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This paper seeks to explore the history of miners’ struggles to represent their interests in health and safety in coalmines in a range of countries in the period between 1870 and 1925. It has two objectives, the first objective being to examine these struggles both in terms of what determined them and how effective they were. The second objective is to assess the significance of these struggles for current understandings of representative participation in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). Starting with late 19th century Australia, the research method involved search, retrieval and analysis of historical sources including newspaper accounts, recorded testimony to Commissions of Inquiry into mining incidents and disasters, records of the debates of the legislature on relevant regulatory reforms and records of trade union meetings, as well as the accounts of contemporary observers and published analysis. Extending its inquiry to other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Belgium, the methods used for these countries were less focused on newspaper accounts and more reliant on the analysis of published historical records of national and international trade union congresses, and those of the legislatures of these countries, as well as theses and accounts in the research literature. In combination, these sources corroborate one another and provide rich qualitative data, the analysis of which has achieved both research objectives. As well as filling an important gap in the literature on the development of worker involvement in OHS, this paper shows that coalminers’ struggles and strategies for workers to have a say in their health and safety, and the contexts that shaped them are both instructive and important in understanding current experiences.

Comme toutes les grandes villes occidentales, Montréal fourmille de taxis qui parcourent les rues, font la navette entre l'aéroport et le centre-ville, attendent près des stations de métro, des hôpitaux et des grands hôtels. Trains, tramways, autobus, métros et vélos de Montréal ont eu droit à leur histoire, mais pas les taxis. Le monde du taxi est pourtant un sujet riche et complexe, un carrefour où se rencontrent plusieurs spécialisations de l'histoire : urbaine, politique, économique, sans oublier le travail et l'immigration. Depuis sa voiture, le chauffeur ou la chauffeuse est témoin des rapports tendus entre le travailleur et l'État, la ville et les citoyens, les quartiers excentrés et le centre-ville, le peuple et les élites. Il est aussi témoin des luttes entre la majorité francophone et les minorités culturelles, des mutations technologiques et de l'essor du transport en commun. Le monde du taxi, c'est aussi et surtout des travailleurs qui forment une catégorie sociale unique et qui pratiquent un métier rempli de paradoxes. Au fil de son enquête, faite de recherches sur l'industrie et d'entretiens avec ses acteurs, Jean-Philippe Warren en est venu à la conclusion que le chauffeur de taxi est la dernière incarnation du cowboy : libre de ses mouvements, de son emploi du temps, mais prisonnier de quantité de facteurs. Il peut arrêter de travailler quand il veut et travaille sans cesse. Il a toujours de l'argent dans ses poches, mais est pauvre. Il veut que l'État intervienne pour le protéger, mais exècre les régulations. Il pratique un métier monotone, mais rempli d'imprévus. Il est à la fois entouré de monde et seul. S'ajoutant à la diversité ethnique des membres de la profession, ces paradoxes créent une sous-culture absolument fascinante où se jouent des luttes de pouvoir économique et de contrôle territorial. Une sous-culture tout aussi difficile à intégrer qu'à quitter. En utilisant les ressources combinées de l'histoire et des sciences sociales, en mêlant l'examen des archives et l'enquête de terrain, cette première histoire du taxi à Montréal débouche sur un portrait inédit de la ville. Elle se veut aussi une contribution à la compréhension d'un monde qui cultive les extrêmes et qui, s'il veut se transformer pour le mieux, pour le bien-être de ses travailleurs, de leurs familles et des usagers, doit s'appuyer sur des données tangibles et une histoire critique. --Publisher's description

Universities play a vital role in society and the principles of academic freedom, tenure, equity, and institutional autonomy are foundational to their success. How are these principles defended and strengthened? Through collective bargaining. --Editor's note

The article reviews the book, "Imperial Standard: Imperial Oil, Exxon, and the Canadian Oil Industry from 1880," by Graham D. Taylor.

Poor peoples organizing can be effective even in periods of neoliberal retrenchment. This dissertation examines ruling relations and the social relations of struggle from the standpoint of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With political activist ethnography as my central theoretical framework and methodological approach, I conducted field research, interviews and textual analysis of City and organizational documents. Focusing on OCAPs homelessness campaigns, I examine the social relations of struggle in three campaigns in Toronto: a campaign to stop the criminalization of homeless people in a public park by private security, a campaign to increase access to a social assistance benefit for people in emergency housing need, and a campaign to increase the number and improve the conditions of emergency shelter beds. My research demonstrates the active and ongoing research and theorization that anti-poverty activists engage in as well as the practices of delegitimization, excluding critique, testimonial injustice and epistemic violence that ruling relations engage in to counter activist research and theory. Some of this research and theory has regarded both Housing First policy and philosophy and Torontos emergency shelter system which OCAP, homeless people and other advocates have been decrying as unjust and inept for years. This dissertation explicates some of the ways that the City works to delegitimize its challengers and demonstrates the validity of many of the longstanding critiques of the ruling regime. While the City of Toronto has worked to contain homelessness organizing in Toronto, and deployed numerous demobilization tactics to do so, each campaign was fully or partially successful. Full or partial victories were secured by anti-poverty activists through the use (or threat) of direct action tactics.

Poor peoples organizing can be effective even in periods of neoliberal retrenchment. This dissertation examines ruling relations and the social relations of struggle from the standpoint of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With political activist ethnography as my central theoretical framework and methodological approach, I conducted field research, interviews and textual analysis of City and organizational documents. Focusing on OCAPs homelessness campaigns, I examine the social relations of struggle in three campaigns in Toronto: a campaign to stop the criminalization of homeless people in a public park by private security, a campaign to increase access to a social assistance benefit for people in emergency housing need, and a campaign to increase the number and improve the conditions of emergency shelter beds. My research demonstrates the active and ongoing research and theorization that anti-poverty activists engage in as well as the practices of delegitimization, excluding critique, testimonial injustice and epistemic violence that ruling relations engage in to counter activist research and theory. Some of this research and theory has regarded both Housing First policy and philosophy and Torontos emergency shelter system which OCAP, homeless people and other advocates have been decrying as unjust and inept for years. This dissertation explicates some of the ways that the City works to delegitimize its challengers and demonstrates the validity of many of the longstanding critiques of the ruling regime. While the City of Toronto has worked to contain homelessness organizing in Toronto, and deployed numerous demobilization tactics to do so, each campaign was fully or partially successful. Full or partial victories were secured by anti-poverty activists through the use (or threat) of direct action tactics.

The article reviews the book, "A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution," by Toby Green.

In the early years of the Great Depression, the American Socialist Party (sp) attracted left-wing youth and intellectuals at the same time that it faced the challenges of distinguishing itself from the Democratic Party of Franklin D. Roosevelt. By 1936, as its right-wing historic leadership (the “Old Guard”) left the sp and many of the more left-wing members of the sp had decamped, the party dwindled to a shell of its former strength. This article examines the internal struggles within the sp between the Old Guard and the left-wing “Militant” groupings and analyzes how the groups to the left of the sp reacted, particularly the pro-Moscow Communist Party and the supporters of Trotsky and Bukharin who were organized into two smaller groups, the Communist Party (Opposition) and Workers Party.

The article reviews the book, "Divided Province: Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism," edited by Greg Albo and Bryan Evans.

The veteran labour leader talks about his life in the labour movement and the future of unions in an age of globalized trade, a collapsing manufacturing sector and precarious employment.

From 1 to 6 April 1971, over 600 women gathered to attend the Vancouver Indochinese Women’s Conference (viwc), an international women’s antiwar conference organized by women’s liberationists in Vancouver. The conference was intended to bring women together under the banner of an international sisterhood, but this desired goal did not happen. Instead, tensions between American and Canadian women divided conference organizers and attendees, culminating in verbal and physical conflict. The viwc is useful for examining how Canadian women experienced interactions with American feminists and radical activists in attendance at the conference. Several women viewed the actions of American delegates as imperialistic. The experiences of conference organizers and attendees show how the viwc represents a moment in women’s liberation where the limits to international feminism were particularly visible.

The article reviews the film, "Peterloo," directed by Mike Leigh.

This animated film examines the organization of labour unions today. While the narrator in all seriousness outlines the structure of a union and the larger bodies to which it is affiliated, the animator ad-libs his own views with gay abandon. Examples are given to illustrate the functioning of a union at its various levels, from union local to the national body to labour congress. [The film was produced in 1955, with music by Eldon Rathburn.] --Publisher's description.

The glass obstacle course: Why so few women hold the top spots in STEM disciplines; Women’s brains ARE built for science. Modern neuroscience explodes an old myth; Women and science suffer when medical research doesn’t study females. --Website summary

Before each shift between the 1940s and 1970s, underground miners in northern Ontario breathed in a substance they thought was protecting their lungs, but none of them knew what exactly was in McIntyre Powder. Until now. --Website description.

The first comprehensive review of B.C.'s labour code in over a quarter-century has resulted in changes to the law, introduced in the legislature in April, to strengthen protections and collective bargaining rights for workers. --Introduction

For the past 40 years, membership in unions in Canada has been on a steady decline. While the labour movement is seeking to expand its influence into social justice causes, it is confronted by automation, the gig economy, and the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. The Agenda discusses the relevance of unions today and what the way forward looks like. [Participants: Steve Pakin (host), Tiffany Balducci (Durham Regional Labour Council), Dan Kelly (Canadian Federation of Independent Business), Stephanie Ross (Professor, McMaster University), and Ivan Ostos (bicycle courier and union organizer).] --Website description.

On May 15th, 1919, the country — and the world — watched in astonishment as tens of thousands of workers walked off the job in Winnipeg. They demanded higher pay, better working conditions and the right to bargain collectively. Some 35,000 workers took over the running of Canada's third-largest city for six weeks. The Winnipeg General Strike was one of the most important labour events in Canadian history. It began months after the end of the Great War, which had demanded profound sacrifices. Husbands, sons and siblings died; soldiers returned from the front with profound physical and psychological scars. Back at home, unemployment and inflation were rampant. "The whole world was in ferment," said Ian McKay, L.R. Wilson Chair in Canadian History at McMaster University and the author of Reasoning Otherwise, Leftists and the Peoples Enlightenment in Canada, 1890 to 1920. "It was a very exciting but worrying time to be alive. The fall of the Czar was pivotal." --Introduction

It was the biggest labour action in Canadian history: on May 15, 1919, over 35,000 workers took to the streets of Winnipeg for six weeks. It began peacefully and passionately; it ended in lethal violence and disagreement over what it meant, even to this day. Contributor Tom Jokinen in Winnipeg talks to experts on how the strike happened, why it occurred in Winnipeg — and through the use of archival tape, brings us the voices of people who were right there, on the streets, and on strike. --Introduction

A digital exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike. The exhibit also provides a listing of archival sources available locally, in Manitoba, and online. Content is drawn from the University of Manitoba Libraries, the City of Winnipeg Archives, the University of Winnipeg Archives, the University of Calgary Archives, and the Winnipeg Police Museum. The primary resources were developed in collaboration with the Association for Manitoba Archives and its members.