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Historians have long noted that policies of "progress" were integral to men and women throughout northern North America in the 19th century. A range of scholars have commented on the centrality of railway technology to these policies. Indeed, they have suggested that, in the 19th century, bourgeois nationalists were swept up in a kind of "railway fever," and that even though there were detractors, the tenacity of pro-railway elites, and the considerable patronage that huge construction loans and contracts provided them, ensured that these projects triumphed over other possibilities. The Newfoundland case suggests that there is a need for both a slightly revised assessment of elites and their views and goals, and a more nuanced reading of the role of ordinary men and women in the policy-making process. While elites in the colony did view the railway as a means of becoming a "progressive" or "modern nation," and while they viewed economic prosperity and "enlightenment" as central to modernity and progressiveness, commercial dynamism was only one important component of a more encompassing program. Tlites supported the railway because it provided them with a way of living according to standards of Britishness that became important to Newfoundlanders and others in "white" settler dominions, especially after the mid-19th century. Central to "Britishness" as policy makers understood the term, was the idea that "British societies" were those in which men lived according to their "god given manly independence." A careful analysis of the daily press suggests that many working people took these ideals seriously, and that they saw railway work, and the future employment and other economic opportunities its promoters promised, as a means of living according to them. When opponents of railway development did maneuver themselves into power, they found efforts to change course were met with popular upheaval. Ultimately, it was a broadly based solidarity founded on notions of male entitlement that determined which policies were "feasible."

The article reviews the book, "Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital," by Amiya Kumar Bagchi.

Analyzes from a legal and political perspective important events in Sudbury, including the punitive treatment of the poor (the Kimberly Rogers case) and the resort to strikebreakers and injunctions in the 2001-2002 Falconbridge Strike. Concludes that such events are the outcome of the neo-conservative policies of the provincial government of Mike Harris.

Cet article analyse les conditions associées au développement de la relation de confiance entre les gestionnaires et les représentants syndicaux au sein d’entreprises qui ont adopté des innovations de différentes formes. Nous nous intéressons à la confiance entre des agents qui interviennent au nom de commettants. Notre étude démontre que si le développement de la confiance bénéficie d’un climat de travail moins conflictuel, d’autres conditions sont également requises, particulièrement le partage des informations entre les parties. Par ailleurs, un contexte de transformation peut améliorer la relation de confiance, particulièrement lorsqu’un processus participatif confiant un rôle au syndicat est adopté pour introduire les innovations. Celles-ci peuvent ainsi favoriser le développement de la confiance cognitive entre les parties, tout en respectant des intérêts spécifiques à chacune., This article examines the development of relationships of trust between managers and union representatives in a context of social innovations. Trust acts as a social lubricant and thus plays an important role in social relations within organizations undergoing change and which depend more on cooperation. However, trust is a multidimensional concept that appears in various forms that can be dichotomized between cognitive trust, which is based more on knowledge and reason, and identity-based trust, which is more emotional and may even involve holding common values. Within organizations, studies of trust have most often examined relations between workers and managers, or even members’ trust in their organization. Few studies have examined the relationship of trust between employers and unions. However, the interactions between institutional agents at work tend to encourage the development of the cognitive dimension of trust rather than its identity-based dimension. While encouraging cooperation between these agents and leading them to develop new relationships outside the traditional institutional framework, innovation nevertheless conceals two essential conditions for the development of trust: the interdependence of actors, and risk in the face of the future and unknown behaviour of their counterpart. Trust is not a given, but is rather a social construction that develops through the interactions of the actors at work according to the diverse conditions that we will examine. The data come from a study on new work relations between employers and unions. The sample includes union representatives and managers in goods and services firms that adopted different kinds of innovations. One thousand firms, each with more than 50 workers, were included in the study. A total of 242 union representatives and 221 managers returned their questionnaires. The sample was generally characterized by medium- or large-sized firms with a high proportion of male workers occupying permanent positions and with several years of seniority. However, there are differences between manufacturing sector firms and services sector firms. The latter employ more women who are less likely to have permanent positions and who have fewer years of seniority. Trust was measured using the average of four dimensions of the Butler scale: integrity, discretion, promise of results, and overall trust. The alpha coefficient of this trust indicator is 0.93 for both union representatives and managers. A second dependent variable measures the improvement in the trust relationship following the adoption of the innovation that the respondent considers to be the most significant. The two dependent variables (trust relationship and improvement of this relationship) have been analyzed using multiple regression and according to a model that includes several dimensions: socio-demographic characteristics, socio-economic context, labour relations climate, access to information, types of innovations, implementation process for innovations and their impacts. The union representatives indicated a lower level of trust (3.15 vs. 3.81/5) and fewer of them believe that trust increased following the adoption of the most significant innovation (27% vs. 44%). The differences between the union representatives and managers remain significant, after adjustment for different dimensions of the analytical model. This shows that the relationship is asymmetrical: the union representatives have less control over the situation and feel more vulnerable to potential opportunistic behaviours on the part of their management counterpart. Nevertheless, both the trust relationship and its improvement following the adoption of the most significant innovation are influenced by different dimensions of the analytical model. First of all, both the managers and the union representatives in the manufacturing sector are less likely than those in the services sector to feel trust. Trust is not highly related to the socio-economic context, although managers have more trust when the work force is declining; the trust of union representatives is lower when subcontracting increases. Trust is influenced by the labour relations climate. Thus trust is lower when there are more grievances or when grievances are increasing. However, trust is stronger when grievances tend to be resolved internally. Trust is also higher when respondents have access to the information requested from their counterpart. Innovations also influence trust, which is lower following the adoption of monetary innovations, but higher when other types of innovations are adopted: labour relations, work organization, training. The process of adopting innovations is important for improving the trust relationship, both when they are adopted to respond to human factors rather than factors linked to productivity, as well as when they are established through a negotiation process and a joint monitoring mechanism. Finally, negative impacts decrease trust while positive impacts do not influence the relationship of trust between union representatives and managers. The study revealed the factors that can favour the development of a relationship of trust between union representatives and managers following the adoption of social innovations. The process of adopting these innovations rather than the type of innovations seems to have a more important impact on the improvement of the trust relationship. However, this development should not be seen as an automatic transposition of the trust relationship to other members of the organization. Another question to be addressed is to what extent trust can be built without the parties losing their own identity. Our results support those of other studies that seem to show that although the cognitive dimension of trust can be developed readily between the agents at work, this is not true of identity-based trust., Este artículo analiza las condiciones asociadas al desarrollo de la relación de confianza entre directivos y representantes sindicales al interior de empresas que han adoptado diferentes formas de innovaciones. Nos interesamos a la confianza entre agentes que intervienen en nombre de comitentes. Nuestro estudio demuestra que si el desarrollo de la confianza beneficia de un clima de trabajo menos conflictivo, otras condiciones son igualmente requeridas, particularmente el hecho de compartir las informaciones entre las partes. De otro lado, un contexto de transformación puede mejorar la relación de confianza, particularmente cuando se adopta un proceso participativo para introducir las innovaciones, confiando así un rol al sindicato. De esta manera, estas innovaciones pueden favorecer el desarrollo de la confianza cognitiva entre las partes sin dejar de respetar los intereses específicos de cada uno.

The article reviews the book, "Relations au travail, relations de travail," edited by François Aballéa and Michel Lallement.

Analyzes Sudbury as a hinterland of resource extraction, including the response of unions. Provides new policy strategies for labour and an assessment of the community's future prospects.

Sudbury is the largest hardrock mining centre in North America and among the largest in the world. Given the enormous mineral wealth that exists in the Sudbury Basin, one might think that prosperity would abound and that cultural, educational, health and social-welfare institutions would be of the highest order, existing within a well-maintained and attractive physical infrastructure. But this is not the Sudbury that people know. This book explores key aspects of Sudbury’s economic, health and social conditions. It analyzes how globalization and corporate power in a hinterland mining town have impacted on working people, how and why resistance has emerged and why alternative directions are needed. While Sudbury is the focus of this book, the Sudbury experience offers important lessons for other mining and resource communities. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction: Sudbury's crisis of development and democracy / David Leadbeater -- Mine Mill Local 598/CAW reaches a turning point / Rick Grylls -- Strikebreaking and the corporate agenda at The Sudbury Star / Denis St. Pierre -- Public-sector unions in Sudbury / John Closs -- The state and civility in Sudbury / Don Kuyek -- Environmental impacts of nickel mining: four case studies, three continents, and two centuries / Evan Edinger -- Some aspects of health and health care in the Sudbury area / K.V. Nagarajan -- Sudbury sleep / Kate Leadbeater -- The failing health of children and youth in Northern Ontario / Kate C. Tilleczek -- Hunger and food insecurity in Greater Sudbury / Carole Suschnigg -- "Sometimes I wonder": language, racism, and the language of racism in Sudbury / Roger Spielmann -- Excerpt from an untitled poem / Patrice Desbiens -- French Ontario: two realities / Donald Dennie -- Traditional elites and the democratic deficit: some challenges for education in French-speaking Ontario / François Boudreau; trans. by Kate Leadbeater -- Dispatches of longing: progressive art and culture in Sudbury / Laurie McGauley -- Lessons from the little blue schoolhouse / Ruth Reyno -- The rise and decline of local 6500 United Steelworkers of America / Bruce McKeigan -- My view from the blackened rocks / Cathy Mulroy -- Sudbury Saturday night / Stompin' Tom Connors.

As the global economy undergoes a major transformation, the inadequacy of labour relations theories dating back to Fordism, especially the systemic analysis model (Dunlop, 1958) and the strategic model (Kochan, Katz and McKersie, 1986), in which only three actors--union, employer and State--share the stage is becoming increasingly obvious. A good example is provided by companies offering information technology services to businesses, where new means of regulation emerge and illustrate the need to incorporate new actors and new issues if we are to account for its contemporary complexity. A survey of 88 professionals has revealed regulation practices that call into question the traditional boundaries of the industrial relations system from two points of view: that of the three main actors, by bringing the customer and work teams onto the stage, and that of the distinction between the contexts and the system itself.

The article reviews the book, "The New Left: Legacy and Continuity," edited by Dimitrios Roussopoulos.

This paper explores relations of workers' power, in terms of unionization and delegated workplace authority, with incidence of participation in adult education and job-related informal learning activities. Empirical analysis is based primarily on the first Canadian survey to document both aspects of workers' power and both formal and informal learning. Prior inconsistent research on unionization and adult education is critically reviewed. The current study focuses on non-managerial employees between 25 and 64. The findings of this 2004 survey, as well as secondary analysis of other relevant surveys, confirm that union membership is consistently positively related to both participation in adult education and some informal learning topics. Delegated workplace authority also has positive effects on both adult education and some informal learning topics. While delegated workplace authority is not related to unionization, their positive effects on workers' intentional learning are additive. Implications of these findings for further research and optimizing workplace learning are discussed.

The article reviews the book, "Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870-1950," by Elizabeth Darling and Lesley Whitworth.

Compilation of recent English/French publications on Canadian labour history that emphasize the period 1800-1975. Materials pertaining to the post-1975 period may also be included, although more selectively. [See the database, Canadian Labour History, 1976-2009, published at Memorial University of Newfoundland.]

The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management, edited by Peter Boxall, John Purcell, and Patrick Wright, is reviewed.

The history of Aboriginal-settler interactions in Canada continues to haunt the national imagination. Despite billions of dollars spent on the "Indian problem," Aboriginal people remain the poorest in the country. Because the stereotype of the "lazy Indian" is never far from the surface, many Canadians wonder if the problem lay with "Indians" themselves. John Lutz traces Aboriginal people's involvement in the new economy, and their displacement from it, from the first arrival of Europeans to the 1970s. Drawing upon oral histories, manuscripts, newspaper accounts, biographies, and statistical analysis, Lutz shows that Aboriginal people flocked to the workforce and prospered in the late 19th century. The roots of today's wide-spread unemployment and "welfare dependency" date only from the 1950s, when deliberate and inadvertent policy choices--what Lutz terms the "white problem"--drove Aboriginal people out of the capitalist, wage, and subsistence economies, offering them welfare as "compensation." -- Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction: Molasses stick legs -- Pomo Wawa: the other jargon -- Making the lazy Indian -- The Lekwungen -- The Tsilhqot'in -- Outside history: labourers of the aboriginal province -- The white problem -- Prestige to welfare: remaking the moditional economy -- Conclusion: the outer edge of probability, 1970-2007 -- Postscript: subordination without subjugation.

Since the 1980s, scholars have sought to understand how the Canadian fur trade shaped the Metis. Less attention has been paid to the impact of Metis concepts of family and community on the nature of their relationship with their employer, the Hudson's Bay Company (hbc). This article focuses on how Metis family structures in the English River District molded the contours of the community's relationship with the hbc in the 19th century. More specifically, only certain families established a relationship with the Company, wherein male servants and their extended families laboured for the hbc in return for wages and/or access to Company resources. The Company's willingness to participate in these types of exchanges with its employees' families cultivated an intergenerational loyalty amongst those Metis, as successive generations were employed by the Company and, in turn, drew upon it as part of their economic resource network. Still, Company officials faced a dilemma. They recognized that these extended families were loyal contributors to the Company's trading successes, but likewise regarded them as burdensome and a drain on precious resources. Throughout the 19th century, the ambivalence of the Company grew, negatively impacting its relationship with once loyal hbc servants and their families. The loyalty of families to the Company was only as strong as its loyalty to them. By the end of the century, as the Company's focus turned to reducing its obligations to families, Metis loyalties also shifted to competing economic ventures, thereby threatening the hbc monopoly in the region.

In regional enclaves throughout North America where labour and capital have fought battles over the years, there are many songs and verses about labour and protest. ...This article explores some previously unexamined protest songs and verses of Cape Breton Island. I will show how these vernacular materials were used for solidarity during times of upheaval and change in the mid 1920s. I will examine a body of songs culled largely from the Maritime Labour Herald, a newspaper of the 1920s that included both locally and internationally composed works. ...My intent is to show that a well-developed protest song tradition was alive and well and played an important role in the labour struggles of the 1920s. --From introduction

Industrial Relations in the New Europe: Enlargement, Integration and Reform, edited by Peter Leisink, Bram Steijn and Ulke Veersma, is reviewed.

Cette recherche vise à aider à la compréhension de l’implication organisationnelle des salariés contingents grâce au cadre de la justice organisationnelle. Elle repose sur une étude empirique par questionnaire réalisée auprès de 183 salariés permanents et 71 contingents, embauchés pour une durée déterminée. Nos résultats démontrent le pouvoir explicatif des perceptions de justice sur l’implication. Ils soulignent la sensibilité des salariés contingents à la façon dont ils sont traités dans l’organisation et montrent que les entreprises n’ont pas intérêt à considérer les salariés contingents comme une main-d’oeuvre périphérique, peu encline à s’engager dans l’organisation. Sur la base des analyses effectuées, l’article propose une réflexion sur les effets du statut d’emploi et en tire des implications managériales., The traditional work relationship performed on a full-time basis with a single employer is tending to lose its hegemony. Polivka and Nardone (1989) defined these new work arrangements as contingent in opposition to permanent work positions. According to these researchers, contingent work includes “any job in which an individual does not have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment and one in which the minimum hours can vary in a non-systematic way” (1989: 11). Traditionally, contingent work includes part-time work, temporary work, “in-house” temporary arrangements and independent work. Today, these forms of employment represent a significant and growing proportion of the workforce in western countries. This research is dedicated to “in-house” temporary workers in the French context. Indeed, little research has dealt with this subject (Connely and Gallagher, 2004). The behaviours of this type of workers are quite unknown. Moreover, Conway and Briner (2002) point out that research which focuses on contingent work does not often use an explicit theoretical framework which may be helpful in understanding the organizational behaviours of contingent workers. In line with their recommendations, this study aims to identify the role of organizational justice on contingent workers’ organizational commitment and to show if established relationships are similar according to employment status (i.e., contingent or permanent). On the one hand, organizational justice perceptions have significant effects on several attitudes and behaviours (Colquitt, 2001) but this effect has rarely been tested on contingent workers. On the other hand, the employment status is likely to have an influence upon the relationships between organizational justice and organizational attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, according to the fairness heuristic theory (Lind, 2001) which describes the shaping of justice judgments and their use, it seems that a fixed-term relationship with the organization may lead contingent workers to focus primarily on the interactional aspects of their organizational treatment. This research is based on an empirical study carried out with a sample of 181 permanent employees and 71 contingent employees in French private clinics. The moderator effect of work status was tested with hierarchical regression analysis. The results partially support the predictions. However, they show the significant effects of justice perceptions on commitment, in the case of permanent workers, as had been already demonstrated in previous research, but also in the case of contingent workers, which has been less shown, especially for “in-house” temporary workers and in the French context. Nevertheless, the results show a moderator effect for work status on the relationship between informational justice and commitment. Several observations are drawn from these results. First of all, the results demonstrate that contingent workers are sensitive to the treatment they experience within their organization and that it influences their commitment as well as is the case for permanent workers. Therefore, organizational commitment of the permanent and contingent workers is significantly and positively influenced by their distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions. Secondly, the effects of informational justice are different according to job status. Indeed, the effect of informational justice is weaker in the case of contingent workers than in the case of permanent workers. These results present theoretical and practical interest. Firstly, they support and extend the predictive power of organizational justice upon commitment, mainly established in the context of traditional work. Thus, the organizational justice framework seems to be useful for the analysis of a non standard employment relationship. Moreover, this kind of employment arrangement may not be seen as an economic one as long as contingent workers seem to value the social aspects of their relationships with their organization. Secondly, our results show that according to the type of employment relation, the effects of justice perceptions may be different, even if this difference is marginal. For this reason, organizations could have an interest in implementing differentiated management of their workforce according to work status. We believe that the nature of the detected moderator effect does not decrease the importance of informational justice perceptions. It rather underlines the inappropriateness of the information given to contingent workers. Trombetta and Rogers (1998) have put the emphasis on this information and its appropriateness upon the organizational commitment of nurses and nursing auxiliaries. Thus, it seems of great importance to make sure that the explanations and information delivered to contingent workers are accurate and relevant. We also believe that our results reinforce the role of the direct supervisor. Because the direct supervisor is in charge of the integration of contingent workers within the service or the team, these supervisors have a key role. It could be necessary to make them aware of this. Therefore, the organizations which use contingent work arrangements should implement a specific human resource management approach in order to reap the benefits of quantitative work flexibility., Esta investigación pretende ayudar a la comprensión de la implicación organizacional de los asalariados eventuales gracias al enfoque de la justicia organizacional. Se basa en un estudio empírico por cuestionario realizado con 183 asalariados permanentes y 71 eventuales, contratados por un tiempo determinado. Nuestros resultados demuestran el poder explicativo de las percepciones de justicia sobre la implicación. Sobresale la sensibilidad de los asalariados eventuales respecto a la manera como son tratados en la organización y se muestra que las empresas no tienen interés en considerar los asalariados eventuales como mano de obra periférica, no muy favorable a comprometerse con la organización. Sobre la base de los análisis efectuados, el artículo propone una reflexión sobre los efectos del estatuto de empleo y deduce las implicaciones para la gestión.

The article reviews the book, "The World Bank: A Critical Primer," by Eric Toussaint.

The article reviews the book, "Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia," by Peter Cole.