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Defined benefit (DB) pension plans have historically been an import- ant element in Canada's "three pillar" retirement income system. However, recessions in the global and Canadian economies have increased pressures on the funding of DB plans, and highlighted concerns about their sustainability - developments which have prompted governments in Canada to introduce a num- ber of reforms to pension benefit legislation. The authors, counsel to employers and plan sponsors, provide an overview of the existing legislation and the reform process, with particular emphasis on changes to Ontario's regulatory framework for DB plans as it relates to four key areas: plan solvency andfunding, surpluses, partial plan wind-ups, and asset transfers and plan mergers or splits. The paper notes that many if not all of these measures have been well-received by plan sponsors. However, in assessing whether the reforms will have the intended effect of stemming the decline in DB plan participation, the authors question whether the measures taken so far are not "too little, too late," and suggest that more far-reaching, and permanent, steps will be necessary. The paper also reviews and comments on the main features of the legislation recently enacted by the federal government providing for pooled registered pension plans.

This study uses both institutional and individual level data to examine the variation of part-time faculty employment in colleges and universities in the United States. Results support the arguments that higher educational institutions actively adopt contingent work arrangements to manage their resource dependence with constituencies, to save on labour costs, and to maximize academic prestige. Private institutions, on average, have higher levels of part-time faculty than their public counterparts. The proportion of part-time students and the share of institutional revenues derived from tuition and fees are positively associated with part-time faculty employment. Institutions that have limited resource slack and pay high salaries to their full-time faculty members tend to employ a high proportion of part-time faculty.

The article reviews and comments on the books "Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink," by Louis Hyman, "Packaging Pleasure: Holiday Camps in Twentieth-Century Britain," by Sandra Dawson, and "Consumption and Its Consequences," by Daniel Miller.

The struggle to establish a progressive American-based industrial union, United Packinghouse Workers of America, in Edmonton's four major packinghouses during World War Two sparked the ""awakening"" of a social conscience in many workers who embraced the goals of strengthening the labour movement and promoting working-class political activism. The impact of this working-class community on electoral politics, however, was limited to a significant degree by notions of gender difference. The most successful politician to come out of an Alberta packinghouse was Ethel Wilson, a seamstress in the laundry department at Edmonton's Burns plant, who rose through municipal and provincial politics to become a cabinet minister in the anti-union Social Credit government of Ernest Manning, while a number of packing men were unable to achieve electoral success. Drawing on a wide array of sources, including oral interviews, union and government records, and newspapers, I argue that notions of gender difference intersected with class and ethnicity to handicap packing men and women in distinctive ways linked to a national system of pattern bargaining that gave them unprecedented trade union power during the decades following World War Two. During these years workers tended to support male leaders who could be aggressive, even bullying and dictatorial. This masculinist leadership style was most effective in confrontations with the powerful companies that comprised Canada's ""meat trust,"" particularly Canada Packers, and with the province's increasingly right-wing provincial government, but it often marginalized progressive voices in the union and excluded women almost entirely from the most powerful leadership positions. Conversely, in community politics, the aggressive image of packing masculinity was a liability that did not handicap Ethel Wilson, who was able to achieve success by downplaying her union credentials and trading on an image of respectable white Anglo-Canadian femininity.

This book seeks to explain unionization to my generation; to my friends who distrust civil society organizations as much as they distrust government; to my unemployed friends who are living from contract to contract and who would kill for a stable, unionized job; for the workers who have never had the benefit of being represented when facing injustice at work; for the workers who would rather not think of what would happen if they were injured on the job. It’s a reminder to unionized folks that many of the truths that they take for granted are not obvious to others and that the labour movement must change how it reaches out to its members, its communities and to non-unionized workers if it hopes to grow. It’s a call to action for activists to share their stories, debunk the existing right-wing, anti-union rhetoric, re-engage in their communities, and build a movement that can defeat neoliberal policies and their political proponents. --From author's introduction. Contents: 1. What is a union? -- 2. Unions: debunking the lies -- 3. Unions: process and progress -- 4. Labour disputes -- 5. Unions, democracy and challenging government -- 6. Neoliberalism: dividing and conquering Canadians -- 7. Neoliberalism's attack on workers and citizens -- 8. The politics of budgeting, scandals and public sector spending -- 9. Profit hoarding, tax evasion and the crreation of useful crises -- 10. Civil unrest and attacks on citizen freedoms -- 11. Toward new ways of organizing.

Cet article a pour objectif de poser un regard rétrospectif sur les activités scientifiques et les réflexions menées par le regroupement stratégique en transfert de connaissances (RS-TC) afin de dégager des axes de développement sur ce thème en lien avec la santé et sécurité au travail (SST). Afin de dresser ce bilan, nous avons effectué une analyse documentaire à partir de deux sources principales : 1) les activités de type symposiums et tables rondes organisées successivement en 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 et 2011 et les diverses présentations et publications qui en sont issues et 2) les revues de littérature effectuées sur le transfert des connaissances en SST. Nous présentons d’abord un bref portrait des activités de transfert en SST réalisées par le RS-TC du Réseau de recherche en santé et sécurité du travail (RRSSTQ). Par la suite, nous proposons diverses pistes de réflexion développées à partir des activités menées depuis la création de ce regroupement au sein du RRSSTQ. Par exemple, le piège de restreindre le sens du terme connaissance et de s’y astreindre, le choix d’un intitulé représentatif de la question du transfert au Réseau, la nécessité d’opérer une double articulation individu/organisation, l’importance et la complexité du rôle des relayeurs, la multiplicité des outils de relais, la problématique de l’implantation. Nous terminons sur une piste de réflexion encore inexplorée par la communauté de chercheurs en TC de ce regroupement – les décideurs, auxquels peu d’efforts ont été consacrés – et sur les suites à donner au travail réalisé à ce jour : développer un cadre d’analyse propre à rendre compte des savoirs et savoir-faire développés au Réseau.

The article reviews the book, "Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union," by Clarence Taylor.

The article reviews the book, "Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900-1930," by Dan Azoulay.

Labour landmarks are monuments, memorials, plaques and other sites that commemorate the past experiences of workers in society. These sites are also manifestations of the collective memory of labourers. In industrial Cape Breton, which has a long history of labour and class struggle, an analytical survey of labour landmarks reveals how the industrial past has been remembered and memorialized. This overview reflects the narratives that have been attached to these sites, the ways in which historical memory has been localized and constructed in industrial Cape Breton, and the new layers of meaning that are revealed as these communities transition into post-industrialism.

Discusses the importance of labour landmarks, in particular the United Steelworker's Memorial Monument in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Provides the historical context of labour unrest and industrial fatalities that occurred at the Sydney steelplant, with summaries of the circumstances that resulted in the deaths of individual workers over the decades. Takes note of ownership changes, advances in workplace safety through unionism, and the plant's toxic legacy.

As a result of the recession that began in 2008, many employers are look- ing for ways to cut labour costs. One way of doing so is to impose two-tier compensation schemes, whereby younger employees do essentially the same job as older ones, but for lower wages and benefits. The key concern of this paper is how Canadian labour, employment and human rights law could respond to the differential impact of two-tier schemes on younger workers. First, the author reviews the use of two-tier systems in the United States and Canada, showing that they affect not only workers' wages and benefits but also their pensions, as employers move from defined benefit to defined contribution plans. In the next part of the paper, he analyses arbitral, labour board and human rights tribunal case law, arguing that lower-tier workers face significant barriers in seeking legal recourse through duty of fair representation or human rights complaints. The author concludes with an overview of the restrictions on two-tier schemes in the Quebec employment standards statute, and discusses the difficulties of enacting similar legislation in other Canadian jurisdictions.

Many Filipino immigrants have moved to Canada as professionals, with high levels of English fluency and education. However, first and second generation Filipino-Canadians are still relatively disadvantaged in the labour market. Despite these negative collective outcomes, individual trajectories differ greatly, with many individuals achieving high levels of education and desirable employment. My research examines how social surroundings can facilitate or impede pathways to post-secondary education and employment by shaping aspirations and providing connections to the labour market. The research also analyses how gendered childrearing approaches, employment aspirations, peer norms and available role models result in distinct gendered experiences. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with adult children of Filipino immigrants in the Vancouver area who have attended post-secondary education and are employed. It will explain how, in most cases, trajectories are strongly influenced by the social networks in the spaces of the home, neighbourhood, education system and the Philippines.

This study examines the experiences of highly educated South Asian immigrant women working as home-based entrepreneurs within ethnic enclaves in Toronto, Canada. The importance of their work and experiences need to be understood in the context of two processes. On the one hand, there is the neoliberal hegemonic discourse of “enterprising self” that encourages individuals to become “productive”, self-responsible, citizen-subjects, without depending on state help or welfare to succeed in the labour market. On the other hand, there is the racialized and gendered labour market that systematically devalues the previous education and skills of non-white immigrants and pushes them towards jobs that are low-paid, temporary and precarious in nature. In the light of the above situations, I argue that in the process of setting up their home-based businesses, South Asian immigrant women in my study negotiate the barriers they experience in two ways. First, despite being inducted into different (re)training and (re)learning that aim to improve their deficiencies, they continue to believe in their abilities and resourcefulness, thereby challenging the “remedial” processes that try to locate lack in their abilities. Second, by negotiating gender ideologies within their families and drawing on community ties within enclaves they keep at check the individuating and achievement oriented ideology of neoliberalism. They, therefore, demonstrate how the values of an “enterprising self” can be based on collaboration and relationship rather than competition, profit or material success. The concept of “negotiation”, as employed in this thesis, denotes a form of agency different from the commonly perceived notions of agency as formal, large-scale, macro organization or resistance. Rather, the concept is based on how women resort to multiple, various and situational practices of conformity and contestation that often can blend into each other.

Focusing on arbitral decisions on human rights claims arising in the employment context, this paper looks at the nature of the expertise of adminis- trative tribunals and its role in determining the standard of judicial review. The author notes that arbitrators are considered to have expertise in labour rela- tions, and that this has been a key factor in the high level of deference generally shown by courts to their decisions. However, despite the expansion of arbitral jurisdiction over human rights matters in unionized workplaces, the courts, applying a "correctness" standard of review, have refused to grant deference to arbitrators with respect to their interpretation and application of human rights legislation, in part on the basis that they are not expert in the area. The author takes issue with this view, contending that arbitrators have in fact acquired significant expertise in interpreting human rights statutes in the context of the employment relationship, and that recognition of such expertise should lead to a reappraisal of the level of curial deference. In this regard, he argues, it would be open to the courts to deem arbitrators to possess the requisite expertise in human rights, thereby justifying a more deferential "reasonableness" standard of review.

Créativité et gestion : les idées au service de l’innovation, by Camille Carrier et Sylvie Gélinas, is reviewed.

Demographic trends both provincially and nationally indicate increasing life expectancy and growing numbers of older adults living with chronic disease and disability. Human resource projections predict that Canada will need to double the number of formal home care workers in order to meet future demands. This demographic change has also resulted in increasing numbers of older adults choosing to remain engaged in the workforce past the traditional age time of retirement. Research on supportive services in the community has identified the issues and challenges of homecare but little has addressed the complex interplay of economic, political, and social factors that have resulted in the health and safety challenges associated with the work provided by home support workers. Using a method of inquiry called Institutional Ethnography, this research explored the meaning of work and health and safety considerations of workers over 50 years old who are providing home support services in Newfoundland. This exploration of health and safety needs and practices, work environments, as well as policies and government systems regulating the employment of workers can be summarized into three threads that describe the everyday work of these aging home support workers: Crossing Boundaries - More Than Just a Job; Making it Work in Unhealthy and Unsafe Work Environments; and Becoming a Home Support Worker: Experience, Orientation, and Training Necessary to do the Work. The findings suggest that decision making practices to engage in risk taking behaviour that impact health and safety in the workplace are influenced by the meaning of work as well as the emotional connections and close, personal relationships with clients. It is anticipated that this research may positively influence the health and safety of aging workers in this sector. This will be achieved through the recommendations for policy and practice that emerged from this research including the development and implementation of a risk assessment tool for home support workers, clear standards on education, orientation, and training, wage parity with the acute care sector, and more clarity on title, roles, and responsibilities of home support workers.

The article reviews the book, "The Tailor of Ulm: Communism in the Twentieth Century," by Lucio Magri.

The article reviews the book, "Combating Mountaintop Removal: New Directions in the Fight Against Big Coal," by Bryan T. McNeil.

Research Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations, edited by Michael Barry and Adrian Wilkinson, is reviewed.

The number of people with less than permanent migration status in Canada has increased in recent decades. While such people often have social and economic ties to Canada, and live and work within its territory, they do not have legal permanent membership by way of permanent residence or citizenship, and experience differential access to legal rights and entitlements. This dissertation examines the role of migration status in the lives of people who identify themselves as having “uncertain” migration status. In this study, I draw on interviews with migrants and representatives of migrant-serving agencies as well as legal and policy texts, deploying Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnography as a methodology to ground the dissertation both analytically and structurally in the interview data. This study enlarges the understanding of the nature and effects of migration status as it is enacted in local institutional sites. Using the construct of “precarious migration status” as a theoretical frame, I focus specifically on the nature and effects of precarious migration status. I explore the effect of precarious migration status on working life and on migrants’ interactions with state institutions governing health care, education, and income security. I conclude that precarious migration status has a deleterious effect on the employment relationship itself as well as access to worker protections, even though the law creates no formal barrier to such protections on the basis of status. With regard to social state, individuals with precarious status are often formally excluded in the text of the law as well as through various exclusionary policies and practices within local institutional sites. I conclude that institutional sites in which precarious migration status functions to exclude should be understood as forms of enforcement. I further conclude that human rights and anti-discrimination strategies through Charter and provincial human rights statutes, while valuable, are unlikely to improve inclusion for precarious migrants, while contestation of membership at the level of local institutions has greater potential to do so.