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Details the decline of the steel industry in Hamilton, Ontario, over the past 30 years, including various labour disputes, cuts to the workforce, and changes in ownership. Concludes that a national strategy is required to resuscitate the industry.

Chronicles the development of gaming casinos on First Nations from 1996-2010, and various drives and court decisions pertaining to certification of casino workers. Analyzes the resistance of First Nation leaders to unionization. Concludes that while workers remain unorganized, the prospect of unionization has improved their compensation and benefits.

Explores the diversity of Canadian community unionism, including labour-community coalitions and community-based workers' organization. Concludes that the unions must take community unionism more seriously as a means of renewal, that unions are "swords of justice" rather than "vested interests."

Detailed examination from a labour militancy perspective of work stoppages in Canada from 1960 to 2004. Statistical data is enhanced with qualitative measures (newspaper accounts) of two strikes: the 8-month Miki Skools strike in the 1980s, and the 3-month Puretex strike of women garment workers in the 1970s.

Analyzes the effects of the off-shore oil boom of the late 1990s in Newfoundland and Labrador, that has exacerbated the urban-rural divide. Concludes that despite the rhetoric of transformation, the provincial economy has not basically changed.

In 1973 the Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling in Murdoch v Murdoch, denying Irene “Ginger” Murdoch an interest in the cattle ranch that she and her husband, James Alexander “Alex” Murdoch, had built together over many years. Irene performed extensive manual labour on the farm, including driving, branding, vaccinating and de-horning cattle, haying, raking, and mowing. She often did this work alone due to long, off-ranch, work-related absences by Alex. When their marriage began to break down, Irene sought to receive her ownership interest in the ranch property. However, the certificate of title to the property showed that the land belonged solely to Alex Murdoch. For Irene to receive an interest in the property it would be necessary for a court to declare that a portion of the title to the ranch was held by Alex Murdoch in trust for his wife. The principal basis for finding such a trust, her lawyer argued, was her contribution through labour to the ranch operations. That argument was rejected at trial and ultimately also by the Supreme Court of Canada, which held that under existing Canadian law no property claim was available to Irene Murdoch in the circumstances of her case. --Introduction

The author, who was the farm workers' legal representative before the Supreme Court in the Fraser case, provides historical background and analyzes the court's decision, including its reliance on judicial deference to the legislature. Concludes that the court was preoccupied with the larger political battle rather than the constitutional merits of the case.

Discusses whether capital's mobility always gives it bargaining power over labour, how labour markets are socially regulated and embedded in specific places, how workers can sometimes shape the economic system, the consequences of migration for labour, and possibilities of alternative or noncapitalist labour geographies. Under "Defending Place: Worker Actions in Situ" (pp. 172-174), the authors describe the role of the Canadian Auto Workers in shaping economic development and production in southern Ontario in the 1990s-2000s.

[T]his chapter identifies different forms of anti-poverty work being pursued in Canada today and examines the relations among poor people, poverty and labour unions. ...[The author] concentrates on examples of three main intersections of labour union and anti-poverty relations: union organizing of low-wage workers, poor workers' organizations, and multi-organization campaigns and coalitions. --Editors' introduction

When I entered Queen’s Park, the provincial legislature in Ontario, Canada, I sought to uncover, contextualize, and analyze what political workers do and why, in order to better understand the production of government. Not long after I started fieldwork, during an informal discussion but one that took place in the mythically sacrosanct space of the legislative chamber, a young male Conservative staffer encouraged a Liberal counterpart to decorate his new motorcycle helmet with a sticker proclaiming “Show me your tits, bitch!” This sort of misogyny, in combination with more subtle daily examples of andro-centrism, made it clear that gender and, in particular, variants of hegemonic masculinity were central to the production of government and what political workers do and why. I learned very quickly that I would need to grapple with the relationships between patriarchy and political labor in order to thoroughly understand government.

Provides a critical assessment of labour's longstanding relationship with the NDP and makes the case that organized labour's own "culture of defensiveness" has helped to maintain its enduring links with the NDP, despite the party's diminishing interest in projects historically associated with social democracy. --Editor's introduction

Compares the case law on Fraser and Dunsmore and critiques the Supreme Court's failure in Fraser to address the functional nature of the discrimination against farm workers as an issue of equality rights under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,

Examines the Supreme Court's decision on Fraser in the context of the broader political battle on labour rights. The author links the decline in union density to increasing inequality in income and taxation. Canada's failure to ratify or comply with international conventions of labour rights is also analyzed.

Explains in detail the purpose of the book (see publisher's description) and provides a synopsis of the essays contained therein.

Examines the effect of the Tar Sands oil boom on the Alberta economy and society, and the business-friendly policies of the provincial government of Ralph Klein (in office, 1992-2006).

[The author] reminds us that faculty power, and not only student power, helped to change the structure and governance of the modern university. --From editors' introduction

Provides an analysis of labour politics in Québec, arguing that the distinct trajectory of Québec unions caused the movement to adopt political strategies which diverged from those of the Canadian labour movement as a whole. --Editor's introduction

Analyzes the Quebec economy from the mid 1990s to the financial crisis of 2008-09, including stagnant wages and the trend toward precarious work. Emphasis is placed on the ambivalent state of the labour movement. The conclusion calls for the movement to become more inclusive, and to defend the distinctive Quebec model of programs, such as daycare.

Describes the efforts of agricultural workers to obtain legal protection with particular reference to legislation and proceedings in Ontario. Concludes that despite legal setbacks, the struggle continues through the Agriculture Worker Alliance of the United Food and Commercial Workers.