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For 300,000 years humans have pushed for equality in their societies. For the first time ever, historian Alvin Finkel brings together the evidence to tell the story of the 99% who have constantly sought to live in a society of equals. This is a history of humanity like it's never been told before. Historian Alvin Finkel builds on the work of archaeologists, anthropologists and historians to present the very long view of the history of the human species. His focus is not on the leaders whose exploits are recounted in traditional histories, but rather on the experiences of ordinary people, the 99%, whose experiences and activities are often overlooked. In the extensive research of many contemporary scholars, Alvin Finkel notes a common thread which most historians have ignored: the constant efforts of ordinary people throughout history to create and sustain societies based on equality of all individuals. Contrary to traditional historical writing, he finds that the earliest human communities usually treated all individuals as equals. In the histories of societies all around the world, he records how individuals who found ways to gain wealth and power have faced constant, often successful, resistance from the rest. From the first recorded communities in Mesopotamia to the COVID-19 pandemic, this book features the resistances, uprisings, struggles, and solidarities of the majority against those seeking to dominate. The result is a fresh and challenging interpretation of the history of our species, one that casts a new light on the true nature of humans. --Publisher's description

This report examines the ways governments, and specifically the Government of Alberta, interfere in public-sector collective bargaining through both legislative measures and non-legislative actions. It also explores how this growing interference may impact the 2024 bargaining round in Alberta.

Governments in Canada are increasingly using multiple tools to advance their political agenda at the expense of free collective bargaining in the public sector. Legislative intervention has long been a strategy to curtail bargaining rights (Evans et al., 2023). Recently, governments have turned to non-legislative means to influence bargaining outcomes. This article is about the use of a coordination office, a decidedly non-legislative tactic, and how, over two rounds of negotiations, it transformed public-sector bargaining in Alberta. Bargaining has been further transformed by enactment of a legal requirement to keep the government’s mandates secret, the outcome being increased frustration among union representatives and potential damage to long-term relationships. Together, these measures have provided the government with a powerful means of influence, which, if successful, could spread to other jurisdictions.

Tribute to the life and work of the union activist and social historian, Raymond Léger, who was also a member of Labour/Le Travail's editorial board.

The article reviews the book, "The Things of Life: Materiality in Late Soviet Russia," by Alexey Golubev.

Based on an analysis of judgments on the motion for issuance of an injunction order against strike pickets rendered by the Quebec Superior Court between 2002 and 2023, this article shows that it has been extremely rare for judges to note serious acts of violence, such as beatings, injuries and dangerous acts of vandalism. On the other hand, a threatening look, the appearance or risk of any nuisance can always be qualified by the Court as intimidation, a threat, violence, a wrongful act, irreparable harm, and can justify limiting the right to picket in its simplest form of expression. We then defend the hypothesis that these orders granted in an almost mechanical manner are totally disproportionate, that they sanction workers in an indiscriminate and preventive manner, to the point of undermining the very essence of the right to picket, and this, in violation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly of workers recognized by the Supreme Court.

Cette recherche examine l’impact d’une privation relative sur la croyance en un monde juste et sur le désengagement vis-à-vis du travail. Deux études ont été menées, dans chacune desquelles deux groupes de Français d’origine maghrébine ont été confrontés à une situation dans laquelle ils devaient se mettre à la place d’un Français d’origine maghrébine indiquant avoir déjà été victime de discrimination vs déclarant n’en avoir jamais subi. Dans la première étude, ce Français essuyait un refus de promotion au profit d’un Français de souche (privation intergroupale) alors que dans la seconde c’était au profit d’un autre Français d’origine maghrébine (privation intragroupale). Les participants répondaient alors à un questionnaire de croyance en un monde juste et de désengagement vis-à-vis du travail. Il est constaté que dans la situation intergroupale, les participant(e)s de la condition « Négation de discrimination » et ceux de la condition « Reconnaissance de discrimination » ne se différencient sur aucune des deux variables dépendantes. En revanche, dans la situation intragroupale, les participants placés dans la condition « Négation de discrimination » croient davantage en un monde juste et dévaluent plus le travail que ceux de la condition « Reconnaissance de discrimination ». De plus, la croyance en un monde juste (VM) semble médiatiser la relation entre le type d’attribution (VI) et la dévaluation du travail (VD). Ces résultats sont confrontés à ceux de la littérature et discutés sur le plan de leurs implications.

Summary: In this study, we sought to identify how employee turnover affected company value in a sample of 254 European listed companies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We specifically tested the hypothesis that the most profitable and socially responsible companies withstood the pandemic better. We then complemented our analysis by identifying potential sectoral differences. We analyzed the association between employee turnover and company value by using a quantile regression model to determine this association at each point of the conditional distribution of company value. All of our financial and non-financial data for the 2019-2020 period were extracted from the Bloomberg database. We found a negative association between employee turnover and company value before and during the pandemic. The additional costs of employee turnover may have therefore reduced stock market values. The negative association weakened considerably during the pandemic for those companies that had the lowest company value, possibly because of the government support and guarantees they received during the lockdowns. Our sectoral analysis showed a stronger effect on traditional industries with intensive human interactions than on modern industries with predominantly virtual interactions. Estimation results from more profitable companies showed a positive association before the pandemic, perhaps because they had an ‘optimal’ level of employee turnover that maximized their productivity and performance and, thus, their stock market value. This association completely reversed during the pandemic, perhaps because their higher profitability was not sufficient to dampen the negative effect of the increase in employee turnover. For the most profitable and socially responsible companies, the same association was much stronger both before and during the pandemic. For almost all of the companies, the estimated coefficients of employee turnover were positive before the pandemic but became negative for those companies that had the lowest stock market values during the pandemic. This study enriches the existing literature by being the first one to show how employee turnover affected the company value of European listed firms before and during the pandemic. It also provides new evidence that this association varied with the level of sectoral sensitivity to the pandemic and was much stronger for the most profitable and socially responsible companies.

The renowned Harry Glasbeek unpacks how law has been used to ensure that workers' aspirations are kept in check. Law at Work uncovers how the legal system, through its structures and mechanisms, legitimizes and reinforces the exploitation of workers. Using historic and contemporary examples, Glasbeek illustrates how conscious manipulations of law are part and parcel of how law protects capitalists at the expense of workers. He proves how the very laws designed to safeguard rights and freedoms often act as invisible shackles, compelling readers to reflect on their own struggles as they navigate a world where the legal system fails to serve their interests. These manipulations are made to look innocent because the underlying structures and ideology which give rise to specific rules are not challenged or challengeable. This thought-provoking book is an indispensable resource for those seeking to understand the hidden dynamics of worker oppression, empowering readers to question prevailing narratives and envision a future where the law truly serves the interests of all. -- Publisher's description

The article reviews and comments on the books, "Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend" by Robert W. Cherny, "Labor under Siege: Big Bob McEllrath and the ILWU's Fight for Organized Labor in an Anti-Union Era," by Harvey Schwartz with Ronald Magden, "Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers," by Ahmed White.

The article reviews the book, "Building That Bright Future: Soviet Karelia in the Life Writing of Finnish North Americans," by Samira Saramo.

Thousands of children and youth across the country took to the streets for two weeks in spring 1947 to protest a three-cent increase in the price of chocolate bars. The protest initially generated enthusiastic press coverage and had widespread popular support, but when the National Federation of Labor Youth (nfly), the Communist Party's youth organization, announced its support, anti-communists in the press and the community red-baited the protesters. The campaign quickly lost momentum, which anti-communists attributed to the presence of Communists but was more likely due to their own red-baiting attacks in the press. Some of these protests were spontaneous reactions to a 40 per cent increase in the price of candy bars, while others were led or inspired by nfly. Either way, the countrywide mobilization of thousands of children and youth marks a turning point in the history of Canada's left. Erupting in tandem with a nationwide strike of industrial workers and protests of activist consumers demanding greater economic security and a more responsive state, the children's chocolate bar protest provides a window on this critical moment in the class struggle. The attacks on this popular protest at the moment that the long run of community-based militancy was about to be demonized, delegitimated, and silenced by red-baiting marks a significant milestone in Canada's Cold War. In addition to adding the youngsters' challenge to capital and the state to the history of the popular left, the event contributes to the growing literature on children and youth engaged in political protest, while their creative protest strategies offer a youthful dimension to the study of performance activism.

This book deals with the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act and the Public Service Act, the statutes that primarily govern unionized and non-unionized employment and labour relations in the Ontario Public Service and Crown Agencies. This updated edition provides a full review of all sections, and all judicial and arbitral consideration, of both acts. It also discusses the unique treatment of the Crown and its employees in the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act and the Employment Standards Act. -- Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Le Québec en mouvements : Continuité et renouvellement des pratiques militantes," by Pascale Dufour, Laurence Bherer, and Geneviève Pagé.

The Progressive Labour Agenda is intended to provide Manitoba policy makers with a set of clear policy measures to improve the conditions of work for Manitobans while promoting overall well-being in our province. These policy measures respond directly to issues in labour and employment such as the proliferation of low-wage work, gaps in employment standards and health and safety enforcement, declining private sector union coverage, and inequities experienced by women and migrant workers, among other issues. The policy options outlined in the Progressive Labour Agenda cover three major themes: 1) ensure access to unions and fair collective bargaining; 2) modernize labour legislation to close gaps in employment standards and improve conditions for non-unionized workers; and 3) improve workplace health and safety. These are ideas that are well supported by public policy research and that are actionable at the provincial level. --Website description

Indigenous doulas in Canada carry added responsibilities as they juggle with cultural and societal expectations to appropriately support their communities and extended relations. They not only face socioeconomic challenges as a result of doula care being excluded from the universal healthcare system, but also deal with the affective costs of caregiving. Through an Indigenous-centred intersectional lens, the idea of Indigenous doula work as exploitative labour is examined under four key areas: (1) the historical role of doulas in Indigenous communities; (2) colonial policies and processes that devalued Indigenous women; (3) colonial policies and processes that devalued birth workers, and; (4) challenges that Indigenous doulas face today. This study aims to provide context to the challenges faced by Indigenous doulas working within the dominant, Western medical system and confines of capitalism. The study concludes that the policies and processes that derived from these systems have led to the hardships imposed on Indigenous doulas, which reveal a need for policy solutions that recognize the value of Indigenous doulas in the healthcare system.

This dissertation establishes that work injury and injured workers are relatively neglected in Critical Disability Studies (CDS). A further observation is that CDS tends to avoid a class analysis of disability politics in favour of identitarian approaches. This research focuses on income security. Through a Marxist critical policy historiography, I compare workers’ compensation benefits and state-sponsored benefits for disabled people whose disabilities originated outside of the workplace in Ontario. I argue that the workers’ compensation program is superior to the state-sponsored program because of the class location and politics of the respective groups of people with disabilities seeking income security. The discussion also highlights some of the reasons for the missing injured worker in CDS. Specifically, injured workers experience disability as a loss worthy of compensation rather than a positive identity. Further, rather than viewing prevention measures as the erasure of disabled people, injured workers support the prevention of disability through occupational health and safety laws and workplace practices. By focusing on the political economy of each program, the historical narrative suggests that disability benefit programs in Ontario were developed less by moral suasion and more because of their role in capital accumulation. Although the argument holds for the early history of the two programs in their early history. the negative impact of neoliberalism on both workers’ compensation and the current benefits program in Ontario (the Ontario Disability Support Program) has created a convergence of interests between permanently impaired injured workers and other disabled people, underscoring the importance of including injured workers’ perspectives in CDS.

The article reviews the book, "Solidarity Beyond Bars: Unionizing Prison Labour," by Jordan House and Asaf Rashid.

We generally take for granted that everyone has the right to a say—and certainly a vote—in what our governments do. But in the workplaces that rule many of our waking hours, these democratic rights are largely absent. In a time of extreme inequality, deteriorating social cohesion and reduced trust in our institutions, why shouldn’t workers have more control over the firms they work in? Enabling employees to take more ownership and control in their working lives is a promising antidote. With advocacy from a broad coalition of supporters—including many business owners—the federal government has tabled legislation to create a new Employee Ownership Trust legal structure that makes it easier for business owners to sell firms to their employees. However, to tap the full potential of employee ownership, a much broader suite of policies is needed. This report examines what an ambitious public policy agenda would look like to unleash the promise of democratic employee ownership in Canada. --Website description

The article reviews the book, "El Golpe: US Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico," by Rob McKenzie and Patrick Dunne.