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The article reviews the book, "Spying on Canadians: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service and the Origins of the Long Cold War," by Gregory S. Kealey.

We analyze four calls to action issued by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) president, Jim Iker. These appeals sought to mobilize members during the 2013-2014 collective bargaining that pitted the BCTF against the British Columbia government and the direct employer, the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association. We apply a “theory of rhetoric” developed by Chaim Perelman to locate and analyze the topics the BCTF president used to persuade his members to adhere to his arguments about the merit of collective action. We argue that the president constructed his rhetoric by visiting five topics—urgency, fairness, futility, agency, and integrity. The first three promoted a utilitarian logic for collective action. Iker used them to persuade teachers, and other stakeholders, that collective action was necessary for addressing the problem—the futility of the bargaining process to produce a negotiated fair agreement due to the government’s reluctance to bargain in good faith. The last two topics—agency and integrity—comprised a rhetoric of comfort and reassurance offering an affective logic for acting collectively. At least some union members, as well as other stakeholders, might have felt that teachers are expected to care for their charges in the classroom rather than on the picket line, by withdrawing services they monopolize. Iker used the topics of agency and integrity to remind everyone that defending students, young teachers, the teaching profession, and the education system was commendable, and reassured them that collectively they would not be ignored and nor would they fail. In short, we have pointed out five topics that the president visited to mobilize his members to collective action. They highlight a unique rhetoric that aimed to persuade teachers to become agents of protest. Our case study methodology did not allow us to generalize our findings, which more research is, thus, needed to corroborate.

Workplaces have long sought to improve employee productivity and performance by monitoring and tracking a variety of indicators. Increasingly, these efforts target the health and wellbeing of the employee – recognizing that a healthy and active worker is a productive one. Influenced by managerial trends in personalized and participatory medicine (Swan 2012), some workplaces have begun to pilot their own programs, utilizing fitness wearables and personal analytics to reduce sedentary lifestyles. These programs typically take the form of gamified self-tracking challenges combining cooperation, competition, and fundraising to incentivize participants to get moving. While seemingly providing new arrows in the bio-political quiver – that is, tools to keep employees disciplined yet active, healthy yet profitable (Lupton 2012) – there is also a certain degree of acceptance and participation. Although participants are shaped by self-tracking technologies, “they also, in turn, shape them by their own ideas and practices” (Ruckenstein 2014: 70). In this paper, we argue that instead of viewing self-tracking challenges solely through discourses of power or empowerment, the more pressing question concerns “how our relationship to our tracking activities takes shape within a constellation of habits, cultural norms, material conditions, ideological constraints” (Van Den Eede 2015: 157). We confront these tensions through an empiric case study of self-tracking challenges for staff and faculty at two Canadian universities. By cutting through the hype, this paper uncovers how self-trackers are becoming (and not just left to) their own devices.

Mon allocution s’inspire de mon expérience et traite de ma réflexion sur la négociation collective, que j’ai longuement fréquentée et pratiquée à la Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) en tant que négociateur syndical dans le secteur manufacturier au Québec et, par la suite, à titre de formateur et collaborateur auprès du Bureau international du Travail (BIT). Je ferai ressortir, à l’aide d’exemples que j’ai vécus, la nature et l’impact des mutations qui ont eu cours quant au rôle régulateur de la négociation collective, ainsi que sur les capacités délibérative et d’adaptation des syndicats. Je traiterai de ce sujet en trois temps. --Introduction

Encore invisible, le travail des femmes? La question peut faire sourciller tant les féministes ont obtenu des gains sur ce front au cours des dernières décennies. Or, si les femmes ont massivement intégré le marché de l'emploi, le travail dit invisible, majoritairement effectué par celles-ci, n'a fait que croître et se complexifier. En plus du strict travail ménager, il se présente sous de multiples visages: la charge mentale de l'organisation familiale, le travail invisible d'intégration des femmes immigrantes, le travail des proches aidantes, celui des aides familiales venues d'ailleurs, des femmes autochtones et racisées, des étudiantes stagiaires, ou encore, des travailleuses du sexe. Comment se décline l'enjeu du travail invisible dans différents milieux, et où en sont les revendications pour faire reconnaître ce travail et le sortir de l'ombre? Rassemblant des militantes féministes et des intellectuelles engagées sur ces questions, cet ouvrage collectif entend remettre le sujet du travail invisible à l'ordre du jour politique tout en proposant des pistes de réflexion et de mobilisation concrètes. Encore invisible, le travail des femmes? La question peut faire sourciller tant les féministes ont obtenu des gains sur ce front au cours des dernières décennies. Or, si les femmes ont massivement intégré le marché de l'emploi, le travail dit invisible, majoritairement effectué par celles-ci, n'a fait que croître et se complexifier. En plus du strict travail ménager, il se présente sous de multiples visages: la charge mentale de l'organisation familiale, le travail invisible d'intégration des femmes immigrantes, le travail des proches aidantes, celui des aides familiales venues d'ailleurs, des femmes autochtones et racisées, des étudiantes stagiaires, ou encore, des travailleuses du sexe. Comment se décline l'enjeu du travail invisible dans différents milieux, et où en sont les revendications pour faire reconnaître ce travail et le sortir de l'ombre? Rassemblant des militantes féministes et des intellectuelles engagées sur ces questions, cet ouvrage collectif entend remettre le sujet du travail invisible à l'ordre du jour politique tout en proposant des pistes de réflexion et de mobilisation concrètes. Des textes de Stella Adjokê, Sandrine Belley, Sonia Ben Soltane, Annabelle Berthiaume, Jenn Clamen, Hélène Cornellier, Irène Demczuk, Myriam Dumont Robillard, Claudia Foisy, Monica Forrester, Elizabeth James, Elene Lam, Widia Larivière, Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher, Linda Li, Camille Robert, Annabelle Seery, Valérie Simard et Louise Toupin. -- Résumé de l'éditeur

The article reviews the book, "Unions and the City: Negotiating Urban Change," edited by Ian Thomas MacDonald.

This article reviews the book, "Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO since 1979" by Timothy J. Minchin.

Revised version of the article published in 2010.

Analyzes some of the practices that cause discontent within unions including weaknesses in equity, internal politics, and decision-making practices.

The February 2012 closure of London, Ontario’s Electro-Motive Diesel by the notoriously anti-union US multinational Caterpillar symbolizes the deep challenges faced by private sector unions in globalized industries. This closure was the final blow in Caterpillar’s negotiations with Canadian Auto Workers Local 27. This article explores the implications of changes in corporate structure, investment, and labour-relations strategy in manufacturing that have reduced capital’s dependence on production and increased corporate power over workers. Through a detailed case study based on extensive analysis of a range of sources, the authors argue that union strategy must be guided by a more differentiated understanding of corporate structure. While unions can effectively mobilize in response to attacks by anti-union employers, union strategy must first be rooted in a careful study of the employer’s structure, strengths and weaknesses, and industry context. Second, unions must develop capacities to intervene at scales beyond the local employment relationship and community. Third, unions must consider more carefully the nature of the various forms of power they seek to deploy and how these forms of power can amplify each other. Even the most effective campaigns will fail to muster leverage over an employer or industry if they neglect developing these forms of knowledge and capacity.

This multi-disciplinary edited collection critically examines the causes and effects of anti-unionism in Canada. Primarily through a series of case studies, the book’s contributors document and expose the tactics and strategies of employers and anti-labour governments while also interrogating some of the labour movement’s own practices as a source of anti-union sentiment among workers. -- Publisher's description. Contents: Labour Under Attack: An Introduction to Anti-Unionism in Canada / Stephanie Ross & Larry Savage -- A Crisis of Representation: Anti-Unionism, Media and Popular Culture / Dennis Soron -- The Complexities of Worker Anti-Unionism / Stephanie Ross -- Inequality and Divisions on the Shop Floor: The Case of John Deere Welland Works / June Corman, Ann Duffy & Norene Pupo-Barkans -- Organizing Against the Odds: Anti-Unionism in Niagara’s Casino Gaming Sector / Larry Savage & Nick Ruhloff-Queiruga -- Anti-Unionism in Professional Sport: The Case of Major Junior Hockey / Simon Black -- The Cultural Politics of Labour in Retail / Kendra Coulter -- “I Work at VICE Canada and I Need a Union”: Organizing Digital Media / Nicole Cohen & Greig De Peuter.

The article reviews the book, "Brokering Servitude: Migration and the Politics of Domestic Labor during the Long Nineteenth Century," by Andrew Urban.

In this dissertation, I outline a history of the labour union organizing efforts of journalists at the Thomson Newspapers chain in Canada from 1963 to 1995. Such organizing efforts provide an entry point into examining control over employment conditions in the newspaper industry. To undertake this study, I develop an analytical framework that I call a “labour union standpoint to news organizations” and a “labour union standpoint methodology.” I conduct a historical and labour union standpoint analysis of nine labour organizing campaigns, situating them within their broader political, economic, and social-historical contexts. I draw on union archival documents, newspaper content, corporate and government documents, and a critical review of the published body of literature. Between 1963 and 1995, Thomson adopted a long-term strategy of vertical growth, expanding from radio broadcasting and newspapers into other media. The corporation also adopted a strategy of horizontal growth, building a newspaper chain through acquisitions, and typically obtained a monopoly or oligopoly in the markets in which it operated. Thomson consistently had double-digit profit margins and was among the “big three” newspaper chains in Canada with regard to number of daily newspapers owned, share of total daily newspaper circulation, or share of total revenues. In response, Thomson journalists organized labour unions to protect their employment conditions. Accordingly, I consider the labour organizing tactics that journalists’ unions adopted to “bite back” at the corporation and the communication tools that they used to facilitate those tactics.My analysis reveals that journalists’ unions contested and negotiated control over employment conditions within news organizations. The outcomes of union organizing efforts were contingent upon the local circumstances of the journalists, unions, and management at a particular newspaper within the chain. While journalists’ union organizing campaigns were sometimes unsuccessful, journalists were more successful when they focused on building bridges with community members rather than developing communication tools such as strike newspapers. Some journalists’ unions challenged the established social relations and advanced social transformation by mobilizing massive community support, connecting their workplace struggles to broader social issues, and creating publicity campaigns to communicate these struggles to the public.

Over the past decade in Canada, student work has become a topic of public criticism, legal action, academic research, and labour activism. Cultural industry employers’ use of unpaid, low-paid, and flexibilized labour in the form of internships and other kinds of ‘work experience’ raises questions about the future of work in already precarious fields such as news production, advertising, television, and film. Against the backdrop of neoliberal processes still shaping universities and labour markets, the student worker emerges as a strategic figure in the contested politics of cultural work. This thesis offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of the dominant discourse and counter-discourse through which work experience is constructed, legitimized, critiqued, and re-visioned. Drawing on autonomist Marxist theory, critical philosophies of education, and feminist political economy, I situate cultural work experience as a discursive site where struggles over knowledge production and labour rights become visible and urgent.

The article reviews the book, "Contemporary Slavery: Popular Rhetoric and Political Practice," by Christo Aivalis.

This chapter describes the multi-faceted dynamics of anti-unionism in Canada, and considers how the labour movement might respond. Authors Larry Savage and Stephanie Ross describe the history of anti-unionism in politics, law, and Canadian culture while paying special attention to employer union avoidance tactics and the influence of mainstream media on the public perception of unions

This chapter examines union avoidance strategies in Canada's growing casino gaming sector through a case study of six successive failed unionization drives at Niagara's casinos between 1996 and 2016. --Authors

The idea of universal basic income (UBI) has taken on new life as people experience greater inequality and greater exploitation than ever before—combined with the recurrence of the historically-cyclical fear of mass unemployment driven by rapid advancements in automation technologies. But the idea of providing every person with a certain amount of money, regardless of their socioeconomic status or (in)ability to or (dis)interest in working, is far from universally-accepted by socialists. This essay offers replies to three common socialist criticisms of various basic income proposals, in an effort to defend the radical potential of UBI; a potential that is consonant with the fundamental goal of the socialist project—achieving a democratic, non-exploitative world beyond capitalism.

Canadian universities are relying heavily on precariously-employed faculty on campus. Once among the most secure professions in the country, by 2016-17 contract jobs in the sector accounted for the majority (53.6 percent) of all university faculty appointments, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests to all 78 publicly-funded Canadian universities. The findings show that reliance on contract faculty is a foundational part of the system, and has been for at least a decade. This report is the first-ever snapshot of the prevalence of university contract jobs, where they’re located, and what departments are more likely to offer contract work instead of permanent, secure academic appointments.

While post-secondary institutions are places of learning, they also employ thousands of people across a broad spectrum of job classifications. This report explores the extent to which workers in Canada’s post-secondary institutions are experiencing precarity. More precisely, it asks whether employment on university and college campuses in Ontario is becoming more precarious, for whom and for what reasons. This report combines quantitative analysis of Labour Force Survey (LFS) data with qualitative accounts of the lived experience of precarity from post-secondary employees. Overall, the LFS data analysis suggests that 53% of post-secondary education workers in Ontario are, to some extent, precariously employed. Specifically, the report identifies a rise in work categories that are more precarious (e.g., research assistants and teaching assistants) alongside a decline in others that have traditionally been less precarious (e.g., librarians).