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In contrast to gloomy diagnoses of the state of industrial relations in the US, the situation in Britain is comparatively healthy. Reasons include the way in which the human resource management (HRM) challenge was met and the intellectual development of the subject from old industrial relations towards a deeper analysis of the employment relationship. These reasons are closely connected to the continuation of a case study tradition of research. Examples of such work illustrating this analysis, particularly those exploring management and the nature of HRM, are discussed. A future research agenda comparing national regimes of labor regulation is sketched.

The article reviews the book, "On Different Planes: An Organizational Analysis of Cooperation and Conflict Among Airline Unions," by David J. Walsh.

The article reviews the book, "Marxist Intellectuals and the Working-Class Mentality in Germany, 1887-1912," by Stanley Pierson.

The article reviews the book, "La société libérale duplessiste," by Gilles Bourque, Jules Duchastel and Jacques Beauchemin.

The article reviews the book, "C.L.R. James and Revolutionary Marxism: Selected Writings of C.L.R. James 1939-1949," edited by Scott McLemee and Paul Le Blanc.

Le processus de conception d'une situation de travail résulte de la coopération de plusieurs acteurs (opérateurs, concepteurs, ergonomes). À travers trois études, nous illustrons le fait que les résultats de l'analyse de l'activité sont essentiels pour orienter le processus de conception, mais aussi pour favoriser la coopération des acteurs. La première étude met l'accent sur l'intérêt d'une analyse de l'activité collective en vue de la définition des nouvelles salles de régulation du trafic urbain. La deuxième étude souligne l'intérêt pour les concepteurs de réaliser l'évaluation d'un système d'assistance en situation réaliste d'utilisation. La troisième étude montre le rôle moteur que joue l'analyse de l'activité aux différentes phases d'un processus de conception informatique.

The article reviews the book, "Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s," by Amy Swerdlow.

The debate about public funding and regulation of childcare has always had as its central focus: should mothers be encouraged or discouraged from seeking paid work outside the home? While some scholars argue that labour needs -- the "reserve army" thesis --best explain resulting public policies regarding childcare, this article argues that campaigns by women's organizations, sometimes aided by mixed-sex progressive social organizations, have been more important in public policy-making. Discourse on paid work for women with children has shifted from 1945 to 1990 from extremely negative to ambivalent. But the Right has limited the impact of women's mobilization for shared state responsibility for childcare by insisting on childcare arrangements as a working mother's responsibility.

The article reviews the book, "Consuming Canada: Readings in Environmental History," edited by Chad Gaffield and Pam Gaffield.

This collection of essays provides a generous introduction to the vibrant field of labour and working-class history in Canada's eastern provinces. Organized in four sections covering pre-industrial labour, the industrial revolution, labour's wars of the early twentieth century, and the rise of industrial legality, the book should prove useful in university classrooms and for all readers interested in the history of the region's ordinary people. Concluding chapters address topics of current interest such as public sector unionism, the role of women in the fishery, and the horrors of the Westray mine disaster. The editors provide an introduction, section heads, and suggestions for further reading. The volume is edited by David Frank, Department of History, University of New Brunswick, the former editor of Acadiensis, and Gregory S. Kealey, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dean of Graduate Studies. Authors include T. W. Acheson, Rusty Bittermann, Sean Cadigan, Jessie Chisholm, Patricia M. Connelly, Peter DeLottinville, E. R. Forbes, Eugene Forsey, Harry Glasbeek, Linda Little, Martha MacDonald, Robert McIntosh, Ian McKay, D. A. Muise, Nolan Reilly, Eric W. Sager, Anthony Thomson, and Eric Tucker. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Lost Comrades: Socialists of the Front Generation, 1918-1945," by Dan S. White.

A large-scale project to introduce a participatory ergonomics approach into 100 health care establishments in France was conducted by a hospital sector union. The project took the form of ergonomics training provided to union delegates to committees responsible for health, safety, and working conditions. Data on the project's progress and results show that when unions had assimilated an ergonomic approach, the view that hospital actors had of one another was modified, as were the relations concerning working condition issues. The conditions for the success, extension and durability of this approach are discussed.

The article reviews the book, "La résolution des griefs dans l'entreprise," by Jean-Claude Bernatchez.

Les relations entre le vieillissement des salariés et les conditions de travail se situent à deux niveaux: l'un individuel qui est propre au vieillissement de chacun, l'autre collectif qui est marqué par les phénomènes de génération et d'époque. Ces relations ont été étudiées dans l'industrie automobile française en se centrant sur le travail répétitif sous cadence imposée et en associant des approches en démographie du travail et des approches ergonomiques. Les résultats permettent de définir des actions anticipatrices pour éviter les effets négatifs d'une double évolution : celle du vieillissement de la population des opérateurs et celle de l'organisation du travail.

Changements dans la législation du travail au Canada.

Certification data were used from the province of Nova Scotia to provide further evidence that convergence of industrial relations systems between the US and Canada is far from unavoidable. Contrary to arguments advanced by Troy (1991), private sector organizing in Canada, even when operating under a US-style legal environment, remains remarkably robust, posting a win rate of 68% over a 10-year period with no evidence of longitudinal decline. Furthermore, there is compelling evidence that international unions are unable to match the organizing performance of their Canadian counterparts.

The Canadian Auto Workers union, the CAW, has a long and rich history. Part of the U.S.-based United Auto Workers for almost fifty years, the CAW separated from its American parent in 1985. Today, the Canadian Auto Workers union encompasses members from a broad range of industries. It is also one of the most powerful unions in the country. Yet few people know the union's history, how it acquired its strength, or what accounts for its split with its American parent. This illustrated history provides a fascinating look at the union from its origins to the present. Beginning in the twenties, Sam Gindin describes the early years of the automobile industry and the emergence of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. He looks at the birth of the UAW in 1936, the conflicts that rocked the union in the fifties, the signing of theAutopact in the sixties, and the historic split of the Canadian section from the UAW two decades later. Finally, he considers the issues facing the union and the Canadian labour movement as the century draws to a close. By providing a profile of the CAW as well as the labour and social movements that it helped shape, The Canadian Auto Workers offers us something unusual — an engrossing glimpse of our past, written from a union perspective. --Publisher's description