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Until well into the 20th century, the garment trades were one of the largest employers in manufacturing in Canada. The decline of artisanal clothing trades over the middle of the 19th century led to a marked growth in outwork and deteriorating labor standards. As the garment trades became rife with sweating, a process conditioned by the structured inequalities of class and gender, they became a major source of wage labor for women. Only in the 20th century were steps taken that limited, but by no means ended, sweated labor in the garment industry. The impact of protective legislation has been slight; much more credit in the struggle against sweating has to be given to the industrial garment unions.

The article reviews the book, "Hospital Strike: Women, Unions and Public Sector Conflict," by Jerry White.

A study examines the relationship among union status, occupational injury rates, and the probability of collective workers' compensation benefits. The results indicate that union status and occupational injury rates have an especially significant effect on the probability of obtaining workers' compensation. The potential linkages between union occupational health and safety initiatives, actual injuries, reported injuries, and the receipt of workers' compensation are examined. The analysis suggests that the relationship between unionization and occupational risk is complex and difficult to disentangle even with a detailed data set. The finding of more workers' compensation claims for lower wage workers may be related to a higher replacement rate of previous earnings for these individuals. Immigrants have more frequent claims possibly because they face more actual risk in a given job situation because they do not fully understand safety regulations and warnings.

The article reviews the book, "Travail et société. Une introduction à la sociologie du travail," edited by Diane Gabrielle Tremblay with the collaboration of Daniel Villeneuve.

The article reviews and comments on the book "Canada's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity," edited by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk.

This innovative collection of articles approaches American Indian history and culture from a Marxist perspective. The contributors, from the United States and Canada, have jumped the boundaries among the social sciences to consider issues of macroeconomics and intercultural conflict. The result is a stimulating and substantial contribution that will interest any reader concerned with policy affecting North American Indians. The contributors are particularly attentive to process and change. They show the relationships among the historical periods characterized by the fur trade, land cessions, and the reservation education system. They expose the collusion among agencies of the dominant society and how Indian people reacted, reorganizing themselves and their institutions to face every new, changed situation. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London," by Judith R. Walkowitz.

The article reviews the book, "The Future of lndustrial Relations : Proceedings of the Second Bargaining Group Conference," edited by Harry C. Katz.

The article reviews the book, "Training at Work : A Critical Analysis of Policy and Practice," by Jeff Hyman.

Les historiens canadiens du travail ont qualifié la période entre la fin de la grève chez General Motors (G.M.) à Oshawa en 1937 et le déclenchement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale comme en étant une de croissance lente et même de reculs pour le mouvement syndical. D'ailleurs, le membership syndical a baissé entre 1937 et 1939. Cependant, une analyse des répercussions de cette grève et de l'impact du syndicalisme industriel sur les travailleurs à l'intérieur de leur communauté montre qu'une nouvelle croissance de classe est apparue. En se référant aux travailleurs de l'automobile d'Oshawa comme étude de cas, un exemple des relations du travail et des développements politiques et sociaux entre 1937 et 1939 indique que la grève d'Oshawa a eu des répercussions profondes à long terme. En termes de relations du travail, l'implantation et l'administration des conventions collectives consécutives aux conflits de 1937 a forcé les parties à se rencontrer régulièrement. Graduellement, malgré les tensions existantes, les parties ont appris à travailler ensemble à un point tel que G.M. a officiellement reconnu les TUA en 1939, une organisation en croissance constante. Cette victoire des TUA a amené la syndicalisation de d'autres travailleurs à Oshawa et a provoqué la création d'un conseil du travail et la prolifération d'autres organisations et activités de travailleurs dans la communauté. L'expérience acquise par les travailleurs à partir de ces changements dans l'industrie de l'automobile et dans l'organisation de la ville a provoqué une plus grande confiance et une nouvelle conscience de classe les motivant à devenir plus actifs politiquement dans les élections municipales. C'est durant cette période que la base des relations du travail dans une grande partie de l'industrie canadienne de l'automobile a évolué et que de nouvelles alliances politiques se sont façonnées. Comme conséquence, le CCF s'est montré plus intéressé envers le mouvement syndical industriel causant ainsi d'une part une concurrence accrue avec le Parti communiste eu égard à l'allégeance des travailleurs et d'autre part une baisse d'appui pour les libéraux ontariens. Il y a donc eu continuité entre la période immédiate d'après-guerre et les années de la Seconde Guerre : le membership syndical a explosé. Les nouvelles attitudes des travailleurs d'Oshawa et les résultats de leurs actions étaient l'héritage du syndicalisme industriel.

The article reviews the book, "The New Democracy: Challenging the Social Order in Industrial Ontario, 1914-1925, by James Naylor.

The article reviews the book, "Social Work and Social Order: The Settlement Movement in Two Industrial Cities, 1889-1930," by Ruth Hutchinson Crocker.

This thesis is a study of the commodification of domestic labour in a particular type of domestic labour firm, housekeeping services franchises, in southern Ontario. Specifically, I investigate the labour-related experiences of the women employed in these franchises. There are two goals: (1) to draw out, describe, and analyse the relations and processes within which women engage while employed as workers in housekeeping services franchises and (2) to devise conceptual tools that can be used to refine and enhance explanations of waged domestic labour processes. I designed the project in three phases. I was employed at a housekeeping services franchise in Hamilton for three and a half months in the Spring of 1990. During the Fall of 1990 and Winter and Spring of 1991 I carried out multiple-depth conversations with 14 women employed as franchise housekeepers and ten interviews with managers/owners of franchises in southern Ontario and head office personnel. The analysis and write-up began in May 1991 and was completed in February 1993. The thesis as a report of this research can be divided into three areas, methodology, theory, and topic. Methodologically, I implement a set of feminist principles drawn from a feminist marxist framework. Theoretically, I offer a set of abstractions which together conceptualise waged domestic labour processes in a post-1973 organisation of production relations: 'total labour', production regime, class formation, and gender formation. These concepts in part explain and in part interpret workers' experiences of waged domestic labour processes. Topically, I extend domestic labour studies to include waged domestic labour processes that generate surplus value. I focus on the transformation of the traditional relation of "mistress and maid" to that of "mistress and manager" and "manager and maid".

L'actuel régime juridique de représentation syndicale des salariés en vue de la négociation collective survivra-t-il à la transformation contemporaine des modes de production de l'entreprise? Quelle adaptation serait requise ? Répondre à ces questions conduit naturellement à confronter les traits essentiels de cette nouvelle entreprise et ceux de cet aménagement de la représentation collective. Dans le premier cas, la problématique tient en particulier aux changements dans l'environnement de l'entreprise, à l'organisation de son système de production : gestion participative, extériorisation de la production et multiplication des statuts du personnel; dans le second, elle porte notamment sur l'étendue de l'aire de représentation, sur l'objet et le caractère exclusif de la représentation, de même que sur le maintien du caractère conflictuel du régime des rapports collectifs du travail.

The article reviews the book, "The Rise of the Labour Party, 1893-1931," by Gordon Phillips.

Fishing rights are one of the major areas of dispute for aboriginals in Canada today. Dianne Newell explores this controversial issue and looks at the ways government regulatory policy and the law have affected Indian participation in the Pacific Coast fisheries." "For centuries, the economies of Pacific Coast Indians were based on their fisheries. Marine resources, mainly salmon, were used for barter, trade, ceremony, and personal consumption. This pattern persisted after the arrival of European and Asian immigrants, even during the first phases of the non-Indian commercial fishing industry when Indian families were depended upon for their labour and expertise. But as the industrial fishery grew, changes in labour supply, markets, and technology rendered Pacific Coast Indians less central to the enterprise and the aboriginal fishery became legally defined as food fishing. By the late 1960s, rigid new licence-limitation policies were introduced and regulations transformed the processing sector." "The result was reduced participation for fishers and shoreworkers, and the opportunities for Indian men and women declined dramatically. Government programs to increase or even stabilize Indian participation ultimately failed. Newell concludes that the governments of Canada and British Columbia have historically regarded the aboriginal fishery narrowly and unjustly as a privilege, not a right, and have in fact moved against any changes that might put Indians into competition with non-Indians. Recently, BC Indians won a Supreme Court victory in Regina v. Sparrow (1990) that will make it easier to change federal fisheries policies, but aboriginal fishing rights remain before the courts and under federal government investigation. --Publisher's description

Based upon the returned questionnaires of 415 striking faculty members from the University of Saskatchewan, a study shows that faculty members who have attended the study session, and those who have been active in past union meetings were more likely to get involved in picketing and in picket organizing during the course of the strike. Analysis of their post-strike perceptions shows that the faculty attitude towards the effectiveness of the strike, strike length, and back-to-work legislation were closely related to the militancy of the faculty during the strike. The survey also shows that the more militant faculty members thought that the strike improved bargaining power of the union, and were disappointed with the back-to-work legislation. They however did not anticipate the ability of the university administration to take the strike and were therefore surprised by the duration of the strike.

The article reviews the book, "Not Working: State, Unemployment, and Neo-Conservatism in Canada," by Stephen McBride.

The article provides a detailed appreciation of the life and work of British historian E. P. Thompson (1924-1993), a leading figure in the historians' group of the British Communist Party.