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In the study of industrial relations (IR), a growing preoccupation with managerial strategies has been accompanied by 2 related developments: 1. a growing integration of the human resources management (HRM) literature into the study of IR, and 2. a movement away from the deterministic approach characterizing much IR research in the 1970s. These developments suggest a normative shift. Two assumptions seem to underly this shift. A critique of these assumptions is developed, arguing that underlying sources of conflict inherent to work organizations and employment relations limit the effectiveness of progressive policies and practices and that the extent to which these policies and practices are economically rational and hence likely to be adopted varies in accordance with firm and industry-level structural variables. Survey data collected in 1980-1981 from 100 unionized firms in Canada are used to explore the effectiveness of and structural variation on progressive managerial practices.

The article reviews the book, "Factory Girls: Women in the Thread Mills of Meiji Japan," by E. Patricia Tsurumi.

After nearly 2 decades on the side lines, European level collective bargaining is back on the industrial relations agenda. To a large extent, the resurgence of this notion can be attributed to the impact of the European Community's (EC) 1992 integration program on European economic and political life. For all the activity going on, it appears unlikely that EC-wide collective bargaining will come to play a significant role in industrial relations in the near future. There are 2 main dimensions to European collective bargaining: 1. the vertical dimension, which covers attempts to get greater collaboration and dialogue between trade unions and employers inside the institutional framework of the EC, and 2. the horizontal dimension, which includes developments at the enterprise and market levels aimed at promoting trade union or employer contact outside the confines of the nation state. If market completion leads to new regulatory arrangements within the EC, the social partners may be obliged to engage in meaningful discussion about collective bargaining.

The article reviews the book "R.C.M.P. Security Bulletins: The War Series 1939-1941," edited by Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker.

The article reviews the book, "Syndicats, salaires et conjoncture économique," by André Beaucage.

Suite à l'implantation de la CAO/F AO dans la compagnie Marconi Canada, une mesure de l'impact du changement sur la qualité de vie au travail (QVT) a été réalisée auprès de 104 utilisateurs de la nouvelle technologie. La QVT dans cette étude est perçue dans son sens le plus large englobant les dimensions du travail en soi, des conditions de travail, de la santé et la sécurité au travail et du contexte organisationnel. L'approche retenue pour mesurer les impacts est subjectiviste et ceux-ci sont différenciés, s'il y a lieu, selon la catégorie occupationnelle, le taux d'utilisation de la nouvelle technologie et la formation reçue en CAO/FAO.

The article reviews the book, "Le vieillissement au travail, une question de jugement!," edited by Hélène David.

The article reviews the book, "Comparable Worth: Analyses And Evidence," by Mark R. Killingsworth and M. Anne Hill.

The article reviews the book, "Labor Relations In Europe: A History Of Issues And Developments, by Hans Slomp.

The article reviews the book, "Union Jack: Labour Leader Jack Munro," by Jack Munro and Jane O'Hara.

The article reviews the book, "The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism and Social Inequality," by George M. Fredrickson.

The article reviews the book, "Canadian Volunteers: Spain 1936-1939," by William C. Beeching.

The article reviews the book, "Canadian Political Economy: An Economic Introduction," by Paul Phillips.

The article reviews the book, "Beyond Multinationalism: Management Policy And Bargaining Relationship In International Companies," by Jairus Banaji and Rahini Hensman.

Reproduces the text of a handwritten 1885 opinion piece by R. James that was intended as a pamphlet. In addressing labourers in the British Isles, the writer, himself an English emigrant, cautions that Canada is already "a land of labourers." He accuses the Canadian government of having "turned its back" on labourers during a recent economic downturn, as a result of which they face harsh living and working conditions. Problems of unemployment, job competition, low wages, continental climate, mobility, clothing, food, religion, and ethnicity are described and commented upon. Concludes that if British labourers do book passage, it should be to Western rather than Eastern Canada. The manuscript, the opening page of which is also reproduced, is taken from a document found amongst the pages of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Annual Meeting, Montreal 1884, Scrapbook I, and is kept at the Blacker-Wood Library, McGill University.

The article reviews the book, "L'évolution des politiques sociales au Québec, 1940-1960," by Yves Vaillancourt.

The article reviews the book, "A Working Class in the Making: Belgian Colonial Labor Policy, Private Entreprise, and the African Mineworker, 1907-1951," by John Higginson.

Le concept de qualité de vie au travail sert à mesurer si le milieu de travail est favorable au bien-être des employés. Son utilisation dans cette étude permet une meilleure connaissance et une meilleure compréhension des déceptions, des doléances ou des insuffisances gui engendrent un mauvais moral parmi les professionnels. Il permet d'évaluer s'il existe une harmonie entre les attentes des professionnels à l'égard de leur emploi et les contraintes ou les exigences de leur milieu de travail.

In response to the 1981-1982 recession and demands for concessions, the United Auto Workers (UAW) accepted contracts that shifted away from the 3-decades-old annual improvement factor and included profit-sharing plans. In Canada, the Canadian branch of the UAW negotiated wage increases that differed from those in the US and that did not include profit sharing. The impact of the different negotiating approaches are examined by comparing the earnings of auto assembly workers at General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler in the US and Canada from 1980 to 1989. It is found that, in terms of direct monetary earnings alone, from 1982 to 1989, American auto workers received less than their Canadian counterparts. In current dollars, the cumulative difference in pay between 1982 and 1989 for US and Canadian auto workers was $13,402 at GM, $1,755 at Ford, and $8,721 at Chrysler.

The article notes various articles published in the issue including on state security repression, security, and intelligence during the Cold War, state intervention in labour relations, women's role in the labour movement in Canada, and the rise of the Knights of Labor and the Salvation Army in the context of late Victorian working-class culture in Ontario. Two award-winning papers that were originally published in Labour/Le Travail are also reported.