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The article reviews the book, "Empty Promisses: Quality of Working Life Programmes and the Labour Movement," by Donald M. Wells.

The article reviews the book, "Irish Migrants in the Canadas: A New Approach," by Bruce S. Elliott.

This collection of essays stems from a joint conference held at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth by the Committee on Canadian Labour History and the Society for the Study of Welsh Labour History. An Introduction by David Montgomery places the essays in a broader international perspective. Contributors from Wales include John Williams, Christopher Turner, Merfyn Jones, Dot Jones, and Deian R. Hopkin. Canadian essays are by Craig Heron, Robert Babcock, Bruno Ramirez, Allen Seager, Linda Kealey, Varpu Lindstrom-Best, and Gregory S. Kealey. The volume includes photographs, maps and tables. --Publisher's description. Contents: The rise and decline of the Welsh economy, 1890-1930 / John Williams -- Labour and industrial capitalist development in the North Atlantic Region, 1880-1920 / Robert Babcock -- The second Industrial Revolution in Canada, 1890-1930 / Craig Heron -- Conflicts of faith? / Christopher Turner -- Serfdom and slavery / Dot Jones -- Of men and stones / Merfyn Jones -- Migration and regional labour markets, 1870-1915 / Bruno Ramirez -- No special protection--no sympathy / Linda Kealey -- Miners'struggles in Western Canada, 1890-1930 / Allan Seager -- Canadian mining towns / Varpu Linstrom-Best -- The parameters of class conflict / Gregory S. Kealey -- The great unrest in Wales, 1910-1913 / Deian R. Hopkin. Papers from a conference of Committee on Canadian Labour History and Llafur, the Society for the Study of Welsh Labour History, held in April 1987 near Newtown in Mid-Wales.

Compilation of recent English/French publications on Canadian labour history that emphasize the period 1800-1975. Materials pertaining to the post-1975 period may also be included, although more selectively. See also the database, Canadian Labour History, 1976-2009, published at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

This paper reports the results of a large-scale Canadian survey of nine types of workplace innovation — profit sharing, gain sharing, pay for knowledge, job sharing, job enrichment, semi-autonomous work groups, quality circles, labour management committees, and 'other' joint problem solving groups. The paper assesses the incidence ofeach type, patterns of implementation, survival rates, and trends over time.

The authors is preoccupied with the performance of given societies in providing work opportunites for their citizens, and in developing private and public policies which contribute to employment security.

El author analiza como las medidas politicas y economicas tomadas por los Estados han cambiado los sistemas de relaciones industriales en algunos paises de America Latina. Presenta las relaciones de trabajo como un "factor estrategico de desarollo" y estudia como esta influido por las relaciones que tienen los gobiernos con los sindicatos y las empresas, eso a traves de los diversos cambios, sobre todo economicos, ocurridos desde los ultimos 10 anos.

The article reviews the book, "Economic Crisis, Trade Unions and the State," edited by Otto Jacobi. Bob Jessop, Hans Kastendiendiek, and Marino Regini.

The article reviews the book, "The Worst Street in North London, Campbell Bunk, Islington, Between the Wars," by Jerry White.

The article reviews the book, "Witness Against War: Pacifism in Canada, 1900-1945," by Thomas P. Socknat.

Dans la foulée de la décision qu'il avait rendue dans Société canadienne des postes et Shoppers Drug Mart Limited, le Conseil a récemment été amené à examiner de nouveau l'application des dispositions relatives aux droits de successeur dans le secteur des postes. Il a conclu à deux reprises, mais pour des motifs différents, que la concession de l'exploitation d'un bureau de poste avec marge brute à l'intérieur d'une pharmacie ne constituait pas une vente d'entreprise au sens du Code canadien du travail (le Code) parce qu'aucun transfert au sens des dispositions relatives aux droits de successeur n 'avait été établi. Contrairement à la situation prévalant dans Shoppers Drug Mart Limited, dans ces deux affaires, la Société canadienne des postes (la Société) n'avait consenti aux concessionnaires aucune exclusivité à l'égard de la vente des produits et services postaux pour le territoire visé dans chacun des contrats.

Saisi de cinq requêtes complexes impliquant un groupe important de professionnels, le Conseil canadien des relations du travail (le Conseil) a pour la première fois effectué une étude exhaustive des dispositions du Code canadien du travail (le Code) qui traitent du statut des professionnels dans la détermination des unités de négociation. Après avoir abordé toutes les difficultés suscitées par l'application de ces dispositions, le Conseil adopte une interprétation restrictive de la notion de «professionnel au sens du Code».

This article reviews the book, "Capitalism vs Socialism? Canadian and Swedish Labour Market Policies Compared," by Joseph Smucker & Axel Van Den Berg.

This article reviews the book, "Designing Effective Organizations. The Sociotechnical Systems Perspective," by William A. Pasmore.

This article reviews the book, "The Individual, Work and Organization. Behavioural Studies in Business and Management Students," by Robin Fincham & Peter S. Rhodes.

This article reviews the book, "Thriving on Chaos. Handbook for a Managerial Revolution," by Tom Peters.

With few expections trade union histories, even those emanating from the broad left, trace the development of the union movement through a series of hard-won victories codified in modern collective bargaining law. This thesis joins with more recent critical approahcees to industrial legality in a fundamental quesstioning of the effect of progressive legal victories. American scholarship especially has begun to probe the limitations imposed by a framework of rigid legal rules that work as much to circumscribe the expression of workers' interests as they do to promote them. In an attempt to understand this two-sidedness of industrial legality, the first chapter of the thesis embarks on a theoretical examination of law, paying particular attention to the meaning of the base/superstructure configuration. The chapter builds on the original writings of Marx and Engels - which never fully developed a theory of 'law' - bringing their concepts into the context of twentieth-century capitalism and highlighting the role of class struggle. In this way, the law is revealed as growing out of, and sharing, the essential values that constitute cpaitalist accumulation - values that elevate property and the procewss of production and accumulation above the aspirations of the working class. The second chapter traces the development of industrial legality in Canada, situating it in terms of class formation, class struggle, and the role of the state. This is a synthetic account of the formative years of Canadian industrial legislation, setting the stage for the analysis of collective agreements that follows. Chapter 3 explores the developing content of collective agreements forged in the 1940s through a sample of 120 contracts signed between employers and the Steelworkers, Packinghouse Workers, and Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. Of particular interest is the effect of management rights clauses, union security and seniority clauses, and grievance procedures. Finally, the last chapter will consider the dilemmas facing unions that now find themselves caught in the web of legality, with alienated memberships and the possibilities for class-action severely circumscribed.

This paper uses two recent books in Canadian labour history, Craig Heron's "Working in Steel" and Ian Radforth's "Bushworkers and Bosses," to briefly review the place of masculinity in working-class history. The author suggests that while Heron and Radforth introduce masculinity into their studies, they do not fully develop all of its meanings and functions. Drawing upon the literature on the social construction of work, gender, and sexuality, the paper then goes on to suggest some ways in which we can begin to explore aspects of masculinity and sexuality within working-class history.

The article reviews the book, "The Regulation of Desire: Sexuality in Canada," by Gary Kinsman.

Ganong Bros., a family-owned confectionery factory, is a major employer in a small town in southwestern New Brunswick. Up to the end of the Second World War, the period of this study, the numbers employed in the confectionery industry fluctuated dramatically with the variable seasonal demand for confectionery. At Ganong Bros., less than half the total workforce was employed for more than half the year. Work in the factory was divided along gender lines men made the candy, and women added the finishing touches. About two-thirds of the factory employees were women, most of them young and single. These women could be considered as a reserve army of labour, since many of them worked for a few weeks only, in the busiest season. But when women were not available to fill positions in traditionally female departments, Ganong Bros. management did not consider hiring men instead, even when the women's wages compared favourably to men's. Management decisions about the organization of work in the factory were influenced not only by technical or financial considerations, but by unquestioned assumptions about what work was appropriate to each gender.