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The article reviews the book, "Rocks and Hard Places: The Globalization of Mining," by Roger Moody.

This article discusses the significance of the landmark decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Demir and Baykara v Turkey, which reversed earlier jurisprudence to hold (i) that the right to collective bargaining is ‘an essential element’ of the right to freedom of association in Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and (ii) embedded the jurisprudence of the International Labour Organisation and the European Social Charter into that right. The authors examine the ECtHR's extension of the Demir and Baykara principle to include collective action and review the Strasbourg court's jurisprudence generally on the right to strike. Full consideration is given to (i) the treatment of these developments by the English courts in Metrobus Ltd v UNITE the Union and EDF Energy Powerlink Ltd v RMT and (ii) their wider implications not only for British but also for European Union (EU) labour law. The authors consider the apparent collision between the trade union rights established under the ECHR in Demir and Baykara and the trade union liabilities introduced under EU law by the Viking and Laval judgments of the European Court of Justice, taking into account some significant issues that arose in the BALPA v British Airways litigation in 2008.

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.