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This paper extends and updates the research of Professor Jamieson on strike activity in British Columbia for the period 1945-1975.

We are apt to think of labour unions as a feature of a relatively advanced industrial society. It comes as a surprise to many to learn how long ago in Canadian history they actually appeared. Unions already existed in the predominantly rural British North America of the early nineteenth century. There were towns and cities with construction workers, foundry workers, tailors, shoemakers, and printers; there were employers and employees - and their interests were not the same. From this beginning Dr Forsey traces the evolutions of trade unions in the early years and presents an important archival foundation for the study of Canadian labour. He presents profiles of all unions of the period - craft, industrial, local, regional, national, and international - as well as of the Knights of Labor and the local and national central organizations. He provides a complete account of unions and organizations in every province including their formation and function, time and place of operation, what they did or attempted to do (including their political activity), and their particular philosophies. This volume will be of interest and value to those concerned with labour and union history, and those with a general interest in the history of Canada. --Publisher's description

The authors examine long term variations in the level of strike activity in Canada between 1926 and 1974 by examining the effects of several économie and organizational variables on the pattern of industrial conflict.

Today the giant Stelco steel mills in Hamilton are shut down, but in Canada’s turbulent labour history it was a place of protracted conflict between the stubborn, anti-union management of the company and the equally stubborn and militant Local 1005 of the Steelworkers Union. The story is a fascinating one – a microcosm of the larger labour/management struggles in Canada. Among the events the book explores includes: the battle from 1919 to 1944 to establish a union in the face of hostile management; the struggle for supremacy at 1005 between Communist and CCF factions; the 1946 strike for union recognition which became the post war showdown in Canada between unions and management; and the chaotic 1966 wildcat strike that tore the union apart. The book tells the story of Local 1005 and at the same time explores the nature of political life in a local union, and the social and economic forces that shaped the politics of the local. This is a book that describes how working people struggled to improve their lives, and in the process changed the history of the trade union movement and the nature of Canadian political life. --Publisher's description

This article reviews the book, "The Dynamics of Industrial Conflict, Lessons from Ford," by Henry Friedman & Sander Meredeen.

After having addressed the concept of tripartism and the issues of corporatism and incomes policies, the author examines the background to the imposition of controls and the subsequent tripartism debate. Finally, the author focuses on the main stages in the negociations over controls and tripartism, with particular reference to major shifts in CLC policy and strategy.

This article reviews the book, "Working People, An Illustrated History of Canadian Labour," by Desmond Morton & Terry Copp.

The author critically examines theoretical developments in industrial relations. Pluralism, the Systems approach and the radical perspectives are identified as the main contributions to the stream of thought in industrial relations theory.

The objective of this paper is to identify characteristics which distinguish first strike situations from other strike actions. It is based on both collective bargaining and conflict resolution litera- ture as well as the detailed analysis of a recent walkout by a public school teachers' union.

Job search theory has been offered in recent years as one explanation of unemployment. A key element of the theory requires that workers behave as if they operate on a reservation wage strategy. The authors verify this hypothesis.

This article reviews the book, "Chroniques impertinentes du 3ème (sic) Front commun syndical, 1979-1980," by François Demers.

Industrial capitalism was established in Canada in two distinct phases, as was the case in other Western countries. The ‘first industrial revolution’ — as it has been called — began in Canada around 1850 and 1860 and flourished in the 1880s due to the National Policy that was in effect at the time. The ‘second industrial revolution’ began in the early 20th century and was the result of a much more sophisticated capitalist economy, which saw the emergence of new and complex technologies and means of production, as well as corporate giants in the steel, automotive, paper and chemical industries, to name but a few. Although this second phase of industrial capitalism had a significant impact on the working conditions of thousands of men and women in Canada, recent historiography, despite being abundant in the field of labour history, has largely ignored the phenomenon of mass production that characterised this second phase. The author retraces part of this history through a study of the steel industry in Hamilton, Ontario, one of the three major centres of this industry in Canada. He examines the rise of the Steel Company of Canada and its predecessors between 1895 and 1930, the transformations that took place in steelworking methods at the time, and the labour relations that developed within this corporation in its Hamilton. --Translation of website summary in the French language

After having examined three theoritical approaches, the author présents public policy relating to race and sex discrimination in employment and analyzes 74 cases decided by the boards of enquiry and courts.

This study attempts to verify the appropriateness of three existing taxonomies of need fulfillment by Maslow, Alderfer and lawler, respectively, in the area of nonwork.

McVICAR, KATE (Katie), shoe worker and union leader; b. c. 1856 at Hamilton, Canada West; d. there 18 June 1886. Katie McVicar, daughter of a poor Scottish tinsmith and his English-born wife, joined two older sisters in the Hamilton labour force in the early 1870s. Like most women who went into factory work in the late 19th century, she began as a single woman, living at home, in order to augment her family’s income. However, unlike most, she remained single and continued to live at home until her early death at the age of 30. Her comparative longevity as a factory operative accounts to some degree for her emergence as a prominent leader in the Knights of Labor. --Introduction

As Canada's most industrialised province, Ontario served as the regional centre of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, an organisation which embodied a late nineteenth-century working-class vision of an alternative to the developing industrial-capitalist society. The Order opposed the exploitation of labor, and cultivated working-class unity by providing an institutional and cultural rallying point for North American workers. By 1886 thousands of industrial workers had enrolled within the ranks of Ontario's local and district assemblies. This book examines the rise and fall of the Order, providing case studies of its experience in Toronto and Hamilton and chronicling its impact across the province. --Publisher's description