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Much research on precarious employment compares permanent workers with one or two other broadly-defined employment categories. We developed a more refined method of examining precariousness by defining current employment arrangements in terms of job characteristics. These employment arrangement categories were then compared in terms of socio-demographics and self-reported job insecurity. This investigation was based on a cross-sectional population-based survey of a random sample of 1,101 working Australians. Eight mutually exclusive employment categories were identified: Permanent Full-time (46.4%), Permanent Part-time (18.3%), Casual Full-time (2.7%), Casual Part-time (9.3%), Fixed Term Contract (2.1%), Labour Hire (3.6%), Own Account Self-employed (7.4%), and Other Self-employed (9.5%). These showed significant and coherent differences in job characteristics, socio-demographics and perceived job insecurity. These empirically-supported categories may provide a conceptual guide for government agencies, policy makers and researchers in areas including occupational health and safety, taxation, labour market regulations, the working poor, child poverty, benefit programs, industrial relations, and skills development.

In two parts, the Notebook opens with "Steel-ing Cape Breton's Labour History," by Dan McDonald, who critiques "The Steel Plant in the Home," an exhibit at the Cape Breton Centre for Heritage and Science. McDonald also argues that Cape Breton's rich labour history has been trumped by the notorious Sydney tar ponds and a giant fiddle built as as tourist attraction. The second part, entitled "Report from the Archives: Records of the Joint Action Group to Clean Up the Sydney Tar Ponds," by Wendy Robicheau, discusses the 90 linear metres of unprocessed records received by the Beaton Institute from the Joint Action Group, a community-based organization dedicated to cleaning up the tar ponds.

An essay is presented on industrialization. It offers a history of employment and examines the possible role of employers in the proliferation of work culture. The author relates his first experience with unionized environment and discusses conversations he has had with several employees on the subject of labor union.

The article reviews the book, "Unsocial Europe: Social Protection or Flexploitation?," by Anne Gray.

The article reviews the book, "Paths to Union Renewal: Canadian Experiences," edited by Pradeep Kumar and Christopher Schenk.

The article reviews the book, "Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948-1968," by Jeff Woods.

In most western nations, laws discourage discrimination in paid employment on the basis of disability, but for these policies to be of benefit, individuals must define their functional limitations as disabilities. There is a strong relationship between age and disability among those of working age, yet it is unclear whether older workers attribute their limitations to disability or to ‘ natural ageing ’. If the latter is true, they may not believe that they need or qualify for workplace accommodations (i.e. adaptations or interventions at the workplace). Similarly, if an employer as- cribes a worker’s limitation to ‘natural ageing’, rather than to a disability, they may not offer compensatory accommodation. Using data from the Canadian 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey, this paper asks whether workers who as- cribe their functional limitation to ageing are as likely as those who do not to report a need for a workplace accommodation. It also addresses whether those who identify a need for compensatory accommodations and who ascribe their limi- tation to ageing have unmet workplace-accommodation needs. The findings sug- gest that, even when other factors are controlled, e.g. the type and severity of disability, the number of limiting conditions, gender, age, education, income and occupation, those who made the ageing attribution were less likely to recognise the need for an accommodation; and among those who acknowledged a need, those who ascribed their disability to ageing were less likely to have their needs met.

The article reviews the book, "Race, Class, and Power in the Alabama Coalfields, 1908-1921," by Brian Kelly.

Although the service work occupies on increasingly central position in the Canadian labour market, its legacy of activism has largely been forgotten by scholars. This paper begins a reclamation of that legacy by analysing the bitter 1961-1962 strike at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada's most luxurious lodgings. The unsuccessful battle of mostly immigrant workers against a powerful corporation anticipates the multinational consolidation of and asymmetrical struggle in the industry over the next four decades. The paper evaluates strategies used by service workers, explores the different historical dynamics of service-work trade unionism, analyses the cultural contests which sprang up around such a powerful symbolic action, and seeks to explain what lessons have been learned by current Toronto hotel activists. It represents one starting point in the important work of understanding service work activism, and the economic, political, and cultural battles around class, gender, ethnicity, and consumption in Canada.

This study examines employment segregation by gender and by Aboriginal ancestry within Canada's forest sector in 2001. Results show that while gender segregation was principally by occupation, segregation by Aboriginal ancestry was principally by industry sub-sector. White women were over represented in clerical occupations and Aboriginal men were over represented in woods based industries. Patterns of employment for Aboriginal women differed from those of both Aboriginal men and white women.

The article reviews the book, "L’entrevue structurée pour améliorer la sélection du personnel," by Normand Pettersen and André Durivage.

The article reviews the book, "Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)," edited by Robert Graham.

L’industrie du travail intérimaire a connu une expansion remarquable au cours des dernières décennies. Le présent article a pour but de comparer la situation des travailleurs intérimaires au Québec et en France et d’expliquer les causes de leur très faible taux de syndicalisation. Pour ce faire, nous ferons les portraits schématiques de l’industrie de l’intérim, décrirons les cadres réglementaires qui régissent le travail intérimaire, examinerons certaines caractéristiques des régimes de représentation collective et analyserons les conditions dans lesquelles s’exerce le syndicalisme des intérimaires dans chacun de ces pays. Si les caractéristiques propres au travail intérimaire rendent difficiles l’organisation et la mobilisation syndicale de cette catégorie de travailleurs en raison de leur dispersion au sein d’une multitude d’entreprises utilisatrices, le très faible taux de présence syndicale dans cette industrie découle également d’autres facteurs spécifiques à chacun de ces pays et que nous tâcherons d’identifier.

This paper examines the diversity and complexities of nonstandard work. Two types of nonstandard workers are studied: workers employed by temporary help agencies (THAs) and contract company workers, both of which are involved in a triadic employment relationship. The analyses are based on interviews with managers in three service-sector companies in Norway. The paper discusses the dilemmas managers in client-organizations face when agency temporaries and contract company workers are integrated and do work similar to what is done by the regular workers in the firm. Managers in client-organizations require loyalty from nonstandard workers, and under certain conditions, nonstandard workers are able to form pressure groups. The findings are discussed in relation to the highly regulated labour market in Norway, in a period of labour shortage.

The article reviews the book, "Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care," by Suzanne Gordon.

The editor pays tribute to managing editor Irene Whitfield, who retired after 25 years' service. Josephine Thompson has succeeded her in various capacities.

Compared to Canada, Australian trade union membership grew dramatically in the period from 1900 to 1914. Through a comparative analysis of two iron and steel plants in Canada and Australia, this article broadens the debate about union growth in this particular period as well as generally. One plant was located at Lithgow, New South Wales, and the other at Sydney, Nova Scotia. While workers at both plants unionized in September-October 1902, the union at the Sydney plant collapsed following a major strike in 1904. Iron and steel unionism did not revive at the Sydney plant until during World War I. With the exception of a brief period, iron and steel unionism continued at the Lithgow plant for the period under examination. This article attempts to explain why iron and steel unionism persisted at Lithgow rather than Sydney and focuses on the factors of the state, the ethnic diversity of the workforce, management, and community or locality.

This article studies trade unions' response to transnational change in a large multinational corporation within the motor industry in Europe. We show how the use of the European Works Councils (EWCs) as a forum for European negotiation did not counter the management's effort to whipsaw trade unions, such as to play off workers against each other in local negotiations. This seems to suggest that the effort to network and coordinate between employee representatives, and to negotiate with management through 'active' EWCs is ineffective at controlling inter-union competition in cases of transnational restructuring. Hence, research outcomes illustrate that an analysis of the impact of European-level agreements on plant level is requested in order to assess the effectiveness of 'active' EWCs in forging cross-national links.