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This article considers the effect of recent statutory amendments that recognized the legal status of the collective agreement as a binding source of rights and obligations during the employer's insolvency. The author reviews the law prior to, and after, the amendments along with interview responses of leading insolvency practitioners in determining whether those amendments unduly interfered with or prevented the successful restructuring of distressed businesses, In his view, most of the early jurisprudence setting aside collective agreements to which the debtor company was a party distorted the development of the law in this area, weakened the legitimacy of the insolvency process, and generated unnecessary conflict in the midst of restructuring efforts. By contrast, the amended provisions, by recognizing that collective agreements remain in force during an employer insolvency, have restored proper balance to the law, fostered voluntary negotiations among the parties, and reduced unnecessary liti- gation between debtors and unions. Importantly, the reforms have transformed court-centered conflict over the status of the collective agreement into product- ive negotiations focused on the rescue of distressed businesses. As a result, the paper maintains, the reforms have brought positive change to the restructuring process, by facilitating the efforts of stakeholders trying to salvage the company.

The article reviews the book, "Whose Streets? The Toronto G20 and the Challenges of Summit Protest," edited by Tom Malleson and David Wachsmuth.

During the "long sixties" - between 1964 and 1973 - baby boomers raised on democratic postwar ideals demanded a more egalitarian society for all. While a few became vocal leaders at universities across Canada, nearly 90% of Canada's young people went straight to work after high school. There, they brought the anti-authoritarian spirit of the youth revolt to the labour movement. While university-based activists combined youth culture with a new brand of radicalism to form the New Left, young workers were pressing for wildcat strikes and defying their aging union leaders in a wave of renewed militancy that swept the country. In Rebel Youth, Ian Milligan looks at these converging currents, demonstrating convincingly how they were part of a single youth phenomenon. With just short of seventy interviews complementing the extensive use of archival records, this book reveals a youth current that, despite regional differences, spanned an intellectual network from Halifax to Victoria that read the same publications, consulted the same thinkers, and found inspiration in the same shared ideas. Rebel Youth draws important connections between the stories of young workers and the youth movement in Canada, claiming a central place for labour and class in the legacy of this formative decade. --Publisher's description

When “workplace violence” was identified as a pressing social problem in the 1980s and 1990s, experts and policymakers focused on the violence of individuals and the psychological causes of that violence, instead of considering the structural factors associated with the dynamics of class relations and the workplace that produced violence. Yet, workplace violence existed long before the 1980s. This paper investigates three high-profile incidents of workplace violence in the automotive industry of Detroit and Windsor in the 1970s. It explores how these incidents were understood and how such understandings were created and contested, highlighting the pivotal role played by radical legal practice in these contests. It demonstrates that workplace violence often stemmed from factors such as the labour process, racism, and union conflict, and that the success of radical legal practice in raising these issues depended on both the specifics of the crime itself and the political and historical context in which it took place.

Discusses how feminist historian Bettina Bradbury influenced the author's scholarship in women's and gender studies. Describes approaches to newspaper and archival research as well as patriarchy as a key organizing concept for teaching, research, and writing.

In her analysis of the purpose of the Ontario Human Rights Code, the author draws on Nancy Fraser's distinction between the two main strategies that have been used to combat inequality. Strategies of redistribution, which prevailed among equality activists in the early twentieth century, see inequality as arising from unequal access to economic resources. Strategies of recognition, which have come into prominence more recently, see inequality as arising from sociocultural prejudices that deny equal recognition to disadvantaged groups. Although the Ontario Human Rights Code is often seen as focusing on rec- ognitional issues, the author argues that through the market relationships the Code regulates and the remedial powers it grants, it also adopts a redistribution strategy designed to address the economic impact of prohibited discrimination: that is, the Code aims to change how resources and opportunities are to be allocated for those with protected identity traits. An understanding of the inter- action between the Code's recognitional and redistributive functions sheds light on its purpose and method of operation, as well as on its relationship to other equality-seeking legal mechanisms such as collective bargaining and the equal- ity rights provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Thus, the need for a range of legal tools to counter inequality in different contexts comes more clearly into focus.

Argues that the short-lived Ontario Labour Court of 1943-44 set the stage for Canada's collective bargaining regime since the Second World War. Contrasts Canadian labour relations at the time with that in the US under the Wagner Act. Analyzes landmark cases and administration of the Ontario collective bargaining act under which the court was created, as well as providing brief bios of prominent lawyers and judges. Emphasizes that the court arose from common-law precepts of the primacy of property rights. Takes note of the strong opposition to unions and collective bargaining, especially among employers. Concludes that while labour made gains in some areas, the court's mixed record of achievement also included constraints on legal striking and fragmentation of the union movement. An appendix of court decisions on union certification is included.

The article reviews the book, "Racialized Policing: Aboriginal People's Encounters with the Police," by Elizabeth Comack.

This article reviews the book, "Making the World Safe for Workers: Labor, the Left, and Wilsonian Internationalism," by Elizabeth McKillen.

This study explores the lived experiences of unemployed women in neo-liberal Canada, through interviews with a diverse sample of participants between the ages of 25 and 40 from the cities of Toronto and Halifax. The results were analyzed using intersectional and grounded theory. The study resulted in four main findings. First, the study builds on intersectional methodology by McCall (2005) and Hancock (2007) to indicate the significance of context-specify and fluidity of identities. The significance of intersectionality theory is that there is not one salient identity; rather the impacts of identities are context dependent. Second, the neo-liberal erosion of the state infrastructure is manifested in a paucity of supports for unemployed workers. The unemployed woman workers do not only have to face a lack of adequate support when they become unemployed but they also do not have adequate support in other aspects of their lives including child care, retraining, health care and labour market supports while employed. Thus, many women do not have access to adequate living conditions without reliance on a male partner. Third, the health of the women was negatively affected, whether precariously employed or unemployed. They have insecurity around not being able to plan their future, and living on limited money and poor health care benefits. Finally, regional economic differences may be disappearing while all EI measures are brought towards the lowest common denominator. Thus, neo-liberal labour market policies put women, and particularly women with intersectional identities, in jeopardy. This study makes four policy recommendations: (1) to create social policies that address intersectional identities to allow women a real choice in facing competing demands of wage work and dependent care; (2) to create policies to curb the impacts of precarious employment; (3) to create EI policies not bound by regions but to the needs of the labour market including the growth of precarity; and (4) in the interim, to introduce extended health benefits to improve the situation of unemployed and precariously employed workers.

This article reviews the book, "Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941," by Michael David-Fox.

Analyzes Governor General David Johnston's October 16, 2013 Throne Speech for what it did and did not say about aspects of national history and identity. Argues that this is concomitant with the Conservative government's shutdown of the National Council of Welfare, the removal of public documents from the web, and the lack of recognition of Quebec's contemporary culture, including its distinct social institutions and practices. Concludes that historians and political scientists are obligated not only to keep a critical eye on "history under Harper," but to put forward or help to promote more appropriate versions of history and peoplehood.

Pour qui s’intéresse à l’évolution du travail au Québec, le passage à un régime néolibéral au tournant des années 1980 renvoie à un concept : la flexibilisation. Trente ans plus tard, avec la montée en flèche du nombre d’emplois atypiques, force est de constater que flexibilité rime aussi avec précarité, l’emploi atypique se distinguant trop souvent par une moindre rémunération et un accès restreint aux multiples formes de protection sociale. Comment le syndicalisme peut-il s’ajuster aux besoins différenciés d’une main-d’œuvre de plus en plus diversifiée et employée sur des marchés du travail toujours plus segmentés ? L’auteur nous invite à penser le marché du travail à partir de sa périphérie, et à réfléchir à l’innovation syndicale à partir des pratiques, des stratégies et des revendications d’organisations de travailleurs se situant sur les marges de la société salariale. Dans une démarche qui vise le rajeunissement, voire la métamorphose du syndicalisme, il porte attention aux possibilités d’innovation sous-tendue par la nouvelle configuration du travail dans le capitalisme d’aujourd’hui. Pour ce faire, il présente un état des lieux du travail sur les marchés périphériques au Québec, en accordant une place prépondérante aux expériences des travailleurs, puis expose des pistes de réflexion sur le renouvellement de la théorie syndicale et sur le redéploiement de l’action syndicale au Québec. Enfin, il propose cinq études d’expériences portées, ici et maintenant, par des travailleurs atypiques et des organisations syndicales soucieuses de répondre à leurs besoins différenciés en matière d’organisation collective. L’ouvrage nous montre que les organisations de travailleurs demeurent déterminantes et constituent l’une des pistes majeures à explorer afin de repenser l’articulation des mobilisations et l’émancipation sociale à l’ère de la mondialisation néolibérale. --Publisher's description

This article reviews the book, "Critical Inquiries: A Reader in Studies of Canada," ed. by Lynne Caldwell, Carrianne Leung, and Darryl Leroux.

The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It, by David Weil, is reviewed.

The highly anticipated new standalone full-color graphic novel from Bryan Lee O’Malley, author and artist of the hugely bestselling Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series Katie’s got it pretty good. She’s a talented young chef, she runs a successful restaurant, and she has big plans to open an even better one. Then, all at once, progress on the new location bogs down, her charming ex-boyfriend pops up, her fling with another chef goes sour, and her best waitress gets badly hurt. And just like that, Katie’s life goes from pretty good to not so much. What she needs is a second chance. Everybody deserves one, after all—but they don’t come easy. Luckily for Katie, a mysterious girl appears in the middle of the night with simple instructions for a do-it-yourself do-over: 1. Write your mistake 2. Ingest one mushroom 3. Go to sleep 4. Wake anew And just like that, all the bad stuff never happened, and Katie is given another chance to get things right. She’s also got a dresser drawer full of magical mushrooms—and an irresistible urge to make her life not just good, but perfect. Too bad it’s against the rules. But Katie doesn’t care about the rules—and she’s about to discover the unintended consequences of the best intentions. From the mind and pen behind the acclaimed Scott Pilgrim series comes a madcap new tale of existential angst, everyday obstacles, young love, and ancient spirits that’s sharp-witted and tenderhearted, whimsical and wise. --Publisher's description

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Canadian and U.S. approaches to the adjudication of discrimination claims arising from employ- ment. The author presents an overview of the main structural elements of the U.S. system (focusing on the state of California) as compared to the Canadian system, having regard to causes of action, forums, the type and extent of rem- edies, costs awards, and participants in the process. She then considers the impact of those contrasting structural elements on a complainant's ability to access a court process, rather than an administrative process alone, and on the scope of individual monetary remedies that may be available in addition to systemic ones. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the Canadian and U.S. approaches, the author asks whether the system in Canada, with its pronounced "public" character, could not coexist with a more "private" sys- tem in which claims could be pursued in court, in a way that would benefit both individual complainants and society as a whole. At the same time, the author suggests that enhancing the quantum of individual remedies, whether in an administrative forum or in court, could well prove to be an effective tool for encouraging complainants to come forward and to enable them to secure effective legal representation in prosecuting their complaints.

The editor announces his retirement and reflects on his longstanding connection with the journal, first as a contributor, then as editor. Expresses appreciation for the work and support of others. Welcomes members of the Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies to the editorial board as well as incoming editor Sean Cadigan.

Argues in this concluding commentary that the Harper Conservatives have captured the political imagination, while those in opposition have not. Discusses the ideological turn to global neoliberalism, including in Canada, since 1975, as advocated by economist Milton Friedman; in this context, the Harper Conservatives are simply a leaner and meaner version of the trend. Takes note of the contested perspectives on the state and community. Points to social movements, such as the student movement in Quebec, that have attempted to push back. Concludes that the New Right must be challenged by a coherent left politics that is beyond the current party system.

The Canadian worker has been a neglected figure in Canadian history. Workers have contributed in many ways to the development of Canadian society, but the history of working people — their families, communities and work places — has only gradually become part of our view of the past and an important component of understanding how we came to occupy our present. --Introduction. Contents: Early historiography -- Postwar scholarship -- 1970s-1980s -- Class and labour -- Scholarship proliferates -- New interpretation and debate -- Working women and gendered class relations -- Labour history at the current juncture.