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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

This chapter focuses on women employed in labour-intensive agriculture in the global North, specifically women from rural Mexico who take up waged work as migrant workers in Canadian agriculture. It uses the term 'migrant worker' to refer to people employed in Canada under temporary visas who do not hold Canadian citizenship or permanent residency. Global restructuring of agrifood markets has resulted in rising levels of female employment in high value agriculture in the global South. Women tend to form a smaller percentage of the permanent workforce employed in commercial agriculture, often constituting the majority of the temporary, seasonal, and casual workforce that provides the greater portion of labour. The chapter shows the systems of labour control and forms of work organization made possible through these programs rely on multiple, reinforcing and contextual systems of oppression, particularly the power relations based on gender, race, and class, among others. --Introduction Leach and Pini bring together empirical and theoretical studies that consider the intersections of class, gender and rurality. Each chapter engages with current debates on these concepts to explore them in the context of contemporary social and economic transformations in which global processes that reconstitute gender and class interconnect with and take shape in a particular form of locality - the rural. The book is innovative in that it: - responds to calls for more critical work on the rural 'other' - contributes to scholarship on gender and rurality, but does so through the lens of class. This book places the question of gender, rurality and difference at its centre through its focus on class - addresses the urban bias of much class scholarship as well as the lack of gender analysis in much rural and class academic work - focuses on the ways that class mediates the construction and practices of rural men/masculinities and rural women/femininities - challenges prevalent (and divergent) assumptions with chapters utilising contemporary theorisations of class With the empirical strongly grounded in theory, this book will appeal to scholars working in the fields of gender, rurality, identity, and class studies.

In Chapter 9, Andrea Doucet describes patterns of paid and unpaid work in families, first by looking at what has been an important topic in sociology: the relationship between gender and paid work. She considers how paid work has been dominated by a male model of employment and then discusses the changes to that model in recent years. Historically and even today, paid work, like unpaid work, has been and is gendered. Doucet examines the gender division of labour with respect to the connections between paid and unpaid work, the relationship between paid and unpaid work and state policies, and the differences and inequalities in paid and unpaid work. --Editor's summary

Black Canadians provides an authoritative reference for teachers, students and the general public who seek to know more about the Black Diaspora in North America. Arguments made in this book may be unpleasant for those with little appetite for pointed, provocative views and analysis from the standpoint of Black people. For those with a genuine interest in venturing beyond established orthodoxies and simplistic solutions to the contentious ethno-racial problems in Canada, this book will be insightful and worthy of close attention. This new edition expands the regional coverage of Black history, updates all the statistics with the 2006 census data, and adds important new material on multiculturalism and employment equity. --Publisher's description

A survey of the global trajectory of labour history. Specially commissioned essays by labour historians of international repute consider: early labour history traditions, new conceptions of class, gender, ethnicity, culture, community and power. Whether the 1960s can be regarded as turning point in labour history the general historiographical climate in the mid-twentieth century the institutional context (e.g. the evolution of labour history societies, historical associations and journals) links between labour history and the labour movement Many authors are connected with the British Society for the Study of Labour History; all are experts in the labour history of particular countries. They analyse key debates, question dominant paradigms, acknowledge minority critiques and consider future directions. --Publisher's description.

This collection of original essays investigates the social, political, and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada. Essays in the book discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies, and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals' expectations regarding work, and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem. --Publisher's description

J.S. Woodsworth was a prominent Canadian socialist who was a member of the Canadian Parliament from 1921 to 1942 and a founder of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the predecessor of the present New Democratic Party (NDP). This paper uses a Gramscian framework to explore his promotion of labour rights in the inter-war years, which I argue was an interregnum, a period when the hegemony of the old order was weakened. In this period, counter-hegemonic projects were launched to challenge the old order but, at the same time, so too were liberal passive revolutionary projects that aimed to restore the hegemony of capitalist relation by accommodating some of the demands of disgruntled workers, as well as coercive ones to restore order by force. J.S. Woodsworth strenuously fought against rising coercion and attempted to pursue a politics of amelioration in the hopes it would eventually lead toward socialism, but in the end it was the liberal counter-hegemonic project that was successful. I then examine the Woodsworth legacy for our time, a moment that I argue is also an interregnum, when the hegemony of the post-war order has been weakened, but because subordinated classes are weak, a counter-hegemonic project is not in the offing. Instead, we are witnessing an increase in coercion, on the one hand, and a weak politics of amelioration on the other.

[E]xamines how coalition building between and across equity-seeking groups within unions contribute to union revitalization by building solidarity. [The author's] main focus is on what types of organizing structures contribute to unity in diversity, for example, by protecting the particular interests of each equity-seeking group while enabling a common equity agenda to be advanced. --Editor's introduction

[C]onsists of an interview conducted by [the author] with Beverley Johnson, a long-time union activist, and her daughter, Marie Clarke Walker, currently an executive vice-president with the Canadian Labour Congress. It documents the historic and ongoing struggle for equity waged by people of colour, and the continuing acute problem of racism in Canada and within unions. --Editor's introduction

The changing nature of the membership demographics within unions, along with declining union density and myriad other challenges, have made it mandatory for unions to change their traditional ways of doing things. In particular, because the porportion of female and minority group members within unions has grown considerably since the 1970s, equitable membership representation has become an issue of significant concern. The object of this chapter is to develop a general conceptual model of how to advance equity within unions.

Provides a synopsis of the volume, the impetus for which began with the 2005 workshop “Advancing the Equity Agenda Inside Unions and at the Bargaining Table,” sponsored by the Centre for Research on Work and Society at York University.

[E]xamines what types of issues unions should pursue in an effort to mobilize what is, at present, a largely a complacent or indifferent union membership. ...[The author] argues convincingly that the future survival of the labour movement lies with improving the lot of the most disadvantaged. --Editor's introduction

[The authors] link union revitalization to the presence of separate spaces where women can identity and articulate their needs, create feminist politics, and develop the will and ability to contest existing power structures within unions. They offer three examples of how union feminists in Canada, the United States, and Australia have created such spaces in unlikely places and by so doing have secured workplace rights and economic and social justice for women. --Editor's introduction

Working conditions have been an ongoing topic of scholarship and government for more than a century, yet the understanding that workers’ health and safety are human rights has a short history and has until recently not been a significant justification for industrial and labor relations policy. In this chapter I respond to this gap, challenging industrial relations and labor economics to examine the scope and nature of the problem and articulate a framework of workers’ health and safety as human rights concerns. The field of industrial relations has historically characterized workers’ health and safety as less than fundamental human rights. This paper is an exploration of the human rights framework and a response to critics in an effort to establish a new foundation for industrial relations scholarship and in turn build the human rights foundation for labor policy. --Author's introduction

[S]ummarizes thirty years of effort by equity advocates to realize a feminist-inspired vision of a union movement that is inclusive and democratic, and that seeks to advance the interests of all working people, unionized or not. ...[The author] argues that the union renewal literature has not acknowledged the gendering of the labour movement, or the role that women's organizing has played in transofrming the labour movement and helping it to reposition itself in the face of neo-liberal globalization, thus assuring its future survival. --Editor's introduction

[E]xamines the implications for unions of the federal and provincial human rights legislation and the Canadian Charter of Rights [with respect to equity]. ...[The author] warns that unless unions find acceptable ways to deal with the increasingly diverse interests of their members, conflict could ensue that could remove unions' legal right to represent certain minority intersts, as well as destroy union solidarity. [The author] describes one such conflict currently moving through the courts, which arose from the negotiation of a two-tier wage clause that is allegedly discriminatory. This is a cautionary tale that highlights the link between union revitalization and equity. --Editor's introduction

Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safety in most Canadian jurisdictions in the late 1970s. This was one component of the transition to an Internal Responsibility System that included mandated Joint Health and Safety Committees, right to know regulations, and the right to refuse dangerous work. Very little has changed in this regulatory framework in the ensuing three decades. The effectiveness of these regulations in improving health and safety was contentious in the 1970s and continues to be debated. Earlier work by Lewchuk et al. (1996) argued that the labour-management environment of individual workplaces influenced the effectiveness of worker representatives and Joint Health and Safety Committees. In particular, the framework was more effective where labour was organised and where management had accepted a philosophy of co-management of the health and safety function. The Canadian economy has experienced significant reorganisation since the 1970s. Canadian companies in general face more intense competition because of trade deals entered into in the 1980s and 1990s. Exports represent a much larger share of GNP. Union density has fallen and changes in legislation make it more difficult to organise workers. Non-standard employment, self-employment and other forms of less permanent employment have all grown in relative importance. This chapter presents new evidence on how these changes are undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Responsibility System in Canada, with a particular focus on workers in precarious employment relationships. Data is drawn from a recent population survey of non-student workers in Ontario conducted by the authors. -- Publisher's description. Contents: pt. 1. National arrangements for workers' representation: case studies from Europe and Australia. Worker representation on health and safety in the UK -- problems with the preferred model and beyond -- The Australian framework for worker participation in occupational health and safety -- Health and safety committees in France: an empirical analysis -- Characteristics, activities and perceptions of Spanish safety representatives -- An afterword on European Union policy and practice -- pt. 2. Challenges and strategies for worker representation in the modern world of work -- Precarious employment and the internal responsibility system: some Canadian experiences -- Employee 'voice' and working environment in the new member states: translating policy into practice in the Baltic States -- Health and safety representation in small firms: a Swedish success that is threatened by political and labour market changes -- Trade union strategies to support representation on health and safety in Australia and the UK: integration or isolation? -- Worker representation and health and safety: reflections on the past, present and future. Includes bibliographical references and index.

This chapter reviews anticolonialist thought in relation to issues of organized labor, learning processes, and the emergent idea of “community unionism.” It explores the interlocking nature of relations of social class, gender, and race with special attention to Canada. This review is applied to issues related to current research on hotel worker organizing in Toronto (Canada), and suggestions on progressive forms of trade unionism are discussed. --Author's abstract

Discusses the evolution of the Mennonite approach to labour relations in Manitoba with reference to an unsuccessful unionization drive at Palliser Furniture in Winnipeg in the 1990s.

[D]raws on the [the author's] experiences in the Canadian Labour Congress and the Ontario labour movement to elaborate on the causes and consequenes of the limited progress made in advancing equity for racialized people within the labour movement. --Editor's introduction