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The article reviews the book, "Hard Bargain: Transforming Public Sector Labour-Management Relations," by Peter Warrian.

Analyzes the 1997 film, "Good Will Hunting," as a romantic comedy that foregrounds character-in-spiritual-at the expense of any serious consideration of class or the individual's position within the social. The author also discusses the film's reception, including by her students.

The article reviews the book, "San'ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo," by Edward Fowler.

Facing industrial unrest in each of its Canadian petroleum refineries, the Imperial Oil Company embarked on a wide-ranging industrial-relations initiative in 1919. Patterned after Mackenzie King's "Rockefeller Plan," the logic was clear: joint worker-management councils would alleviate shop-floor discontent; a package of welfare benefits would reduce absenteeism and turnover; and a share-purchase plan would enhance worker loyalty to the Company. Where similar attempts at corporate welfarism in Canada generally failed, Imperial Oil enjoyed a union-free status until 1946, and freedom from work stoppages until the early 1950s. What made it unique in this regard was its willingness and capacity to buy labour harmony; and in an era hostile to organized labour, its workers succeeded in extracting important monetary concessions as the price of their loyalty. Imperial Oil thus offers a cogent example of the conditions necessary for King's variant of welfare capitalism to flourish.

The application of merit pay in Canadian universities is examined. Designed to motivate and reward greater productivity, the effectiveness of merit pay depends upon the relative importance of competitive versus cooperative behavior in the academic workplace, the capacity to evaluate individual performance, and the ability to design clear financial signals appropriate to the objectives of the institution. Differences among universities can be expected to produce differences in compensation methods. A logit analysis is conducted that suggests that an institution's likelihood of having a merit pay scheme varies according to region; that it increases with the emphasis placed on graduate training and research; and that it declines in the presence of a unionized faculty association. This suggests that the adoption of performance-based pay is apt to meet stronger resistance in undergraduate and unionized institutions.

The article reviews the book, "The New Left and Labor in the 1960s," by Peter B. Levy.

The pressures for the harmonization of labor laws and policies under trade liberalization are outlined, with particular attention to inter-jurisdictional competition for investment and jobs. This is followed by an analysis of the linkages that are necessary for there to be downward harmonization, with some discussion of the empirical evidence (and lack of evidence) on those linkages. Opposing pressures towards divergence and away from convergence and harmonization are also discussed. The paper concludes with some observations on the advantages and disadvantages of harmonization and the appropriate policy responses.

The recent accession to power of a conservative government in Australia would seem to mark a major change in Australian industrial relations. However, a more subtle reading of events suggests that key ingredients of the new government's reform package were actually foreshadowed, even partially implemented, by the former Australian Labor Party government. The latter was well known for its enthusiastic implementation of orthodox economic policies, albeit in a context of corporatism. This suggests a degree of continuity between the policies of the ALP and Liberal/National Coalition governments. At the same time, there are ingredients of significant change, some of them on the face of it minor, but which, over time, are likely to erode the power of unions and sharpen the divide between the union and non-union sectors.

The outspoken leader of the Canadian Auto Workers Union now offers his passionate perspective in Labour of Love: The Fight to Create a More Humane Canada. Buzz Hargrove offers his reasons for his strong belief in unions, a scathing critique of Bob Rae's NDP and the Tories' "Common Sense Revolution," and an insightful analysis of Canada. Hargrove believes that "Days of Action" protests are vital in a society whose governments are threatening to unravel the already suffering Canadian social programs. Political and labour junkies will be riveted by Hargrove's unflinching look at the conservative policies that could destroy a country he loves. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "The Slumbering Volcano: American Slave Ship Revolts and the Production of Rebellious Masculinity," by Maggie Montesinos Sale.

A framework for analyzing illegal public sector strikes is developed that explains observed patterns of behavior of employees, unions, managers, and third parties. It is found that no-strike laws diminish such positive effects of right-to-strike bargaining systems as eliciting information, adjusting expectations, and providing catharsis. A new theoretical outline helps understand and explain such illegal strike characteristics as the suddenness of strike development, the rank-and-file nature, lack of union control, conflict without clearly defined union objectives, and breakdown of the conflict regulation process by neutral agencies. Three policy issues emerge: 1. some conflict could have been avoided with a broader scope of bargaining, 2. mandatory and more responsive third party procedures should be legislatively provided, and 3. such information about worker discontent as grievance usage should be made available to dispute settlement agencies and mediators before conflict escalates out of control.

When The Vertical Mosaic first appeared in 1965, it became an instant classic. Its key message was that Canada was not the classless democracy it fancied itself to be. In fact, Canada was a highly inegalitarian society comprising a 'vertical mosaic' of distinct classes and ethnic groups. This collection of papers by five of Canada's top sociologists subjects John Porter's landmark study to renewed scrutiny and traces the dramatic changes since Porter's time - both in Canadian society and in the agenda of Canadian sociology. Based on papers written for a conference held in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of The Vertical Mosaic's publication, the five essays revisit the central themes of the original work, including gender and race inequality; citizenship and social justice; and class, power, and ethnicity from the viewpoint of political economy. An introduction by the editors provides a historical biography of Porter and discusses his influence on Canadian sociology. --Publisher's description. Contents: Power, ethnicity, and class: Reflections thirty years after The vertical mosaic / Wallace Clement -- Ethnicity and race in social organization: Recent developments in Canadian society / Raymond Breton -- Missing women: A feminist perspective on The vertical mosaic / Pat Armstrong -- Three decades of elite research in Canada: John Porter's unfulfilled legacy / Michael Ornstein -- Social justice, social citizenship, and the welfare state, 1965-1995: Canada comparative context / Julia S. O'Connor.

The article reviews the book, "Industrial Relations under Liberal Democracy: North America in Comparative Perspective," by Roy J. Adams.

Canadians often consider the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 to be the defining event in working-class history after the First World War. This book, the collaboration of nine labour historians, shows that the unrest was both more diverse and more widespread across the country than is generally believed. The authors clarify what happened in working-class Canada at the end of the war and situate 'the workers' revolt' within the larger structure of Canadian social, economic, and political history. They argue that, despite a national pattern, the upsurge of protest took a different course and faced a different set of obstacles in each region of the country. Their essays shed light on the extent of the revolt nationally while retaining a sensitivity to regional distinctiveness. --Publisher's description. Contents: The Great War, the state, and working-class Canada / Craig Heron and Myer Siemiatycki -- The Maritimes: expanding the circle of resistance / Ian McKay and Suzanne Morton -- Quebec: class and ethnicity / Geoffrey Ewen -- Southern Ontario: striking at the ballot box / James Naylor -- The prairies: in the eye of the storm / Tom Mitchell and James Naylor -- British Columbia and the mining west: a ghost of a chance / Allen Seager and David Roth -- National contours: solidarity and fragmentation / Craig Heron.

A comprehensive study of the nursing profession using data collected from over 1600 surveys. This is the first and only comprehensive labour market study of the largest group of nursing professionals in any one province in Canada. It explores the career paths of more than 1600 registered nurses and registered practical nurses, using survey data collected in 1992-1993, just as these front line caregivers faced the sea change wrought by governmental restructuring in Ontario hospitals. A "snapshot" of key labour force and market issues in the nursing field, the study provides important baseline data from which the impact of present and future public policy trends and changes can be monitored, reviewed, and researched. The dimensions studied here include recent demographic shifts, the various forms of employment mobility, levels of voluntarism, career interruption, and nurses' reasons for leaving the field. Each line of inquiry raises pressing questions about the professional lives of those who work most directly and dynamically with patients but whose careers are being altered, perhaps detrimentally, by reorganization in the Canadian health care system. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "The Struggle for Canadian Sport," by Bruce Kidd.

This collection brings together a wide array of writings on Canadian immigrant history, including many highly regarded, influential essays. Though most of the chapters have been previously published, the editors have also commissioned original contributions on understudied topics in the field. The readings highlight the social history of immigrants, their pre-migration traditions as well as migration strategies and Canadian experiences, their work and family worlds, and their political, cultural, and community lives. They explore the public display of ethno-religious rituals, race riots, and union protests; the quasi-private worlds of all-male boarding-houses and of female domestics toiling in isolated workplaces; and the intrusive power that government and even well-intentioned social reformers have wielded over immigrants deemed dangerous or otherwise in need of supervision.Organized partly chronologically and largely by theme, the topical sections will offer students a glimpse into Canada's complex immigrant past. In order to facilitate classroom discussion, each section contains an introduction that contextualizes the readings and raises some questions for debate. A Nation of Immigrants will be useful both in specialized courses in Canadian immigration history and in courses on broader themes in Canadian history. --Publisher's description. Contents: The Irish in nineteenth-century Canada: class, culture, and conflict -- American Blacks in nineteenth-century Ontario: challenging the stereotypes -- Settling the Canadian West: the 'exotic' continentals -- 'Women's work': paid labour, community-building, and protest -- Men without women: 'bachelor' workers and gendered identities -- Demanding rights, organizing for change: militants and radicals -- Encountering the 'other': society and state responses, 1900s-1930s -- Regulating minorities in 'hot' and 'cold' war contexts, 1939-1960s.

The article reviews the book, "Women in the Mines: Stories of Life and Work," by Marat Moore.

Collective bargaining at 3 major supermarket chains in Ontario is examined. It is argued that the retail unions in the sector have a long history of business unionism which is no longer effective in the face of aggressive corporate demands for concessions. Unions are now unable to defend the full-time, and most secure, segment of their membership. Furthermore, the corporate drive for labor flexibility is rapidly expanding the part-time workforce and eroding wage levels. Because women are disproportionately represented in the low-wage part-time category and have the least access to full-time positions, they are the most vulnerable to corporate restructuring. The gender specific implications of restructuring are examined in an analysis of the recently province-wide strike at the Miracle Food Mart chain.