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This innovative book is concerned with the power relations, complexities, and contradictions in the paid workplace. Workplace learning is not value-free or politically neutral, and cannot be studied independently of the political economy of work. [This book] is part of a growing body of work that offers an alternative to mainstream approaches to workplace learning, recognizing that power relations, politics and conflicts of interest all shape learning. The authors emphasize the lived experiences of working people, avoiding prescriptive accounts and uncritical Human Resource Development views. --Publisher's description. Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. Management strategies and workplace learning -- 3. Groups, teams and workplace learning -- 4. Organizational learning and learning organizations -- 5. Unions and workplace learning -- 6. Adult education, learning and work -- 7. Toward the future of workplace learning. Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-194) and index.

Why have Americans, who by a clear majority approve of unions, been joining them in smaller numbers than ever before? This book answers that question by comparing the American experience with that of Canada, where approval for unions is significantly lower than in the United States, but where since the mid-1960s workers have joined organized labor to a much greater extent. Given that the two countries are outwardly so similar, what explains this paradox? This book provides a detailed comparative analysis of both countries using, among other things, a detailed survey conducted in the United States and Canada by the Ipsos-Reid polling group. The authors explain that the relative reluctance of employees in the United States to join unions, compared with those in Canada, is rooted less in their attitudes toward unions than in the former country's deep-seated tradition of individualism and laissez-faire economic values. Canada has a more statist, social democratic tradition, which is in turn attributable to its Tory and European conservative lineage. Canadian values are therefore more supportive of unionism, making unions more powerful and thus, paradoxically, lowering public approval of unions. Public approval is higher in the United States, where unions exert less of an influence over politics and the economy. --Publisher's description

This book offers an original contribution to understanding an often-ignored aspect of our knowledge society and the much-heralded ‘knowledge-based economy.’ It decisively explodes the dual myths that working-class adults have inferior learning capacities and that talented youths naturally leave blue-collar careers. Livingstone and Sawchuk document the genuine learning practices of working-class people in unprecedented detail, using richly textured accounts of prior school experiences; current adult education course participation; and a wide array of learning resources in paid workplaces, households, and community settings. The authors criticize dominant theories of learning and work and develop an alternative explanation of working-class adult learning. Their analysis, grounded in the specific practices of everyday life, pays careful attention to the ways in which differential economic power, labor processes, sectoral contexts, union cultures, and access to organized educational resources shape individual and collective learning activities. The book also provides a reflective discussion of research processes suitable for democratic knowledge production in partnership with workers and their organizations, as well as workers' own practical recommendations for changes in learning and work relations. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction: Dimensions of learning and work in the knowledge society -- Pt. 1. Researching learning and work. Starting with Workers and Researching the "Hard Way" / with D'Arcy Martin -- Beyond cultural capital theories: Hidden dimensions of working-class learning. Pt. 2. Case studies.  Auto workers: Lean manufacturing and rich learning / with Reuben Roth -- Building a workers' learning Culture in the Chemical Industry -- Learning, Restructuring and job segregation at a community college -- Divisions of labour / Divisions of learning in a small parts manufacturer -- Garment workers: learning under disruption / with Clara Morgan. Pt. 3. Comparative perspectives across case studies. Household and community-based learning: Learning cultures and class differences beyond paid work -- Surfacing the hidden dimension of the knowledge society: the struggle for knowledge across differences. Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-309) and index.

"Racism, Eh?" is the first publication that examines racism within the broad Canadian context. This anthology brings together some of the visionaries who are seeking to illuminate the topics of race and racism in Canada through the analysis of historical and contemporary issues, which address race and racism as both material and psychic phenomena. Fundamentally interdisciplinary in nature, this text will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, academics studying or practicing within the Humanities and the Social Sciences, and anyone seeking information on what has been a little explored and poorly understood Canadian issue."--Publisher's description. Contents: Part 1 Institutional Racism -- 1 Penn and Teller Magic -- 2 Lance Belanger's Tango Lessons -- 3 The Black Occupational Structure in Late-Nineteenth-Century Ontario -- Part 2 Crime and Justice -- 4 Raising Raced and Erased Executions in African-Canadian Literature -- 5 Examining Racism and Criminal Justice -- 6 Criminological Research on "Race" in Canada -- Part 3 First Nations -- Of Land, Law and Power -- 7 Across a Boundary of Lava -- 8 Treaty Federalism -- 9 Navigating Discrimination -- Part 4 Race, Place and Nation -- 10 Adrift in the Diaspora -- 11 Racism Between Jews -- 12 Local Colour -- Part 5 Complexity of Intersectionallity and Performance of Racial Identity -- 13 Speak White! -- 14 Jack Canuck Meets John Chinaman -- 15 Performing Desire -- Part 6 Popular Culture -- 16 Race In-Out of the Classroom -- 17 Other Canadian Voices -- 18 (Re)Visioning Histories -- Part 7 Production and Representation -- 19 Each Sentence Realized or Dreamed Jumps Like a Pulse with History and Takes a Side -- 20 Articulating Spaces of Representation -- 21 The "Hottentot Venus" in Canada -- 22 Racial Recognition Underpinning Critical Art -- Part 8 Multiculturalism -- 23 But Where Are You REALLY From? -- 24 Social Cohesion and the Limits of Multiculturalism in Canada -- 25 Racialising Culture-Culturalising Race -- 26 Re-articulating Multiculturalism.

Saskatchewan's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) the forerunner of the NDP, is often remembered for its humanitarian platform and its pioneering social programs. But during the twenty years it governed, it wrought a much less scrutinized legacy in the northern regions of the province." "Until the 1940s, churches, fur traders, and other influential newcomers held firm control over Saskatchewan's northern region. Following its rise to power in 1944 the CCF made aggressive efforts to unseat these traditional powers and install a new socialist economy and society in largely Aboriginal communities. The next two decades brought major changes to the region as well-meaning government planners grossly misjudged the challenges that confronted the north and failed to implement programs that would meet its needs. Northerners lacked the voice and political clout to determine policies for their half of the province and the CCF effectively created a colonial apparatus, imposing its own ideas and plans in those communities without consulting residents. While it did ensure that parish priests, bootleggers, and fur sharks no longer dominated the north, it failed to establish a workable alternative." "In written history that documents the colonial relationship between the CCT and northern Saskatchewan, David Quiring draws on extensive archival research and oral history to offer a fresh look at the CCF era. This examination will find an audience among historians of the north. Aboriginal scholars and general readers interested in Canadian history."--Publisher's description. Contents: Pt. 1. At the crossroads -- 1. Another country altogether -- Pt. 2. Building the colonial structure -- 2. From the top -- 3. Ultimate solution -- 4. Deterrent to development -- Pt. 3. Segregated economy -- 5. Never before have we been so poor -- 6. At the point of a gun -- 7. Just one jump out of the stone age -- 8. Pre-industrial way of life -- Pt. 4. Poverty-stricken and disease-ridden -- 9. Scarcely more than palliative -- 10. Dollars are worth more than lives -- Epilogue : we will measure our success -- A. Comments on collection of oral history -- B. Electoral record.

Contrairement à ce qu’on a cru pendant longtemps, l’histoire du syndicalisme au Québec remonte au début du XIXe siècle et évolue sensiblement au même rythme que celle des autres mouvements syndicaux en Amérique du Nord. À ce chapitre, les facteurs économiques et géographiques qui la rattachent au continent pèsent aussi lourd que le caractère distinct de la société québécoise. Voilà un des éléments clés qui ressortent du vaste pano-rama du syndicalisme au Québec que Jacques Rouillard trace ici. À chacune des périodes étudiées, qui renvoient aux grands moments de l’histoire occidentale, l’auteur montre comment les syndicats ont représenté une composante essentielle de la classe ouvrière et l’un des principaux lieux de contestation de l’ordre établi. Ce livre est une nouvelle édition de la première synthèse sur le syndicalisme québécois que Jacques Rouillard faisait paraître au Boréal en 1989. Ce nouveau texte, entièrement refondu, a été augmenté non seulement pour relater les événements qui se sont déroulés de 1985 à 2003, mais également pour tenir compte, aux diverses époques, des fruits de la négociation collective et de l’avancement de la recherche historique dans ce domaine. --Description de l'éditeur

Challenging the Market offers insights from eighteen scholars and activists from around the world. Calling on a tremendous range of experience in different countries, different industries, and with different groups of workers, contributors argue that labour market policy should shift to a more interventionist and compassionate footing. For two decades economic and social policy in most of the world has been guided by the notion that economies function best when they are fully exposed to competitive market forces. In labour market policy, this approach is reflected in the widespread emphasis on "flexibility" - a euphemism for the retrenchment of income support and social security, the relaxation of labour market regulations, and the enhanced power of private actors to determine the terms of the employment relationship. These strategies have had marked effects on labour market outcomes, leading to greater vulnerability and polarization - and not always in ways that enhance worker-centred flexibility. The authors offer a more balanced analysis of the functioning and effects of labour market regulation and deregulation. By questioning the underpinnings of the "flexibility" paradigm, and revealing its often damaging impacts (on different countries, sectors, and constituencies), they challenge the conclusion that unregulated market forces produce optimal labour market outcomes. The authors conclude with several suggestions for how labour policy could be reformulated to promote both efficiency and equity. --Publisher's description

Roger Stonebanks traces the life of charismatic labour leader Ginger Goodwin from his childhood in the Yorkshire Coalfields, through his mining career in Cape Breton and British Columbia, until his untimely and controversial death in the woods of Vancouver Island. Using archival research and contemporary accounts, Stonebanks explores the historical context that surrounded Goodwin's meteoric rise in BC's labour and socialist ranks. His life, from union hall to the soccer pitch, sheds light on working-class culture in resource communities in the early years of the 20th century. Ginger Goodwin was killed while trying to evade conscription during World War I. The Military police officer responsible claimed he shot only in self-defence, but rumors have since persisted that foul play was involved in the death of the prominent socialist and labour activist. Goodwin's own words explain his opposition to conscription and war, while Stonebanks examines the background and attitude of the police officers hunting down draft dodgers. Adrian Brooks provides a legal analysis and review of the case of His Majesty the King v. Daniel Campbell and how the trial might have unfolded — if there had been a trial of Constable Campbell. Written in engaging and accessible prose, the book features several never before published photographs. --Publisher's description

Isolation is part of the psyche of this sparsely populated prairie province, and this abundance of great open space has uniquely shaped the people, their politics, their economy and their relationship with the rest of North America. Using the broad, interdisciplinary social science approach of political economy analysis, Warnock traces Saskatchewan's past in an attempt to understand the present and glimpse some of its future. Along the way, he tells the story of Saskatchewan, from inception to centennial. --Publisher's description

Changing Canada examines political transformations, welfare state restructuring, international boundaries and contexts, the new urban experience, and creative resistance. The authors question dominant ways of thinking and promote alternative ways of understanding and explaining Canadian society and politics that encourage progressive social change. They examine how the evolution of capitalism is producing new types of transformations and new forms of resistance, and show that aspects of the state and the wider society are being contested. They also discuss the often paradoxical or contradictory effects of various social forces, such as the liberating but also constraining features of new communications technologies, new employment norms, and new household forms. --Publisher's description

In February, 1948, a group of fish and blueberry processors formed the exclusively female, Ladies' Cold Storage Workers Union at Job Brothers fish plant in St. John's, Newfoundland. Unusual for the time, this organization was founded in the context of structural and social change in the Newfoundland fishery that altered the social relations of paid and unpaid work for women fish plant labourers. Cullum carefully explores this specific labour process and provides an open reading of the workers' narratives; a study of how the women of Job Brothers recounted stories of their work and domestic lives, and thus fashioned shifting identities as gendered, classed, and racialized subjects. --Publisher's description

This comprehensive survey of continuity and change in trade unions looks at five primarily English-speaking countries: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The authors consider the recent re-examination by trade union movements of the basis of union organization and activity in the face of a harsher economic and political climate. One of the impetuses for this re-examination has been the recent history of unions in the USA. American models of renewal have inspired Australia, New Zealand and the UK, while Canada has undergone a cautious examination of the US model with an attempt to develop a distinctive approach. This book aims to provide a thorough grounding for informed discussion and debate about the position and place of trade unions in modern economies. --Publisher's description. Contents: Unions in crisis, unions in renewal / Peter Fairbrother, Charlotte A.B. Yates -- The American labour movement and the resurgence in union organizing / Kate Bronfenbrenner -- You just can't do it automatically: the transition to social movement unionism in the United States / Kim Voss, Rachel Sherman -- Trade union innovation, adaptation and renewal in Australia: still searching for the holy membership grail / Gerard Griffin, Rai Small, Stuart Svensen -- A near death experience: one union fights for life / Belinda Probert, Peter Ewer -- From organizational breadth to depth: New Zealand's trade unions under the Employment Contracts Act / Pat Walsh, Aaron Crawford -- A story of crisis and change: the service and food workers union of Aotearoa / Sarah Oxenbridge -- The dilemmas of social partnership and union organization: questions for British trade unions / Peter Fairbrother, Paul Stewart -- Rhetoric and reality: the adoption of the organizing model in manufacturing, science and finance / Bob Carter -- Strategic dilemma: the state of union renewal in Canada / Pradeep Kumar, Gregor Murray -- The revival of industrial unions in Canada: the extension and adaptation of industrial union practices to the new economy / Charlotte A.B. Yates -- Social movement unionism: beyond the organizing model / Christopher Schenk -- Globalization, trade union organization and workers' rights / Huw Beynon.

This classic, first-of-its-kind study of merchant shipping illuminates the manner in which the rapid development of shipbuilding in Prince Edward Island played a significant role in Canada's early history. James Yeo, Sr., once a village labourer in his native Cornwall, came to the colony and quickly amassed a fortune from both shipbuilding and trade. His rough-and-ready business deals spawned his mercurial rise to prominence in the colony. First published in 1967, this book originated from an idea by Ann Giffard and was jointly executed with her husband, Basil Greenhill. It connects the burgeoning expansion of shipbuilding in the colonies with the settlers' hometown in Devon, and explains why, when Britain was cut off from supplies of wood in Europe, shipbuilding suddenly took hold in Canada. It is an unique study that shows that local history is an important window into the interconnected world of economic development. --Publisher's description

Plant shutdowns in Canada and the United States from 1969 to 1984 led to an ongoing and ravaging industrial decline of the Great Lakes Region. This book offers a comparative regional analysis of the economic and cultural devastation caused by the shutdowns, and provides an insightful examination of how mill and factory workers on both sides of the border made sense of their own displacement. The history of deindustrialization rendered in cultural terms reveals the importance of community and national identifications in how North Americans responded to the problem. Based on the plant shutdown stories told by over 130 industrial workers, and drawing on extensive archival and published sources, and songs and poetry from the time period covered, Steve High explores the central issues in the history and contemporary politics of plant closings. In so doing, this study poses new questions about group identification and solidarity in the face of often dramatic industrial transformation. --Publisher's description

The town of Ladysmith was one of the most important coal-mining communities on Vancouver Island during the early twentieth century. The Ladysmith miners had a reputation for radicalism and militancy and engaged in bitter struggles for union recognition and economic justice, most notably the Great Strike of 1912-14. This strike, one of the longest and most violent labour disputes in Canadian history, marked a watershed in the history of the town and the coal industry. --Publisher's description

Examines the "coercive assault" (i.e., legislative overrides) on trade union rights in Canada by both federal and provincial governments from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Also discusses labour-related decisions of the Supreme Court, and strategies for union renewal. Includes tables of union membership, strikes and lockouts, back-to-work measures, use of designations, and complaints of violations of union rights filed with the International Labor Organization.

In the period since the Second World War there has been both a massive influx of women into the Canadian job market and substantive changes to the welfare state as early expansion gave way, by the 1970s, to a prolonged period of retrenchment and restructuring. Through a detailed historical account of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program from 1945 to 1997, Ann Porter demonstrates how gender was central both to the construction of the post-war welfare state, as well as to its subsequent crisis and restructuring. Drawing on a wide range of sources (including archival material, UI administrative tribunal decisions, and documents from the government, labour and women's groups) she examines the implications of restructuring for women's equality, as well as how women's groups, labour and the state interacted in efforts to shape the policy agenda. Porter argues that, while the post-war welfare state model was based on a family with a single male breadwinner, the new model is one that assumes multiple family earners and encourages employability for both men and women. The result has been greater formal equality for women, but at the same time the restructuring and reduction of benefits have undermined these gains and made women's lives increasingly difficult. Using concepts from political economy, feminism, and public policy, this study will be of interest across a range of disciplines. --Publisher's description

Rabagliati's strip "Paul: Apprentice Typographer" was one of the highlights of 1999's Drawn & Quarterly anthology, and his first comic book Paul in the Country won the 2000 Harvey award for Best New Talent. This, his first graphic novel, is eagerly anticipated by comix connoisseurs who enjoy a sweet, unsentimental story about being a teenager and Rabagliati's crisp retro-modern 1950s drawing style. This book continues the story of Paul, a Quebecois teenager in the 1970s, as he experiences the first conflicts of responsibility with his desire to be free. Paul is outraged that he is forced to stop his high school art training. But he's been asked to put art aside because his other grades are so terribly low. Defiant, he quits school and anticipates a summer of leisure. But instead Paul follows the path of so many Quebecois teenagers: he lands a job as a counselor at one of the many summer camps in the mountains outside the city. There he finds himself guiding a motley band of kids, misfits and troublemakers, much like himself. After quitting school and trying his luck in the "real world," average teenager Paul gets a job as a counselor at a summer camp run for underprivileged children in 1970s Quebec. --Publisher's description

The election of neo-conservative governments in Alberta and Ontario in the early 1990s brought dramatic changes to provincial public policy; both the Ralph Klein Revolution and Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution emphasized fundamental changes in the role of government, balanced budgets, and the elimination of provincial debts. While public sector unions were forced to react, the response of the Alberta and Ontario unions differed significantly. The reasons, outcome, and long-term impact of the difference is the focus of Yonatan Reshef and Sandra Rastin's careful and revealing analysis. The authors' argument concentrates on union responses to the neo-conservative transformation in the two affected provinces, but the scope of the discussion expands to cover such issues as the differences between the two regimes, the damage to the Ontario labour movement dealt by the labour-oriented NDP government, the limits of inter-union cooperation, and the role of modern unions in politics. Lively and timely, Unions in the Time of Revolution places Canada's unions in the full context of the neo-conservative trend in provincial politics, and demonstrates the importance of individual union responses in times of such significant change. --Publisher's description. Contents: Alberta and Ontario: Industrial relations and their contexts -- Revolutions, Canada style -- Collective action conceptual framework -- Revolutionizing the Civil Service: OPSEU and AUPE -- Teachers: Protecting the profession, defending the union organization -- Sins of commission and sins of omissions: The Ontario days of action and missed opportunities in Alberta -- Sleeping with the devil: Strategic voting in the 1999 Ontario Election -- Revisiting the collective action model -- Additional thoughts on collective action.

[The author] continues her study into why British Columbians – and many Canadians from outside the province – were historically so opposed to Asian immigration. Drawing on contemporary press and government reports and individual correspondence and memoirs, Roy shows how British Columbians consolidated a “white man’s province” from 1914 to 1941 by securing a virtual end to Asian immigration and placing stringent legal restrictions on Asian competition in the major industries of lumber and fishing. While its emphasis is on political action and politicians, the book also examines the popular pressure for such practices and gives some attention to the reactions of those most affected: the province’s Chinese and Japanese residents. --Publisher's description