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The article reviews the book, "In Pursuit of Gold: Chinese American Miners and Merchants in the American West," by Sue Fawn Chung.

This paper explores changes in labour market outcomes between June 2005 and November 2010. It asks if the recovery in labour markets following the 2008 financial crisis favoured men or women. The analysis is based on a unique longitudinal database of individuals in the Toronto-Hamilton labour market. Men were the most likely to have paid employment in the post-financial crisis period, but only at the cost of a significant deterioration in its terms and conditions. The findings suggest that many middle-aged workers were not protected by job seniority or implicit lifetime employment relationships. The findings point to a further decline in the prevalence of the standard employment relationship and the male breadwinner model of employment.

Through the use of a social exclusion framework and analysis of recent data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (2009), a national longitudinal database, this empirical research investigates the mechanisms through which social groups are made and socio-economic outcomes are determined in Canada today. Our objective is to explore and describe the social characteristics and personal attributes that intersect to direct divergent economic realities. To this end, we initially present a brief review of the social exclusion literature, as well as descriptive data on several aspects of age and immigration. This is followed by logistic regressions for five dimensions of economic exclusion, to examine who is made socially excluded in economic terms in Canada. Subsequently, to progress the analysis from a focus on the individual effects of specific social attributes, we calculate the combined odds of two dimensions of economic exclusion (low individual earnings and insecure employment) for eight prototypes of individuals, to highlight the intersecting effects of social dynamics related to age, gender, visible minority status and immigrant status, and to ultimately explore who gets ahead and who falls behind in the Canadian labour market. We conclude with a discussion of policy and research implications.

Defined benefit (DB) pension plans have historically been an import- ant element in Canada's "three pillar" retirement income system. However, recessions in the global and Canadian economies have increased pressures on the funding of DB plans, and highlighted concerns about their sustainability - developments which have prompted governments in Canada to introduce a num- ber of reforms to pension benefit legislation. The authors, counsel to employers and plan sponsors, provide an overview of the existing legislation and the reform process, with particular emphasis on changes to Ontario's regulatory framework for DB plans as it relates to four key areas: plan solvency andfunding, surpluses, partial plan wind-ups, and asset transfers and plan mergers or splits. The paper notes that many if not all of these measures have been well-received by plan sponsors. However, in assessing whether the reforms will have the intended effect of stemming the decline in DB plan participation, the authors question whether the measures taken so far are not "too little, too late," and suggest that more far-reaching, and permanent, steps will be necessary. The paper also reviews and comments on the main features of the legislation recently enacted by the federal government providing for pooled registered pension plans.

This study uses both institutional and individual level data to examine the variation of part-time faculty employment in colleges and universities in the United States. Results support the arguments that higher educational institutions actively adopt contingent work arrangements to manage their resource dependence with constituencies, to save on labour costs, and to maximize academic prestige. Private institutions, on average, have higher levels of part-time faculty than their public counterparts. The proportion of part-time students and the share of institutional revenues derived from tuition and fees are positively associated with part-time faculty employment. Institutions that have limited resource slack and pay high salaries to their full-time faculty members tend to employ a high proportion of part-time faculty.

The article reviews and comments on the books "Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink," by Louis Hyman, "Packaging Pleasure: Holiday Camps in Twentieth-Century Britain," by Sandra Dawson, and "Consumption and Its Consequences," by Daniel Miller.

Cet article a pour objectif de poser un regard rétrospectif sur les activités scientifiques et les réflexions menées par le regroupement stratégique en transfert de connaissances (RS-TC) afin de dégager des axes de développement sur ce thème en lien avec la santé et sécurité au travail (SST). Afin de dresser ce bilan, nous avons effectué une analyse documentaire à partir de deux sources principales : 1) les activités de type symposiums et tables rondes organisées successivement en 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 et 2011 et les diverses présentations et publications qui en sont issues et 2) les revues de littérature effectuées sur le transfert des connaissances en SST. Nous présentons d’abord un bref portrait des activités de transfert en SST réalisées par le RS-TC du Réseau de recherche en santé et sécurité du travail (RRSSTQ). Par la suite, nous proposons diverses pistes de réflexion développées à partir des activités menées depuis la création de ce regroupement au sein du RRSSTQ. Par exemple, le piège de restreindre le sens du terme connaissance et de s’y astreindre, le choix d’un intitulé représentatif de la question du transfert au Réseau, la nécessité d’opérer une double articulation individu/organisation, l’importance et la complexité du rôle des relayeurs, la multiplicité des outils de relais, la problématique de l’implantation. Nous terminons sur une piste de réflexion encore inexplorée par la communauté de chercheurs en TC de ce regroupement – les décideurs, auxquels peu d’efforts ont été consacrés – et sur les suites à donner au travail réalisé à ce jour : développer un cadre d’analyse propre à rendre compte des savoirs et savoir-faire développés au Réseau.

The article reviews the book, "Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union," by Clarence Taylor.

The article reviews the book, "Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900-1930," by Dan Azoulay.

Labour landmarks are monuments, memorials, plaques and other sites that commemorate the past experiences of workers in society. These sites are also manifestations of the collective memory of labourers. In industrial Cape Breton, which has a long history of labour and class struggle, an analytical survey of labour landmarks reveals how the industrial past has been remembered and memorialized. This overview reflects the narratives that have been attached to these sites, the ways in which historical memory has been localized and constructed in industrial Cape Breton, and the new layers of meaning that are revealed as these communities transition into post-industrialism.

Discusses the importance of labour landmarks, in particular the United Steelworker's Memorial Monument in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Provides the historical context of labour unrest and industrial fatalities that occurred at the Sydney steelplant, with summaries of the circumstances that resulted in the deaths of individual workers over the decades. Takes note of ownership changes, advances in workplace safety through unionism, and the plant's toxic legacy.

As a result of the recession that began in 2008, many employers are look- ing for ways to cut labour costs. One way of doing so is to impose two-tier compensation schemes, whereby younger employees do essentially the same job as older ones, but for lower wages and benefits. The key concern of this paper is how Canadian labour, employment and human rights law could respond to the differential impact of two-tier schemes on younger workers. First, the author reviews the use of two-tier systems in the United States and Canada, showing that they affect not only workers' wages and benefits but also their pensions, as employers move from defined benefit to defined contribution plans. In the next part of the paper, he analyses arbitral, labour board and human rights tribunal case law, arguing that lower-tier workers face significant barriers in seeking legal recourse through duty of fair representation or human rights complaints. The author concludes with an overview of the restrictions on two-tier schemes in the Quebec employment standards statute, and discusses the difficulties of enacting similar legislation in other Canadian jurisdictions.

Focusing on arbitral decisions on human rights claims arising in the employment context, this paper looks at the nature of the expertise of adminis- trative tribunals and its role in determining the standard of judicial review. The author notes that arbitrators are considered to have expertise in labour rela- tions, and that this has been a key factor in the high level of deference generally shown by courts to their decisions. However, despite the expansion of arbitral jurisdiction over human rights matters in unionized workplaces, the courts, applying a "correctness" standard of review, have refused to grant deference to arbitrators with respect to their interpretation and application of human rights legislation, in part on the basis that they are not expert in the area. The author takes issue with this view, contending that arbitrators have in fact acquired significant expertise in interpreting human rights statutes in the context of the employment relationship, and that recognition of such expertise should lead to a reappraisal of the level of curial deference. In this regard, he argues, it would be open to the courts to deem arbitrators to possess the requisite expertise in human rights, thereby justifying a more deferential "reasonableness" standard of review.

Créativité et gestion : les idées au service de l’innovation, by Camille Carrier et Sylvie Gélinas, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "The Tailor of Ulm: Communism in the Twentieth Century," by Lucio Magri.

The article reviews the book, "Combating Mountaintop Removal: New Directions in the Fight Against Big Coal," by Bryan T. McNeil.

Research Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations, edited by Michael Barry and Adrian Wilkinson, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-Racism and the Making of Chinese Canadians," by Timothy J. Stanley.

The article reviews the book, "Pierre Laporte," by Jean-Charles Panneton.