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The article reviews the book, "The Puzzle of Strikes: Class and State Strategies in Postwar Italy," by Roberto Franzosi.

English/French abstracts of articles published in the issue.

English/French abstracts of articles published in the issue.

List of recent publications by the Committee.

In many industrialized countries over the past twenty years, including Canada, the supply of "good" jobs for those with low formal education has declined relative to demand. While the contributors to this volume do not agree on which labor policies are best, they share a common dissatisifaction with the current way of doing things. --Publisher's description. Includes separate bibliographies at the end of most chapters.

Most scholars and business people have traditionally regarded industrial relations in the United States and Canada to be so different from practices in other liberal democracies as to render comparison of little practical utility. Fundamental differences, such as the influence of "pure and simple" business-like philosophy on the American and Canadian labor movements in contrast to the socialist agenda of trade unions in other industrialized countries, have prompted observers to question the value of comparative analysis. Roy Adams, however, challenges this view by constructing a theoretical framework within which the comparison of industrial relations across the advanced liberal democratic world may be made comprehensible. --Publisher's description.

The article reviews the book, "Pandora's Box: Corporate Power, Free Trade, and Canadian Education," by John Calvert.

Focusing on the experiences of the Canadian Student Assembly and the Canadian Youth Congress, this article examines the ways in which the RCMP assembled information, conducted surveillance, and interpreted the activities of student and youth "radicals" from the early 1930s to the beginning of World War II. Sources for this study include surveillance and security reports filed by RCMP informants and authorities. As well as exploring new terrain in the history of youth and higher education in Canada, this study adds to the literature on the means by which liberal democratic practices were fettered by government authorities in the depression and war years.

This article examines the role of women in the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the period 1947 to 1961. Taking a revisionist approach, it argues that the main concern of Ontario CCF women, as expressed through the Provincial Women's Committee, was with expanding the party's membership and support by attracting other women to the party, and not with advancing the equality of women, as the existing literature contends. it is further argued that women were not significantly under-represented in positions of power within the CCF, that the party's sexual division of labour was due largely to the timidity of its female members, and that the methods used to "win women for socialism" were practical and sensible under the circumstances.

The article reviews the book, "Where the Boys Are: Cuba, Cold War America and the Making of a New Left," by Van Gosse.

Over recent years, there has been a notable shift in feminist scholarship regarding the study of women's labor in the home. While in the 1960s and 1970s, research focused on the significance for women's oppression of unpaid domestic labor, since the 1980s more attention has been devoted to the role of paid domestic service in oppressing racial and ethnic minority, and working class women. The growing interest in paid domestic labor reflects a reflection among some feminists feminists that the employment of domestic households is a crucial means through which asymmetrical race and class relations among women are structured. ...In this article, we argue that in advanced states women's work iin the home cannot be fully understood without addressing statuses of members of household units and female migrant domestic workers.... Using the Canadian Live-in Caregiver Program as a case study, the article will demonstrate the pivotal role of private domestic placement agents in negotiating citizenship rights for migrant domestic workers and their employers. Rather than approaching domestic labor as an abstract and universal category, we instead draw attention to the variations among women positioned differently in terms of their class, race, and citizenship regarding labor performed in the home. Our analysis is based largely on intensive qualitative interviews with ten of the leading domestic placement agencies in Toronto, Ontario. Additionally, we observed several national and international meetings and conferences organized by placement agencies and consulted a wide variety of policy documents and secondary sources. --From introduction

Existing survey research in Britain has shown that there are notable differences between the characteristics of union and nonunion establishments. But at the same time case study research has indicated that the characteristics and employment practices of nonunion organizations vary quite widely. An analysis is presented of some data contained in the 1990 national Workplace Industrial Relations survey. The findings reveal that a sizable minority of nonunion establishments have similar characteristics to unionized establishments which, in turn make them particularly vulnerable to union organizing efforts and help account for the fact that it is these nonunion establishments which are most strongly opposed to a possible union presence.

The article reviews the book, "Occupational subcultures in the workplace," by Harrison M. Trice.

Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude portant sur l'analyse des pratiques de gestion d'emploi des travailleuses et des travailleurs vieillissants en regard de la situation économique à laquelle sont confrontées les entreprises depuis quelques années. H traite des pratiques dominantes axées sur l'exclusion de la main-d'oeuvre vieillissante et met en lumière quatre facteurs permettant de mieux comprendre la stratégie d'éviction encore largement utilisée. Il présente en outre quelques pratiques novatrices mises de l'avant par les entreprises à l'égard de leur main-d'oeuvre vieillissante.

Une approche ergonomique est ici présentée comme un moyen d'améliorer les conditions d'exécution du travail en intervenant lors de projets d'investissement. Cette approche s'appuie sur l'analyse de l'activité en situation réelle et s'articule aux structures mises en place pour la réalisation du projet en accordant une place importante aux travailleurs visés. Sur la base de trois interventions, l'article tente d'illustrer l'intérêt de recourir à cette approche pour optimiser les projets en intégrant une prise en compte de l'activité humaine.

The article reviews the book, "Purchasing Power: Consumer Organizing, Gender, and the Seattle Labor Movement, 1919-1929," by Dana Frank.

The relationship between Australian trade unions and their non-English-speaking-background female members is analyzed. In particular, the level of services provided by unions to these members and the extent of participation of these unionists in their union and the industrial priorities that they hold for their union are examined. Drawing on a questionnaire survey of unions, of union members and detailed case studies of 6 unions with large immigrant memberships, it is argued that very limited targeted services are provided to non-English-speaking-background female unionists have similar levels of participation in most rank-and-file activities, but that the former group remains underrepresented among full-time officials; and that the industrial priorities of female unionists are similar irrespective of their backgrounds.

The article reviews the book, "Le syndicalisme : état des lieux et enjeux," by Mona-Josée Gagnon.

An anthropological assessment of working conditions in one of the most hazardous and physically demanding industries in Canada, Risks, Dangers, and Rewards in the Nova Scotia Offshore Fishery describes the hidden cost paid by workers in the Nova Scotia offshore fishery, a cost measured not in dollars and cents but in deaths and injuries. According to Labour Canada, workers in the offshore fishery are more likely to be injured than workers in mining, construction, or forestry. Yet until recently these casualties at sea have been largely ignored by government and labour organizations. Risks, Dangers, and Rewards in the Nova Scotia Offshore Fishery describes the hidden cost paid by workers in the Nova Scotia offshore fishery, a cost measured not in dollars and cents but in deaths and injuries. In this comprehensive study Marian Binkley documents the level of risk and assesses the general health and stress level of workers in the Nova Scotia offshore fishery. She considers shipboard working environment; stress; accidents, injuries, and general health; safety awareness; job satisfaction and family life; and the impact on working conditions of government resource policies and companies' scientific management strategies. Using statistical analysis, participant observation, surveys, and interviews, Binkley establishes that factors such as technological developments, management changes, and home and community life affect the immediate work experience of fishers and can increase the dangers of an already hazardous occupation. --Publisher's description