Your search

In April 2004, the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) waged an illegal strike that mobilized sections of British Columbia's working class to the brink of a general sympathetic strike. Influenced by BC's class-polarized political culture and HEU's distinct history, the 2004 strike represents a key moment of working-class resistance to neoliberal privatization. HEU was targeted by the BC Liberal government because it represented a bastion of militant, independent unionism in a jurisdiction that appeared overripe (from the neoliberal standpoint) for a curtailment of worker rights and a retrenchment of public-sector employment. HEU also represented a direct barrier, in the language of its collective agreements and collective power of its membership, to the privatization of health services and dismantling of Medicare. The militant agency of HEU members, combined with anger generated by a constellation of social-service cutbacks, inspired rank-and-file workers and several unions to defy collective agreements and embrace sympathetic strike action. This revealed differentiation in the strategy and tactics of BC's labor leadership, and enduring sources of solidarity in labor's ranks.

The article reviews the book, "The Embedded Corporation: Corporate Governance and Employment Relations in Japan and the United States," by Sanford M. Jacoby.

The article reviews the book, "Sex Traffic: Prostitution, Crime and Exploitation," by Paola Monzini.

This multidisciplinary volume brings together scholars and activists to examine expressions of racism in contemporary policy areas, including education, labour, immigration, media, and urban planning. While anti-racist struggles during the twentieth century were largely pitched against overt forms of racism (e.g., pogroms, genocide, segregation, apartheid, and 'ethnic cleansing'), it has become increasingly apparent that there are other, less visible, forms of racism. These subtler incarnations are of special interest to the contributors. The intent of Race, Racialization, and Antiracism in Canada and Beyond is to probe systemic forms of racism, as well as to suggest strategies for addressing them. The collection is organized by themes pertinent to political and social expressions of racism in Canada and the wider world, such as the state and its mediation of race, education and the perpetuation of racist marginalization, and the role of the media. The contributors argue that, in order to effectively combat racism, various methodological approaches are required, approaches that are reflective of the diversity of the world we seek to understand. -- Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction / Audrey Kobayashi and Genevieve Fuji Johnson -- Negotiating school: marginalized students' participation in their education process / Carl E. James -- Multicultural education: teacher candidates speak out / Donatille Mujawamariya -- The sky didn't fall: organizing to combat racism in the workplace -- the case of the alliance for employment equity / Abigail B. Bakan and Audrey Kobayashi -- Employment conditions of racial minorities in Canada: how bad is the problem of discrimination? / Mohammed A. Al-Waqfi and Harish C. Jain -- Immigrant women's activism: the past thirty-five years / Tania Das Gupta -- Critical discourse analysis: a powerful but flawed tool? / Frances Henry and Carol Tator -- Special plus and special negative: the conflict between perceptions and applications of 'special status' in Canada / Howard Ramos -- Who belongs? Expoloring race and racialization in Canada / Leanne Taylor, Carl E. James, and Roger Saul -- The racialization of space: producng surrey / Gurpreet Singh Johal -- Raceless states / David Theo Goldberg -- Multi-identifications and transformations: reaching beyond racial and ethnic reductionisms / Philomena Essed.

This article analyzes the complex employment position of temporary workers within organizations and on the labour market. Temporary employment is usually considered secondary to permanent employment. In recent years, the European Union and the Dutch government have attempted to change this situation by formulating several directives and labour laws. In this paper, we use institutional theory to discuss the institutional foundations and influences that shape the employment and labour-market conditions of temporary workers. The analysis shows that the core issues regarding temporary employment conditions include conflicting (legitimate) interests, socially constructed norms that favour permanent workers, and an uneven distribution of power. Our analysis further shows that institutional forces generate a structural justification for the disadvantaged position of temporary workers.

The article reviews the book, "Self-Employed Workers Organize: Law, Policy and Unions," by Cynthia J. Cranford, Judy Fudge, Eric Tucker and Leah F. Vosko.

The article reviews the book,"Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America," edited by Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros.

This interdisciplinary volume offers a powerful critique of how social structures and relations as well as ideologies shape workplaces, labour markets, and households in contemporary Canada. Contributors dissect recent transformations in work and expose the uncertainty, insecurity, and instability that increasingly characterize both paid and unpaid work. Using a progressive approach to political economy, contributors propose alternative policies and practices that might secure more decent livelihoods for workers and their families. Contributors include Hugh Armstrong (Carleton), Pat Armstrong (York), Wallace Clement (Carleton), June Corman (Brock), Gillian Creese (British Columbia), Alice de Wolff (Independent Researcher), Ann Duffy (Brock), Andy King (United Steelworkers of America), Kate Laxer (York), Belinda Leach (Guelph), Wayne Lewchuk (McMaster), David W. Livingstone (OISE), Meg Luxton (York), Norene Pupo (York), Antonie Scholtz (OISE), Vivian Shalla (Guelph), Janet Siltanen (Carleton), Leah F. Vosko (York), Rosemary Warskett (Carleton), and Charlotte Yates (McMaster).

This research report presents findings from research comparing employment equity policies in Canada’s 10 provinces and the federal government. We approach the issue of employment equity from the standpoint of challenging systemic oppression. We have sought to describe, explain and suggest ways to rectify a perceived impasse in the effective implementation of employment equity policy regarding the implications it holds for the advancement of visible minority women within the provincial government sector. We premised our study on a recognizable gap between legislative policy designed to promote greater workplace diversity for groups that have experienced systemic oppression within Canada, and the effective implementation of such policies in the workplace. --From Executive Summary

The article reviews the book, "Social Policy and Practice in Canada: A History," by Alvin Finkel.

The article reviews the book, "'Nous protégeons l'infortune,' les origines populaires de l'économie sociale au Québec" by Martin Petitclerc.

The article reviews the book, "Obstructed Labour: Race and Gender in the Re-emergence of Midwifery," by Sheryl Nestel.

The article reviews the book, "Imagining Difference: Legend, Curse and Spectacle in a Canadian Mining Town.," by Leslie A. Robertson.

In its ruling in B.C. Health Services, the Supreme Court of Canada relied on Canada's obligations under international law, and specifically ILO law, to hold that s. 2(d) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms on freedom of association not only protects the right of unions to engage in collective bargaining, but also imposes on employers a duty to bargain. The author is critical of the Court's reasoning in advancing the latter proposition, particularly because Canada has not ratified the ILO convention on collective bargaining and therefore is not bound by its provisions. Moreover, he points out, the central tenet of that convention is that ratifying states are required to encourage voluntary - not compulsory - negotiations between employers and workers. The author goes on to note that Canada, in virtue of its membership in the ILO, is covered by that body's 1998 Declaration, which identifies freedom of association as a "core labour right," and also can be the subject of a complaint before the Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA). However, he explains, neither the Declaration nor the CFA procedure results in conventions being binding on non-ratifying states. Furthermore, the Declaration's purpose is merely to "promote" key principles, such as freedom of association; while the CFA is not a judicial body, and its decisions are considered neither binding nor authoritative. In the result, the Supreme Court, partly as a consequence of its misreading of Canada's international law obligations, has constitutionalized a particular model of labour relations - one that is peculiar to North America, even though that model is only one of many ways in which the international law norm of freedom of association can be instantiated and made enforceable. Ultimately, the author concludes, the problem with B.C. Health Services, as with earlier decisions, lies in the Court's refusal to apply the Charter guarantee of equality under s. 15, thus forcing s. 2(d) to do a job for which it is not suited.

The article reviews the book, "Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement & the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America," by James Green.

The article reviews the book, "Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson," by Tom Sito.

Dans le contexte d’une catastrophe industrielle qui a entraîné la fermeture d’une usine chimique, les auteurs analysent le rôle que jouent la mémoire sociale et l’expérience antérieure au sein de l’organisation dans la construction de perspectives temporelles ouvertes sur des projets de reconversion, de mobilité ou de retraite anticipée. Les résultats obtenus par une analyse lexicale informatisée (ALCESTE) des entretiens semi directifs menés auprès de 15 salariés de l’usine permettent d’identifier quatre principales catégories de discours : 1) transition vers la préretraite, 2) Plan Social et possibilités de reconversion, 3) professionnalisation du métier, 4) spécificités du secteur d’activités. Pour chacune d’elles sont examinées les relations entre les modalités d’inscription des sujets dans la mémoire sociale et la définition de leurs perspectives temporelles futures. Cette étude permet d’appréhender les processus de construction de nouveaux rapports à l’organisation de travail à l’oeuvre dans une situation de transition spécifique, marquée par son caractère traumatique et son incertitude.

I) Objective: The study aimed to explore the health effects of precarious employment relationships in Ontario, and understand how various forms of support shape health. II) Methods: Three measures make up our "Employment Strain" model: employment relationship uncertainty; employment relationship effort; and, employment relationship support. This new framework was used to measure the characteristics of precarious employment and their effect on health using data from a structured, self-administered, population-based survey completed by 3,244 workers, and 82 semi-structured interviews using a stratified sampling technique to select participants. III) Results: Precarious employment has negative health consequences for many workers. However, the relationship between precarious employment and health is complex, whereby the characteristics of the employment relationship and levels of support determine health outcomes. Using the "Employment Strain" framework, we found that workers exposed to High Employment Strain - workers with high levels of employment relationship uncertainty and high levels of employment relationship effort - have poorer health. Importantly, support does shapes health and can help to buffer the health risks associated with precarious employment.

The emergence of internationalized production in the context of weakening state regulation of labour rights and of increasing employer dominance in industrial relations systems raises significant questions about the nature and future of worker representation. A crucial issue is the transferability of company-specific models of worker voice across national boundaries. This issue is the focus of this case study of Magna International, a leading member of a small group of transnational automotive parts manufacturing firms that are central to the contemporary restructuring of the international automotive industry. The paper compares the transformation of worker representation at Magna in Canada and Mexico. In crossing international borders, the Magna industrial relations model has taken on national and local features of the host country. However, the underlying industrial relations structure is one which has elicited a successful reconfiguration and containment of much, although by no means all, of the adversarialism inherent in labour-management relations. This reconfiguration has aligned worker representation to an essentially unitarist project oriented to management's productivity goals. More than merely suppressing independent unions, Magna has constructed a coherent, management--dominated model of worker representation in both Canada and Mexico. The paper concludes with an assessment of the implications of this model for independent unionism.

Deindustrialization is not simply an economic process; it is also a social and cultural phenomenon. The rusting detritus of our industrial past — the wrecked halls of factories, abandoned machinery too large to remove, and now useless infrastructures — has for decades been a part of the North American landscape. Through a unique blend of oral history, photographs, and interpretive essays, [this book] investigates this fascinating terrain and the phenomenon of its loss and rediscovery. --Publisher's description. Includes bibliographical references (p. [157]-163) and index. "Oral history interviews cited": p. 164. Contents: Industrial demolition and the meaning of economic change in North America -- "Take only pictures and leave only footprints": urban exploration and the aesthetics of deindustrialization -- From cradle to grave: the politics of memory in Youngstown, Ohio -- Out of place: the plant shutdown stories of Sturgeon Falls (Ontario) paperworkers -- Gabriel's Detroit -- Deindustrial fragments -- King coal : the coal counties of West Virginia -- A vanishing landmark: Allied Paper in Kalamazoo, Michigan.