Search

When Professor Murray Young was teaching his pioneering courses on New Brunswick history up to what was then the recent past of the 1960s, colleagues would ask him what text he was using for the contemporary period. His answer was the Byrne Report. Students in that class learned how to read tables of data and lists of recommendations, and they came to appreciate the Report of the Royal Commission on Finance and Municipal Taxation as one of the most significant documents in the historical evolution of the province. --Introduction

The article reviews the books, "Sensing Chicago: Noisemakers, Strikebreakers, and Muckrakers," by Adam Mack, "Urban Green: Nature, Recreation, and the Working Class in Industrial Chicago," by Colin Fisher, "The People and the Bay: A Social and Environmental History of Hamilton Harbour," by Nancy B. Bouchier and Ken Cruikshank, and "Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town," by Ellen Griffith Spears.

The article reviews the book, "Watching Women’s Liberation 1970: Feminism’s Pivotal Year on the Network News," by Bonnie J. Dow.

Analyzes various forms of discrimination experienced by women journalists at Canadian Press from the mid-1960s to 2000. A feminist, interdisciplinary approach is used to examine masculine newsroom norms and how they affected women's careers. Problems of mentoring are also explored. The study is based on over 30 oral interviews including with women who worked at different times as journalists and editors at CP.

Depuis les années 1980, les syndicats locaux doivent souvent gérer les compressions demandées par la partie patronale lors des rondes de négociation. Disposant de très peu de marge de manoeuvre dans sa négociation, le syndicat se voit contraint de choisir entre une précarité généralisée et une précarité réservée à un groupe de travailleurs. Il en arrive à faire des compromis qui l’amènent à devenir un vecteur d’inégalités économiques et sociales, plutôt qu’un moteur d’amélioration des conditions des travailleurs. Les diverses clauses de disparité de traitement confèrent des droits et des avantages différents à certaines catégories de salariés travaillant pour un même employeur, que ce soit en raison de leur statut d’emploi (Bernier, 2011), de leur affiliation syndicale ou de leur date d’embauche (Côté, 2008).L'objectif principal de cette étude est de traiter des conséquences qu'ont eu la présence de ces clauses « orphelins », ainsi que leur contestation, sur les deux syndicats locaux étudiés. Également, nous souhaitons fournir des pistes de réflexion quant à ses impacts sur le collectif syndical. En effet, nous avons observé, chez les deux syndicats étudiés, que l'on refuse de considérer la double échelle salariale comme étant de la discrimination, et ce, pour deux principales raisons. D'abord, les exécutifs locaux sont peu familiers avec la notion de discrimination. Leurs connaissances se limitent souvent à la discrimination directe, alors que les plaignants allèguent une discrimination indirecte désavantageant les salariés les plus récemment embauchés, et donc plus jeunes. Secundo, les syndicats ne se reconnaissent aucune part de responsabilité dans l'entente intervenue en raison du contexte économique et juridique de la négociation et des fortes pressions exercées par l'employeur. En conclusion, nous aborderons les différents effets de la négociation de clauses « orphelins », soit la persistance des inégalités et la difficulté de mettre en oeuvre la norme d'égalité en milieu syndiqué. // Title in English: When the Union Becomes a Vector of Inequalities: The Effects of Orphan Clauses on Union Association. Since the 1980s, unions have often been under pressure to accept wage compressions during collective bargaining. Faced with little bargaining power, their only choice sometimes ends up being between accepting eroded conditions for all or only some of their members. In this context, unions go from being a partner in the fight against inequalities to being a vector of inequalities. Based on two case studies where unions agreed to introduce orphan clauses to existing collective agreements, this paper aims to document the consequences unions have to deal with when some of their members decide to challenge such clauses because they find them to be discriminatory.We observed that in both unions, there was a refusal to consider the dual salary scale as being discriminatory for two main reasons: first, local officers are unfamiliar with the notion of discrimination, often limited to direct discrimination, while the orphan clauses create indirect discrimination that impacts the newlyhired employees, and consequently those employees that are younger; second, Unions do not recognize any responsibility on their part as the labour agreement was reached in a specific legal and economic context and under pressure from the employer.In conclusion, we find that various effects of the negotiation of orphan clauses include the persistence of inequalities and the difficulty to implement equality rules within the unionized sector.

Cet article fait la lumière sur le militantisme et la vie politique d’Alphonse-Télesphore Lépine (1855–1943), premier député ouvrier élu à la Chambre des communes du Canada (1888–1896). Dans le cadre de cette analyse, nous explorons la manière dont ce membre influent de l’Ordre des Chevaliers du travail de Montréal met en place sa campagne électorale et nous tentons de comprendre les liens, parfois tumultueux, que celui-ci entretient avec les militants de l’Ordre. Centrant notre analyse sur la personne d’Alphonse-Télesphore Lépine comme objet historique – dont les choix, les relations professionnelles, les idées et les valeurs sont au centre de la chose publique –, nous cherchons à rendre compte des réseaux partisans, et plus largement, de la culture politique des ouvriers.

The article reviews and comments on the books, "Disability Histories," edited by Susan Burch and Michael Rembis, and "Civil Disabilities: Citizenship, Membership, and Belonging," edited by Nancy J. Hirschmann and Beth Linker.

When it comes to negotiating over a collective dismissals plan, the French national legal framework explicitly encourages social partners to favour outplacement services over significant indemnity payments. However, significant above-mandatory redundancy payments are commonly granted to laid-off workers. Based on these factual observations, this article aims to identify the antecedent conditions, or, more precisely, the combinations of conditions, that lead to the granting of a large severance pay. We conducted a qualitative comparative analysis (Crisp set QCA) methodology applied to 20 monographs on downsizing operations that took place in France during the 2000s. The results show that above-mandatory severance payments are closely related to two major dimensions characterizing the economic and social context in which restructuring processes are carried out. The first one is about the balance of power prevailing between the company decisionmakers and the employees. This balance of power dimension is subsumed by two distinct conditions: the availability of financial resources and the presence of active unions. The second dimension relates to the moral and economic damages inflicted upon laid-off workers. This dimension is intrinsically connected to two downsizing process features, i.e. the perceived degree of legitimacy associated with the downsizing process and the degree of employability associated with the laid-off workers. Most notably, it appears that none of the identified conditions is sufficient by itself to induce the payment of a significant above-mandatory indemnity. However, some causal conditions may induce the outcome variable when they are combined with some specific other antecedent conditions. Thus, our research shows that the financial resource condition leads to the granting of an above-mandatory indemnity either in conjunction with a low degree of worker’s employability or in conjunction with both a weak perceived legitimacy of the restructuring process and the presence of active unions.

The article reviews the book, "Charivari et justice populaire au Québec," by René Hardy.

The article reviews the book, "Santé et travail à la mine, XIXe-XXIe siècle," edited by Judith Rainhorn.

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional.

Au Canada, le nombre de travailleurs étrangers temporaires est en forte hausse et ce, depuis 2003. Les travailleurs étrangers temporaires ne disposent ni de la citoyenneté politique, ni de la résidence permanente; leur mobilité professionnelle est restreinte et leur durée de séjour est limitée et prédéterminée. Sur le plan formel, ces travailleurs bénéficient des protections prévues par le droit du travail nonobstant leur statut migratoire. Toutefois, plusieurs travaux ont démontré que les travailleurs étrangers temporaires occupant des emplois qui requièrent un niveau réduit de formation sont généralement moins enclins à dénoncer la violation de leurs droits au travail. Le droit du travail constitue-t-il un rempart utile pour ces travailleurs? À l’aide d’une méthodologie mixte impliquant notamment une enquête de terrain auprès des acteurs-clé, la présente thèse poursuit deux objectifs distincts. Sur le plan empirique, elle permet de mettre en lumière l’incidence du système d’emploi singulier dans lequel s’insèrent les travailleurs étrangers temporaires sur leur usage des ressources proposées par le droit du travail. Le recours à ces ressources n’est pas contingent et prédéterminé; il est inextricablement lié aux opportunités et aux contraintes avec lesquelles ces travailleurs composent. Cette recherche révèle également que les stratégies échafaudées par différents acteurs qui ne sont pas, sur le plan juridique, des parties au rapport salarial, ont une incidence significative sur l’usage du droit par ses destinataires ; leur impact dépend largement du pouvoir dont ces acteurs disposent dans le système d’emploi. Sur le plan théorique, cette thèse s’inscrit dans le champ plus large des études portant sur l’effectivité du droit; elle propose de distinguer entre l’étude des effets du droit et l’analyse de son usage. Elle présente, à cette fin, un cadre analytique permettant de saisir le rapport qu’entretiennent les destinataires avec le droit.

Les programmes de migration temporaire constituent une manifestation de la division internationale du travail qui se concrétise par le déplacement de la main-d’oeuvre. Les travailleurs étrangers temporaires et leurs employeurs s’insèrent dans un système d’emploi qui se caractérise par l’action intervenant à l’occasion de la formation, de l’exécution et de la terminaison du rapport salarial. Or, si l’action intervenant au sein d’un système d’emploi résulte notamment des effets des règles juridiques applicables, elle découle également des schémas d’action mis de l’avant par les acteurs qui y interagissent. Cependant, certains de ces acteurs sont susceptibles d’occuper, de façon singulière, la scène de l’action : la prégnance de leurs schémas d’action est directement proportionnelle à la nature et à la portée du rôle qu’ils assument dans le système d’emploi. Cet article présente les résultats d’une étude de terrain qui a permis de cerner les contours du système d’emploi dans lequel s’insèrent les travailleurs agricoles guatémaltèques embauchés via le « Volet agricole » du Programme des travailleurs étrangers temporaires. Notre recherche révèle de quelle façon s’organise la capacité d’action des acteurs exogènes et endogènes au champ du travail. Elle permet également de comprendre de quelle façon certains acteurs sont contraints par l’effet de frontières géographiques et systémiques. Finalement, l’appréhension empirique du système d’emploi étudié amène aussi à brosser le portrait d’un rapport salarial multipartite tout à fait singulier. // Title in English: Temporary migration programs are a manifestation of the international division of labour that is reflected in the movement of productive agents. Temporary foreign workers and their employers are part of a unique employment system that is characterized by game mechanisms involved during the formation, implementation and termination of the wage relationship. If these games are inextricably linked to the legal rules regulating the wage relationship, they also stem from the practices and strategies deployed by the actors interacting within the employment system. However, some of these actors have the ability to occupy a unique place at the scene of the action, with the significance of their action plans being directly proportional to the nature and scope of the role they play in the employment system. This article presents the results of a field study that identified the contours of the employment system in which Guatemalan agricultural workers were hired through the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. This research shows how actors, who can be exogenous or endogenous to the labour field, organize their capacity for action. Hence, if the action of some actors is constrained by the effect of geographic and system boundaries, an empirical understanding of the employment system studied also shows a mismatch between the legal power granted to the employer under labour law and the strategic power that is available to certain actors who are external to the labour field. To conclude, this article provides an overview of the ways in which this multiparty context has consequences for the wage relationship studied.

This dissertation challenges the prevailing periodization of Quebec and Ontario’s economic development in Canadian historiography by contrasting the specificity of capitalist social relations with the non-capitalist forms of social reproduction belonging to French Canadian peasants and Upper Canadian farmers in the colonial period. With a few notable exceptions, existing historical interpretations assume that capitalism was there, at least in embryo, from the colony’s very beginning in the guise of the fur trade, manufacturing, or a local bourgeoisie. By contrast, this thesis brings together, through a comparative perspective, different pieces of the interconnected histories of France, Britain, the United States, Ontario, and Quebec in order to show that capitalism did not arrive on the shores of the St. Lawrence River with the first settlers. The dissertation also brings together pieces of the uneven intra-regional histories of these regions, and provides a general reflection on how to systematically integrate the geopolitical dimension of social change into historical sociology, political economy, and comparative politics. As such, the question with which the thesis is concerned is not exclusively that of the transition to capitalism in Quebec or in Ontario, but more broadly the interrelated questions of state-formation and ‘late development’ in north-eastern North America. One of the main findings of the dissertation is that only with the development of industrial capitalism in the north-eastern United States were the conditions for the emergence of capital-intensive types of agriculture in rural areas of Quebec and Ontario put in place. American breakthroughs toward industrial capitalism irrevocably transformed the system-wide conditions under which subsequent agricultural evolution took place in neighbouring regions, generating a new geopolitical configuration in which customary peasant production continued to persist in Quebec alongside petty-commodity farmers in Upper Canada and the development of industrial capitalism in urban areas such as Montreal. These findings bring to the fore the need to directly address the ‘peasant question’ in order to understand the impact of the continued existence of a large peasantry on state-formation and the long-term economic development of Quebec during the period when industrial capitalism was emerging as a dominant feature of the North American economy.

Workplace democracy speaks to an ever-present need to advance the fundamental rights of employees to associate freely and to have some say over business decisions that affect their lives. It also speaks to the need to respect the expertise that employees develop day in and day out on the job and, importantly, to strengthen protections and extend rights to marginalized workers who are bearing the brunt of the shift to low-wage, insecure, precarious work. In this discussion paper, authors Rafael Gomez...and Juan Gomez...offer recommendations on a path forward. --Publisher's description

When Winnipeg's Cy Gonick started the magazine Canadian Dimension in 1963 to provide a home for the thinking and analysis of mostly young leftists engaged in Canadian economic, social, cultural, artistic and political issues, he had no grand plan. But Canadian Dimension was welcomed by intellectuals, scholars and students, and it proved enduring. Hundreds of Canada's leading figures of the left have contributed to its pages over the years, writing about every major topic in Canadian public life. This book offers an account of the most important developments in Canadian history from the sixties until today, as seen and interpreted by scholars and writers on the pages of Dimension. Each chapter reviews a major theme, such as Canada's relationship to the U.S., the development of our health care system, the dynamics of Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relations and the role of Canadian cultural work in shaping Canadian society. Taken together, the book provides a unique and broad perspective on virtually every significant event and development in recent Canadian history. Readers who know the magazine will find this book a compelling summary of how Canada changed in the past five decades, and how the Left saw those changes and challenged them. Readers who discover Canadian Dimension through this book will find a multitude of compelling voices who challenge the dominant neoliberal thinking of mainstream Canadian intellectual life. --Publisher's description.

The article reviews the book, "Prévenir les problèmes de santé mentale au travail : contribution d’une recherche-action en milieu scolaire," by Marie-France Maranda, Simon Viviers et Jean-Simon Deslauriers.

The article reviews the book, "International and Comparative Employment Relations. National regulation, global changes," 6th ed., by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury, Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright.

This article reviews the book, "The Philosophical Foundations of Management Thought," by Jean-Etienne Joullié and Robert Spillane.

Introduces the memoir of Marko P. Hećimović (1894-1967). Written in 1939, the memoir focuses on Hećimović's role in the establishment of a communist press in Canada in 1931 that was published in the language of South Slavic immigrant workers such as himself (at the time, Hećimović, a Croat, was a miner in Anyox, BC).