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The article reviews the book, "Travail d'ombre et de lumière: Le bénévolat féminin à l'Hôpital Sainte-Justine, 1907-1960," by Aline Charles.

Unemployment relief work programs undertaken in Saskatchewan cities during 1929-32 and 1938-40 were not a failure. Carried out with an unavoidable minimum of "mismanagement" and "waste," they produced useful assets and badly needed employment, and not surprisingly were strongly supported by local taxpayers and the able-bodied unemployed alike. This record and the determined if too often unsuccessful efforts by the administrations and unemployed in Regina and Saskatoon to have even more relief money channelled into such "work and wages schemes" are an indictment of the federal response to the unemployment crisis and the impossible situation in which the flawed doctrine of "local responsibility" placed local governments. As such, the history of these programs serves as a useful corrective to the widespread impression that Prairie cities failed to show sufficient leadership or initiative in dealing with the unemployment crisis during the 1930s.

The article reviews the book, "Rapports collectifs du travail," by Fernand Morin.

Recent labour historiography on the strike wave of 1919 has debated whether events are better explained within a framework of western exceptionalism (that is, stressing regional factors) or of a national revolt (that is stressing class tensions). A study of Calgary suggests that neither of these interpretations is fully satisfactory. Calgary workers, by 1919, certainly displayed a class identity and a class consciousness, but these were tempered by broader cultural bonds and by continuing entrepreneurial aspirations. Despite a generation of economic disillusionment, characterized by falling real wages and the high frequency of unemployment, labour continued to place faith in craft unions, political reforms, and class co-operation. Fitting neither of the established interpretation frameworks, the experience of workers in Calgary, 1919, indicates the need for a reassessment of current conceptions of class relations.

The article reviews the book, "Descent into Discourse: The Reification of Language and the Writing of Social History," by Bryan D. Palmer.

The legacy of the Socialist Party of Canada has come down to us in phrases such as economic determinism, mechanistic materialism, impossiblism, and sectarianism. The life of Bill Pritchard reveals the humanist roots of the SPC and what the party's leading thinkers owed to William Morris and the British ethical socialist tradition. That tradition was about `making socialists' who were educated, organized, and prepared to implement fully a socialist society. Bill Pritchard and other Marxian socialists, as much as they supported the Russian Revolution, were unwilling to submerge that goal in the program of the Third International. Their humanism, as much as their determinism, explains the choices they made and the legacy they left.

The article reviews the book, "The Untold Story of Ontario's Bushworkers," by Bruce Magnuson.

The article reviews the book, "Le Syndicalisme au Québec," by Bernard Dionne.

The article reviews the book, "Labour Arbitration Yearbook," by William Kaplan.

According to the side-bet theory, organizational commitment increases with the accumulation of side bets or investments. Cross-national data for 7 side-bet indexes (age, tenure, education, marital status, salary, gender, and hierarchical position) were used to test the theory's generalizability. Four hundred and sixty-three white-collar employees in Canada and the US were surveyed. The findings indicate that while organizational commitment levels between Canadian and US respondents were similar, the effects of various side-bet indexes differed between the 2 countries. The results suggest that previously reported correlations between age, tenure and organizational commitment cannot be replicated.

Discusses the economic independence and position of strength of the Nishga and Tsimshian women of the northern Pacific coast from 1830-1900. Despite the beliefs that the fur trade and missions had a negative impact upon the roles and status of native women, the status of women in the northern Pacific coast did not decline. The roles and status of Canada's northern Pacific coast women, which moved from a position of strength in the traditional era to a position of strength in the mission era, are examined.

A recent study presents regression results that can be used to calculate the impact on the unemployment rate of women and youth in Ontario of a variation in the minimum wage. These regressions yield results very similar to those obtained for Quebec, an economy whose structure is fairly similar to that of Ontario. These results indicate that the proposed increase in the minimum wage in Ontario would lead to a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment of women and youth in the province, which in terms of the unemployment rate of 1991, is approximately a 10% increase in employment. Such a result is in agreement with economists and should be taken into account by policymakers.

The article reviews several books including "The Skilled Metalworkers of Nuremberg: Craft and Class in the Industrial Revolution," by Michael J. Neufeld, "Mercedes in Peace and War: German Automobile Workers, 1903-1945," by Bernard P. Bellon, and "A History of Foreign Labor in Germany 1880-1980: Seasonal Workers/Forced Laborers/Guest Workers," by Ulrich Herbert.

The article reviews the book, "Le discours de presse - L'image des syndicats au Québec (1982-1983)," by Mayrse Souchard.

The article reviews the book, "Repenser le travail. Quand les femmes accèdent à l'égalité," by Ginette Legault.

Cet article compare les résultats obtenus suite à l'utilisation de deux méthodes de comparaison des emplois pour réaliser l'équité salariale dans les organisations. Les deux indicateurs retenus sont la proportion d'emplois à prédominance féminine dont le salaire horaire serait ajusté à la hausse et l'ampleur des ajustements mesuré en pourcentage du salaire. Les résultats obtenus révèlent que la moyenne des ajustements salariaux ne varie pratiquement pas, peu importe la méthode utilisée. La méthode «emploi à courbe» semble cependant supérieure à la méthode «emploi à emploi» en ce qui concerne la proportion d'emplois ajustés, en particulier dans les trois organisations où le nombre d'emplois de bureau à prédominance féminine était le plus élevé.

A meta-analytical framework is used to examine the true impact of specific beliefs about unions, general beliefs about unions, job satisfaction, sex, race, and Southern US residence on union voting intent. The results strongly suggest that union voting intent is affected by both specific and general instrumentality, with specific instrumentality being a more important predictor of union voting intent than general instrumentality. The results also indicate that non-whites and women are more likely to express a pro-union voting intent, while those with high job satisfaction are more likely to express an anti-union voting intent. Meta-analysis results show that even Southerners are likely to express a pro-union voting intent, but that the magnitude of this effect is very small compared with other factors. All of the factors considered in the study do affect union voting intent regardless of the situation, but the incidence of some of the factors on union voting intent could vary across situations.

The article reviews the book, "The Souls of the Skyscraper: Female Clerical Workers in Chicago, 1870-1930," by Lisa M. Fine.

Social support is examined as a correlate of perceived job demands and psychological strain and as a moderator of the relationship between stimulus and response, according to personality traits. An occupational stress questionnaire was administered to 807 hospital employees. Data were obtained regarding 2 sources of job demands, 3 psychological symptoms, 4 categories of personality, and 3 areas of social support. The strongest evidence favors a non-specific direct correlation between all dimensions of social support and all the strain symptoms analyzed. The differences between personality types are relative exceptions to the general trend. There is also evidence supporting a direct relationship between job demands and social support, as well as strain symptoms. Extrinsic job demands appear to be a strong correlate of both. Here again, the emphasis is on interdependency and not necessarily on causality. The results offer some support for the role of social support as a moderator variable in the relationship between occupational demands and psychological strain.

The article reviews the books "Love in the Time of Victoria," by Francoise Barret-Ducrocq and "Romantic Longings ― Love in America, 1830-1980," by Steven Seidman.