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The article reviews the book, "In the Province of History: The Making of the Public Past in 20th-Century Nova Scotia," by Ian McKay and Robin Bates.

The article reviews the book "Global Cities at Work: New Migrant Divisions of Labour," by Jane Will, Kavita Datta, Yarra Evans, Joanna Herbert, Jon May, and Cathy McIlwaine.

The article reviews the book, "Those Who Work, Those Who Don't: Poverty, Morality and Family in Rural America," by Jennifer Sherman.

The article reviews the book, "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela," by Miguel Tinker Salas.

The article reviews the book, "Transforming Labour: Women and Work in Postwar Canada," by Joan Sangster.

Relying heavily on ILO standards, the Supreme Court of Canada in B.C. Health held for the first time that the Charter guarantee of freedom of association protects not only the right of unions to organize but also their right to bargain collectively. In the authors' view, the decision in B.C. Health calls into question the established legal framework of labour relations in Canada, according to which only those unions with majority support in the bargaining unit can exercise such rights, and implies that the state is under a duty to protect the associational rights of minority and non-statutory unions as well. This paper explores how the New Zealand experience with minority and pluralist unionism, as it has developed under that country's Employment Relations Act 2000, may provide guidance to Canada on what an alternative model might entail and on the consequences of adopting such a model. Emphasizing key points of comparison and contrast between New Zealand and Canada, the authors contend that a legal framework which supports majoritarian exclusivity can also allow and support minority unionism, in a way that is consistent with international standards on freedom of association.

This thesis explores the revolutionary adult education learning dimensions in a Canadian Black anti-racist organization, which continues to be under-represented in the Canadian Adult Education literature on social movement learning. This case study draws on detailed reflection based on my own personal experience as a leader and member of the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC). The analysis demonstrates the limitations to the application of the Gramscian approach to radical adult education in the non-profit sector, I will refer to as the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) drawing on recent research by INCITE Women of Colour! (2007). This study fills important gaps in the new fields of studies on the NPIC and its role in the cooptation of dissent, by offering the first Canadian study of a radical Black anti-racist organization currently experiencing this. This study fills an important gap in the social movement and adult education literature related to the legacy of Canadian Black Communism specifically on the Canadian left.

The article reviews the book, "Mondialisation et recomposition des relations professionnelles," edited by François Aballéa and Arnaud Mias.

The article reviews the book, "I Have a Story to Tell You," edited by Seemah C. Berson.

The article reviews the book, "Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country," by Alison K. Hoagland.

Over the past decade the introduction of MP3’s, file sharing networks and illegal downloading has fundamentally changed the music industry, structurally and spatially. In the wake of this restructuring it is now estimated that 95% of all musicians in Canada operate independently of record companies (Canadian Independent Recording Artist Association or ‘CIRAA’). Digital technologies afford independent musicians greater freedom and control over how and where they live and work. Although economic geographers have been quick to examine the impact of the so called ‘MP3 Crisis’ on record sales and the major record labels, little is known about how changes at the macro-scale affect the working lives of individual musicians in specific locations. As a result, this dissertation focuses on the employment experiences and spatial dynamics of independent musicians in Toronto. Drawing on sixty-five in-depth interviews with musicians and key informants in the music industry, the thesis documents the intersections between technology, work and space. In particular, the analysis highlights the ways in which the new creative and spatial freedoms, associated with independent music production, are accompanied by intensified competition and employment risk, which musicians experience in an increasingly individualized way. Surviving in the current marketplace requires independent musicians to perform a range of new tasks and exhibit a higher degree of professionalism. Accordingly, the research outlines some of the reasons why some musicians are rejecting and reworking traditional bohemian lifestyles, spatial patterns and risk mediation strategies. In particular, there is growing evidence of new forms of networking and of the increased importance of strategic collaborations between musicians and fashion designers. There are also signs that some musicians are relocating from the downtown core to the surrounding suburbs, and that musical talent is becoming redistributed across the city-region. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates the need for specialized policies to incubate and retain creative talent in an increasingly global and digital marketplace.

This article explores the contradictions in the Canadian Auto Workers Union’s (CAW) approach to environmental issues, particularly climate change. Despite being one of the Canadian labor movement’s leading proponents of social unionism— understood as a union ethos committed to working-class interests beyond the workplace, and a strategic repertoire that involves community-union alliances— the CAW’s environmental activism demonstrates the contradictory way that social unionism can be understood and practiced by unions. Through a critical discourse analysis of CAW policy documents and leadership statements, we show the union has not reframed its bargaining demands to emphasize both economically and environmentally sustainable production. Instead, the CAW’s relatively uncritical defense of the North American auto industry and the jobs it provides, despite the clearly negative role such production plays in the climate crisis, its acceptance of the structures of automobility, and its emphasis on environmental issues that have little to do with the nature of their industry, indicates the way that social unionism can be an add-on rather than a fundamental reorientation of a union’s role and purpose. We argue that, for social unionist environmental activism to be effective, the CAW must incorporate social unionist goals and analyses into their bargaining priorities, and confront the contradictions between their members’ interests as autoworkers, on the one hand, and as workers and global citizens who require economically and environmentally sustainable livelihoods, on the other.

Using strategies first developed in the inter-war years, the ILO has repositioned itself to play a leading role in our understanding of the relationship between employment policies and growth, particularly in relation to poverty reduction strategies. To do this, the ILO has forged increasingly strong relationships with key international financial institutions (IFIs), in which the inclusion of ILO-driven strategies for Decent Work and core labour standards has been important. Whilst this repositioning has been questioned by some who fear that an original purpose of the 110 may be lost, and the technical implementation of the ILO agenda in conjunction with the IFIs is not without difficulties, the ILO's status as a major international agency for the advancement of human development has been reinforced.

The article reviews the book, "Burlesque West: Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver," by Becki Ross.

Unions, Equity, and the Path to Renewal, edited by Janice Foley and Patricia Baker, is reviewed.

Ethical Socialism and the Trade Unions: Allan Flanders and British Industrial Relations Reform, by John Kelly, is reviewed.

Discusses the growth of precarious work in Canada in the context of labour law, employment law, and union density. Analyzes two organizing initiatives at a community level and at an industry level in which the Service Employees International Union, Local 2 Canada, participated: the Good Jobs for All campaign in Toronto and the Justice for Janitors national campaign. Contents: Development, globalization and decent work: an emerging Southern labour paradigm / Edward Webster -- Beyond the capitalist logic: theoretical debates and social experiences / Melisa Serrano and Edlira Xhafa -- Economy, ecology and the national limits to growth: the global poly-crisis and South Africa responses / Devan Pillay -- Understanding the past to change the present: the social compromise, the corporate theory of society and the future shape of industrial relations / Conor Cradden -- The new economy and labour's decline: questioning their association / Bill Dunn -- Global unions, local labour, and the regulation of international labour standards: mapping ITF labour rights strategies / Mark P. Thomas -- Private equity investment and labour: faceless capital and the challenges to trade unions in Brazil / José Ricardo Barbosa Gonçalves and Maria Alejandra Caporale Madi -- Labour and the locusts: trade unions responses to corporate governance regulation in the European Union / Laura Horn -- Transnational framework agreements: new bargaining tools impacting on corporate governance? / Isabelle Schömann -- Collective actions push trade union reform in China / Lin Yanling and Ju Wenhui -- Creating a functional state: redefining the labour-capital relationship in Nepal / Chandra D. Bhatta -- A rowing boat on the open sea, or in a haven from financial and environmental crises? New Zealand, the global financial crisis and an union response / Bill Rosenberg -- Turkey after 2008: another crisis - the same responses? / Yasemin Özgün and Özgür Müfüoglu -- Addressing competition: strategies for organizing precarious workers: cases from Canada / Maya Bhullar -- Perils and prospects: the US labour movement's response to the economic crisis / Jason Russell -- Meeting the right's attack on public sector unions in the United States: are there effective strategies? / Lee Adler.

[This book] tells the compelling story of British Columbia workers who sustained a left tradition during the bleakest days of the Cold War. Through their continuing activism on issues from the politics of timber licenses to global questions of war and peace, these workers bridged the transition from an Old to a New Left.In the late 1950s, half of B.C.'s workers belonged to unions, but the promise of postwar collective bargaining spawned disillusionment tied to inflation and automation. A new working class that was educated, white collar, and increasingly rebellious shifted the locus of activism from the Communist Party and Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to the newly formed New Democratic Party, which was elected in 1972. Grounded in archival research and oral history, Militant Minority provides a valuable case study of one of the most organized and independent working classes in North America, during a period of ideological tension and unprecedented material advance. --Publisher's description

While Canada’s immigration system is shaped primarily by the nation’s economic needs, refugee claimants’ motivations are, by nature, non-economic. Resultantly, refugee claimants are often portrayed as a drain on Canadian resources. Despite this however, refugee claimants’ employment experiences remain underrepresented in the literature. This study explores the employment experiences of refugee claimants in Toronto, and finds that claimants face distinct and unique barriers stemming from their precarious legal status. Additionally, as neither temporary workers nor permanent citizens, this study finds that refugee claimants perceive employment as an integrative expression of belonging and citizenship. Through the lens of refugeeness, this study traces the subjective employment trajectories of refugee claimants. Findings indicate that refugee claimants’ employability is shaped by real and ascribed barriers associated with their citizenship status, creating decidedly unique and often difficult employment experiences.

The article reviews the book, "Codes of Misconduct: The Regulation of Prostitution in Colonial Bombay," by Ashwini Tambe.