comments on three books including "Out of Work," by Margaret Harkness, "The Story of a Modern Woman," by Ella Hepworth Dixon and "Sandwichman," by Walter Brierley.