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The article reviews the book, "The Canadian Auto Workers: The Birth and Transformation of a Union," by Sam Gindin.

[Links] the development of union training initiatives and their relationship to state labor market policy to an emerging literature on trade unions in industrial geography. In particular, I examine labor's involvement in state policy in Canada and consider the impact it has had on the direction of these initiatives at the federal, provincial, and sectoral levels, with particular reference to the Canadian Labor Force Development Board (CLFDB), the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board (OTAB), and sectoral training initiatives by the Canadian Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers of America. Researchers in geography and industrial relations have linked post-Fordism to an enhancement of local union strategies and have suggested that one possible configuration of skill development under an emerging Schumpeterian Workfare State would include labor as an important stakeholder-especially at the regional level in a high­ skill/high-wage virtuous circle of development. However, in Canada labor has been organized historically on a largely local level and has been relatively weak in the formulation of state policy, nationally and provincially. If anything, labor has sought to overcome the legacy of localism. Although unions differ in central-local relations, overall they have fought for effective national, provincial, and sectoral representation in these initiatives. Labor has been able to achieve some input into this process, but the success or failure of these programs reflects more on national, provincial, and sectoral institutions, in particular the structure of capital, than on local factors or strategies by labor.

English/French abstracts of articles published in the issue.

English/French abstracts of articles in the Fall 1998 issue.

Fund-raising appeal by the Association of Veterans and Friends of the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion, in co-operation with the British Columbia Federation of Labour and the provincial government, in order to erect a monument to the BC veterans of the Mac-Paps and the International Brigades.

The article reviews the book, "Lesbian Motherhood: An Exploration of Canadian Lesbian Families," by Fiona Nelson.

The article reviews and comments on the film, "Land and Freedom" (1995), directed by Ken Loach, with screenplay by Jim Allen. Concludes that this portrayal of the Spanish Civil War - in which idealistic volunteers including the central character - a young, unemployed, working-class communist from Liverpool - are betrayed by the Stalinists - deserves "five red stars" as cinema, history, and politics.

The article reviews the book, "Le stratège du XXIe siècle : vers une organisation apprenante," by Pierre Dionne and Jean Roger.

The article reviews the book, "Nouvelles formes d'organisation du travail," edited Michel Grant, Paul R. Bélanger and Benoît Lévesque,

The article reviews the book, "Technology, Globalisation and Economic Performance," edited by Daniele Archibugi and Jonathan Mitchie.

Le présent article analyse l’efficacité de la procédure de règlement de 1 148 griefs dans neuf municipalités et huit hôtels de la région de Montréal pendant la période d’application de leurs deux dernières conventions collectives. Un bon climat de relations industrielles entre les parties et l’amélioration de ce climat d’une convention collective à l’autre diminuent de façon significative le délai nécessaire pour régler un grief sans que le règlement se fasse à une étape antérieure de la procédure. L’expérience du chef de service accélère le règlement du grief alors que l’expérience du délégué syndical le ralentit. Par contre, certaines caractéristiques de l’emploi, notamment le statut et le quart de travail, influencent à la fois le délai et l’étape du règlement. L’effet sur l’efficacité de la procédure de règlement des griefs d’autres caractéristiques comme l’origine ethnique du plaignant, le type et l’objet du grief sont aussi examinés.

Critiques the trade-and-investment agenda of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit held in Vancouver in November 1997.

Une recherche récente réalisée par John T. Dunlop et David Weil montre que les entreprises du vêtement sont peu nombreuses à avoir réussi à implanter l’organisation modulaire de travail et que pour y arriver, elles adoptent une stratégie d’ensemble comprenant trois étapes importantes. Comme les exigences de la variante la plus poussée de cette nouvelle forme d’organisation du travail sont élevées, cet article propose d’introduire une étape préparatoire supplémentaire dans le processus pour en augmenter la diffusiion.

Describes the business records of the Ford Motor Company of Canada that were deposited at the University of Windsor Archives in fall 1997, and their value for research on labour and work history.

The article reviews the book, "CLR James: A Political Biography," by Kent Worcester.

In the 1920s and early 1930s the Industrial Workers of the World were a force to be reckoned with among Finnish bushworkers in northern Ontario. Although the Lumber Workers Industrial Union no. 120, affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, was smaller than its rival, the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada, affiliated with the Communist Party, the Wobbly union played a major role in bushworker strikes in the mid-1920s and early 1930s. Committed to anti-authoritarianism, decentralization, and rank-and-file initiative, Finnish Wobbly bushworkers were part of an ethnic-based working-class culture in which the economic struggles of the bushworkers were made possible by the tireless work of Finnish Wobbly women, who were the backbone of Wobbly social, cultural, and organizational life in urban centres like Port Arthur. In a 20th century dominated by bureaucracy, legality, and state-directed social programs, the Finnish Wobblies of northern Ontario leave a legacy of dedication to self-education and self-activity in an age so often identified with the demise of the Wobblies and the victory of mass culture.

The article reviews the book, "Organizing to Win: New Research on Union Strategies," edited by Kate Bronfenbrenner, Sheldon Friedman, Richard W. Hurd, Rudolph A. Oswald and Ronald L. Seeber.

Since the early 1980s, the worldwide expansion of product and capital markets has been cited as one of the singlemost significant factors driving the transformation of economic and social relations, both in industrialized countries as well as in the developing countries. Much of this process of economic transformation has been generated as a result of the conjunction of a set of changes in several mutually reinforcing, yet endogenous, factors. Policy makers could once meaningfully refer to an industrial relations system as being defined primarily at the level of a national or sub-national government jurisdiction. While researchers and policy makers still refer to the notion of an industrial relations system, the process of internationalization has clearly begun to erode the relevance of this concept at least in the sense of its traditional meaning.

The article reviews the book, "After Lean Production: Evolving Employment Practices in the World Auto Industry," edited by Thomas A. Kochran, Russell D. Lansbury and John Paul MacDuffie.