Your search
Results 1,784 resources
-
Terms such as labor-community coalitions, community unionism and social movement unionism are important features of current strategies for union renewal. This article develops a three-part framework of union-community relationships, from ad hoc to deeply engaged relationships. Criteria such as common interest, coalition structure, scale and union participation are identified as important variables for relationship variation and campaign success. The article explores the framework by analyzing three case studies from Sydney, Australia, involving the central labor council -- Unions NSW. The paper argues that union-community relationships vary significantly: ad hoc relationships are useful to react to a crisis while deeper relationships are most useful to build a long-term agenda. Deeper relationships are supported when they are built alongside a process of internal union renewal. Deeper relationships are more successful if unions develop workplace leaders, support political union education and provide space for workplace stewards to connect to community campaigns.
-
The article reviews the book, "Framed!: Labor and the Corporate Media," Christopher R. Martin.
-
The article reviews the book, "All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot," by Bill Waiser.
-
The article reviews the book, "Gender Myths v. Working realities: Using Social Science to Reformulate Sexual Harassment Law," by Theresa M. Beiner.
-
New South Wales is at the forefront globally in the protection of labour standards in the clothing industry by regulating the supply chain from the bottom to the top, from home workers to clothing retailers. This is the first case in which retailers are effectively brought under a legal regulatory framework in which they are acknowledged as having responsibilities in which the clothing that they sell is manufactured. This is the critical difference between and the great advantage of this model over other models that have attempted to regulate the manufacturing nodes in the supply chain or which rely solely upon voluntary codes. In Canada during the Great Depression and subsequently in the 1930s, a regulatory system was developed in Quebec, which attempted to restrict the more destructive of competitive practices between manufacturers and to (and in part through) generalise negotiated labour standards throughout the industry by way of a Parity Committee. This case holds particular significance for current supply chain regulation developments in New South Wales, Australia and, indeed, globally. Its significance lies in the documented evidence of the exertion of the retail sector over the manufacturers in the clothing industry in Quebec, the practices of manufacturers and contractors to attempt to respond to the demands of the retailers by reducing labour costs, and by the dynamism of a labour movement that was able to win a system of regulation to protect unionised and nonunionised workers within the clothing supply chain. Its significance for current initiatives, however, also lies in what the model was unable to achieve, in particular, bringing the retail sector into the regulatory framework, and, the industrial model of regulation which, which sought supply chain regulation without accounting for all nodes of the chain.
-
The article reviews the book, "De la conciliation emploi-famille á une politique des temps sociaux," edited by Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay.
-
The organization of working time is a central concern in today's labour market, as it is connected to experiences of work-life conflict, employment insecurity, and broader patterns of gender inequality. This article examines union responses to working time changes using a case study of four large unions, as well as a larger survey of working time provisions in major collective agreements. The article contends that working time re-regulation strategies include not only efforts to reduce hours of work, but also a range of strategies to promote employee-oriented time flexibility. These working time strategies provide some means to address growing forms of work-life conflict and working time inequalities; however, these strategies are constrained by a number of factors, including employer resistance and the need for broader-based representational and collective bargaining structures.
-
At the height of World War II labour unrest, Montréal tramway workers, the majority of whom were French Canadian, struck over recognition of their Canadian Congress of Labour-affiliated union over two entrenched rival unions. The strike, which threatened critical wartime production in Canada's largest industrial centre, illustrates how multi-union workplaces were a source of wartime industrial disorder. Circumstances related to the strike tested the capacity of the federal government to respond in a way which was compatible with Prime Minister King's broader goals of industrial stability and national unity. King's inaction on labour law reform at this time led key cabinet ministers to pursue criminal charges against the parties involved in the tramway strike. However, legal proceedings were obverted after King intervened on a recommendation from Carl Goldenberg, who had successfully conciliated the strike. Concurrent to these events was the announcement of a wide-ranging public inquiry into national labour unrest, which eventually led to the adoption of a new labour code (PC 1003). The new federal labour law adopted provisions similar to those in the US Wagner Act, which severely limited union substitution, subjugating worker free choice and collective self-determination to the goals of capital and the state.
-
This article explores the “cultural project” of a hotel workers’ union in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is an examination of the efforts of HERE (now UNITE-HERE) Local 75 to transform the identity and image of hotel workers through the promotion of cultural activities involving rank-and-file members. Part of a larger union renewal project, the cultural project attempts to build solidarity by connecting with members’ lives beyond the workplace. Furthermore, the union's cultural strategies are linked to the development of the city's tourism sector, situating the union's efforts in broader processes of place promotion. The investigation seeks to identify how worker engagement with the cultural implicates organized labour in contradictory processes producing both emancipatory and oppressive economic landscapes.
-
This paper considers the presence of Christianity in the labour movement in early 20th-century Ontario. During this period labour leaders were unquestionably disillusioned with the established churches and did not hesitate to criticize clergy-men for their indifference and hostility to labour's cause. This disillusionment did not mean, however, that organized labour abandoned religion. Both moderate reformist and radical labour leaders articulated a non-sectarian, activist Christianity that helped them frame the issues they were concerned about. Alliances also developed between the churches and labour bodies at the national level and labour-friendly clergy and a small group of labour leaders in industrial centres in southern Ontario.
-
Ces dernières années, la problématique de la relation de service a conduit à l’analyse de situations de travail de plus en plus prégnantes en s’intéressant de très près au déroulement de l’activité. Cette perspective peut être poussée jusqu’à étudier le caractère sollicitant d’une activité fondée sur la confrontation aux clients et les implications de cette sollicitation sur les contraintes ressenties par les salariés dans l’exercice du travail. Il s’agit donc d’examiner les effets de l’organisation de l’activité – y compris les dispositifs de gestion qui y interviennent et l’influence du travail de l’encadrement – à l’égard des contraintes que ressentent les salariés. Cette organisation peut alléger ou renforcer ces contraintes et accentue l’envie des salariés d’en discuter pour adapter les finalités et modalités du travail.
-
The article reviews the book, "Guide pratique de l’arbitrage de grief au Québec," by Jean-Serge Masse.
-
The article reviews the book, "Justice on the Job : Perspectives on the Erosion of Collective Bargaining in the United States," edited by Richard N. Block and Sheldon Friedman.
-
The article reviews the book, "Normes sociales, droit du travail et mondialisation : confrontations et mutations," by Marie-Ange Moreau.
-
Analyzes union membership data in 24 countries (including Canada) of past and present union density rates, including explanatory factors for the differences and trends in unionization.
-
This paper is the first systematic attempt to provide an overview of industrial relations practices at firm level in Mozambique. Through a nationwide survey of firms, the paper assesses the extent to which specific sets of practices are associated with particular regions, and/or sectors, and explores the relationship between IR practice and national institutional realities. The survey revealed that informalism and autocratic managerialism characterize the practice of employment relations. But it would be mistaken to assume a convergence towards a global systematic archetype of low wage/low skill/low security of tenure set of practices. Instead, the authors conclude, contemporary Mozambique employment relations are an example of external market pressures being channelled and moulded by the persistence of national level realities that stretch back to the colonial era. In the absence of effective institutional mechanisms, familiar conventions are likely to persist because people know how these work in practice.
-
The article reviews the book, "Mothers of the Municipality: Women, Work, and Social Policy in Post-1945 Halifax," edited by Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford.
-
Le 1 Mai 1952 les 1200 travailleurs du grand magasin et du comptoir postal de Dupuis Frères à Montréal, ont vote en faveur de la grève. D'une durée de trois mois, l'interruption du travail oppose une locale de la Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada [CTCC] à une puissante entreprise commerciale et symbole national de l'économie canadienne-française (Dupuis Fréres). L'historiographie de l'après-guerre n'accorde pas une grande place à ce conflit, qui, à l'encontre d'aurres conflits mieux connus — telle la grève de l'amiante (1949) et la grève de Murdochville (1957), s'est solde par une éclatante victoire du syndicat. L'article examine d'abord le contexte général et les conditions spécifiques qui ont entraîné le déclenchement de la grève. Il analyse ensuite l'enchaînement des événements, qui se sont déroulés en quatre phases ou séries de faits dans le temps. Il importe de prendre le temps de reconsidérer les événements dans l'ordre, car il ressort de l'exercice une perspective nous permettant d'appréhender l'enjeu fort thé àtralisé du conflit qui se deroule dans une conjoncture de croissance économique et d'effervescence syndicale. Nous offrons un canevas preliminaire, que d'autres pourront compléter à leur manière, le but de I'exercice étant, dans un premier temps, de faire ressortir cette grève des boules à mites de l'Histoire.
-
This paper is concerned with workplace accommodation and the extent to which people feel able to disclose disabilities at work. Disclosure is central to accommodation in the sense that workers must feel comfortable describing their needs to employers. Where this is not the case, for example, where workers are concerned about the precariousness of their position and the fact that disclosure may result in dismissal, legal requirements for accommodation can be ineffective. To explore this issue, the paper uses qualitative data from interviews with fifty-nine people with physical, learning, psychiatric and sensory disabilities in the Hamilton labour market. Analysis indicates that most respondents viewed disclosure as a risky endeavour, and a significant minority did not disclose due to concerns about not being hired or being dismissed. The conclusion discusses the need for accommodating workplaces and the implications for the labour movement.