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An extensive review of recent academic and union literature, highlighting the varying experience and approaches to union renewal in differing institutional and environmental context and its general lessons for Canada. [The authors] discuss the meaning and concepts of union renewal, its rational and major thesis, key renewal strategies, comparative experience, obstacles to change and facilitating factors and the challenges of union renewal in the Canadian setting. --Editors' introduction

Case study of workers in a large Toronto-based hotel and their campaign first to attain just working conditions, and then to retain them in the face of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003 that disrupted the Toronto hospitality industry.

Case study of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union's strategy for renewal as an ongoing process. A more formal exercise was begun in 1998 to improve union servicing that resulted in the adoption of five objectives as pilot projects; recommendations were adopted in 2000 to improve them. The devastating impact of the provincial government's cutbacks of 2001 is described, as well as subsequent renewal efforts.

[P]rovides an overview of the trends and patterns of union density in Canada and its implications for union renewal. Of particular interest is [the author's] analysis of the opportunities for new organizing in various industries and occupations. --Editors' introduction

[E]xamines the Paid Education leave (PEL) program, a negotiated employer-funded worker education program administered by the Canadian Auto Workers. The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate the ability of the PEL to develop membership knowledge, activism and leadership to facilitate union renewal. [The author's] paper, based on survey research and interviews, maintains that the PEL program does contribute to leadership development and to the union renewal process by serving to alter the perceptions and attitudes of its participants. --Editors' introduction

Case study of unions mobilizing with community groups to defend public Medicare in Canada. The catalyst for the national campaign in 2001-02 was the royal commission on the future of health care in Canada, chaired by Roy Romanow.

[This] study is important for many reasons. it relates to a large local of workers in major hotels in Toronto, owned by multinational firms. The workforce consists largely of immigrant and visible minority women with poor wages and working conditions. As Tufts points out, the gender, ethnic and income segmentation of the hotel labour market creates difficult challenges for building union solidarity and for new organizing and effective bargaining. In this context, Local 75's experience with organizing and pattern bargaining is instructive. --Editors' introduction

[E]valuation of the B.C. Organizing Institute, an initiative of the British Columbia Federation of Labour.... [P]rovides valuable insights into the problems that have to be overcome in developing coordinated education and training programs for leadership development, promoting inter-union cooperation, and creating a culture of organizing. --Editors' introduction

[O]utlines the process of decision-making in the union on major policies, emphasizing the involvement of rank-and-file membership. The case study describes how the union formulated the energy policy in 2001 and the benefits of rank-and-file membership participation in policy-making. --Editors' introduction

[E]xamines the development of youth programs and initiatives within UFCW Canada to increase youth involvement and participation in the union. Of interest are the union's national youth internship program, designed to train young union activists by providing them with basic labour education and training, local union youth committees, and youth conferences for exchange of experiences and views on union strategies and campaigns. The authors believe that the youth initiative has led to the integration of young workers into every level of the union and increased their particiaption in decision-making structures, servicing, and organizing. --Editors' introduction

[A]nalyzes the Quebec experience with union renewal, focusing on the critical role of power resources, that is "resources that a union can access and mobilize in order to influence the process of change." --Editors' introduction

[H]ighlights some of the innovations in structures, policies, and practices underway in union organizations in Canada, and the factors underlying the patterns of change. The paper draws on an extensive survey of innovations and change conducted by the authors in 2001 in partnership with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and major unions and federations. --Editors' introduction

[E]valuates the experience of the Winnipeg-based Workers' Organizing And Resource Centre, an initiative of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and community activists drawn from several communities. --Editors' introduction

[D]iscusses the determinants of a strong union movement, the evolution of the union [from 1985 to 2005], and the challenges of union resistance and union renewal. These include making gains in bargaining, expanding democracy, organizing, deepening membership involvement and participation, generational renewal, strengthening social unionism, building alliances with social movements, strengthening our capacity to mobilize, and defining ourselves by what we do. The paper asserts that one of the union's greatest strengths is its culture. -- Editors' introduction

The focus of the USW case study is the [Humanity] Fund, an initiative to build international exchanges and solidarity and alliances in response to growing power of multinationals through capital mobility. ...[The paper] describes the working of the Fund and then assesses how the global connections with Chile and Peru in the mining sector have contributed to the union renewal in the USW. --Editors' introduction

Discusses way and means to rejuvenate union democracy and education, with references to the Canadian labour movement.

[E]xamines the ways in which union organizing gender-baised and highlights possible union strategies to overcome the bias and improve organizing success. ...The paper draws on the survey of union organizers in Ontario and British Columbia conducted by the authors in 2000 and 2001. --Editors' introduction

[Discusses] the concept and practice of community unionism and demonstrates the potential for building a union-community alliance for labour movement renewal through an analysis...of the Workers' Action Centre (WAC) in Toronto. --Editors' introduction

Case study of efforts [by the United Steelworkers] to organize Omega Direct Response, a call centre in Sudbury, Ontario. The study shows that, by working together, rank-and-file workers as inside organizers and experienced professional organizers can develop winning strategies that can enable unions to organize hard to organize workplaces. The paper also includes perspectives from a conference on organizing call centres held in Toronto in September 2003. --Editors' introduction