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This multi-disciplinary edited collection critically examines the causes and effects of anti-unionism in Canada. Primarily through a series of case studies, the book’s contributors document and expose the tactics and strategies of employers and anti-labour governments while also interrogating some of the labour movement’s own practices as a source of anti-union sentiment among workers. -- Publisher's description. Contents: Labour Under Attack: An Introduction to Anti-Unionism in Canada / Stephanie Ross & Larry Savage -- A Crisis of Representation: Anti-Unionism, Media and Popular Culture / Dennis Soron -- The Complexities of Worker Anti-Unionism / Stephanie Ross -- Inequality and Divisions on the Shop Floor: The Case of John Deere Welland Works / June Corman, Ann Duffy & Norene Pupo-Barkans -- Organizing Against the Odds: Anti-Unionism in Niagara’s Casino Gaming Sector / Larry Savage & Nick Ruhloff-Queiruga -- Anti-Unionism in Professional Sport: The Case of Major Junior Hockey / Simon Black -- The Cultural Politics of Labour in Retail / Kendra Coulter -- “I Work at VICE Canada and I Need a Union”: Organizing Digital Media / Nicole Cohen & Greig De Peuter.
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For decades, public sector unions in Canada have been plagued by austerity, privatization, taxpayer backlash and restrictions on union rights. In recent years, the intensity of state-led attacks against public sector workers has reached a fevered pitch, raising the question of the role of public sector unions in protecting their members and the broader public interest. Public Sector Unions in the Age of Austerity examines the unique characteristics of public sector unionism in a Canadian context. Contributors to this multi-disciplinary collection explore both the strategic possibilities and challenges facing public sector unions that are intent on resisting austerity, enhancing their power and connecting their interests as workers with those of citizens who desire a more just and equitable public sphere. --Publisher's description
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Though the Canadian labour movement’s postwar political, economic and social achievements may have seemed like irrevocable contributions to human progress, they have proven to be anything but. Since the mid-1970s, labour’s political influence and capacity to defend, let alone extend, these gains has been seriously undermined by the strategies of both capitalist interests and the neoliberal state. Electoral de-alignment and the decline of class-based voting, bursts of unsustained extra-parliamentary militancy and a general lack of influence on state actors and policy outcomes all signal that the labour movement is in crisis. Despite much experimentation in an attempt to regain political clout, labour continues to experience deep frustration and stagnation. As such, the labour movement’s future political capacities are in question, and the need for critical appraisal is urgent. Understanding how and why workers were able to exert collective power in the postwar era, how they lost it and how they might re-establish it is the central concern of Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada. With essays from established and emerging scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this collection assesses the past, present and uncertain future of labour politics in Canada. Bringing together the traditional electoral-based aspects of labour politics with analyses of the newer and rediscovered forms of working-class organization and social movement-influenced strategies, which have become increasingly important in the Canadian labour movement, this book seeks to take stock of these new forms of labour politics, understand their emergence and assess their impact on the future of labour in Canada. --Publisher's description. Contents: Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada: An Introduction / Stephanie Ross & Larry Savage -- Part 1: Contextualizing Labour and Working-Class Politics. Canadian Labour and the Crisis of Solidarity / Donald Swartz & Rosemary Warskett -- Business Unionism and Social Unionism in Theory and Practice / Stephanie Ross. Part 2: The Challenge of Electoral Politics. The New Democratic Party in the Era of Neoliberalism / Bryan Evans -- Québec Labour: Days of Glory or the Same Old Story? / Peter Graefe -- Organized Labour and the Politics of Strategic Voting / Larry Savage -- Labour and the Politics of Voting System Reform in Canada / Dennis Pilon -- Part 3: The Prospects of Extra-Parliamentary Activism. Unions, Gender Equity and Neoconservative Politics / Amanda Coles & Charlotte Yates -- Social Unionism, Partnership and Conflict: Union Engagement with Aboriginal Peoples in Canada / Suzanne Mills & Tyler McCreary -- Canadian Labour and the Environment: Addressing the Value-Action Gap / Dennis Soron -- Community Unionism and the Canadian Labour Movement / Simon Black -- Anti-Poverty Work: Unions, Poor Workers and Collective Action in Canada / Kendra Coulter -- Organizing Migrant and Immigrant Workers in Canada / Aziz Choudry & Mark Thomas -- Labour, Courts and the Erosion of Workers’ Rights in Canada / Charles Smith. Includes bibliographical references (pp. 198-222).
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Substantially revised and updated for a new generation of labour studies students, this third edition of Building a Better World offers a comprehensive introductory overview of Canada's labour movement. The book includes an analysis of why workers form unions; assesses their organization and democratic potential; examines issues related to collective bargaining, grievances and strike activity; charts the historical development of labour unions; and describes the gains unions have achieved for their members and all working people. -- Publisher's description. Contents: What is a union? (pages 1-5) -- Understanding unions (pages 6-18) -- Early union struggles in Canada (pages 19-45) -- From Keynesianism to neoliberalism: Union breakthroughs and challenges (pages 46-70) -- Unions in the workplace (pages 71-91) -- Unions and political action (pages 92-111) -- How do unions work? (pages 112-137) -- What difference do unions make? (pages 128-143) -- Who belongs to unions? Who doesn't and why? (pages 144-163) -- The future of unions: Decline or renewal? (pages 164-189) -- References (pages 190-204) - Index (pages 206-216).