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The article reviews the book, "The Empire Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism in Sixties Montreal," by Sean Mills.

The American trade union movement constitutes a social democratic bloc within U.S. politics. Often successful in expanding the welfare state, American unions have almost always failed to win legislation advancing their institutional strength and political legitimacy. This has been particularly true during the prosperous postwar era (1947-1979) when a depoliticalized form of collective bargaining stood at the centre of the U.S. system of industrial accommodation and conflict. But today that system is ineffectual, forcing the trade unions to return to a system of state-centred, corporatist bargaining reminiscent of that which sustained the unions during the era of the late New Deal and World War II. But this 21~ century system is a weak and tenuous version of corporatism, largely and dangerously confined to local government and those industries dependent on the state for revenue and regulation.

In the 1980s, following decades of booming business, the global steel industry went into a precipitous decline, which necessitated significant restructuring. Management demanded workers' increased participation in evermore temporary and insecure labour. Engaging the workers at the flagship Stelco plant in Hamilton, the authors document new management strategies and the responses of unionized workforces to them. These investigations provide valuable insights into the dramatic changes occurring within the Canadian steel industry. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Managing the Canadian Mosaic in Wartime: Shaping Citizenship Policy, 1939-1945," by Ivana Caccia.

The article reviews the book, "A Woman of Valour: The Biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle," by Claire Trépanier, with translation by Louise Matha.

The article reviews the book, "The Technological Imperative in Canada: An Intellectual History," by R. Douglas Francis.

Using Statistics Canada’s Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) data for 2003 and 2004, this research note addresses an important component of labour market retention by investigating whether the presence of workplace child care and elder care programs influences employees’ decision to quit. The key findings are as follows: (a) workplace elder care support is almost non-existent in Canada; (b) employees are more likely to remain with an organization that offers workplace child care support programs; and (c) those employees who actually use the workplace child care support are even more likely to stay with the organization. We suggest that future research should assess whether the particular support programs themselves ‘cause’ employees to stay, or whether there are other factors (within organizations offering these support programs) that account for the retention.

Changes in Japanese Employment Practices: Beyond the Japanese Model, by Arjan Keizer, is reviewed

There has been an increase in the number of incoming temporary migrant workers to Canada over the past decade. In this article, I critically assess recent changes in the law governing temporary migration to Canada by using theoretical tools from the fields of sociology, geography, and legal geography. A multidisciplinary framework to understand Canada's labour migration policies is provided. Within the socio-historical context of migrant labour regulation in Canada, I argue that political and regulatory developments function to further entrench segregation and exclusion of foreign workers by maintaining a subclass of flexible labour. Specifically, I show that Canada's current temporary migration regime retains the country's historical role as an ethnocratic settler state in which the regulation of migrant workers creates inherent boundaries. These boundaries demarcate racially identified space(s) on the basis of the economic and political logic underlying temporary migration.

Review of: "Les jeunesses au travail : regards croisés France-Québec," edited by Christian Papinot and Mircea Vultur.

This thesis explores women's learning in unpaid household work through the lenses of impairment and disability. Informal learning from this standpoint is a perspective that is not yet integrated into the adult learning literature. The impetus for the study came from dissatisfaction with the social undervaluing of unpaid housework and carework, and the largely unrecognized learning behind the work, which is predominantly done by women. Disability and impairment provide unique lenses for making visible what people learn and how they learn in this context. Those who have or acquire impairment in adulthood need to learn how to do things differently. For this study I have taken a segment of data from a 4-year, 4-phase project on Unpaid Housework and Lifelong Learning in which I participated. The participants in this segment are women and men with disabilities who took part in 2 focus groups (11 women), an on-line focus group (20 women), and individual interviews (10 women and 5 men). Learning is explored through three different themes: first, learning related to self-care; second, learning to accept the impaired body; and third, strategies and resources used in the learning process. Analysis of the data shows that the learning that happens through unpaid household work is multidimensional, fluid, and diverse. Learning is accomplished through a complex 4-dimensional process involving a blend of the body, mind, emotions, and the spiritual self. Furthermore, what participants learned and how they learned is influenced by the sociocultural context in which it takes place. Learning, when seen as a 4-dimensional process, provides a framework for challenging traditional Western cultural beliefs about what counts as learning and knowledge. Such beliefs have cultivated the viewpoint that learning is individualistic, cognitive, and based on reason. I contest these beliefs by disrupting the binaries that support them (e.g., mind vs. body, reason vs. emotion). Participants used both sides of the binaries in their learning processes, negating the oppositional and hierarchical categories they establish. The concepts in the binaries still exist but the relationship between them is not oppositional, nor is one concept privileged over another, either within or across binaries.

The article reviews the book ,"Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy," edited by Ruth Milkman, Joshua Bloom, and Victor Narro.

The article reviews the book, "The West and Beyond: New Perspectives on an Imagined Region," edited by Alvin Finkel, Sarah Carter, and Peter Fortna.

The article reviews the book, "Representation and Rebellion: The Rockefeller Plan at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1914-1942," by Jonathan H. Rees.

The article reviews the book, "Trail of Story, Traveler’s Path: Reflections on Ethnoecology and Landscape," by Leslie Main Johnson.

{This textbook] received wide praise for helping students to understand the complex and sometimes controversial field of Industrial Relations, by using just the right blend of practice, process and theory.  The text engages business students with diverse backgrounds and teaches them how an understanding of this field will help them become better managers.The third edition retains this student friendly, easy-to-read approach, praised by both students and instructors across the country. The goal of the third edition was to enhance and refine this approach while updating the latest research findings and developments in the field. --Publisher's description. Contents: An introduction to industrial relations in Canada : the employer-union relationship -- Theories of industrial relations : where Canada's unions are today -- History of the Canadian union movement : a meeting place to remember workers -- The structure of Canadian unions : Labour Council addresses larger issues -- The organizing campaign : union local finds strength in numbers -- Establishing union recognition : certification applications keep BC Labour Relations Board busy -- Defining and commencing collective bargaining : a mutually beneficial approach -- The collective bargaining process : Ontario colleges avoid instructors' strike -- Strikes and lockouts : engineers strike at CN -- Third-party intervention during negotiations : helping parties find their own solutions -- The grievance arbitration process : standing up for workers' rights -- Changes to the union or the employer : Handydart employer changes routes -- Future issues for workers, work arrangements, organizations, and the industrial relations system : providing the youth perspective.

The article reviews the book, "Re-Imagining Ukrainian Canadians: History, Politics, and Identity," edited by Rhonda L. Hinther and Jim Mochoruk, part of the Canadian Social History Series.

This essay explores why the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (and later the United Steelworkers of America) in mining towns on both sides of the [US-Canada] border remained so resistant to female employment and activism from 1940 to 1980. By looking closely at how ideas about gender influenced union politics, we see how working-class women and men in mining communities both embraced and contested these ideologies. --Excerpt from author's essay