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The Dirty Work of Neoliberalism: Cleaners in the Global Economy, edited by Luis L.M. Aguiar and Andrew Herod, is reviewed.

Face aux nouveaux défis que constituent la globalisation, les évolutions technologiques et les évolutions démographiques, la formation revêt aujourd’hui une importance cruciale dans le développement de la ressource humaine en organisation. Ce domaine est actuellement dominé, tant du point de vue scientifique que de celui des pratiques, par deux grands courants : le courant psychosociologique et le courant ergonomique. Si l’apport de l’un comme de l’autre est incontestable, on constate une grande méconnaissance entre ces deux courants, ainsi que l’absence d’un dialogue et d’une mise en perspective scientifique. Cette contribution propose d’initier cette démarche, à la fois dans l’optique de développer les pratiques des formateurs – qu’il s’agisse de professionnels de la formation ou de personnes appelées à jouer ce rôle ponctuellement dans leur carrière –, mais aussi d’aider les commanditaires de formation à mieux orienter leurs choix de formation grâce à une meilleure compréhension des deux approches.De cette mise en perspective réalisée à partir tant des travaux historiques que des recherches les plus récentes, il ressort d’abord plusieurs points communs. (1) Une volonté de développer de nouveaux modes d’apprentissage, nourris par des recherches scientifiques, et qui rompent avec les approches scolaires. (2) Un lien fort établi entre théorie et action, avec des pratiques qui articulent la pratique et la connaissance, l’intervention sur l’organisation et l’apprentissage individuel. (3) Une vision de l’apprentissage comme résultant de l’action combinée avec la réflexion sur l’action.En contraste avec ces fondements communs, plusieurs points de divergences se prêtant à de fructueux échanges sont identifiés. (1) Un ancrage prioritaire sur le groupe pour les approches psychosociologiques, sur le travail pour les approches ergonomiques. (2) Une centration sur les aspects plutôt fonctionnels et spécifiques du travail pour l’approche ergonomique, plutôt sur les aspects relationnels et transversaux pour l’approche psychosociologique. (3) Quatre points sur lesquels des échanges de techniques seraient profitables. (4) Une controverse sur la question du lien – nécessaire ou non – entre travail et formation. En prenant acte de la complémentarité des deux approches (à la fois compatibles et différentes), il apparaît utile d’entreprendre un dialogue tant dans une optique de lisibilité des pratiques de formation en organisation que d’efficacité. Un tel constat invite donc les formateurs à intensifier leurs échanges, et les commanditaires à mobiliser les apports conjoints des deux approches afin de développer au mieux les ressources humaines de leurs organisations.

The ongoing developments of the Northern Albertan Athabasca Oil Sands include exceptionally labour intensive processes, while securing labour for this industry has been a perpetual challenge. The industry has relied on temporary and transitory labour since its inception, with a great deal of mobile workers originating from Atlantic Canada. Based on ethnographic research, this paper examines the dynamics of an emerging route of migration between the former coal-mining region of Industrial Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and the sites of the Oil Sands industry. Processes of migration have had profound social and economic impacts on the communities of Industrial Cape Breton, while such mobile workers find themselves in a form of work organization which is increasingly precarious and contingent.

The article reviews the book, "Loyalties in Conflict: A Canadian Borderland in War and Rebellion, 1812-1840," by J. I. Little.

The article briefly reviews "Up in the Air," by Greg J. Bamber, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Thomas A. Kochan, and Andrew von Nordenflycht, "To Be My Father's Daughter," by Sharon Halfyard, Carmelita McGrath, and Marion Cheeks, "The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths About U.S. Social Policy," by Christopher Howard, "In and Out of the Working Class," by Michael D. Yates, "Icon, Brand, Myth: The Calgary Stampede," edited by Max Foran, "From Hands Now Striving to Be Free: Boxes Crafted by 1837 Rebellion Prisoners," by Chris Raible with John C. Carter, "Reshaping Welfare States and Activation Regimes in Europe," by Amparo Serrano Pascual and Lars Magnusson, "Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989," by Mark LeVine, "Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New War on the Poor," by Paul Farmer, "Why Not Socialism?," by G.A. Cohen, and "More Unequal," edited by Michael D. Yates.

The article briefly reviews "Exploring the Dimensions of Self-Sufficiency for New Brunswick," edited by Michael Boudreau, Peter G. Toner, and Tony Tremblay; "The State of Working America 2008/2009," by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heidi Shierholz,; "And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers," by Karen L. Graves; "Agitate! Educate! Organize! American Labour Posters," by Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher; "Hunger: A Modern History," by James Vernon; "Organising History: A Centenary of SIPTU [Services, Industrial, and Professional Trade Union of Ireland], 1909–2009; "by Frances Devine; "Revenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic," by Donna Harsch; and "Logics of Empowerment: Development, Gender, and Government in Neoliberal India," by Aradhana Sharma.

The article reviews the book, "Influenza 1918: Disease, Death, and Struggle in Winnipeg," by Esyllt W. Jones.

The article reviews the book, "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better," by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

This article outlines how federal policies under the Conservative government have supported a tremendous increase in temporary workers and left them subject to significant abuse and exploitation in the workplace. Meanwhile unions and migrant rights advocates have had to step in, as have some employers, developing innovative practices designed to address policy shortcomings. The dramatic rise in the numbers of temporary workers is in contrast with a decline in permanent resident migration. This ideological policy shift has serious implications for the labour force and social cohesion.

The article reviews the book, "Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China," by Tiantian Zheng.

In Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Association v. British Columbia, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 391, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned precedent and concluded “that the grounds advanced in the earlier decisions for the exclusion of collective bargaining from the Charter’s protection of freedom of association do not withstand principled scrutiny and should be rejected” (at para. 22). The author explores the Supreme Court of Canada’s change of heart and what this change implies, not only for constitutional doctrine, but also for what the Court understands about the governance of the postFordist world of work. She situates the Court’s reasoning in a few key cases dealing with labour’s distinctive rights – to bargain collectively and to strike – in the social context that both shapes the legal discourse about labour rights and influences organized labour’s power. She considers the paradox of the Supreme Court’s embrace of Fordist labour rights in a post-Fordist economy, and suggests a modest, though important, role that the Court could play in fostering social justice in the brave new world of work.

This paper looks at the “deep roots” of striking as a social practice in Canada, by providing an analytic framework for approaching the history of the right to strike, and then sketching the contours of that history. Focusing on the three key worker freedoms — to associate, to bargain collectively, and to strike — the authors trace the jural relations between workers, employers and the state through four successive regimes of industrial legality in Canada: master and servant; liberal voluntarism; industrial voluntarism; and industrial pluralism, the latter marked by the adoption of the Wagner Act model. On the basis of their review of those regimes, the authors argue that long before the modern scheme, workers enjoyed a virtually unlimited freedom to strike for collective bargaining purposes. Although government-imposed restrictions on the freedom have increased significantly, especially under industrial pluralism, legislatures have typically provided workers with compensating trade-offs, including rights enforceable against their employers. However, in contrast to the historical pattern, public-sector workers have with growing frequency been subjected to “exceptionalism,” i.e. the suspension or limitation of freedoms without a grant of compensatory rights. In the authors’ view, it is the imposition of such measures that will likely provide the context for consideration of whether the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right to strike.

The article reviews the book, "L'argent noir des syndicats," by Roger Lenglet, Jean-Luc Touly and Christophe Mongermont.

During the period of early capitalism in Ontario, disabled workers were forced to find ways to survive following an injury. Affordable insurance offered by fraternal societies provided limited protection for many working-class families but was not a reliable source of financial support for injured and disabled workers. Even when insurance disability benefits were a factor, many injured workers soon found themselves in a position of financial hardship. Fraternal insurance reflected many of the same barriers facing disabled workers and as a result, represents a microcosm of wider social and institutional treatment of individuals with disabilities during this period.

Nous comparons la fonction d’encadrement de premier niveau en France et au Québec. Nommés en France « agents de maîtrise » et « contremaîtres », ils sont, selon la terminologie québécoise, des superviseurs, des contremaîtres ou des gestionnaires de premier niveau, des first-line managers ou middle management en langue anglaise. Au premier niveau d’encadrement, ils exercent une responsabilité hiérarchique auprès des techniciens supérieurs et des opérateurs. Nous avons analysé cette fonction dans deux entreprises similaires de transports urbains de voyageurs (Paris, Montréal). Nous avons comparé son statut, ses rôles complexes de régulation, ses compétences, ses identités dans le travail et ses évolutions. Notre typologie des postures identitaires au travail des contremaîtres-agents de maîtrise en France s’applique en partie au Québec, soulignant donc l’hétérogénéité de ce groupe professionnel dans ces deux contextes nationaux.

The article reviews the book, "The Yankee Yorkshireman: Migration Lived and Imagined," by Mary H. Blewett.

Temporary foreign worker programs have been both passionately criticized and applauded. They have been analyzed from multiple stakeholder perspectives - employers, workers, governments and unions - and in relation to various thematic arenas, including labour markets, employment standards, communities, health, and so on (see other authors in this issue). The implications of temporary workers and these programs for rights and citizenship have also been taken up (Basok 1999 and 2002, Preibisch 2004, Sharma 2006, Bauder 2007), although such discussions circulate less widely than those focused on employment. My purpose here is to situate temporary worker programs in relation to the concept of precarious status in order to contribute to discussions regarding citizenship and nation building - where the latter invokes questions about political community, rights, bases for membership, and belonging. I make a two-fold argument: 1 ) that temporary worker programs should be understood as one of several elements of policy practice that contribute to precarious status in Canada; and 2) that the connection between precarious status and citizenship needs to be analyzed and debated because it has important implications for citizenship and nation building in Canada. Since the 1970s, Canadian immigration and citizenship policy has selected immigrants and focused on supporting their transition to settled citizens, creating a nation where membership is framed in civic and multicultural terms. Recent policy shifts establish a two-tier system, with settled residents and citizens and an array of presumably temporary "others ."At the heart of the matter is whether Canada wants to pursue immigration and citizenship policies that entrench legal exclusion and cUscrimination based on migratory status, and potentially erode rights for all by virtue of reducing or eliminating them for some, or whether Canadians want to develop policies and strategies that provide alternatives, such as expanding social, civil and perhaps political rights for non-citizens, as well as earlier and more effective pathways to citizenship. Debating these issues can contribute to the ongoing process of defining and negotiating Canadian identities, values and norms as well as policies designed to expand social inclusion - for citizens as well as non -citizens in Canada. The discussion is organized into three sections. The first defines precarious status. The second situates temporary worker programs as contributing to a form of precarious status. The third section outlines and discusses implications of precarious status for citizenship, inclusion and nation building. Temporary entrance categories and the growth of precarious status. Forms of precarious status associated with temporary entrance categories are likely to persist and increase through two mechanisms: 1) as a continuation of the increase in temporary entries as well as the number of temporary residents present in Canada. The current economic crisis may put a dent in the admission of temporary workers (Galloway 2009), but this is unlikely to alter their long-term increase;7 and 2) through movement from authorized to unauthorized precarious statuses. It is possible to transition from temporary status to permanent resident status, as when foreign students or refugee claimants become permanent residents. This possibility is, however, extremely limited for most temporary workers; exceptions include those in the Live- in Caregiver Program and the recently created Canadian Experience Class, as well as through the Provincial Nominee Program, which has been used as a pathway to permanent residence for small numbers of workers in some provinces ([Elgersma] 2007, Byel 2007). What is also possible is movement from authorized to unauthorized precarious status. However, there are no systematic data relative to overstaying for the temporary resident category.

Este artículo analiza el aumento de trabajadores afiliados y la recuperación de la tasa de afiliación en relación a otros períodos históricos, en particular los años 1990 en la Argentina, en un contexto generalizado de caída de ese indicador en gran parte de los países desarrollados de la OCDE.La pregunta central que orienta el estudio refiere a conocer: ¿Qué factores explican la incipiente recuperación de la tasa de afiliación sindical? La respuesta a este interrogante se inscribe en una serie de debates nacionales e internacionales acerca de la definición de la afiliación sindical, su medición (o elaboración), su significado y particularmente los factores endógenos o exógenos que inciden en los trabajadores a afiliarse. En este sentido, la literatura reconoce factores exógenos al sindicato, como los económicos (Bain y Elsheikh, 1976; Metcalf, 2005; Visser, 2006), políticos (Wallerstein y Western, 2000; Frege y Kelly, 2003) y jurídico institucional (Freeman y Pelletier, 1990). En cuanto a los factores endógenos, se hace referencia a las técnicas de reclutamiento y estructura organizativa de los sindicatos (Undy et al., 1981; Herry, 2006). La información utilizada proviene de una encuesta de Relaciones Laborales realizada por el Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social. La muestra comprende 1.553 empresas, representativas de un universo total de 53.038 firmas que emplean a 2.450.400 asalariados.Los resultados de la investigación revelan que los factores exógenos de orden jurídico institucional se han mantenido sin alteraciones durante décadas, sin embargo la tasa de afiliación cae durante los 1990 y se recupera a partir de 2003. La principal hipótesis del trabajo es que esta recuperación de la tasa de afiliación y aumento de afiliados se debe fundamentalmente a factores exógenos de orden político y económico como el aliento a la afiliación, el aumento general del empleo registrado y la expansión de la negociación colectiva. // This article analyzes the reasons for the increase in the number of affiliated workers and the upsurge in the unionization rate in Argentina, in relation to other historical periods, in particular the 1990s, in a generalized context of a drop in this indicator in a large proportion of OECD countries. The main question which directs this study is which factors explain the sudden increase in the unionization rate. The literature recognizes the existence of explanatory factors exogenous to the union, such as economic (Bain and Elsheikh, 1976; Metcalf, 2005; Visser, 2006), political (Wallerstein and Western, 2000; Frege and Kelly, 2003), and judicial institutional factors (Freeman and Pelletier, 1990). The research results reveal that even if exogenous judicial institutional factors were stable for decades, the unionization rate nevertheless fell during the 1990s, and then went up again beginning in 2003.

Explanations of the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship are often vague and-or misleading. Authors have frequently failed to distinguish between institutional bases for cooperation and the ideological orientations of employers and employees. Previous theorizing has typically presented cross-sectional views where the employment relationship is presented outside of its temporal context. Here it is argued that the extent and nature of conflict and cooperation between employers and their workforce should be understood through appreciating that interest alignment changes as an employment relationship moves from a short to a long term. In practice, the institutional basis for conflict mostly exists in the short and long term and cooperation in the long term exclusively. Using survey data obtained from fast food workers, the theoretical and strategic consequences of this view are explored in relation to new employment forms which have a modified concept of a long term.