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The article reviews the book, "Divided Province: Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism," edited by Greg Albo and Bryan Evans.

From 1 to 6 April 1971, over 600 women gathered to attend the Vancouver Indochinese Women’s Conference (viwc), an international women’s antiwar conference organized by women’s liberationists in Vancouver. The conference was intended to bring women together under the banner of an international sisterhood, but this desired goal did not happen. Instead, tensions between American and Canadian women divided conference organizers and attendees, culminating in verbal and physical conflict. The viwc is useful for examining how Canadian women experienced interactions with American feminists and radical activists in attendance at the conference. Several women viewed the actions of American delegates as imperialistic. The experiences of conference organizers and attendees show how the viwc represents a moment in women’s liberation where the limits to international feminism were particularly visible.

The article reviews the film, "Peterloo," directed by Mike Leigh.

In April 2017, more than 100 people gathered at the Halifax North Memorial Library for the official launch of the Lynn Jones African-Canadian and Diaspora Heritage Collection, housed at Saint Mary's University. ...This is a personal archive whose creation was an intentional act. At the tender age of eight, Lynn Jones began cutting out articles from the Truro newspaper, preserving stories pertaining to Black life in Nova Scotia and around the world. One of ten children, Lynn kept busy documenting the many activities of generations of the Jones family, from those who fought with the Black Battalion in World War I to those active today. Along the way, she added numerous documents – many of them not found elsewhere – and correspondence related to organizations such as the Black Working Group and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (psac) and individuals like Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael). The result is eighteen boxes, with talk of more to come. While the collection stretches from the 1960s to the 2010s, the bulk of material pertains to the 1980s and 1990s. -- Introduction

Disputes over the meaning of human trafficking, forced labour and modern slavery have both provoked and coincided with a reinvigorated debate in academic and policy literatures about how to conceptualise unfree labour. This article traces the contours of the debate over free and unfree labour, identifying its key stakes as the debate has developed and paying particular attention to recent interventions. It begins by identifying a problem common to both canonical liberal and Marxian approaches to the free/unfree labour distinction, which is to fetishise the labour market. It then discusses the consensus that is emerging across disciplines and in leading international organisations that labour unfreedom in contemporary capitalism is best conceptualised as a continuum rather than a binary, highlighting recent disciplinary-specific contributions. It argues that the metaphor of a continuum of labour unfreedom obscures more than it illuminates. Drawing upon the growing body of literature that advocates a multifaceted approach to labour unfreedom, this article argues that a robust concept of local labour control regime does a much better job of capturing the complex mix of consent and coercion involved in extracting value from labour power than the idea of a continuum of labour unfreedom.

This May, Canada marks the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, when tens of thousands of people walked off their jobs in sympathy and solidarity with building and metal trades workers whose employers were refusing to bargain for fair wages and working conditions.Though the strike failed in its immediate goals, the example it set reverberated across the country and the world, inspiring political upheaval at all levels in Canada, and ultimately transforming the balance of power between workers and the bosses for many generations. In this issue of the Monitor we consider the value of direct action and solidarity strikes in a new era of retrenching labour rights, out-of-control inequality and conservative backlash. “Workers can make great gains by withdrawing their labour power. But they also risk a lot,” writes the Graphic History Collective in their introduction to our special feature on the strike. “The stakes in class struggle are high.” True. But so are the costs of not acting. Today, as it was 100 years ago, we must continually fight for fair pay and good jobs for everyone—or be prepared to live in a world where neither exists for anyone. --Introduction. Contents: Direct Action Gets the Goods! A printable timeline of Canadian strikes from the Graphic History Collective -- 1919: Causes and Consequences: Paul Moist recounts the organizing that went into the strike and its legacy -- 100 years on.Women, rights and work—from 1919 to the #MeToo movement: Molly McCracken interviews Julie Guard on labour's need to organize more female workers  -- The year labour makes history: Learning from failures like the Winnipeg General Strike and Kirkland Lake organization drive can strengthen the movement for true worker democracy, writes Jon Weier -- Work Life: Canada's "yellow vest" movement needs more gilets jaunes, writes Lynne Fernandez in her latest column -- Frontlines of the class: We all win when teachers strike. But, as Erika Shaker argues, parents, children and communities need to see themselves in the struggle -- Striking for survival: The right to strike in Canada is under attack and back-to-work legislation now commonplace Bruno Dobrusin calls on workers to embrace the mass walkout, both legal and illegal, as a tool for social change -- Lessons in South Korean protest culture: President Moon is backsliding on important labour reforms, but workers continue to resist in innovative ways, writes Zaee Desphande.

Among the 40,000 workers in Canada’s largest workplace, Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, a small but significant group of worker-organizers has created the Toronto Airport Workers’ Council (TAWC), a nonunion organization open to all Pearson workers. In this paper, we discuss the capitalist context of Canadian labor relations and the neoliberal restructuring that has attacked working conditions and workers’ solidarity across the airline industry. Then, after examining the insufficient responses by the twelve Pearson unions, we explain how workers formed the TAWC, whose participatory structures, direct action strategy, and broader class focus have achieved considerable successes, despite tensions with union leaders wary of potential “dual unionism.” We also discuss how the TAWC provides a space for socialist-led workplace organizing training and political education by the Toronto Labour Committee. Finally, we explore the possible roles of this council model in labor movement renewal and labor education in socialist movement renewal.

Prenant conscience des effets délétères des stratégies traditionnelles de mise à l’écart des travailleurs âgés, les pouvoirs publics promeuvent aujourd’hui leur maintien en emploi. Afin de comprendre comment et dans quelles conditions cet objectif politique se traduit ou non en pratiques concrètes dans les milieux de travail, l’article propose une grille d’analyse, inspirée de l’analyse sociétale, permettant de comprendre les attitudes des entreprises et des travailleurs vis-à-vis le maintien en emploi des séniors. L’article met ensuite cette grille à l’épreuve en étudiant les pratiques de deux entreprises de commerce de détail, l’une en France et l’autre au Québec, autour de quatre espaces d’interprétation : institutionnel, du dialogue social, marchand et organisationnel.

The article reviews the book, "Private Government: How Employers Rule our Lives and Why We Don’t Talk about It," by Elizabeth Anderson.

Des travaux récents en analyse institutionnelle ont souligné le rôle charnière des acteurs dans le changement institutionnel, notamment le pouvoir de l’acteur syndical à renouveler les institutions du travail. Ces recherches ont fait ressortir les trois aspects suivants : 1-l’agentivité, en réponse à la question de lareprésentation des syndiqués, notamment la construction d’une identité des travailleurs au-delà du milieu de travail; 2- la formation d’une large coalition au-delà des acteurs tripartites des relations de travail; et, enfin, 3-l’élargissement des répertoires d’action au-delà des frontières des entreprises et des contextes nationaux. Toutefois, contrairement à cette perspective sur l’agentivité qui dépendait autrefois des mécanismes de la démocratie industrielle, cet article montre que des contraintes structurelles peuvent restreindre, voire empêcher, la capacité stratégique des acteurs locaux à renouveler la règle en cet ère néolibéral de mondialisation de l’économie. À partir de deux études de cas menées dans deux usines de première transformation au Québec —l’une appartenant à une entreprise multinationalecanadienne, l’autre étant américaine —, cet article analyse comment les acteurs locaux, dans un contexte néolibéral de changement institutionnel, négocient la flexibilisation de l’emploi et la sécurité des travailleurs. Les résultats des négociations entreprises par les acteurs locaux, dans un cas, une négociation menée « le dos au mur », et, dans l’autre, « le fusil sur la tempe », montrent que l’issue du processus est tributaire de facteurs externes hors de la portée des acteurs locaux. L’agentivité a buté contre les impératifs économiques du marché, les politiques étatiques de dérégulation de l’emploi et l’intransigeance des maisons-mères concernant l’avantage compétitif des filiales. Dans l’usine américaine, ils ont déplacé l’ancienne règle des accords collectifs pour y substituer une nouvelle entente davantage axée sur les exigences du marché libéral. Dans l’usine canadienne, ils ont stratifié les accords collectifs, ajoutant une nouvelle entente (de facture inférieure à l’ancienne) basée sur le statut d’emploi et qui oppose les permanents aux contractuels. Dans les deux cas, des conditions structurelles ont limité la marge de manoeuvre desacteurs locaux, avec des conséquences néfastes sur les travailleurs périphériques de l’entreprise flexible.

The article reviews the book, "Power, Politics, and Principle: Mackenzie King and Labour, 1935–1948," by Taylor Hollander.

The article reviews the books, "Craft and the Creative Economy ," by Susan Luckman, "The Creativity Hoax: Precarious Work in the Gig Economy," by George Morgan and Pariece Nelligan.

The article reviews the books, "Filles de Mai. 68 mon Mai à moi : mémoires de femmes," edited by Monique Bauer, "Le scandale de Strasbourg mis à nu par ses célibataires, même ," by André Bertrand and André Schneider, "Le Mai 68 des Caraïbes," by Romain Cruse, and "The Long '68 : Radical Protest and its Enemies," by Richard Vinen.

This paper compares Japanese and US multinational corporations (MNCs) on their deployment of human resource management (HRM) and employment relations (ER) practices within four countries. Debate about convergence is used to reconcile findings. The context is the shift from the dominance of the Japanese economy in the 1980s and early 1990s towards the renewed dominance of the US economy in more recent decades. We draw on data from representative, parallel surveys of MNCs operating in Canada, the UK, Spain and Australia to test a set of hypotheses examining similarities and differences between subsidiaries of Japanese and US MNCs in relation to management control across borders, remuneration, representation and worker involvement. The findings demonstrate that, despite the pressures of globalization, and the partial movement away from traditional Japanese management practices in Japan, there are clear country of origin effects for Japanese and American MNCs. Results indicate that Japanese and US MNCs behave differently in terms of the control that they exercise, with Japanese firms exhibiting a greater tendency to use personal forms of control in their foreign subsidiaries and a lower tendency to use procedural forms of control. In terms of HRM practices, Japanese MNCs are distinctive in relation to pay systems. For example, they are less likely than their US counterparts to use performance-related pay and, more likely, to adopt non-union representative structures in subsidiaries. In line with Kaufman (2016), we argue that the study’s findings provide evidence for the ‘converging divergence phenomenon’ in that both Japanese and US MNCs are adopting the most universal aspects of each other’s management practices and integrating them into their own unique systems of management in response to global market forces. We discuss the theoretical implications for the convergence and divergence of HRM and ER systems, and the development of such systems in Japanese and US MNC subsidiaries.

Au Québec comme ailleurs dans le monde, certains groupes demeurent sous-représentés en emploi. Les personnes immigrantes récentes (PIR) font partie de ces groupes qui voient leur participation au marché du travail entravée par différentes barrières, alors qu’ils présentent un taux de chômage nettement plus élevé que les natifs. Cet article s’intéresse au lien entre les perceptions des employeurs à l’égard des PIR et les pratiques de gestion de la diversité contribuant à leur rétention. La démarche méthodologique s’appuie sur un devis exploratoire mixte, alors que 2 376 employeurs ont répondu à un questionnaire et que 87 ont participé à des groupes de discussion. Ces employeurs sont représentés par de propriétaires d’entreprise, des dirigeants, des gestionnaires, des directeurs ou des professionnels en gestion des ressources humaines de divers secteurs d’activité et d’entreprises de taille variée. Les résultats indiquent d’abord un relation positive significative entre les expériences d’embauches des PIR et les perceptions que les employeurs entretiennent à leur égard (r = 0,532, p < 0,01). En groupes de discussion, les participants évoquent l’évolution des perceptions selon la nature de l’expérience d’embauche, positive ou négative. Les résultats témoignent également de relations positives et significatives entre les perceptions et les pratiques de rétention, présentant des coefficients de corrélations de l’ordre de 0,185 à 0,390 (p < 0,01). La phase qualitative permet de constater que lorsque les employeurs perçoivent que les PIR concourent à la performance organisationnelle, ils sont davantage enclins à mettre en place des mesures de gestion de la diversité. Les bénéfices escomptés par les employeurs au regard de l’embauche des PIR modulent leur volonté à mettre en oeuvre diverses mesures de rétention. La gestion réactive de la diversité est alors constatée, quoique certains employeurs procèdent à une réflexion s’orientant vers la proactivité.

Dans le cadre d’une étude menée au sein de services de santé au travail au Québec et en France, nous nous intéressons aux conditions favorables aux pratiques de travail collectif pluridisciplinaire (TCP). Face à des problèmes de santé complexes, tels que les troubles musculosquelettiques (TMS) ou les troubles de santé psychologique (TPS), des professionnels de différents métiers sont amenés à collaborer, notamment pour mener des actions de prévention primaire ayant pour cible les conditions de réalisation du travail. Le contexte dans lequel oeuvrent, d’une part, les équipes de santé au travail (ESAT) au Québec et, d’autre part, les services de santé au travail interentreprises (SSTi) en France diffèrent en raison de leur histoire, leurs cadres juridique et institutionnel, leurs missions et dispositifs.

The article reviews the book, "Les artisans de la lumière. Histoire de la Fraternité interprovinciale des ouvriers en électricité," by Monique Audet.

This paper is based on work history interviews with a group of nine Toronto theatre workers covering a three-year period. During the interviews, participants did not spontaneously mention 13.1 per cent of their jobs in the creative cultural sector. Because forgotten work fails to register in surveys attempting to assess cultural workers’ contributions to the economy or to ameliorate their precarious conditions, it is important to explore why and how such work could go unreported. We locate the forgetting of cultural work in relation to the complexity and stresses of cultural workers’ schedules and to a discourse that opposes a devotion to art to the pursuit of money. Further, we explore how the participants’ particular tendency to forget their shortest-term jobs is informed by another discourse that prioritizes the building of a goals-based, coherent résumé. Last, we suggest that their surprising propensity to also forget their longest-term jobs can be understood in reference to the “piecework” model of cultural work and to a lack of socially supported remembering strategies. Based on these findings, we recommend improvements to the design of surveys on cultural workers’ work history.

The article reviews the book, "Sept ans de vie professionnelle des jeunes : entre opportunités et contraintes," edited by Arnaud Dupray and Emmanuel Quenson.