Search

[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

The promotion of systematic occupational health and safety management (SOHSM) represents a comparatively recent but significant realignment of regulatory strategy that has been embraced by many, if not most, industrialized countries. As yet there has been little critical evaluation of the origins and implications of this shift, and to what extent the experience of these measures differs between countries. This article seeks to start the process of answering these questions by comparing SOHSM in Norway and Australia. A number of common challenges (problems of "paper" compliance, limited union input and the growth of precarious employment) are identified. In particular, the article highlights the interdependence of OHS and industrial relations regulatory regimes and argues the move away from inclusive collectivist regimes places significant constraints on independent vetting of SOHSM - a crucial element in their effectiveness.

What are the consequences for the Canadian Labour movement in holding contradictory positions concerning freedom of association? The research into this question conceptualizes Canadian unions as partners with capital and the state in a legally constructed regime of labour relations and collective bargaining. Pertinent Supreme Court of Canada cases concerning labour unions and freedom of association demonstrate that labour unions are inconsistent in their claims concerning freedom of association. This study reveals that while labour unions claim freedom of association is unilateral, that is, workers do not have a right to dissociate, the courts have found that freedom of association is bilateral and workers have a constitutional right to not associate or associate with whom they choose. To date, the courts have also found that infringing on workers' freedom of association is justified under the 'Charter'. However, in the future, the courts may well find these infringements are not justified.

The article reviews the book "Unions and Learning in a Global Economy: International and Comparative Perspectives," edited by Bruce Spencer.

Discusses way and means to rejuvenate union democracy and education, with references to the Canadian labour movement.

Reviews the book "Made in Indonesia: Indonesian Workers Since Suharto," by Dan La Botz.

Alan Sears examines education reform in relation to a broad process of cultural and economic change. His book makes the case that education reform is one aspect of a broad-ranging neo-liberal agenda that aims to push the market deeper into every aspect of our lives by eliminating or shrinking non-market alternatives. The author begins by showing that advocates of education reform have had to make the case that the current system is not working. This sets the ground for an examination of the so-called 'Common Sense Revolution,' a claim that drastic change was required to redesign government policies to fit a changing world. Lean production methods are a crucial component of this changing world, and broader social and cultural change is now required to consolidate the emerging order built on the spread of these methods. Education reform is designed to recast the relations of citizenship, contributing to the cultural and social change promoted through the social policy of the lean state. --Publisher's description

Recasting labor studies in a long-term and global framework, the book draws on a major new database on world labor unrest to show how local labor movements have been related to world-scale political, economic, and social processes since the late nineteenth century. Through an in-depth empirical analysis of select global industries, the book demonstrates how the main locations of labor unrest have shifted from country to country together with shifts in the geographical location of production. It shows how the main sites of labor unrest have shifted over time together with the rise or decline of new leading sectors of capitalist development and demonstrates that labor movements have been deeply embedded (as both cause and effect) in world political dynamics. Over the history of the modern labor movement, the book isolates what is truly novel about the contemporary global crisis of labor movements. Arguing against the view that this is a terminal crisis, the book concludes by exploring the likely forms that emergent labor movements will take in the twenty-first century. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction -- Labor movements and capital mobility -- Labor movements and product cycles -- Labor movements and world politics -- Contemporary dynamics in world-historical perspective -- Appendix A: The World Labor Group Database: conceptualization, measurement, and data collection procedures -- Appendix B: Instructions for recording data from indexes -- Appendix C: Country classifications.

The article reviews and comments on several books, including "Global Showdown: How the New Activists Are Fighting Global Corporate Rule," by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, "Globalization From Below: The Power of Solidarity," by Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello and Brendan Smith and "Reshaping World Politics: NGOs, the Internet, and Global Civil Society," by Craig Warkentin.

For a long time, it has been believed that it is possible to leave our emotions at the threshold of the workplace. This excessively simplifies the complexity and heterogeneity of work, leading to an underestimation of the effects of work on health. Our objective is to understand one particular form of the expression of workers’ emotions: crying at work, which may be linked to an excess of emotional labour or to the impossibility of its achievement. Thus, differences between male and female crying, at least at work, may be explained not only by a gendered socialisation of individuals, but also by the sexual division of emotional labour. This imposes an emotional overload on women, since a more intensive management of emotions is demanded of them at work.

This article argues the case for recognising the value of labour learning within the formal education system. It is based on an introduction to the report by Gereluk (2001) and discusses the impact of prior learning and recognition (PLAR) on Canadian labour education as well as outlining why labour education deserves recognition. The article reviews aspects of labour education detailed in the report including the content and purposes of union courses and who participates in, and who delivers, union courses.

The article reviews the book "Regulating Girls and Women: Sexuality, Family, and the Law in Ontario, 1920-1960," by Joan Sangster.

Not for Bread Alone: A Memoir, by Moe Foner and Dan North, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short Illustrated History of Labor in the United States," by Priscilla Murolo and A.B. Chitty.

The article reviews the book, "State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920-1940," by Robert Whitney.

The article reviews the book, "Women on the Job: Transitions in a Global Economy," by Ann Eyerman.

The article reviews the book "The IWA in Canada: The Life and Times of an Industrial Union," by Andrew Neufeld and Andrew Parnaby.

The article reviews the book, "Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in International Trade and Economic Development," by Joseph E. Inikori.

Hi-tech tactics during a strike at a dockside factory in Montreal. A workplace cancer tragedy in Sarnia, Ontario. Immigrant workers sticking with their union at the chocolate factory. A struggle for pay equity in the courts and on the streets. A campaign to create jobs by cutting hours of work in B.C. An organizing drive 350 kilometres out into the frigid Atlantic. These are some of the fascinating stories told by Jamie Swift in his chronicle of the first ten eventful years of one of the most dynamic labour unions in North America. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "The Transformation of Edinburgh: Land, Property and Trust in the Nineteenth Century," by Richard Rodger.