Search

The article reviews the book, "Where was the working class? Revolution in Eastern Germany," by Linda Fuller.

This interdisciplinary dissertation aims to develop social and political theory capable of understanding social class as a structured process and relationship mediated by gender, race and other social relations and taking place in time and specific socio-material contexts, in order to analyse working classes as historical formations. It also aims to use this perspective and the existing body of historical scholarship to conduct a theoretically-rigorous study of the remaking of the Canadian working class in the 1940s. Arguing that recent theoretical work on class formation is inadequate, the dissertation critically appropriates ideas drawn from classical and contemporary scholarship to outline a theory of working classes as historical formations. An account of how dominant classes exercise power in capitalist societies is a necessary complement to this theory; the overview developed theorizes the existence of capitalist rule in differentiated forms and as inherently, but not primarily, ideological. From this perspective, the dissertation analyses the remaking of the Canadian working class in the paid workplace, community and household spheres in the 1940s. It argues that between 1941 and 1947 a broad but uneven process of class recomposition took place, focussing on such issues as the character of struggles in this period, their participants, their organizations and ideologies in order to illuminate the dynamics of change in working-class formations. In the course of struggle, both the working-class formation and capitalist rule were altered in important ways. The new formation that stabilized in the late 1940s featured improved living standards and greater unity against capital at the most elementary level. It was also shaped in important respects by a particular configuration of racist, sexist and heterosexist social relations. Unions changed from within and without, becoming generally committed to a responsible and bureaucratic practice. The CCF became the undisputed party of the English-Canadian workers' movement, weakening and marginalizing political radicalism. Although it is misleading to interpret this as working-class incorporation, working-class capacities to change society had been constrained and undermined in new ways, in part as a result of the very reforms workers wrested from employers and state power.

The article reviews the book, "Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope," by Susan Weissman.

The article reviews the books, "My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada," by Stanley G. Grizzle, "Brotherhoods of Color: Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality," by Eric Arnesen, and "Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945," by Beth Tompkins Bates.

Trade unions in nearly all developed countries are facing major difficulties in maintaining membership levels and political influence. The US labor movement has been increasingly attracted to an organizing model of trade unionism and, in turn, this response has caught the imagination of some sections of other Anglo-Saxon movements, most notably in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. There is not single definitive account of what constitutes the organizing model but its advocates envisage the transformation of unions into dynamic organizations, where members would become active participants rather than passive consumers. Despite similarities in the problems that national union movements face, however, the histories and current experiences of trade unions in the various countries show marked differences. A comparative study of an Australian and a British union, based on extensive fieldwork in Britain and Australia, attempts to assess the importance of national contexts in the adoption of the organizing model.

For a clear understanding of the legal protections and remedies available to employers and workers in Canada, this convenient survey and analysis is ideal. Although it may be said that there are eleven distinct systems of labour law in Canada - encompassing ten provinces and the Federal government - the authors ensure depth of treatment by focusing on common policy themes and typical legal solutions, with significant departures noted in whatever province or area of law they may arise. However, the relevant law of the three most populous and influential provinces - Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia - is covered in particular detail, as is Federal labour legislation and case law. Among the important areas of Canadian law and practice emphasised are the following: the tension between trade union power and business flexibility; collective "labour law" and individual "employment law"; the effect of the North American Free Trade Agreement; the central place of the legal concept of the employment contract; labour standards legislation; the influence of the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms; court intervention in labour law, both under common law principles and Quebec's civil code; the role of labour relations boards; and judicial review of administrative decisions and arbitration awards. As an accurate and usable guide for lawyers not expert in Canadian law, Labour Law in Canada is without peer. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Hamlet and the Baker's Son: My Life in Theatre and Politics," by Augusto Boal.

The article reviews the book, "The rise of agrarian democracy: The United Farmers and Farm Women of Alberta, 1909-1921," by Bradford James Rennie.

John Godard's article, "New Dawn or Bad Moon Rising? Large Scale Government Administered Workplace Surveys and the Future of Canadian IR Research" (2001), is discussed. Godard has challenged researchers to consider the advantages and disadvantages of using data sets in industrial relations research. This comment agrees with Godard that the Workplace and Employment Survey (WES), as with other large scale government administered surveys, has a number of significant advantages, including: excellent response rates, comprehensiveness, the ability to link employees with their employers and to follow them over (limited) periods of time, and a tendency to use more standardized measures. These represent substantial advantages relative to other sources of micro-level data.

La présente étude, réalisée auprès de 252 entreprises québécoises, a permis de mettre en évidence que les politiques de rémunération sont davantage influencées par les stratégies internes de l’organisation que par leurs stratégies externes. Plus spécifiquement, les entreprises qui préconisent les équipes autonomes de travail, la qualité totale et la gestion participative optent davantage pour des politiques de rémunération orientées vers la performance individuelle et collective, tendent à accorder un pourcentage de bonis plus élevé et à favoriser une plus grande transparence dans leurs mécanismes de gestion. Les résultats montrent également que la présence syndicale joue un rôle déterminant dans le choix des politiques de rémunération.

This article reviews the contribution that Labour/Le Travail has made to the study of gender history in Canada over the past 25 years. It identifies the several ways in which industrialization led to gendering of class, and in particular analyzes the contribution of the patriarchy/capitalism debate, the family strategies approach, and the new literature on masculinity. It suggests the need for more broadly contextualized studies that incorporate both gender conflict and interdependence, and argues for a hermeneutic separation of gender and class identities from conceptualizations of class politics and collective protest.

As a contribution to the history of the Cold War, and particularly of anti-Communist activities at the local level, discusses the controversial policies adopted by the Toronto District School Board during 1948-51 and the anti-Communist activities of Harold Menzies, one of the board's trustees. In spite of the presence on the board of elected trustees who were Communists and the opposition of the director of education, a majority of the trustees were successful in adopting policies that violated the civil liberties of Canadians and were contemptuous of the will of the voters. Anti-Communist activities touched on teacher loyalty, selection of textbooks, and access to school facilities. Menzies and his allies saw communism as a threat to the school system and worked hard to create and maintain an anti-Communist consensus.

Discusses the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's efforts to resist the most extreme elements of the Conservative Party's agenda, and critiques the labour movement, in particular the union leadership, for the failure of its Days of Action, which was also intended to mobilize against the government.

The article reviews the book, "Health care practitioners: An Ontario case study in policy making," by Patricia O'Reilly.

The article reviews the book, "Renegade Lawyer: The Life of J. L. Cohen. MacDowell," by Laurel Sefton.

Filing lawsuits in US federal and state courts for workers' rights violations suffered by workers employed by American corporations abroad is one of several strategies for promoting labour rights. To succeed, such suits must first overcome the strong presumption against extraterritorial effect of US law. Other jurisdictional hurdles like "inconvenient forum" also require caution in bringing suits. With the right strategic choices, labour rights litigation can be an effective means of advancing workers' rights in the global economy.

The article reviews the book, "Discrimination et obligation d’accommodement en milieu de travail syndiqué," by Christian Brunelle.

The article reviews the book, "Immigrants and the labour force: Policy, regulation and impact," by Ravi Pendakur.

The dissertation identifies the origins of the present disparity of health conditions between Indian communities and mainstream society in western Canada. It examines the relationship between economics and health of Indian populations in the Canadian northwest from the early eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. It documents the development of the fur trade in relation to changes in the geographical distribution of aboriginal societies resulting from the differential impact of introduced European diseases. For a period of one hundred and fifty years, infections that came as a consequence of trade were the primary source of mortality due to illness among First Nations. In addition, social pathologies resulting from European trade strategies affected the well being of communities in the northwest. Climate and environment contributed to the differential success of many groups integrated into the global economy through the fur trade. Canada's acquisition of the northwest changed this pattern. Its commitment to the terms of Treaties opened the west for agricultural development and settlement. The Dominion's development strategy, the National Policy, coincided with the extinction of the bison, undermining the ability of plains Indians to compel the government to deliver on their Treaty commitments. To facilitate the implementation of its economic and political order, the Dominion used its famine relief strategy as a means to subjugate them. By the early 1880s, tuberculosis emerged as a full blown epidemic among the Indians of the plains. The spread of tuberculosis through the Indian population of the plains was the result of the protracted period of malnutrition. Punitive measures imposed after the brief armed resistance to Dominion hegemony further weakened the population already largely infected with the disease. Severe mortality weakened the population already largely infected with the disease. Severe mortality resulted from the spread of acute infectious disease among the compromised population. Within fifteen years of signing Treaties many plains populations declined to their demographic nadir.