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Summary: Many young individuals now prioritize involvement in collective action as a means to instigate societal change. Crucially, they have access to social media platforms, which help them connect with like-minded peers and coordinate efforts. Some of them may be thus more inclined to favour less conventional collective action over formal union membership. In this study, which draws on data from young British workers during the period from December 2022 to March 2023, we endeavoured to ascertain this cohort’s preferred approach to collective action. We distinguished between an informal grassroots initiative and one led by a labour union as a means to advance the rights of gig economy workers. To this end, we conducted a controlled online experiment. We focused exclusively on a specific age cohort within a particular timeframe, thus limiting our ability to determine generational differences in preferences for collective action and in attitudes toward unions. Nevertheless, the results do offer insights into the forms of collective action preferred by Generation Z. British youth were found to view the informal grassroots initiative more positively than the union-led one. However, they viewed the latter as potentially having greater influence on government policy. Furthermore, they were not significantly more willing to join one initiative than the other. Nonetheless, they were more inclined to recommend the grassroots initiative. This paper contributes to the body of research on the relationship between labour unions and young people. It also provides insight into how members of Generation Z think about various ways of participating in collective action.

In this episode of Spring Radio, Spring member Dave Bush sits down with labour journalist Emily Leedham to reflect on workers’ struggles in Canada in 2023, and the state of labour journalism. --Introduction

In this episode of Spring Radio, we share excerpts from "Red October" where Spring members discuss why fighting transphobia, homophobia, racism, and sexism is inherently a workers’ issue and why socialists need to build anti-oppressive, multi-racial working class movements. --Introduction

Employment insurance should deal with misclassification and extend emergency support to those who now fall through the cracks.

Without a public home-care system, disabled people are forced to choose between living in a long-term care home, medical assistance in dying, and hiring an underpaid migrant home-care worker. ...As organizers, former care workers, and care receivers, we – Megan Linton, Mary Jean Hande, and Ethel Tungohan – know the transformative potential of building common cause between migrant care workers and low-income home-care users. We write this article as part of the Towards Just Care project, which brings together the perspectives of low-income home-care receivers and migrant care workers to imagine a more just home-care system that doesn’t rely on global labour exploitation that displaces workers from their families and communities and that provides inadequate home-care services that endanger care receivers.

Across Canada, union coverage is inversely proportionate to inequality. From lifting wages and securing employment benefits to advocating for public programs, union power is a bulwark against inequality.

The article reviews the book, "On Class," by Deborah Dundas.

A judge will allow a lawyer for two former Quebec Major Junior Hockey League players to file evidence and make verbal arguments about why a $30 million settlement in three class-action lawsuits filed by current and former Canadian Hockey League players should be rejected.

...A new study from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute dives deep into perceptions of labour unions, finding a nation with competing views about the value and cost of organized work in Canada, among union members and non-members alike. Overall, Canadians largely feel that unions have had a positive impact for those they represent. Three-in-five say this, approximately three-times as many as say the impact has been a net negative. The cost-benefit calculation is more divided when considering the impact of unions on the country’s economy as a whole. Two-in-five say this impact is a positive one while three-in-ten say it has been negative. Workers themselves have their own experiences. For most, union membership has been a plus. Three-in-five members of both public (62%) and private (63%) sector unions say they’re satisfied with the representation they receive. Half as many say they’re dissatisfied, suggesting there is plenty of room for improvement. Progress may come from more than one area. Overall, among those who have gone to a union representative for assistance, three-in-ten (30%) say they did not feel supported. Women are slightly more likely to say they did not feel supported (36%) than men (30%). Further, when they think about the costs of membership and the benefits they receive, two-in-five union members (39%) say they do not receive adequate benefit for what they pay. Asked which of the main federal political parties they think is currently best suited to improve their own situation, public sector union members overwhelmingly say the NDP, traditionally associated with organized labour, is the best option (49% say this, a 31-point advantage over the next option chosen). That said, those in private sector unions are less certain. One-third say the Conservative Party would be best (32%), one-third choose the NDP (32%) and 26 per cent choose the governing Liberal Party. --Website summary

Work stoppages, including number of work stoppages, maximum number of employees involved, average duration, and number of person-days not worked due to work stoppages by jurisdiction, industry, and sector, annually, from 1946 to 2020.

The Labour Issue: Rebuilding the working class. On International Workers’ Day, we celebrate the power of workers—together, we have the power to fundamentally transform the economy. That’s why this issue of the Monitor focuses on labour power. In his lead editorial, CCPA Senior Communications Specialist Jon Milton writes about the need to rebuild the working class in the face of persistent attacks on organized labour’s strength. --Website introduction

Gabriela Calugay-Casuga and CUPE Ontario secretary-treasurer Yolanda McClean talk about gender and racial equity for Canada’s labour movement.

The article reviews the book, "The Story of Work, A New History of Humanity," by Jan Lucasssen.

Cet article vise à comprendre l’émergence et le développement d’une gestion des ressources humaines (GRH) inclusive en PME. Le concept d’inclusion renvoie à l’épanouissement professionnel et à la reconnaissance des salariés (Bonneveux et al., 2020). Cette forme de GRH comporte une visée intégrative dans la mesure où elle offre la possibilité d’améliorer la collaboration notamment entre le dirigeant et ses salariés. Dans cette optique, nous avons mobilisé de façon originale la logique du don de Mauss, couplée à la littérature sur la GRH en PME afin de proposer une nouvelle grille de lecture. À partir du cas emblématique d’une PME, une étude qualitative longitudinale a été menée sur une période de 8 ans. Les résultats soulignent le décalage entre les contre-dons attendus et ceux réellement réalisés par le dirigeant, qui conditionnent in fine l’adonnement des salariés. Ce déséquilibre dans la relation amène à la construction d’une GRH inclusive.

In this singular firsthand account, a former migrant worker reveals a disturbing system of exploitation at the heart of Canada’s farm labour system. When Gabriel Allahdua applied to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Canada, he thought he would be leaving his home in St. Lucia to work in a country with a sterling human rights reputation and commitment to multiculturalism. Instead, breakneck quotas and a culture of fear dominated his four years in a mega-greenhouse in Ontario. This deeply personal memoir takes readers behind the scenes to see what life is really like for the people who produce Canada’s food. Now, as a leading activist in the migrant justice movement in Canada, Gabriel is fighting back against the Canadian government to demand rights and respect for temporary foreign labourers. Harvesting Freedom shows Canada’s place in the long history of slavery, colonialism, and inequality that has linked the Caribbean to the wider world for half a millennium--but also the tireless determination of Caribbean people to fight for their freedom. -- Publisher's description

Describes the author's visit to the Ludlow Monument in Ludlow, Colorado, that memorializes the 1914 massacre of striking coal miners by national guard and private security forces of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Iron and Fuel Company. Illustrations are included.

This study is about the impact of discriminatory job loss (DJL) on individual attitudes. It is based on interviews with 36 academics who were inequitably and involuntarily fired, and aggressively and punitively discriminated against. We extend previous research on workplace discrimination by exploring the effects of discriminatory job loss on a skilled workforce and by going beyond the job loss itself to examine coping mechanisms, resilience and post-traumatic growth. We found that gratitude, patience and optimism or pessimism about one’s future and career were leading individual factors in the ability to cope with discriminatory job loss. Such coping mechanisms, and their roles in resilience and post-traumatic growth, were described to us by academics in Turkey and abroad.

The article reviews the book, "Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia," by Sean Carleton.