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This paper examines a range of ways in which a right to strike can be derived from the right to freedom of association, focusing on a dis- tinction between a direct and indirect linkage between the two rights. The form of derivation will, in the author's view, determine the appro- priate degree of judicial deference to legislative policy decisions con- cerning the legitimate dimensions of a strike. The link between freedom of association and the right to strike also depends on the particular fea- ture of a strike that is in question. Some of those features are constant (i.e. strikes are always coordinated action, designed to bring pressure to bear), while other features are variable (i.e. whether strikes are con- trolled by a trade union, whether they are required to be part of a formal collective bargaining process, whether strikers are protected from employer retaliation, and whether the strike pursues a political objec- tive). On the basis of these distinctions, the author argues that the con- stant features of strikes - their collective quality and the pressure they exert - can legitimately claim protection as a matter of constitutional or internationally recognized right flowing directly from a qualified right to freedom of association. The variable features of strikes can be shaped by legislatures more freely than can the constant features. Here, the fundamental rights constraint is via an indirect connection to free- dom of association. However it is wrong to treat the indirect connection entirely separately from the direct one. A great deal turns on whethe, in regulating these variable features, the legislature arbitrarily excludes certain employees from an ability to engage in the constant features of all strikes: features which make it, as a directly derivable species of right to freedom of association, a right that all should enjoy. Professor, School of Law and Centre for Human Rights, University of Essex (U.K.). The author wishes to thank Brian Langille and Chris Albertyn for their insightful suggestions. This does not, of course, implicate them in the positions advanced here.

The article reviews the book, "Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought From Antiquity to the Middle Ages," by Ellen Meiksins Wood.

The article reviews the book, "Equity, Diversity and Canadian Labour," edited by Gerald Hunt and David Rayside.

[E]xamines the implications for unions of the federal and provincial human rights legislation and the Canadian Charter of Rights [with respect to equity]. ...[The author] warns that unless unions find acceptable ways to deal with the increasingly diverse interests of their members, conflict could ensue that could remove unions' legal right to represent certain minority intersts, as well as destroy union solidarity. [The author] describes one such conflict currently moving through the courts, which arose from the negotiation of a two-tier wage clause that is allegedly discriminatory. This is a cautionary tale that highlights the link between union revitalization and equity. --Editor's introduction

Where does a young boy turn when his whole world suddenly disappears? What turns two brothers from an unstoppable team into a pair of bitterly estranged loners? How does the simple-hearted care of one middle-aged nurse reveal the scars of an entire community, and can anything heal the wounds caused by a century of deception? Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire pays tribute to his roots with Essex County, an award-winning trilogy of graphic novels set in an imaginary version of his hometown, the eccentric farming community of Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In Essex County, Lemire crafts an intimate study of one community through the years, and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation. With the lush, expressive inking of a young artist at the height of his powers, Lemire draws us in and sets us free. This new edition collects the complete, critically-acclaimed trilogy (Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse) in one deluxe volume! Also included are over 40-pages of previously unpublished material, including two new stories. This title has been voted by Canada Reads Top 10 title for the decade! --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Social Murder and Other Shortcomings of Conservative Economics," by Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson.

Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safety in most Canadian jurisdictions in the late 1970s. This was one component of the transition to an Internal Responsibility System that included mandated Joint Health and Safety Committees, right to know regulations, and the right to refuse dangerous work. Very little has changed in this regulatory framework in the ensuing three decades. The effectiveness of these regulations in improving health and safety was contentious in the 1970s and continues to be debated. Earlier work by Lewchuk et al. (1996) argued that the labour-management environment of individual workplaces influenced the effectiveness of worker representatives and Joint Health and Safety Committees. In particular, the framework was more effective where labour was organised and where management had accepted a philosophy of co-management of the health and safety function. The Canadian economy has experienced significant reorganisation since the 1970s. Canadian companies in general face more intense competition because of trade deals entered into in the 1980s and 1990s. Exports represent a much larger share of GNP. Union density has fallen and changes in legislation make it more difficult to organise workers. Non-standard employment, self-employment and other forms of less permanent employment have all grown in relative importance. This chapter presents new evidence on how these changes are undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Responsibility System in Canada, with a particular focus on workers in precarious employment relationships. Data is drawn from a recent population survey of non-student workers in Ontario conducted by the authors. -- Publisher's description. Contents: pt. 1. National arrangements for workers' representation: case studies from Europe and Australia. Worker representation on health and safety in the UK -- problems with the preferred model and beyond -- The Australian framework for worker participation in occupational health and safety -- Health and safety committees in France: an empirical analysis -- Characteristics, activities and perceptions of Spanish safety representatives -- An afterword on European Union policy and practice -- pt. 2. Challenges and strategies for worker representation in the modern world of work -- Precarious employment and the internal responsibility system: some Canadian experiences -- Employee 'voice' and working environment in the new member states: translating policy into practice in the Baltic States -- Health and safety representation in small firms: a Swedish success that is threatened by political and labour market changes -- Trade union strategies to support representation on health and safety in Australia and the UK: integration or isolation? -- Worker representation and health and safety: reflections on the past, present and future. Includes bibliographical references and index.

The article reviews the book, "The Crisis of Imprisonment: Protest, Politics, and the Making of the American Penal State, 1776-1941," by Rebecca M. McLennan.

Drawing on two waves of survey data collected from 250 Canadian firms in 2000 and 2004, this study examines union influence on the mix of compensation methods used by employers. As expected, firms with more unionization devoted a larger proportion of total compensation to indirect pay (also known as "employee benefits") than did firms with less unionization, a finding that held in both time periods. However, while more unionized firms devoted a smaller share of compensation to individual performance pay in 2000, this was not true in 2004. Also surprising, more unionized firms did not differ significantly from less unionized firms in their proportions of base pay, group performance pay, or organizational performance pay in either time period. The paper concludes that although unions may still have the power to influence some aspects of the wage bargain (i.e. the compensation mix), this power may be declining.

Wrapped around the stories of these four women, is a mystery. Something''s gone wrong with the Mosquitos being built for the war effort -- they keep crashing in flight tests, for no apparent reason. Is the problem with their design, or are they being sabotaged? By whom? The traitorous Red Finns? The political subversives who have recently escaped from one of the nearby prison camps? Everyone''s on high alert, and "The Factory Voice" keeps abreast of the details. Or at least the rumours. --Publisher's description

In April 2005 Wal-Mart Canada closed a store in Jonquière, Quebec, following a successful certification application by the United Food and Commercial Workers and an impasse in collective bargaining. When the union succeeded in having an arbitrator appointed (under the "first contract" provisions of the Quebec Labour Code') to decide on the terms of a collective agreement, Wal- Mart immediately announced that it would close the store. It did so less than two months later, putting 190 employees out of work. The union and the affected workers claimed that the closing violated the Quebec Labour Code because it interfered with freedom of association and discriminated against employees who had exercised rights under the Code. The matter reached the Supreme Court of Canada. On November 27, 2009, that Court decided two cases arising from the Jonquière store closing - the leading case of Plourde and the companion case of Desbiens. In Plourde, where the Court was split 6 to 3, Justice Binnie's majority judgment concluded that the laid-off workers could not obtain relief under s. 15 of the Quebec Labour Code, prohibiting discrimination against workers who exercise rights.

The article reviews the book, "Recrutement et sélection du personnel," by Anne Bourhis.

The article reviews the book, "Child Workers in England, 1780-1820: Parish Apprentices and the Making of the Early Industrial Labour Force," by Katrina Honeyman.

In 1979, in the CUPE case, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a labour relations tribunal's interpretation of its constituent statute should be upheld on judicial review unless that interpretation was "patently unreasonable." By 2008, the Canadian courts were using three standards of review: patent unreasonableness, simple reasonableness, and correctness. In that year, however, in Dunsmuir, the Supreme Court held that the standard of patent unreasonableness was no longer to be used, but only the standards of simple reasonableness and correctness. By our count, during the 29 years between CUPE and Dunsnuir the courts decided 210 applications for judicial review of Ontario Labour Relations Board decisions. This research note sets out the results of our study examining those 210 cases and comparing them with 23 post-Dunsmuir cases in the Ontario courts involving applications for judicial review of the Board's decisions. --Introduction

Labor played a central role in nineteenth-century penitentiaries. It was intended to provide guidance and discipline to prisoners whose behavior was outside of social, moral, and economic norms. This article examines the relationship between medicine and labor in Canadian federal penitentiaries between 1867 and 1900. As penitentiaries grew and expanded throughout the century, increasing numbers of prisoners were unable to participate in penitentiary labor due to illness or disability. In these cases, penitentiary medicine helped form part of an “enlightened” response to nonworking prisoners. It suggests that medical records from this period demonstrate how penitentiaries reconciled nonworking prisoners with the prevailing model of reform constructed around labor. The article looks at two such groups. The first is sick prisoners, including physical and mental ailments. Mental illness was an increasingly vexing problem for penitentiaries in this era as they struggled to form appropriate responses to mentally ill prisoners within the prevailing penitentiary model. The second group is prisoners with disability, including physical and intellectual disability. Although both groups were understood through medical categories, their status as “unproductive” prisoners sometimes played a larger role in determining their experience of confinement. The article looks at the influence of ideas about labor on the delivery of medical services in penitentiaries and the resulting experience of illness. Although prison medicine in Canada expanded and improved throughout this period, the sick and disabled often experienced marginalization and moral condemnation on the basis of their uncertain relationship to penitentiary labor.

Affectionate portrait of John St. Amand (1943-2007) who, under the tutelage of the left-wing labour activist, Madeleine Parent, moved in 1981 from Ontario to Nova Scotia to become a union organizer.

For many years Canada has quietly rationalized importing temporary "low-skilled" migrant labour through managed migration programs to appease industries desiring cheap and flexible labour while avoiding extending citizenship rights to the workers. In an era of international human rights and global competitive markets, the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) is often hailed as a "model" and "win-win" solution to migration and labour dilemmas, providing employers with a healthy, just-intime labour force and workers with various protections such as local labour standards, health care, and compensation. Tracing migrant workers' lives between Jamaica, Mexico and Canada (with a focus on Ontario's Niagara Region), this thesis assesses how their structural vulnerability as non-citizens effectively excludes them from many of the rights and norms otherwise expected in Canada. It analyzes how these exclusions are rationalized as permanent "exceptions" to the normal legal, social and political order, and how these infringements affect workers' lives, rights, and health. Employing critical medical anthropology, workers' health concerns are used as a lens through which to understand and explore the deeper "pathologies of power" and moral contradictions which underlie this system. Particular areas of focus include workers' occupational, sexual and reproductive, and mental and emotional health, as well as an assessment of their access to health care and compensation in Canada, Mexico and Jamaica. Working amidst perilous and demanding conditions, in communities where they remain socially and politically excluded, migrant workers in practice remain largely unprotected and their entitlements hard to secure, an enduring indictment of their exclusion from Canada's "imagined community." Yet the dynamics of this equation may be changing in light of the recent rise in social and political movements, in which citizenship and related rights have become subject to contestation and redefinition. In analyzing the various dynamics which underlie transnational migration, limit or extend migrants' rights, and influence the health of migrants across borders, this thesis explores crucial relationships between these themes. Further work is needed to measure these ongoing changes, and to address the myriad health concerns of migrants as they live and work across national borders.

The article reviews the book, "Artisans in Early Imperial China," by Anthony J. Barbieri-Low.

The article reviews the book, "New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China," by Yan Hairong.