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The article introduces the first of a two-part series in the journal on the 50th anniversary of the publication of "The Making of the English Working Class" by British historian E.P. Thompson. In addition to describing their own responses, the authors discuss how the book has influenced working-class studies, its political impact, Thompson's Marxism, and his critique of Methodism. The articles in the presentation include: "E.P. Thompson’s Capital: Political Economy in The Making" by Michael Merrill; "Among the Autodidacts: The Making of E.P. Thompson" by Margaret C. Jacob; “The something that has called itself ‘Marxism’” by Peter Way; "The Face of Power" by Tina Loo; "A Definitive ‘And fookin’ Amen to that!" by David Levine; "Frame Breaking Then and Now" by Rebecca Hill; and "The Privilege of History" by Sean Cadigan.

Special Issue Introduction: This special issue interrogates race as a labour. The “labor of race,” writes David Theo Goldberg in his book "The Threat of Race" (2009:4, emphasis in original), “is the work for which the category and its assumptions are employed to effect and rationalize social arrangements of power and exploitation, violence and expropriation.” Race, for Goldberg, is a “foundational code” that has been built by “racial thinkers,” that is “the day-laborers, the brick-layers, of racial foundations” (2009:4). Understanding race as a labour underscores the ontological unreality of race, which is now, of course, the constructivist orthodoxy in critical sociologies of race. In other words, conceptualizing race as a labour asserts race as an accomplishment, however unstable: an historical, social, economic, and cultural achievement that designates a constantly shifting political grammar. At the same time, understanding race as a labour, or the labour of race, demands that we ask to what work race is put. Following Zygmunt Bauman’s (2004) theorization of “wasted lives,” race might be theorized as a method of social ordering.

The article reviews and comments extensively on the book, "Industrial Ruination, Community, and Place: Landscapes and Legacies of Urban Decline" by Alice Mah.

The article reviews the book, "For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America," by John Curl.

The decline in trade union membership in a number of countries has led to concerns over a ‘representation gap’, where workers are deprived of a voice not only in regard to their workplace grievances, but also in regard to their contributions to productivity and the quality of working life. While a number of alternatives have been raised, including joint consultation and works councils, there are concerns that these alternatives may further weaken union organization by establishing rival forms of organization. This article examines the interwar experience with three types of workplace non-union employee representation in Canada, Germany, the US and the UK. Where management recognizes unions and unions actively ensure that they dominate these representation mechanisms, they can enhance union organization.

The article reviews the book, "Fort Chipewyan and the Shaping of Canadian History, 1788-1920s: 'We like to be free in this country,'" by Patricia A. McCormack.

The article reviews the book, "L’intervention en ergonomie," by Marie Saint-Vincent, Nicole Vézina, Marie Bellemare, Denys Denis, Élise Ledoux and Daniel Imbeau.

The article reviews the book, "Judging Homosexuals: A History of Gay Persecution in Quebec and France," by Patrice Corriveau.

The Psychology of Assessment Centers, edited by Duncan J. R. Jackson, Charles E. Lance and Brian J. Hoffman, is reviewed.

The structure, content and space of union transnational co-ordination are much richer and complex than simply revolving around tensions and relations between bureaucrats and local activists. This is illustrated through the ETUC TRACE project, a study of a managed and steered form of international union coordination. Drawing on this study, this paper discerns a form of co-ordination that worked across various dimensions of action (i.e. "influencing" politics and "communicating" policy), various political relations (internal and external relations) and different organizational levels (micro and macro). By adding original material to the existing literature, the paper stresses the relevance of the project and the various dimensions for appreciating the problems unions face in establishing and sustaining effective cross-national coordination and a supportive environment of "union learning". The TRACE project acknowledged the need to build coordination through a variety of means and serves as an invaluable insight and lesson into more managed and conscious forms of coordination.

The article reviews the book, "La colonie nantaise de Lac-Mégantic. Une implantation française au Québec au XIXe siècle," by Marcel Fournier.

This article examines occupational health and safety (OHS), with a particular focus on youth apprentices. It uses quantitative and qualitative data to examine the incidence of injuries among youth apprentices, and their experiences related to health and safety at work in Canada. Analysis of large-scale national surveys suggests a high incidence of work-related injuries among youth and low participation rates of younger workers in formal OHS training. A survey of 173 former Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) and Registered Apprenticeship Program in Alberta (RAP) participants finds that one-fifth suffered serious occupational injuries, which required time off work. The results from this study have important implications for youth apprenticeship programs, particularly the OHS- and trade-specific knowledge required for youth to work safely during and following their apprenticeship training.

This paper considers the likelihood of whether freedom of association under section 2(d) of the Charter will be held to include a constitutional right to strike - a question which the Supreme Court of Canada will have an opportun- ity to answer when it hears the upcoming appeal in the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour case. The authors note that the prospects for the recognition of such a right have changed dramatically in the five years since the Supreme Court concluded in B.C. Health that the Charter provided protection for a limited process of collective bargaining. The main reason for this shift is the Court's subsequent decision in the Fraser case, holding that collective bargaining is merely a "derivative right" of freedom of association and that an infringement of section 2(d) in the labour relations context will be found only where the impugned legislation or state action has the effect of making it "impossible" for employees to collectively pursue workplace goals. The authors go on to review how this "effective impossibility" test has been applied by appellate courts in Ontario, British Columbia and the federal jurisdiction in recent freedom of asso- ciation claims. In their view, the restrictive approach now taken by the courts makes it highly unlikely that section 2(d) will be found to protect a right to strike. Even if strike activity is held to attract constitutional protection, they argue, such protection would apply only in very limited situations.

The article reviews the book, "Committing Theatre: Theatre Radicalism and Political Intervention in Canada," by Alan Filewood.

Boom, Bust and Crisis: Labour, Corporate Power and Politics in Canada, edited by John Peters, is reviewed.

This article reviews the English-speaking literature on Spanish and German industrial relations published in the top 10 journals between 2000 and 2010. Our analysis contributes to the debate about the relevance of industrial relations by establishing the state of the art in research on Spain using Germany as a point of comparison. Apart from indicating deficiencies in research on Spain, the results reveal a greater convergence in research regarding its restricted multidisciplinary character, its focus on the international level and a strong emphasis on empirical, quantitative work with analysis conducted at various levels. At the same time some path dependency continues to exist, particularly concerning the active participants in research and the subjects for investigation. We conclude by discussing whether the research on Spain should require normative preconceptions in order to orient policymakers -- an aspect that has been largely overlooked when discussing the rejuvenation of industrial relations.

One of the reforms proposed for Ontario's broader public sector by the Drummond Report is the establishment of centralized bar- gaining structures. As Chaykowski and Hickey have argued, such a reform "must consider whether, how, and in what context, alterna- tive bargaining structures and enhanced coordination could yield outcomes which promote efficiencies and improve value."' In this regard, the transformation of bargaining structures in the Canadian construction industry offers some lessons on structural realignment.

The article reviews the book, "Boom, Bust and Crisis: Labour Corporate Power and Politics in Canada," edited by John Peters.

[The article shows] how management in the post-war period – in this case [Hobbs Hardware in] the mid-1970s – orchestrated effective campaigns to keep low-wage workers out of unions. This is especially true for those workers who toiled in seemingly inconsequential workplaces that were part of the growing service sector, and where unionization was largely prevented. The fact that unionization did not expand into the service sector would have lasting consequences for workers in service industries, for class relations across sectors, and for the Canadian labour movement. [The] analysis utilizes archival documents, but also relies on the memories of three former Hobbs workers.... --From author's introduction

The article reviews the book, "Uneasy Allies: Working for Labor Reform in Nineteenth Century Boston," by David A. Zonderman.