Your search

[This article analyzes the letters of Swedish immigrant Martin Johannson to his family in Sweden during the period 1928-34.] The letters provide glimpses into the contradictory and confusing experiences that shaped the working class during times of extreme distress, and inform on how immigrant workers in Canada perceived labour conditions and came to terms with new social circumstances. Important indications of how the depression hit the logging industry in the interior of BC more than a year before the crash of the Wall Street market in October 1929 are also conveyed. Martin felt frissons of panic as his savings dried up and he found himself competing for temporary, low-income jobs in isolated locations. Painfully aware that his failure to pay the loan instalments meant an extra burden for his grandfather, the Depression scarred Martin's faith in capitalism. His letters provide a unique insight into the complicated and ambiguous birth of a radical political consciousness. --Author's introduction

The article reviews the book, "Being Heard: The Experiences of Young Women in Prostitution," edited by Kelly Gorkoff and Jane Runner.

The article reviews and comments on Steve Hewitt's "Spying 101: The RCMP's Secret Activities at Canadian Universities, 1917-1997;" 'Whose National Security? Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies," edited by Gary Kinsman, Dieter K. Buse, and Mercedes Steedman; and "Pepper in Our Eyes: The APEC Affair," edited by W. Wesley Pue. The latter two books deal with the controversial RCMP actions (including the use of pepper spray) against demonstrators at the Asia-Pacfic Economic Cooperation conference in Vancouver in November 1997 that sparked a public inquiry.

The article reviews the book, "Ralph Miliband and the Politics of the New Left," by Priscilla Metscher.

The article reviews the book, "Transcending Neoliberalism; Community-Based Development in Latin America," edited by Henry Veltmeyer and Anthony O'Malley.

The book, "International Trade and Labor Markets: Theory, Evidence and Policy," by Carl Davidson and Steven J. Matusz, is reviewed.

Unions exert a positive influence in child care workplaces and in the sector generally. Unionization is an important strategy for dealing with recruitment and retention, two of the biggest challenges facing the sector in Canada today. Overall, unionized child care workplaces contribute to higher quality programs and attract more experienced and more trained early childhood educators. Unions support a model of professionalism and workplace relationships that is inclusive, democratic and collective. They support professional development, affordable education and regulation of the service and the occupation. They are longstanding advocates for women’s equality, and a publicly funded child care system.

There are limitations to conventional occupational health and safety research approaches and practices and numerous barriers to overcome in order to achieve progress. Occupational health and safety is impacted by the broader social-political environment. Corporatism affects the directions, ideas and practice of regulators, educators, the labour movement, scientists, medical professionals, and society as a whole, thus inhibiting workers' power to influence change. The thesis therefore explores both the wider influences and barriers to occupational health and safety advances, focusing particularly on the Canadian situation, through the general research questions: What has influenced occupational health and safety policies and practices, especially in Canada? What are some of the limitations of conventional occupational health and safety research and practices? To what extent can participatory action research and mapping address identified limitations? These questions are explored from the perspective of the population potentially at risk. New theories and approaches to occupational health and safety research are then applied in this thesis in order to explore a more specific multi-part research question: Can mapping within worker-based participatory action research be used to explore occupational health and safety conditions? In particular, can mapping contribute to occupational health and safety improvements at a local level and beyond; establish workers' previous exposures for compensation purposes; support efforts to bring about justice through compensation for workers affected by unsafe working conditions; and raise worker and public awareness of health and safety? These questions are explored through two different case studies, which examine, in depth, occupational health and safety action and possible remedies. Casino gaming workers in Windsor, Ontario, Canada undertook a collaborative study to investigate and improve current health and safety conditions. Former Holmes foundry and asbestos insulation workers in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada undertook a collaborative study to provide evidence of exposures and ensuing health problems to support claims for compensation. The outcomes of the case studies shed light on the bigger Canadian health and safety picture and demonstrate that mapping as a data collection method used within a participatory action research approach can accomplish a broad range of objectives. Mapping can raise workers' awareness, facilitate communication, build solidarity and cohesiveness, foster community support, mobilise workers to take action to reduce hazards or win compensation, in turn influencing employers, the compensation board and government agencies. The case studies accomplished the shared objective of raising worker and public awareness. The casino workers also gained occupational health and safety improvements and the Holmes workers were successful in gaining compensation.

The article reviews the book, "Setting the Agenda: Jean Royce and the Shaping of Queen's University," by Roberta Hamilton.

The article reviews the book, "AIDS Activist: Michael Lynch and the Politics of Community," by Ann Silversides.

The article reviews the book, "Sojourning Sisters: The Lives and Letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen," by Jean Barman.

The article reviews the book, "Strikebreaking and Intimidation: Mercenaries and Masculinity in Twentieth-Century America," by Stephen H. Norwood.

The article reviews the book, "Hidden Academics: Contract Faculty in Canadian Universities," by Indhu Rajagopal.

The article reviews the book, "Harnessing Labour Confrontation: Shaping the Postwar Settlement in Canada, 1943-1950," by Peter S. McInnis.

The article reviews the book, "A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970," by Matt Garcia.

The article reviews the book, "L’organisation de la production et du travail : vers un nouveau modèle ?," edited by Gregor Murray, Jacques Bélanger, Anthony Giles and Paul-André Lapointe.

The article reviews the book, "Zilliacus: A Life for Peace and Socialism," by Archie Potts.

De nombreuses sources indiquent que l’emploi prend aujourd’hui une place croissante dans la négociation collective au sein de l’Union européenne. Il faut alors s’interroger sur le rôle que joue la négociation collective dans la régulation du marché du travail, ou plus précisément dans la création et la préservation de l’emploi, en termes de postes de travail, ainsi que dans la régulation des entrées et sorties du marché du travail. L’article traite cette question en examinant la nature des processus de négociation impliqués. Il tente de montrer en quoi les compromis portant sur l’emploi sont spécifiques, impliquent des relations particulières entre interlocuteurs sociaux et État, et constituent autant de tentatives de réguler conjointement les transformations actuelles du marché du travail.

Cet article examine la réglementation adoptée par cinq administrations publiques en Amérique du Nord qui ont choisi de faire appel à la science de l’ergonomie comme outil réglementaire de prévention des troubles musculo-squelettiques (TMS). Aux États-Unis, seul le règlement de la Californie, d’une portée fort limitée, a pu survivre aux pressions politiques qui ont mené à l’abrogation des règlements de l’État fédéral américain (OSHA) et de l’État de Washington. Au Canada, la Colombie-Britannique et la Saskatchewan appliquent de tels règlements, mais contrairement aux instruments américains abrogés, ceux du Canada misent plutôt sur le processus de prise en charge que sur des normes spécifiques qui quantifient les gestes à risque et déterminent de façon stricte les actions attendues de l’employeur. La description du contexte d’adoption et du contenu des règlements est ensuite suivie d’une comparaison sommaire de cette réglementation avec le droit québécois régissant la prévention des TMS.

Why have Americans, who by a clear majority approve of unions, been joining them in smaller numbers than ever before? This book answers that question by comparing the American experience with that of Canada, where approval for unions is significantly lower than in the United States, but where since the mid-1960s workers have joined organized labor to a much greater extent. Given that the two countries are outwardly so similar, what explains this paradox? This book provides a detailed comparative analysis of both countries using, among other things, a detailed survey conducted in the United States and Canada by the Ipsos-Reid polling group. The authors explain that the relative reluctance of employees in the United States to join unions, compared with those in Canada, is rooted less in their attitudes toward unions than in the former country's deep-seated tradition of individualism and laissez-faire economic values. Canada has a more statist, social democratic tradition, which is in turn attributable to its Tory and European conservative lineage. Canadian values are therefore more supportive of unionism, making unions more powerful and thus, paradoxically, lowering public approval of unions. Public approval is higher in the United States, where unions exert less of an influence over politics and the economy. --Publisher's description