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The article reviews the book, "People in Struggle: The Life and Art of Bill Stapleton," by C. H. Gervais.

The editor takes note of two papers published in the journal as well as editorial board members who received awards.

In 1919 at the height of the post-war labour revolt,the Royal Canadian Mounted Police took responsibility for national security. This volume contains archival materials and other materials received through Canadian Access to Information legislation. It includes lists of personal files, subject files, and security bulletins circulated to the government. In general the material provides an excellent overview of the genesis of the Canadian state security system. --Publisher's description

The article deals with various deregulatory efforts in relation to labour relations and labour markets in Germany. The analysis differentiates between flexibilisation as a strategy of employers and deregulation as a collection of actions taken by the state, which currently provide the political flanks for employers' efforts towards flexibility. The central measures of German deregulation are described and criticized in theoretical and empirical perspective. A controlled form of flexibility instead of a market driven, non-controlled flexibility is given preferential treatment. Proposals are made for defensive, compensatory steps towards re-regulation; offensive, formative forms of regulation are discussed.

The article reviews the book, "On Strike at Hormel: The Struggle for a Democratic Labor Movement," by Hardy Green.

The article reviews the book, "On Wisconsin Women: Working for Their Rights From Settlement to Suffrage," by Genevieve G. McBride.

The experiences of working women are explored in Women, Work, and Place. Tied together by the conceptual theme "place matters," the essays emphasize the social, cultural, economic, historical, and geographical contexts in which women work, and the effect of specific conditions on women's experiences. Topics include the transformation of the work force in nineteenth-century Montreal (Bettina Bradbury), feminization of skill in the British garment industry (Allison Kaye), the relationship between work and family for Japanese immigrant women in Canada (Audrey Kobayashi), experiences of women during a labour dispute in Ontario (Joy Parr), contemporary restructuring of the labour force in the United States (Susan Christopherson) and in an urban context in Montreal (Damaris Rose and Paul Villeneuve), the effect of gentrification on women's work roles (Liz Bondi), inequality in the work force (Sylvia Gold), and theoretical issues involved in understanding women in the contemporary city (Linda Peake). An introductory essay provides a review of current issues. --Publisher's description

The public is concerned about whether the management careers of women are hindered by discrimination and whether women and men in management who try to balance career and family are penalized for doing so. In an attempt to address those questions, data from a 1989 survey of over 600 middle-level managers im a large Canadian corporation were analyzed to examine the characteristics of jobs held by career-family and career-primary men and women. Hypotheses were developed based on human capital theory, statistical discrimination theory, and gender role congruence theory. Examining career outcomes suggested that participation in household labor had a significantly more negative association with men's hierarchical level than with women's.

A study investigates the impact of an insurance premium experience rating mechanism that is designed to induce firms to reduce the incidence of workplace accidents and accident claims costs. Logit model analysis of survey-response data and case study information is used to analyze the impact of the introduction of workers' compensation insurance premium experience rating on employer behavior in Ontario, Canada. The main result is that the financial incentives provided by experience rating have induced employers to alter their behaviors and undertake strategies aimed at accident prevention (reducing accident frequency rates) and reducing workers' compensation claims cost.

A model of a critical union commitment dimension - willingness to work for the union - is proposed and tested. Given the decline in union density in most advanced industrial societies, unions all over face the need for increased member activism. Organization and social psychological theories, along with previous empirical research, are used to develop the conceptual model, measures, and predictions. These predictions are tested via a 2-stage regression model, using data from a large sample of Swedish professional union members. As predicted, both attitudinal commitment and subjective norms are critical influences on the individual's willingness to work on behalf of the union. These results suggest that future research on union participation should focus on the determinants of behavioral intentions given the high correlation between willingness to work for the union and actual participation.

The article reviews the books, "Histoire des idées sociologiques, Tome I : Des origines à Weber; Tome 2 : De Parsons aux contemporains," by Michel Lallement.

The article reviews the book, "Working Women of Collar City: Gender, Class, and Community in Tory, 1864-86," by Carole Turbin.

Recent studies of labour have clearly established that the capitalist state is very involved in the recruitment, relocation and retention of migrant labour forces. Most of the literature tends to analyze migrant labour within the broader social, political and economic context of expanding capitalism. Consequently, studies tend to focus on how the use of migrant labour is profitable to capitalism because it is cheap and easy to exploit. Such studies, however, neglect the ways in which the state actually intervenes in the labour market in order to facilitate the flow of migrant workers to places of employment. Therefore, this thesis explores the relationship between the migration of labour, the state and the reserve army of labour through an analysis of the Native migrant work force in the sugar beet industry in southern Alberta.

The article reviews the book, "La Culture inventée. Les stratégies culturelles aux 19e et 20e siècles," edited by Pierre Lanthier and Guido Rousseau.

Authors/editors Langdon and Cross show that the Canadian left has energy and ideas. They bring together activist writers fighting for a sustainable environment, for quality health care and other key public services, for a community-based economy, and for equality for women and people of colour. All are engaged in real-world work for progressive change. The contributors are organizers, community activists, those who've run provincial governments, and some of Canada's most thoughtful labour leaders. --Publisher's description

This article uses a classical Marxist framework to study the consciousness and action of inside postal workers in Hamilton, Ontario during and after their participation in the 1987 strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). At the time of the strike the Hamilton Local of CUPW was 58 per cent women; the article includes a discussion of the impact of gender processes on women worker's consciousness and action. It also deals with three more general issues. First, through a discussion of conceptual issues and the presentation of a multi-level theoretical model, I offer advice on how to proceed with empirical research on strikes and class consciousness. Second, the "culture of solidarity" portrayal of strikers, as developed by Rick Fantasia, is criticized for presenting an over-integrated view of the participation and consciousness of strikers. I argue that one need not romanticize striking workers in order to be optimistic about the political role of the contemporary working class. This optimism must recognize that in a macro context of politico-economic stability, only a minority of a striking workforce can be expected to experience an expansion of generalized class consciousness. Third, I suggest that Marxist political action in the 1990s should concentrate on the development of generalized class consciousness, especially workers' positive sense of class unity, through the organization of local worker solidarity networks.

Cette étude fournit une synthèse des travaux effectués par des économistes sur le thème de la santé et de la sécurité du travail. Ces derniers ont surtout essayé d'évaluer les effets des différentes politiques adoptées par les gouvernements en tant au 'assureur et promoteur de la santé et sécurité au travail. Le texte tente également défaire le point sur la question de la substitution entre l'assurance-accident et l'assurance-chômage. À la lumière d'une comparaison internationale de la générosité de ces deux régimes d'assurance, des solutions de rechange sont proposées permettant de réduire l'incitation à la substitution.

The article reviews the book, "Entre voisins. La société paroissiale en milieu urbain: Saint-Pierre-Apôtre de Montréal, 1849-1930," by Lucia Ferretti.

L'objet de cet article est d'apporter des précisions sur les positions des dirigeants syndicaux locaux à l'égard des nouvelles formes d'organisation du travail. Les résultats de l'enquête par questionnaire auprès de dirigeants locaux de la FTQ, de la CSN et de la CSD démontrent que les positions varient selon la nature des nouvelles formes d'organisation du travail. De façon générale, les positions syndicales sont favorables et elles ont évolué en ce sens au cours des dernières années. La volonté de s'adapter à un environnement changeant, la position de la centrale syndicale et l'expérience passée sont les facteurs qui expliquent le mieux les variations des positions syndicales locales.