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Study of housing for Mexican migrant workers in the Okanagan Valley under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. Concludes that the workforce is "captive" (i.e., lacking basic rights) to its employer, including for accommodation.

This article engages in a comparative analysis of the U.S. and Canadian labor movements’ attitudes toward nuclear power, in both historical and contemporary periods, with a view to explaining the divergent policy positions on nuclear power adopted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the AFL-CIO, respectively. The contrasting views of the AFL-CIO and CLC, it is argued, arise not simply from differing levels of commitment to the principles of social unionism, but from a more complex mesh of ideological, pragmatic, and institutional factors related to union-party relationships and other important differences pertaining to the culture, membership composition, organizational maintenance requirements, and decision-making power bases in both labor organizations.

English/French abstracts of articles in the Fall 2011 issue.

English/French abstracts of articles in the Spring 2011 issue.

Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy, edited by Ruth Milkman, Joshua Bloom and Victor Narro, is reviewed.

There is a growing body of research on African Canadians in the 19th century that touches on their experiences in the workforce. Nonetheless, the literature has been largely silent on how labour market opportunities for African Canadians altered over time and, in particular, how members of this community fared with the slow, but nonetheless dramatic, rise of an industrial-capitalist economy. This study uses census data to explore the occupational experiences of African Canadians living in London, Ontario, between 1861 and 1901. Findings suggest that labour market opportunities were better for men of African origins around mid-century but declined noticeably in the succeeding years. African Canadians of both genders were largely excluded from growth areas in the economy, and their labour was highly concentrated in a narrow range of low-skill jobs. Although there is limited evidence of upward occupational mobility over time for some, and a slight broadening of occupational opportunities by 1901, African Canadian men and women were disadvantaged compared to their white counterparts.

The article reviews the book, "The Business of Women: Marriage, Family, and Entrepreneurship in British Columbia, 1901–51," by Melanie Buddle.

The article reviews the book, "The Nurture of Nature: Childhood, Antimodernism, and Ontario Summer Camps, 1920–55," by Sharon Wall.

Power in Coalition: Strategies for Strong Unions and Social Change, by Amanda Tattersall, is reviewed.

Drawing on data collected as part of a larger qualitative study of the experience of restructuring in the non‐profit social services in Canada and Australia, this article argues that resistance, including social unionism, is often a complex form of emotional labour and a source of deep satisfaction for care workers in the non‐profit social services.

The article reviews the book, "Privatizing Pensions: The Transnational Campaign for Social Security Reform," by Mitchell A. Orenstein.

Employment Policy in the European Union: Origins, Themes and Prospects, edited by Michael Gold, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Making Capitalism Safe: Work Safety and Health Regulation in America, 1880-1940," by Donald Rogers.

The article reviews the book, "La signification du travail : nouveau modèle productif et ethos du travail au Québec," by Daniel Mercure and Mircea Vultur.

The article reviews the book, "Seeking Spatial Justice," by Edward W. Soja.

A drill makes the music that rings in his ears But a candle's the charmer to drive away fears, Down deep underground where grim shadows are thick - Here's to you always, my old candlestick! So said an underground miner in the Similkameen Valley back in 1900. This book brings the abandoned mines and ghost towns of southwestern BC back to life as voices from the grave tell their stories in verse. These voices lay silent for decades until Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat discovered them. Like prospectors panning for gold, Bartlett and Ruebsaat sifted through the fragile pages of old newspapers in the Princeton Archives until they hit paydirt in the form of poems about daily life in the Similkameen valley ~ how did it feel to leave the fields and hedgerows of England and come to the BC wilderness? What tools did our early miners use? Why did it take so long for the railway to come to the Similkameen? The poems in this book together with extensive archival photographs as well as Bartlett and Ruebsaat’s historical narrative paint a vivid picture of pioneer life in BC's Similkameen valley. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Embedded With Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home," by Steve Early.

In the early twentieth century, the Canadian Lakehead was known as a breeding ground for revolution, a place where harsh conditions in dockyards, lumber mills, and railway yards drove immigrants into radical labour politics. This intensely engaging history reasserts Northwestern Ontario's rightful reputation as a birthplace of leftism in Canada by exposing the conditions that gave rise to an array of left-wing organizations, including the Communist Party, the One Big Union, and the Industrial Workers of the World. Yet, as Michel Beaulieu shows, the circumstances and actions of Lakehead labour, especially those related to ideology, ethnicity, and personality were complex; they simultaneously empowered and fettered workers in their struggles against the shackles of capitalism. Cultural ties helped bring left-wing ideas to Canada but, as each group developed a distinctive vocabulary of socialism, Anglo-Celtic workers defended their privileges against Finns, Ukrainians, and Italians. At the Lakehead, ethnic difference often outweighed class solidarity - at the cost of a stronger labour movement for Canada. --Publisher's description.  Contents: Part 1. The Roots of Revolution?: 1. Early socialist organizations at the Lakehead, 1900-14; 2. Repression, revitalization, and revolutions, 1914-18 -- Part 2. From Winnipeg to the Workers' Unity League: 3. "The Hog Only Harms Himself if He Topples His Trough": The one big union, 1919-22; 4. "Into the Masses!": The Communist Party of Canada at the Lakehead, 1922-25; 5. Bolshevization and the reorganization of the Lakehead Left, 1925-27; 6. Turning to the left, 1928-30 -- Part 3. The Great Depression and the Third Period: 7. "Class against Class": socialist activities, 1930-32; 8. Wobbly relations: The Communist Party of Canada, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Lakehead, 1932-35.

During the last two days of December in 1911 the Finnish Labour Temple in Port Arthur, Ontario, was the scene of one of the most significant events in both Canadian and regional political history before the First World War. Chosen for its geographic position, the temple hosted a pan-national gathering of socialists who, in an attempt to unite the Canadian left, established Canada’s first social democratic party, the Social Democratic Party of Canada (SDPC). The goal of the SDPC was to educate the workers of Canada to consciousness of their class position in society, their economic servitude to the owners of capital, and to organize them into a political party to seize the reins of government and transform all capitalist property into the collective property of the working class. Its activity during the next decade would have a profound influence on both the various manifestations of socialism regionally and nationally over the next century and on mainstream Canadian social politics. However, the hundredth anniversary of its establishment has gone unnoticed by political and labour historians. Part of the reason rests with the simply fact that, although many works mention and even briefly discuss the SDPC, no full-length study has yet been written. In an attempt to rectify this situation, this paper provides an overview of its actions and activities at the Lakehead,between 1911 and 1918. --Introduction