Search

The article reviews and comments on several books including "We Have a Glowing Dream: Recollections of Working-Class and People's Struggles in B. C. from 1935 to 1996" by Maurice Rush, "Cold Warrior: C.S. Jackson and the United Electrical Workers" by Doug Smith, and "Red Bait!: Struggles of a Mine Mill Local" by Al King with Kate Braid.

A controversial and chilling examination of child labour in Canadian coal mines, Boys in the Pit shows that beginning early in the nineteenth century, thousands of boys, some as young as eight, laboured underground - driving pit ponies, manipulating ventilation doors, and helping miners cut and load the coal that fuelled the industrial revolution. Boys died in the mines in explosions and accidents but they also organized strikes for better working conditions. Robert McIntosh recasts these wage-earning children as more than victims, illustrating that they responded intelligently and resourcefully to their circumstances. Boys in the Pits is particularly timely as, despite the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, accepted by the General assembly in 1989, child labour still occurs throughout the world and continues to generate controversy. McIntosh provides an important new perspective from which to consider these debates, reorienting our approach to child labour, explaining rather than condemning the practice. Within the broader social context of the period, where the place of children was being redefined as - and limited to - the home, school, and playground, he examines the role of changing technologies, alternative sources of unskilled labour, new divisions of labour, changes in the family economy, and legislation to explore the changing extent of child labour in the mines. --Publisher's description

The turn of the millennium also marks the centenary of Canadian socialism, dated from 1901 (the first free-standing country-wide organization) or 1905 (the formation of the first electorally successful socialist party). By probing the logic and rhetoric of key texts from the Canadian socialist movement, we can discern four distinct formations--evolutionary science, revolutionary praxis, national State management, and revolutionary humanism and national liberation--in a history marked throughout by a hegemonic liberal order. These strategies are worth careful, sympathetic, and critical study as socialist movements regroup in the 21st century.

The article reviews the book, "Who's Not Working and Why ? Employment, Cognitive Skills, Wages, and the Changing U.S. Labor Market," by Frederic L. Pryor and David L. Schaffer.

Jusqu'à une période très récente, les réticences des organisations syndicales et patronales françaises envers l'engagement contractuel ainsi que l'emprise des normes étatiques ont considérablement limité la place de la négociation collective dans la régulation des relations du travail. Mais un nouveau régime de la négociation collective est en voie d'émerger : l'autonomisation de l'entreprise comme instance de régulation accompagne et favorise le passage d'une négociation orientée vers la régulation salariale à une négociation de régulation de l'emploi. Celle-ci est porteuse de nouvelles exigences et de nouveaux risques pour l'acteur syndical. Elle appelle sans doute une meilleure prise en compte des dynamiques territoriales dans les institutions de la négociation collective, mais qui pour l'heure bute sur la structuration des acteurs sociaux.

The article reviews the book, "Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown," by Robert Bruno.

The article reviews the book, "Social Exclusion: An ILO Perspective," edited by Jose B. Figueiredo and Arjan de Haan.

When W.O. Mitchell died in 1998 he was described as “Canada's best-loved writer.” Every commentator agreed that his best – and his best-loved – book was Who Has Seen the Wind. Since it was first published in 1947, this book has sold almost a million copies in Canada. As we enter the world of four-year-old Brian O’Connal, his father the druggist, his Uncle Sean, his mother, and his formidable Scotch grandmother (“she belshes…a lot”), it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary book. As we watch Brian grow up, the prairie and its surprising inhabitants like the Ben and Saint Sammy – and the rich variety of small-town characters – become unforgettable. This book will be a delightful surprise for all those who are aware of it, but have never quite got around to reading it, till now. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the books, "Unemployment Insurance in the United States : Analysis of Policy Issues," edited by by Christopher J. O'Leary and Stephen A. Wandner, and "Topics in Unemployment Insurance Financing" by Wayne Vroman.

The article reviews the book, "Le travail sans qualités : les conséquences humaines de la flexibilité," by Richard Sennett.

Les technologies d'information et de communication (TIC) permettent, incitent ou forcent les entreprises à modifier leurs processus de gestion et de contrôle. Par voie de conséquence, la relation de travail et les conditions d'exécution du travail en sont métamorphosées. Pouvons-nous affirmer que ces techniques nouvelles confèrent vraiment au salarié une plus grande autonomie professionnelle au-delà des premières apparences ? L'absence du regard indiscret d'un contremaître ou d'un directeur de service ne saurait suffire pour répondre à cette question puisque les TIC permettent de suivre le salarié comme s'ils 'agissait de son ombre. Dès lors, une deuxième question peut être valablement posée : ces TIC constitueraient-ils des nouveaux instruments d'asservissement ? La réponse peut dépendre aussi de la qualité des gestionnaires selon qu'ils savent utiliser ces données informatisées pour ce qu'elles sont et sans plus... En d'autres termes, les indicateurs de performance que procurent les TIC ne peuvent servir de substituts au jugement toujours essentiel du gestionnaire.

The article reviews the book, "Storia del Canada: Dalle Origini ai Giorni Nostri. Codignola," by Luca Codignola and Luigi Bmti-Liberati.

Critiques the documentary, "Prairie Fire: The Winnipeg General Strike" (1999). Concludes that the film is a historiographic and cinematic failure.

The IWA, while closely linked to BC, has played a crucial role in nearly every province in Canada, from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Grand Falls, Newfoundland. The IWA in Canada is a definitive history of the union that follows its progress and setbacks throughout the past century. Its predecessors, the Industrial Workers of the World, the One Big Union, and the Lumber Workers' Industrial Union are examined, as are the historical tensions between craft and industrial unionism, the drive to organize the "timber beasts", and the pioneering role of communist activists. Today, the legendary militancy of IWA members is being brought to bear on the legalistic negotiations, environmental movements, and evolutions in governmental forest policy that continue to pose challenges. Generously illustrated with historical and present?day photographs, and enriched by numerous interviews with founding unionists, The IWA In Canada also features capsule histories of each local. In-depth analysis of specific issues and events such as the mysterious death of Viljo Rosval and Jon Voutilainen, the fight for relief in the Great Depression and the Loggers' Navy can be found in sidebars that enhance the text throughout. --Publisher's description.

Despite the great economic advantage of capitalism - that it is an efficient system of production and distribution - capitalist societies struggle with its by-products of poverty, exclusion, corruption, and environmental destruction. The essays in "Ethics and Capitalism" address the question of ensuring ethical and just societies within a capitalist system without sacrificing productivity. The introductory essay is a guide to the issues in the emerging field of ethics and capitalism, and refers to recent contributions from several disciplines. The collection as a whole evaluates the morality of capitalism by looking at its foundation in property theory, its relationship to democracy, the problems of corruption and globalization, as well as the impact of capitalism on non-European cultures and the environment. Contributors consider various ideological and cultural biases that affect our understanding of capitalism. It is the aim of the collection to defend the practical merits of capitalism while raising concerns about its ethical problems. In conclusion, the volume considers the possibility of a mitigated form of capitalism that would ensure economic efficiency and productivity while avoiding ethical pitfalls. --Publisher's description

Expresses appreciation to the editorial team. Calls attention to the forthcoming special edition on the millennium. Introduces "Presentations," a new section of the journal devoted to discussion of labour and its various audiences. Highlights the symposium in honour of French labour historian Marianne Debouzy.

Introduces the special volume that marks the millennium, including the painting, "Labouring the Millennium," by Ellison Robertson, commissioned by Labour/Le Travail and reproduced on the cover.

As Canadian workers, the labour movement, and scholars confront a new millennium, new opportunities and new challenges loom large. This volume, which mirrors Labour/Le Travail Volume 46, commissions a number of articles addressing themes that will be of consequence as we enter the 21st century. The articles that appear in this collection are authored by some of the more prominent social scientists working in the field of labour-related studies, among them Desmond Morton, Ian McKay, Joan Sangster, Cynthia Comacchio, David Frank, and Jacques Rouillard. Their writing appears in the book, grouped in a series of thematic sections: institutions and ideas; gender, sexuality and family; Quebec and the national question; culture; and workers and the state. Topics such as Canadian socialism, pivotal events such as the 1949 Asbestos strike, and important cultural undertakings, such as working-class representations on film and video, are addressed. Historiographical controversies and debates associated with the relations of women’s and working-class histories or different generational styles associated with the presentation of labour’s past are surveyed. This is an issue all interested in Canadian society and its development will not want to miss. --Publisher's description