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This article uses a case study to explore how organized labour, particularly the Jewish Labour Committee, contributed to the development of human rights values and anti-discrimination law in the immediate post-war period. The study focuses on the town of Dresden, Ontario, which at one time was infamous for its treatment of blacks. When a number of organizations (including labour groups) lobbied the Ontario government to create Canada's first Fair Accommodation Practices Act, they pointed to Dresden as an example of why this legislation was necessary. After the legislation was passed, they used litigation to ensure that discrimination in Dresden would come to an end. The paper demonstrates that, although the trade union movement in Canada was not free from racism, it nevertheless played an important and under-appreciated role in fighting for egalitarian human rights.

Cet article traite des rapports entre le partenariat et la démocratie au travail. Sur la base d’une recherche longitudinale effectuée dans six usines de pâtes et papiers au Québec, nous dressons d’abord un portrait des innovations organisationnelles et de la participation syndicale à la gestion. Nous en dégageons différents cas de figure, incarnant la participation et la démocratie à des degrés très variables. La prise en compte de la dynamique des relations entre acteurs sociaux nous permet ensuite de construire une trajectoire de la participation syndicale à la gestion et de mettre en évidence deux configurations opposées au sein du partenariat, se distinguant selon le caractère de la démocratie salariale et l’évolution du pouvoir syndical.

Le partenariat n’est susceptible de s’accompagner de la démocratie au travail et d’un renforcement du syndicalisme qu’à certaines conditions et dans certaines circonstances. À défaut de les réunir, se met plutôt en place un processus d’affaiblissement du syndicat local, dans le cadre de dispositifs participatifs sans pouvoir. C’est la principale conclusion qui se dégage de l’étude de Tembec, la plus vieille expérience de partenariat au Québec. En l’absence d’un programme distinctif de celui de la direction, dépourvu de ressources externes et internes et doté d’une démocratie déficiente, le syndicat local s’affaiblit dans le cadre de sa participation à la gestion.

The article reviews the book, "L’intervention ergonomique : un regard sur la pratique professionnelle," by Fernande Lamonde with the collaboration of Philippe Beaufort.

Quel est le rôle de la négociation collective dans la régulation du marché du travail et comment ce rôle évolue-t-il dans le cadre de l’intégration européenne ? Cet article défend l’hypothèse selon laquelle ont récemment émergé dans les pays de l’Union européenne des formes originales de régulation conjointe du marché du travail. Il propose tout d’abord un cadre d’analyse des évolutions récentes en matière de négociations portant sur l’emploi en Europe, avant d’examiner les évolutions nationales. Il met ainsi en évidence la coexistence de divers modes de régulation conjointe du marché du travail dans le contexte européen, pour examiner en finale la nature de cette régulation et ses enjeux pour les relations professionnelles.

The conceptual mastery of the work process and its improvement in the pulp and paper industry has been studied in several mills. Development programs based on systematic analysis and modeling of the work process have been used to improve the work process and the workers' conceptual mastery of it. The participants in the programs have made dozens or even hundreds of concrete proposals to improve the actual work processes and their conceptual mastery of the work process has increased. The results also suggest that conceptual mastery of the work process can be a source of positive well-being. This connection can happen during the development process showing that knowledge of the work process is really valued in the organization.

The article reviews the book, "The Woman Worker, 1926-1929," edited by Mararet Hobbs and Joan Sangster.

The paper examines the impact of lean production on indicators of the quality of life at work in the automotive industry and finds that it varies across companies and to a lesser extent between countries. The paper explains this by arguing that lean production seeks to impose new employment standards. This is a contested process where management's capacity to shift to new standards and labour's ability to protect its interests vary across workplaces.

The article reviews the book, "Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-50," by Mary-Ellen Kelm.

The article reviews and comments on Constance Backhouse's "Colour-Coded Law: A Legal History of Racism in Canada 1900-1950," Sidney L. Harring's "The White Man's Law: Native People in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Jurisprudence,", and James W. St. G. Walker's "'Race,' Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada."

The article provides background and publishes a selection of Daniel Spencer Gilman's letters to family members written from the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts to family members in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada between 1840 and 1849. The letters provide insight into the meaning of class and gender in Lowell, where the workforce was mostly female. They also indicate that the migration from Lower Canada to the New England mills began earlier than previously suggested.

One of the real litmus tests for the state of our democracy is to examine how we treat the most marginalized. An increasingly demonized and marginalized group in Canadian society is poor single mothers. This article will study the changes to Ontario welfare policy since the election of Premier Mike Harris and the Progressive Conservatives in 1995.

Cet article présente les résultats d’un sondage conduit auprès de préventionnistes représentant l’employeur (n = 111) et de préventionnistes représentant les travailleurs (n = 134) afin de mieux comprendre leurs rôles et leurs fonctions respectives au sein des entreprises. Après une revue de littérature faisant le point sur les dernières connaissances concernant le métier de préventionniste, nous élaborons un cadre théorique permettant deconceptualiser le travail de ces derniers. Les analyses du sondage permettent de faire état des principales caractéristiques du contexte de travail des préventionnistes. Nous décrivons ensuite leurs différents profils permettant de catégoriser leur travail en fonction de trois dimensions (organisationnelle, humaine et technique) et de deux niveaux d’intervention (stratégique et opérationnel).

Compilation of recent English/French publications on Canadian labour history that emphasize the period 1800-1975. Materials pertaining to the post-1975 period may also be included, although more selectively. See the database, Canadian Labour History, 1976-2009, published at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The article reviews the book, "Islands of Truth: The Imperial Fashioning of Vancouver Island," by Daniel W. Clayton.

In a sample of 427 employees in a large, unionized public utility company, the incentive effects of a final-earnings pension plan on employees' commitment to the organization are examined. Two types of organizational commitment, affective and continuance commitment were measured using scales described by Meyer and Allen (1997). Evidence is found that higher accruals under the pension plan increased continuance commitment but reduced affective commitment. Organizational commitment was also found to vary by job satisfaction, specific training, seniority, wage premia, and the perceived effectiveness of alternative dispute resolution methods. Implications for pension theory, research, and policy are discussed.

Studies of the diffusion of new workplace technologies and management practice often fail to account for differences in state labor regulation. This article examines the role of the state in seeking to regulate the introduction of an American system of computerized work monitoring in the Australian grocery warehouse industry. While the establishment of a government inquiry into the technology offered the potential for significant constraints upon management control, over time the state's role shifted to a more accommodating stance that endorsed management's right to use the new technology. The reasons underlying the state's ultimate support for the technology are explored, as are the broader implications for national variations in the global diffusion of new workplace technologies.

There is a widespread claim that the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s was middle-class and that its politics of reforming the state reflected the concerns of middle-class women. This paper challenges that claim, arguing instead that the development of the women's movement created an environment in which a union-based, working-class feminism became an important political factor. Working-class and socialist-feminist activists developed a strong feminist presence in the labour movement and a significant working-class orientation in the women's movement that both continue to influence the current women's movement.

The article reviews the book, "Creating Historical Memory: English-Canadian Women and the Work of History," edited by Beverly Boutilier and Alison Prentice.

Cet article rapporte les résultats d’une étude de perceptions des interventions en santé au travail dans le contexte des petites entreprises, une réalité qui a jusqu’ici été peu étudiée malgré l’importance de ce type d’entreprise au plans économique et de la santé publique. La méthode a consisté à interroger les travailleurs et les employeurs d’un échantillon raisonné de huit entreprises québécoises de moins de 50 employés, ainsi que les professionnels de la santé chargés d’intervenir dans ces milieux. L’analyse des données permet d’identifier plusieurs aspects problématiques du processus actuel d’intervention en santé au travail dans le contexte de cette catégorie d’entreprise. La portée pratique des résultats est développée en une série de propositions qui visent à renouveler le modèle actuel d’intervention en santé au travail.