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Globalization, Labor, and the Transformation of Work: Readings for Seeking a Competitive Advantage in an Increasingly Global Economy, edited by Jonathan H. Westover, is reviewed.

Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities, by Linda McDowell, is reviewed.

Ce texte met en contexte l’usage du concept de précarité au Québec. Celui-ci a surtout été utilisé parmi beaucoup d’autres pour décrire la situation des jeunes au moment de la crise de l’emploi des décennies 1970 et 1980. Il a parfois contribué, par son attribution à l’ensemble des jeunes, à laisser les plus vulnérables dans l’ombre et à amplifier l’effet du travail atypique sur l’avenir de toute une génération. Un usage plus modéré du concept s’est imposé progressivement en présence de faits plus justement vérifiés. Sa force de persuasion a pu susciter des stratégies tant individuelles que collectives en faveur des jeunes. Ce retour dans le temps a permis de montrer que les jeunes sont sensibles à la conjoncture mais n’en restent pas pour autant les victimes. Est-ce à cause du type d’État (de Gøsta Esping-Anderson, évoqué par Mircea Vultur) que le concept n’a eu qu’une importance relative au Québec ? La question se pose-t-elle dans une approche pragmatique du changement ?

The State of Working America 2008/2009, by Jared Bernstein, Lawrence Mishel and Heidi Shierholz, is reviewed.

This article brings further historical and international perspective to the “labor rights as human rights” debate. It particularly contends that these perspectives need to be explored further in order to appreciate the extent to which the definitions and political implications of key ideologies behind labor and human rights activism are flexible and dependent on their context. It explores Canada in the 1940s and early 1950s, when there was major activity on the labor and human rights fronts. Although many Canadian organizations, legal systems, and campaigns were modeled on—or formally affiliated with—American ones in these years, the progress of labor and human rights activism followed a distinct path, and particularly unfolded at a distinct pace. This distinct pace, the relatively small size of ethnic and racialized minority populations, the basic political and legal structure, and rise of a leftist third party in the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation all helped labor and human rights activism fit together comfortably to a notable extent in Canada. This article will particularly show why the relationship between human rights and labor was significantly less fraught with potential downsides for Canadian labor leaders. It also highlights another important impact of context: the particular combination of conditions and forces in Canada produced a number of unexpected results.

The article reviews the book, "In the Province of History: The Making of the Public Past in 20th-Century Nova Scotia," by Ian McKay and Robin Bates.

The article reviews the book "Global Cities at Work: New Migrant Divisions of Labour," by Jane Will, Kavita Datta, Yarra Evans, Joanna Herbert, Jon May, and Cathy McIlwaine.

The article reviews the book, "Those Who Work, Those Who Don't: Poverty, Morality and Family in Rural America," by Jennifer Sherman.

The article reviews the book, "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela," by Miguel Tinker Salas.

The article reviews the book, "Transforming Labour: Women and Work in Postwar Canada," by Joan Sangster.

Relying heavily on ILO standards, the Supreme Court of Canada in B.C. Health held for the first time that the Charter guarantee of freedom of association protects not only the right of unions to organize but also their right to bargain collectively. In the authors' view, the decision in B.C. Health calls into question the established legal framework of labour relations in Canada, according to which only those unions with majority support in the bargaining unit can exercise such rights, and implies that the state is under a duty to protect the associational rights of minority and non-statutory unions as well. This paper explores how the New Zealand experience with minority and pluralist unionism, as it has developed under that country's Employment Relations Act 2000, may provide guidance to Canada on what an alternative model might entail and on the consequences of adopting such a model. Emphasizing key points of comparison and contrast between New Zealand and Canada, the authors contend that a legal framework which supports majoritarian exclusivity can also allow and support minority unionism, in a way that is consistent with international standards on freedom of association.

The article reviews the book, "Mondialisation et recomposition des relations professionnelles," edited by François Aballéa and Arnaud Mias.

The article reviews the book, "I Have a Story to Tell You," edited by Seemah C. Berson.

The article reviews the book, "Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country," by Alison K. Hoagland.

This article explores the contradictions in the Canadian Auto Workers Union’s (CAW) approach to environmental issues, particularly climate change. Despite being one of the Canadian labor movement’s leading proponents of social unionism— understood as a union ethos committed to working-class interests beyond the workplace, and a strategic repertoire that involves community-union alliances— the CAW’s environmental activism demonstrates the contradictory way that social unionism can be understood and practiced by unions. Through a critical discourse analysis of CAW policy documents and leadership statements, we show the union has not reframed its bargaining demands to emphasize both economically and environmentally sustainable production. Instead, the CAW’s relatively uncritical defense of the North American auto industry and the jobs it provides, despite the clearly negative role such production plays in the climate crisis, its acceptance of the structures of automobility, and its emphasis on environmental issues that have little to do with the nature of their industry, indicates the way that social unionism can be an add-on rather than a fundamental reorientation of a union’s role and purpose. We argue that, for social unionist environmental activism to be effective, the CAW must incorporate social unionist goals and analyses into their bargaining priorities, and confront the contradictions between their members’ interests as autoworkers, on the one hand, and as workers and global citizens who require economically and environmentally sustainable livelihoods, on the other.

Using strategies first developed in the inter-war years, the ILO has repositioned itself to play a leading role in our understanding of the relationship between employment policies and growth, particularly in relation to poverty reduction strategies. To do this, the ILO has forged increasingly strong relationships with key international financial institutions (IFIs), in which the inclusion of ILO-driven strategies for Decent Work and core labour standards has been important. Whilst this repositioning has been questioned by some who fear that an original purpose of the 110 may be lost, and the technical implementation of the ILO agenda in conjunction with the IFIs is not without difficulties, the ILO's status as a major international agency for the advancement of human development has been reinforced.

The article reviews the book, "Burlesque West: Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver," by Becki Ross.

Unions, Equity, and the Path to Renewal, edited by Janice Foley and Patricia Baker, is reviewed.

Ethical Socialism and the Trade Unions: Allan Flanders and British Industrial Relations Reform, by John Kelly, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Codes of Misconduct: The Regulation of Prostitution in Colonial Bombay," by Ashwini Tambe.