Communism and Labor Unions: The Changing Perspectives of Mennonites in Canada and the United States - Thiessen, Janis Lee (Direction, 2009)
Mennonite political theology, at least as manifested by church pronouncements on communism and labor unions, has been both more and less progressive than the ideology of the broader North American society. When the United States and Canadian governments were obsessed with tracking down enemy “reds” within, Mennonites passed resolutions that cautioned against the identification of Christianity with anti-communism. However, while the Second World War and the decade immediately following saw the expansion of labor unions as North Americans flocked to join them, Mennonites issued statements warning against the compromise of Christian principles that union membership would entail. –Introduction
https://winnspace.uwinnipeg.ca/handle/10680/1650

Remerciements/Acknowledgements - Thompson, Mark (Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
An acknowledgement speech by Mark Thompson, Professor Emeritus, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, is presented. Firstly, Thompson would like to thank Laval University and his colleagues and friends in the Department of industrial relations for this great honor, one of the great moments of his life. This honor is even more significant taking into account the major role that the Department plays in the study of industrial relations in Canada. Thompson also would like to address the graduates. They were fortunate to study various subjects in industrial relations with well-known professors. In the future, they will have many occasions to recall what they learned in their studies.
Keywords: Awards & honors; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor relations; University professors

Présentation - Thwaites, James Douglas (Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
Professor Mark Thompson is recipient of an honorary doctorate in the Social Sciences. Thompson undertook university studies in the US, initially at Notre Dame University and subsequently at Cornell University, where he oriented his studies toward the field of Industrial Relations. Following his studies, military service as an officer, and two years at the International Labour Organization, Thompson chose the university sector and pursued his career at the University of British Columbia (UBC). That career would last more than thirty years and, in the meantime, he also became a Canadian citizen. During the years he spent at UBC, Thompson devoted himself to integrating the various components of his profession in a very convincing way. The first component was research and publication. The second component was direct intervention in the areas of mediation and arbitration. The third component was his work within professional associations, the Canadian Industrial Relations Association and the Industrial Relations Research Association in the US.
Keywords: Awards & honors; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor relations; Personal profiles; University professors

The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets - Townsend, James (Labour / Le Travail, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets," by Tito Boeri and Jan van Ours.
Keywords: BOERI; Tito; BOOKS – Reviews; ECONOMICS of Imperfect Labor Markets; The (Book); Economic aspects; LABOR market; Nonfiction; VAN Ours; Jan

Transnational Tortillas: Race, Gender, and Shop-Floor Politics in Mexico and the United States - Tremblay, Carole (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Que font les employeurs comme préparation à la négociation collective ? - Tremblay, Jean-François; Bergeron, Jean-Guy (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
L’étude vise à combler le manque de connaissance sur la préparation à la négociation collective et, plus particulièrement, celle des employeurs. Malgré qu’elle soit considérée comme une phase de première importance du processus de la négociation collective, les études de terrain sur le sujet sont quasi inexistantes. Le modèle de la préparation patronale à la négociation collective utilisé a été testé à partir d’un échantillon de 232 répondants provenant des organisations syndiquées du Québec, à l’exception des fonctions publiques provinciale et fédérale. Les résultats de l’analyse montrent que, globalement, la préparation des employeurs est jugée comme étant une activité importante, surtout la préparation politique, suivie des préparations synoptique et technique. Pour la première fois à notre connaissance, une étude présente ce que font concrètement les organisations en guise de préparation, tout en permettant une analyse théorique de la dynamique de cette phase du processus de la négociation collective.
Keywords: bargaining process; organisations québécoises; organizaciones quebequenses; organizational practices; organizations in Quebec; political preparation; practicas organizacionales; pratiques organisationnelles; preparación política; procesos de negociación; processus de négociation; préparation politique

International Labour Regulation: What Have We Really Learnt So Far? - Tsogas, George (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
Can soft regulatory approaches and corporate social responsibility ever be substitute methods for pursuing meaningfully across the globe violations of labour standards? Our analysis shows the limits of country, government, and hard-law based international labour regulation, but also the ambiguities and challenges of soft labour regulation. We introduce an updated model of international labour regulation and create a conceptual framework for analyzing labour regulation. We provide some insights into how regulation has developed over the last decades and discuss some of the challenges it faces. Our assessment of the various regulatory regimes is based on the simple premise of whether they can provide a venue for workers' rights violations to be redressed. We aim to provide a broad overview and an attempt at generalizing the findings and "lessons learnt" so far from an international and comparative industrial relations perspective.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; International; Labor Unions; Labor relations; Models; Regulation; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Social responsibility; Studies; Violations

Hospitality Unionism and Labour Market Adjustment: Toward Schumpeterian Unionism? - Tufts, Steven (Geoforum, 2009)
This paper proposes a conceptual model for understanding emerging changes in a North American labour union. UNITE-HERE, largely representing textile and hospitality workers, has been at the forefront of debates on union revitalization in the US and Canada. UNITE-HERE is often characterized as a successful example of North American union renewal, but I argue that this often oversimplifies many complex and contradictory labour strategies. Much of the labour union renewal literature remains prescriptive and is only beginning to escape false binaries such as business versus social unionism, the servicing versus organizing model, or ‘top-down’ versus ‘bottom-up’ administration. In this paper, I attempt to conceptualize the strategies adopted by the union as they exist in relation to the changing political economic landscape. I characterize the current labour practices as ‘Schumpeterian unionism’, a model which captures the shifting, contradictory, and multi-scalar relationships labour has with the broader community, capital and the state. The model is illustrated with a case study of UNITE-HERE Local 75’s response to the 2003 SARS outbreak through their establishment of a Hospitality Workers Resource Centre to service unemployed workers.

Labouring Geography: Negotiating Scales, Strategies and Future Directions - Tufts, Steven; Savage, Lydia (Geoforum, 2009)
In our editorial introduction to this themed issue on labour geography, we outline some important on-going debates in the relatively young field of labour geography and suggest future directions for research. First, there is the key question of labour as an active agent in the production of economic landscapes. The agency of labour will likely remain a defining feature of labour geography, but perhaps it is not as important to construct theoretical analytical boundaries as it is to define labour geography as a political project. Second, debates continue surrounding the production of scale and the multiscalarity of organized labour. Third, labour geographers have yet to engage in any sustained fashion with unpacking the complex identities of workers and the way in which those identities simultaneously are shaped by and shape the economic and cultural landscape. Fourth, there is some debate on the costs and benefits of a ‘normative’ labour geography which emphasizes what workers and their organizations ‘could’ or even ‘should’ do. Lastly, we challenge the assumption that labour geographers have not yet asserted themselves as activists in their own right. We conclude the editorial by introducing the articles included in the issue. While these articles may not address every gap in the literature, they do contribute in significant ways to move the labour geography project forward.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc7094509/

Transforming or Reforming Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Community Economic Development - Veltmeyer, Henry (Labour / Le Travail, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "Transforming or Reforming Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Community Economic Development," by John Loxley.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LOXLEY; John; Management; Nonfiction; TRANSFORMING or Reforming Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Community Economic Development (Book); economic development

Un débat en analyse du travail : deux méthodes en synergie dans l'étude d'une situation d'enseignement - Viau-Guay, Anabelle (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "Un débat en analyse du travail : deux méthodes en synergie dans l’étude d’une situation d’enseignement," by Daniel Faïta et Bruno Maggi.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Tenants in Time: Family Strategies, Land, and Liberalism in Upper Canada, 1799-1871 - Vosburgh, Michelle (Labour / Le Travail, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "Tenants in Time: Family Strategies, Land, and Liberalism in Upper Canada, 1799-1871," by Catharine Anne Wilson.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; History; Nonfiction; REAL property; TENANTS in Time: Family Strategies; Land & Liberalism in Upper Canada 1799-1871 (Book); WILSON; Catharine Anne

Ontario´s Agricultural Workers and Collective Bargaining: A History of Struggle - Walchuk, Bradley (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2009)
This paper explores the history of Ontario’s labour laws as they relate to agricultural workers, examines the way these laws have been interpreted by the judiciary, provides an overview of the most recent case affirming the right of agricultural workers to bargain, and analyzes the likely effects of the Court of Appeal’s recent decision. In so doing, it provides commentary on the relationship between the labour movement, human rights and the legal system more generally, and provides specific commentary on this situation as applies to agricultural workers in Ontario.

The Best of Both Worlds: A Pragmatic Approach to the Construction of Labour Rights as Human Rights - Walchuk, Bradley (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2009)
Labour rights are increasingly being constructed as human rights. While this construction is gaining popularity, there is still considerable opposition to it. Recently, the debate has made its way to the pages of Just Labour. Building upon a pragmatic approach utilized by feminist legal scholars, the present article seeks to continue this important dialogue and offers an alternative that combines elements of both rights-based pluralism and critical legal scholarship. It contends that the labour movement ought to employ a multi-faceted strategy to protect and promote the rights of working people. Such a strategy recognizes the limitations of rights-discourse, but also recognizes its potential benefits. The paper argues that the labour movement cannot rely solely on rights-discourse to protect its interests but that it should also not be dismissed out of hand. Thus, the construction of labour rights as human rights can be only part of the labour movement's broader fight back strategy.

Queer Inclusions, Continental Divisions: Public Recognition of Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States - Walcott, Rinaldo (Labour / Le Travail, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "Queer Inclusions, Continental Divisions: Public Recognition of Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States," by David Rayside.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Nonfiction; QUEER Inclusions; Continental Divisions: Public Recognition of Sexual Diversity in Canada & the United States (Book); RAYSIDE; David; SEXUAL diversity

Feminism's Challenge to Unions in the North: Possibilities and Contradictions - Warskett, Rosemary (Socialist Register, 2009)
In most advanced capitalist societies, the feminist challenge to labour unions began well over twenty-five years ago. This essay examines the history of the ambivalent relationship between women and unions and assesses the difference feminism has made in terms of the structure, practices and overall vision of unions' role and goals. Has feminism helped to renew union movements across the capitalist world and moved them at all towards socialism? The answer to this is complex and involves assessing both the different strands of feminist influence and the way these were interwoven with the attack on unions and working people that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Stelco Restructuring Paradox - Waxman, Jason A. (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2009)
Examines the legal dispute that occurred during the Stelco restructuring that occurred between 2004 and 2006, in which labour law was trumped by corporate law. The union ultimately emerged victorious because it made no concessions despite the series of legal defeats.

Global Unions, Global Business: Global Union Federations and International Business - Wood, Geoffrey (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
Global Unions, Global Business: Global Union Federations and International Business, by Richard Croucher and Elizabeth Cotton, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Globalization; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Gender and Racial Differentials in Promotions: Is There a Sticky Floor, a Mid-Level Bottleneck, or a Glass Ceiling? - Yap, Margaret; Konrad, Alison M. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
Using a proprietary dataset containing personnel records on over 22,000 full-time, non-unionized employees from a large Canadian firm with nationwide operations from 1996 to 2000, this paper explores the incidence of promotion for women and racial minorities. The findings show that women and racial minorities are less likely than their white male counterparts to be promoted. For both white women and minority women, the disadvantage is most severe at the lower rungs of the organizational hierarchy, lending support to the "sticky floor" hypothesis. Significant promotion disadvantages occur for white women, visible minority women, and visible minority men at the middle ranks of the organization, and visible minority men continue to experience a promotion disadvantage at the highest organizational levels.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Employee promotions; Gender differences; Impact analysis; Labor Unions; Minority & ethnic groups; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies

In Defence of the Rights to Strike - Yates, Charlotte A. B. (Charlotte Alyce Bronwen) (University of New Brunswick Law Journal, 2009)
Do low strike rates suggest that the ‘age of strikes’ has come to an end? Have we reached a time when unions can and should give up the right to strike as a weapon more suited to the ‘old’ economy, or ‘old’ unions who are themselves better suited for the industrial than the post-industrial age? Or should unions continue to defend the right to strike and if so why? This research note explores some answers to these questions that underline the critical importance of defending the right to strike. –From introduction

GRH et genre : les défis de l'égalité hommes-femmes - Zannad, Hédia (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
The article reviews the book, "GRH et genre : les défis de l’égalité hommes-femmes," edited by Annie Cornet, Jacqueline Laufer and Sophia Belghiti-Mahut.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Flexibility: Whose Choice Is It Anyway? - Zeytinoglu, Isik U.; Cooke, Gordon B.; Mann, Sara L. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2009)
This paper examines whether flexible work schedules in Canada are created by employers for business reasons or to assist their workers achieve work-life balance. We focus on long workweek, flextime, compressed workweek, variable workweek length and/or variable workweek schedule. Statistics Canada's 2003 Workplace and Employee Survey data linking employee microdata to workplace (i.e.. employer) microdata are used in the analysis. Results show that more than half of the workers covered in this data have at least one of the five specified types of flexible work schedules. Employment status, unionized work, occupation, and sector are factors consistently associated with flexible work schedules. Personal characteristics such as marital status, dependent children, and childcare use are not significantly associated with flexible work schedules, and females are less likely to have a flexible work schedule than are males. Overall, results suggest that flexible work schedules are created for business reasons rather than individual worker interests.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Flexible hours; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Work environment; Work life balance

Chinese Workers Confront Capitalist Labour Relations - Zhang, Li (Labour / Le Travail, 2009)
The article reviews several books including "Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt," by Ching Kwan Lee, "Creating Market Socialism: How Ordinary People Are Shaping Class and Status in China," by Carolyn L. Hsu and "Revolution, Resistance, and Reform in Village China," by Edward Friedman, Paul G. Pickowicz and Mark Selden.
Keywords: AGAINST the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt & Sunbelt (Book); BOOKS – Reviews; CHING Kwan Lee; CREATING Market Socialism: How Ordinary People Are Shaping Class & Status in China (Book); FRIEDMAN; Edward; HSU; Carolyn L.; Nonfiction; PICKOWICZ; Paul G.; REVOLUTION; Resistance & Reform in Village China (Book); SELDEN; Mark

Social Unionism and Membership Participation: What Role for Union Democracy? - Ross, Stephanie (Studies in Political Economy, 2008)
[The author] brings to the pages of this journal two closely intertwined debates regarding the meaning of social movement unionism and strategies for rebuilding labour movement power in Canada and the United States. It offers an important overview of this debate and raises critical points about the meaning and place of union democracy. The author provides a pertinent critique of the “organizing unionism” “model” that has emerged in the United States. It also serves as a useful foil for distinguishing greater member participation of the sort called for by the organizing model from greater member control.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephanie-Ross-6/publication/277186366_Social_Unionism_and_Membership_Participation_What_Role_for_Union_Democracy/links/55f6cb7008aec948c462f309/Social-Unionism-and-Membership-Participation-What-Role-for-Union-Democracy.pdf

Quebec Labour and the Referendums - Savage, Larry (Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 2008)
The Quebec labour movement's decision to withdraw its support for Canada's federal system in the 1970s and instead embrace the sovereignist option was unquestionably linked to the intersection of class and nation in Quebec. In this period, unions saw the sovereignist project as part of a larger socialist or social democratic societal project. Because the economic inequalities related to ethnic class, which fuelled the labour movement's support for sovereignty in the 1970s, were no longer as prevalent by the time of Quebec's 1995 referendum, organized labour's continued support for the sovereignist option in the post-referendum period cannot adequately be explained using the traditional lens of class and nation. This paper employs an institutional comparative analysis of Quebec's three largest trade union centrals with a view to demonstrating that organized labour's primary basis for supporting sovereignty has changed considerably over time. While unions have not completely abandoned a class-based approach to the national question, they have tended to downplay class division in favour of an emphasis on Quebec's uniqueness and the importance of preserving the collective francophone identity of the nation. Party–union relations, the changing cultural, political and economic basis of the sovereignist project and the emergence of neoliberalism in Quebec are offered as key explanatory factors for the labour movement's shift in focus.

The Wage Gap between Francophones and Anglophones: A Canadian Perspective, 1970-2000 - Albouy, David (The Canadian Journal of Economics / Revue canadienne d'Economique, 2008)
The wage gap between Francophone and Anglophone men from 1970 and 2000 fell by 25 percentage points within Quebec, but only by 10 points Canada-wide, largely because the wages of Quebec Anglophones fell by 15 points relative to other Canadian Anglophones. Accordingly, the Canadian measure of the Francophone gap better reflects the changing welfare of Francophones than the Quebec measure. Over half of the reduction in the Canadian Francophone wage gap is explained by rising Francophone education levels. In Quebec, the declining number and relative wages of Anglophone workers is best explained by a falling demand for English-speaking labour. /// L'écart de salaires entre les hommes francophones et anglophones est tombé de 25 points de pourcentage au Québec entre 1970 et 2000, mais seulement de 10 points à l'échelle canadienne, largement parce que les salaires des anglophones au Québec sont tombés de 15 points par rapport aux autres canadiens anglophones. En conséquence, la mesure canadienne de l'écart prend mieux la mesure du changement de bien-être des francophones que la mesure québécoise. Plus de la moitié de la réduction dans l'écart au niveau canadien s'explique par l'accroissement des niveaux d'éducation des francophones. Au Québec, le nombre en déclin des travailleurs anglophones et la chute de leurs salaires relatifs s'expliquent par un déclin dans la demande de travailleurs parlant anglais.

Working Without Commitments: Precarious Employment and Health - Lewchuk, Wayne; Clarke, Marlea; de Wolff, Alice (Work, Employment and Society, 2008)
Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops a new approach to understanding the impact of less permanent forms of employment on workers' health. It concludes that employment relationships where future employment is uncertain, where individuals are actively searching for new employment and where support is limited are associated with poorer health indicators.

Abstracts = Résumés (61, Spring 2008) (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
English/French abstracts of the article in the Spring 2008 issue.
Keywords: Canada; FISHERS; FISHERY law & legislation; METIS; MOHAWK women

Abstracts = Résumés (62, Fall 2008) (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
English/French abstracts of articles in the Fall 2008 issue.
Keywords: ABSENTEEISM (Labor); ABSTRACTS; Gender; Labor; Miners

An Index to Labour/Le Travail (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
A subject index for the 2007 issues of "Labour/Le Travail" is presented.
Keywords: INDEXES; Labor

From Statutory Right to Human Right: The Evolution and Current Status of Collective Bargaining - Adams, Roy J. (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)

I-Mode, The New Language of Workers' Rights: A Rejoinder to Larry Savage - Adams, Roy J. (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)

The Supreme Court, Collective Bargaining and International Law: A Reply to Brian Langille - Adams, Roy J. (Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal, 2008)
Commentary on Brian Langille's paper, "Can We Rely on the ILO?”

What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace - Adams, Roy J. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace, edited by Richard B. Freeman, Peter Boxall and Peter Haynes, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Human resource management; International; Labor Unions; Polls & surveys; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Unionization; Work environment

The Wage Gap Between Francophones and Anglophones: A Canadian Perspective, 1970–2000 - Albouy, David (Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, 2008)
The wage gap between Francophone and Anglophone men from 1970 and 2000 fell by 25 percentage points within Quebec, but only by 10 points Canada-wide, largely because the wages of Quebec Anglophones fell by 15 points relative to other Canadian Anglophones. Accordingly, the Canadian measure of the Francophone gap better reflects the changing welfare of Francophones than the Quebec measure. Over half of the reduction in the Canadian Francophone wage gap is explained by rising Francophone education levels. In Quebec, the declining number and relative wages of Anglophone workers is best explained by a falling demand for English-speaking labour.
Keywords: J200; J700

Corporate Wasteland: The Landscape and Memory of Deindustrialization - Anastakis, Ditry (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Corporate Wasteland: The Landscape and Memory of Deindustrialization," by Steven High And David W. Lewis.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CORPORATE Wasteland: The Landscape & Memory of Deindustrialization (Book); DEINDUSTRIALIZATION; HIGH; Steven; LEWIS; David W.; 1946-; Nonfiction

Subcommander Marcos, The Man and the Mask - Anderson, Mark (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Subcommander Marcos: The Man and the Mask," by Nick Henck.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; HENCK; Nick; LEADERS; Nonfiction; SUBCOMMANDER Marcos: The Man & the Mask (Book)

No Place to Go: Local Histories of the Battered Women's Shelter Movement - Athersych, Cheryl (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "No Place to Go: Local Histories of the Battered Women's Shelter Movement," by Nancy Janovicek.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; JANOVICEK; Nancy; NO Place to Go: Local Histories of the Battered Women's Shelter Movement (Book); Nonfiction; WOMEN'S shelters

The Labour Force Involvement of Women: Lessons from a Comparison of Canada and Australia - Austen, Siobhan (Public Policy, 2008)
The focus of this paper is the large difference in the labour market involvement of Canadian and Australian women. In the context of ageing populations and associated skill shortages, this employment gap has particular policy significance. Understanding the contributing factors could guide the development of new approaches to maximising potential labour supply. This paper explores the role of differences in educational attainment, marginal tax rates, parental leave, child care costs and attitudes regarding the legitimacy of mothers' involvement in paid work.
Keywords: Child care; Education; Employment; Labor market; Labour market; Wages; Women

Employment and Sexual Orientation: Disclosure and Discrimination in the Workplace - Badgett, M.V. Lee (Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 2008)
Economist, sociologists, and other social scientists have begun to study the influence of sexual orientation on individuals in the labor market, particularly with respect to employment discrimination. The conceptual framework developed in this paper connects lesbian, gay, and bixexual workers' disclosure of their sexual orientation to the economic and social characteristics of the workplace. Disclosure creates the potential for discrimination by employers and coworkers. The framework shows how sexual orientation operates independently and in interaction with other important characteristics such as race and gender. A review of existing research supports the hypothesis that discrimination against gay workers exists. Both workplace groups for gays and lesbians and those who work gay and lesbian workers (such as supervisors, personnel managers, and counselors) need to understand the relationship between disclosure and discrimination in order to make workplaces supportive of lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers.

Global Governance in Question: Empire, Class and the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations - Baragar, Fletcher (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Global Governance in Question: Empire, Class and the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations," by Susanne Soederberg.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; GLOBAL Governance in Question: Empire; Class & the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations (Book); International relations; Nonfiction; SOEDERBERG; Susanne

The Saga of History 492: The Transformation of Working-Class History in One Classroom - Barrett, Jim; Koenker, Diane P. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article focuses on the educational course History 492 and the relationship between the re-conceptualization and rewriting of working-class history in the U.S. and the ways in which teaching of the subject has changed. The evolution of the course suggests that social class is still being talked about in more capacious terms. It says that the seminar's comparative approach indicates that the characteristics of capitalism and industrialism are shared from one society to another.
Keywords: CURRICULA (Courses of study); Capitalism; HISTORY – Study & teaching; INDUSTRIALISM; Social classes; United States; WORKING class – History

Scapegoats of September 11th: Hate Crimes and State Crimes in the War on Terror - Barsky, Robert F. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Scapegoats of September 11th: Hate Crimes and State Crimes in the War on Terror," by Michael Welch.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; HATE crimes; Nonfiction; SCAPEGOATS of September 11th: Hate Crimes & State Crimes in the War on Terror (Book); WELCH; Michael

Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia - Beder, Sharon (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia," by John Calvert.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CALVERT; John; Energy industries; LIQUID Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia (Book); Nonfiction

The Freedom to Smoke: Tobacco Consumption and Identity - Belisle, Donica (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Freedom to Smoke: Tobacco Consumption and Identity," by Jarrett Rudy.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; FREEDOM to Smoke: Tobacco Consumption & Identity; The (Book); Nonfiction; RUDY; Jarrett; SMOKING

The Parlour and the Suburb: Domestic Identities, Class, Femininity and Modernity - Belisle, Donica (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Parlour & the Suburb: Domestic Identities, Class, Femininity and Modernity," by Judy Giles.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; GILES; Judy; Nonfiction; PARLOUR & the Suburb: Domestic Identities; Class; Femininity & Modernity; The (Book); WOMEN in development

The Mysterious Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveaux: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans - Bell, Caryn Cossé (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Mysterious Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveaux: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans," by Ina Johanna Fandrich.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; FANDRICH; Ina Johanna; LAVEAU; Marie; 1794-1881; MYSTERIOUS Voodoo Queen; Marie Laveaux: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in 19th-Century New Orleans; The (Book); Nonfiction

Social Theory at Work - Bellemare, Guy (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Social Theory at Work," edited by Marek Korczynski, Randy Hodson and Paul K. Edwards.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

La relation d’emploi : état actuel de la question / The Employment Relationship: Current Research Avenues - Bentein, Kathleen; Guerrero, Sylvie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cette introduction présente les cinq articles sélectionnés dans ce numéro spécial. Elle montre dans un premier temps comment chaque contribution a un lien avec la théorie de l’échange social, qui sert de fondement à l’ensemble du numéro spécial. Ce faisant, l’apport des cinq articles est souligné et les principaux résultats sont mis en perspective avec les travaux antérieurs sur l’échange social. La deuxième partie de l’introduction présente diverses perspectives de recherche sur la relation d’emploi. Les auteures suggèrent des pistes liées aux emplois atypiques, à l’étude de la relation d’emploi dans une perspective temporelle, et à l’approche multi-cibles et multi-niveaux de la relation d’emploi. Le recours aux méthodes de recherche longitudinales et quantitatives y est suggéré. // This introduction presents the five articles selected for this special issue. First, it illustrates how each contribution relates to the social exchange theory, on which this entire special issue is based. The contributions of the five articles are highlighted and their main results are compared with those of previous work conducted on social exchange. The second part of the introduction presents various research perspectives on the employment relationship. The authors recommend avenues for contingent jobs, for a study of the employment relationship from a temporal perspective, and a multi-foci and multi-level approach of the employment relationship. They also recommend the use of longitudinal and quantitative research methods.

Travail et reconnaissance des compétences - Bernier, Colette (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Travail et reconnaissance des compétences," edited by William Cavestro, Christine Durieux and Sylvie Monchatre; afterword by Hugues Bertrand.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Cent jours dans la vie des Campivallensiennes. La grève de 1946 à Salaberry-de-Vallefield - Bettez, Lucie (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
L’historiographie québécoise regorge d’études sur le mouvement ouvrier et ses répercussions dans le monde du travail. Par contre, peu de chercheurs se sont penchés sur les conséquences familiales causées par un manque à gagner, tant du côté des travailleuses que de celui des mères et épouses de grévistes. Cette étude vise à reconnaître l’apport de ces femmes durant la grève de 1946 à la Montreal Cottons de Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, tout en essayant de cerner et d’analyser les circonstances entourant le soutien féminin substantiel à ce conflit de travail.
Keywords: ESSAY (Literary form); History; QUEBEC (Province); QUEBEC (Province) – Social conditions; SALABERRY-de-Valleyfield (Quebec); STRIKES & lockouts – Textile industry; Women employees

Rebâtir la confiance après une grève de longue durée : est-ce possible ? - Bonin, Geneviève A.; Harrisson, Denis (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cette étude a pour but d’analyser les facteurs contribuant à bâtir la confiance entre employés syndiqués et cadres après une grève de longue durée dans une succursale bancaire. Des entrevues semi-dirigées auprès de treize employés et cinq cadres, des observations et une analyse documentaire ont servi à déterminer ces facteurs. Ces derniers ont été analysés à la lumière des écrits scientifiques pour établir un modèle relationnel et analyser la situation vécue par les membres de l’organisation à l’étude., The effects of strikes have always preoccupied industrial relations’ scholars and practitioners. Even though statistically, there have been fewer strikes in Quebec during the last few years, they have not been of lesser interest. The most recent strikes have been more apparent because of their longer duration. This study discusses trust between managers and unionized employees who have returned to work after a fourteen-month strike. The objective is to better understand the phenomenon of trust in a situation of organizational conflict and, more precisely, to analyze the factors that contribute to re-establishing trust between union employees and managers following this major conflict. A few theoretical concepts about trust help us understand the basic elements needed to produce collaborative relationships. Among other things, categories of trust established by Lewicki and Bunker (1996) as well as Zucker (1986) are presented to help make a better judgment with regard to the different types of relationships and to understand the way in which they present themselves in particular situations. This section ends with an overview of the authors’ theoretical perspective, an institutional approach, which makes reference to Powell and Dimaggio’s (1991) framework. Because of the difficulty to access multiple companies affected by a strike, a qualitative case study was conducted. Thirteen union employees and five managers chosen randomly among each job category from a total of forty-six employees make up the sample. They were interviewed during semi-structured interviews six months following the end of the strike. Observations about individual behaviour during the interview period were also taken into consideration. An analysis of internal documents from the organization helped bring out factual information about the state of the relationship between the two groups before, during and after the strike. It is the use of these three traditional methods that helped construct the case presented. Not only does it explain the events surrounding the conflict by using a balanced approach including information obtained from union employees and company managers, but it also includes references to articles published in local newspapers to give a temporality and a sense of place to the events. Subsequently, the authors undertake a discussion about ways to reconstruct trust among the parties. Tables detailing the factors that can contribute to reconstructing trust according to each party are presented with representative quotes from the semi-structured interviews. In total, three common factors were raised—communication, material investments and human investments. Communication is a central concept, but it also includes its share of complexities because the simple act of communicating is not sufficient. Even if, in basic terms, material investments are perceived as advantages, they are not in practice, according to the literature on this subject. Human investments can also bring new dynamics to a company, but cannot be done to the detrimental need of removing existing personnel. To these factors, the union employees add six additional ones including desire, supervision, recognition and appreciation, respect of the collective agreement and the importance of not resorting to outsourcing. The managers also came up with four additional factors—responsibility, comprehension, company vision and the importance of providing projects to union employees. All these factors are systematically analyzed in the article in direct relation to the written scientific and theoretical literature on these subjects. In light of this analysis, it is possible to establish a relationship between these factors and a hierarchy of their importance that can serve to explore the possibility of reestablishing trust within the organization. These relationships and this hierarchy are presented in an illustration which summarizes the study. Explanations about its creation and the way to interpret it are also included. It is important, however, to note that although the study reveals a number of important factors needed to study trust, it has its limitations which can only be rectified by studying each factor in a distinct fashion and by weighing each one individually during subsequent research. In conclusion, this research demonstrates the difficulty to establish trust within an organization because the company does not recognize the union’s presence and its role. The company is rather searching to achieve its own objectives without taking the values and interests of its employees into account as well as those of the trade union. From a theoretical point of view, the study helps identify the limitations to trust relationships between various groups of employees, the effects of strikes on returning to work and of trust in the after-strike context. Paths for future research are explored. It is suggested to replicate the study in an institution in the same field or in different fields to open the door to the possibility of generalization. Secondly, it is suggested to weigh the factors to find out which ones would have the greatest impact on the creation of trust. And, finally, measuring the level of trust that really exists between the parties would be beneficial in understanding the scope of the division which separates them., El objetivo de este estudio es de analizar los factores que contribuyen a construir la confianza entre empleados sindicalizados y directivos después de una huelga de larga duración en una sucursal bancaria. Para determinar estos factores, se utilizaron entrevistas semi-dirigidas con trece empleados y cinco cuadros, observaciones directas y un análisis documentario. Dichos factores fueron analizados a la luz de escritos científicos para establecer un modelo racional y analizar la situación vivida por los miembros de la organización al estudio.

Women's Work and Identity in Eighteenth-Century Brittany - Boon, Sonja (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Women's Work & Identity in Eighteenth-Century Brittany," by Nancy Locklin.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LOCKLIN; Nancy; Nonfiction; WOMEN – Social conditions; WOMEN'S Work & Identity in 18th-Century Brittany (Book)

Vocational Training and the Labour Market in Liberal and Coordinated Economies - Bosch, Gerhard; Charest, Jean (Industrial Relations Journal, 2008)
In recent decades, the differences between the education and training systems in the liberal and coordinated market economies have increased. It is not possible to understand such different developments by focusing exclusively on the internal dynamics of vocational and general education systems. Vocational education and training (VET), and particularly apprenticeship systems rather than school-based VET, are deeply embedded in the different national production, labour market, industrial relations and status systems. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of VET, we examine recent developments in general and vocational training and its links to the labour and product market in five contrasting countries, namely, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Korea and the USA. In particular, differences in industrial relations, welfare states, income distribution and product markets are the main reason for the persistent high level of diversity in vocational training systems. The difference can perhaps be summarized as follows: in the coordinated market economies, the modernisation of vocational training is seen as a contribution to innovation in the economy, while in liberal market economies, it is seen as a siding into which weaker pupils can conveniently be shunted.

International Framework Agreements and the Future of Collective Bargaining in Multinational Companies - Bourque, Reynald (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)
This article emphasizes the contribution of International Framework Agreements (IFAs) to collective bargaining within multinational companies (MNC). For this purpose, we used various data, including content analysis of 42 IFAs and interviews with representatives of the five Global Union Federations (GUFs) involved in the negotiation of these IFAs, in order to assess the content and efficiency of these agreements. Our analysis reveals that IFAs usually include a commitment by the signatory MNC to conform to ILO's core conventions in all its operations, and to inform its business partners of their obligations under the agreement. Regular meetings are held with unions' representatives for the monitoring of these agreements to ensure their respect by the signatory multinational companies and their business partners. According to GUFs' representatives, the IFAs have been effective in protecting basic trade union rights covered by ILO conventions 87 and 98. In the last part, we emphasize the IFAs' contribution to collective bargaining within MNCs and discuss the prospects for future development of international collective bargaining, particularly in light of Levinson's seminal work (1972) on this subject.

Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada (1880-1920) - Bouzek, Don (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada (1880-1920)," by Susan Close.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CLOSE; Susan; FRAMING Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada 1880-1920 (Book); Nonfiction; Photography

Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves - and the Labor Movement - In Harm's Way - Braedley, Susan (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves - and the Labor Movement - in Harm's Way," by Kris Paap.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Labor; Nonfiction; PAAP; Kris; WORKING Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves & the Labor Movement in Harm's Way (Book)

'Living the Same as the White People': Mohawk and Anishinabe Women's Labour in Southern Ontario, 1920-1940 - Brownlie, Robin Jarvis (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
Aboriginal women have a long history of paid labour in Canada, yet there is little scholarly writing examining their work experiences. Using enfranchisement case files for the Ontario Indian agencies of Parry Sound and Manitowaning, supplemented by oral histories from the Tyendinaga Mohawks, this article explores the work lives of Anishinabe and Mohawk women in the 1920s and 1930s. Aboriginal women's economic roles involved a continuum of labour ranging from non-cash-oriented subsistence production to commercially-oriented farming, handicraft production, and berry-picking, to wage labour in the capitalist economy. In response to increasing economic hardship on the reserves, First Nations men and women turned increasingly to off-reserve wage labour. While men around Georgian Bay had access to seasonal jobs in lumbering, sawmilling, transportation, and tourism, women faced much more limited employment opportunities in the area. Some responded by moving to towns and cities to work. Further south, the Mohawk women of Tyendinaga could take domestic service jobs and commute from the reserve, or they could move to larger cities to work. For both groups of women, as for women in general, domestic labour was the most common occupation. The Tyendinaga women also had considerable involvement in manufacturing and migrant farm labour. A few women from both groups were able to finish high school and obtain clerical jobs, which offered better pay and shorter hours. Aboriginal women's occupational distributions were similar to those of other women in the labour force, especially working-class, immigrant, and racialized women. Contrary to today's persistent media images of Aboriginal unemployment, their records and reminiscences reveal lifetimes of hard work, self-support, and self-respect.
Keywords: Labor; MOHAWK women; OJIBWA women; ONTARIO; Southern; WOMEN – Employment

Les temporalités sociales : repères méthodologiques - Buffier-Morel, Martine (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Les temporalités sociales : repères méthodologiques, ouvrage collectif," edited by Jens Thoemmes and Gilbert de Terssac.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Work-Family Balance or Greedy Organizations? - Burchielli, Rosaria; Bartram, Timothy; Thanacoody, Rani (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This paper re-examines the concept of work-family balance by analyzing qualitative data from interviews conducted with Australian senior female staff and managers at a major metropolitan bank and a large, regional hospital. Extant research suggests that managers and staff in senior roles, who have greater autonomy and discretion than other employees, are better able to balance their work and family demands. This paper finds evidence for work-family conflict among participants, who perceive they have "no balance" and must make many personal sacrifices to meet the conflicting demands of work and family. Our findings are confronted with the greedy institutions framework which provides a suitable metaphor to understand the role of organizations in supporting the dual demands of work-family.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Conflicts; Families & family life; Female employees; Labor Unions; Organization theory; Qualitative research; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Work life balance

Craft Capitalism: Craftsworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, 1840-1870 - Burley, David G. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book,"Craft Capitalism: Craftsworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, 1840-1870," by Robert B. Kristofferson.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CRAFT Capitalism: Craftsworkers & Early Industrialization in Hamilton 1840-1870 (Book); INDUSTRIALIZATION; KRISTOFFERSON; Robert B.; Nonfiction

Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global - Camfield, David (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global," by Paul Mason.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LIVE Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global (Book); MASON; Paul; Nonfiction; Working class

Workplace Violence and the Duration of Workers' Compensation Claims - Campolieti, Michele; Goldenberg, James; Hyatt, Douglas (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Based upon unique Canadian administrative data from the years 1996 to 1999, this study examines the duration of absences from work due to injuries arising from workplace violence with a hazard model. We find that policing and nursing occupations, larger health care expenditures and more severe acts of violence are associated with longer absences from work. On the other hand, workers from larger firms have shorter absences from work. Our estimates are also quite sensitive to the inclusion of unobserved heterogeneity distribution, i.e., an individual specific random effect. This suggests that unobservable factors, such as stress and psychological or psychosomatic problems resulting from the workplace violence could have a large impact on the duration of work absences.
Keywords: Absenteeism; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Health care expenditures; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Stress; Studies; Workers compensation; Workplace violence

La mobilité de la main-d’oeuvre dans l’industrie de la construction au Québec : une double réalité - Charest, Jean (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
L’industrie de la construction connaît une mobilité de la main-d’oeuvre particulièrement élevée en regard de la moyenne des autres secteurs de l’économie. En effet, le taux annuel des cessations d’emploi est pratiquement le double dans la construction par rapport à l’ensemble des secteurs d’activité économique. Cela s’explique par diverses caractéristiques de l’activité productive de cette industrie. Par ailleurs, cette mobilité doit être distinguée selon que l’on considère les déplacements de la main-d’oeuvre au sein même de l’industrie ou les départs permanents de cette industrie. Recourant à des données originales de Statistique Canada, nous présentons une analyse de certains facteurs explicatifs de cette double réalité. Nous nous intéressons notamment au cas du Québec qui offre un profil institutionnel particulier en matière de régulation du marché du travail., The construction industry has often been described in terms of its distinctive features, that is, its industrial organization, the specificity of its workforce, the nature of its work processes or its labour relations system. An important feature of the industry is unstable employment and the resulting high level of workforce mobility. Empirically, this industrial mobility is reflected in a rate of workforce mobility in the industry that is practically twice higher than in the economy as a whole. This is based on the mobility indicator of terminations of “permanent” employment during the course of one year as used by Statistics Canada. However, the usual statistical measure of workforce mobility expresses a break in the employment relationship for a given employer. This measure therefore does not necessarily describe adequately the reality of an industry with characteristics such as those found in the construction industry, since the Statistics Canada data do not indicate if the workers find other employment in the same or another sector. These important distinctions are rarely considered in either official statistics or the literature. For an industry whose labour market tends to be regulated on a sectoral basis, which is the case in Quebec, workforce mobility within the industry or sector itself does not have the same significance as permanent departures from the industry. The latter would represent a net loss of human capital. Considering the possible impacts on the workforce, employers and the industry in general, it is important to examine this phenomenon of high workforce mobility, to measure it, and to try to evaluate its causes and effects. This article thus seeks to understand, in particular, whether workforce mobility in the construction industry is truly exceptional. We will examine original comparative data for Quebec and Canada. More particularly, we have sought to distinguish between workforce mobility within the construction industry and mobility expressed through workforce departures to other sectors. The main results of our research indicate that construction workers’ movement to other sectors in Quebec is a real and significant phenomenon, although it is among the lowest when compared to other Canadian provinces. The proportions of construction industry workers who move to other economic sectors are similar to those observed for other industries. Thus, our data on this mobility correspond to certain explanatory factors found in the literature to explain workforce mobility, such as age and income level. In fact, in line with most studies identified in the literature on workforce mobility, the workers who leave the industry are younger than those in the industry as a whole. Moreover, it can also be suggested that they are more inclined to leave the industry if, in addition to being among the youngest, they are not highly skilled. In terms of income, our results are in line with the literature. On the one hand, mobility is more often correlated with low initial gains for workers, and on the other, a logical consequence is that mobility reflects the workers’ desire to improve their economic situation. It can also be hypothesized that changing sector will tend to also correspond to workers’ changing their occupations. This hypothesis is supported by two facts. First, most construction trades are very specific to the industry and as such, are not easily exported to other sectors. Second, the sectors to which workers who have left construction tend to move often have little to do with the latter (e.g., transportation, commerce, public services or manufacturing industries). Workforce mobility in the construction industry is an ongoing challenge for an industry with characteristics of production activity that often result in employment instability. Thus, how can workers be attracted to and retained by the industry which, year after year, has twice as many employment terminations as in other sectors? Our data suggest an initial conclusion regarding the conditions that should be put in place to minimize permanent departures from the industry. The workers recruited should be guaranteed a satisfactory number of working hours, which will provide them with an income level that is at least comparable to other sectors. The recruitment of workers who hold a diploma, as compared with workers without experience or specific knowledge of the industry, also seems to have a positive effect on their retention. Our data also suggest that sectoral regulation of the workforce, and particularly the centralized management of benefits, are organizational features that mitigate certain disadvantages of employment instability for workers. In other words, it is argued that this model of sectoral regulation results in workforce management that reconciles the imperatives of the high mobility specific to this sector while at the same time ensuring a degree of economic security for workers., La industria de la construcción conoce une movilidad de la mano de obra particularmente elevada comparativamente a otros sectores de le economía. En efecto, la tasa anual de cesación de empleo es prácticamente el doble en la construcción comparativamente al conjunto de sectores de actividad económica. Esto se explica en razón de las diversas características de la actividad productiva de esta industria. Es más, esta movilidad debe ser distinguida según que se considere los desplazamientos de mano de obra dentro de la misma industria o los alejamiento permanente de esta industria. Utilizando datos originales de Estadísticas Canadá, presentamos un análisis de ciertos factores explicativos de esta doble realidad. Nos interesamos en especial al caso de Quebec que presenta un perfil institucional particular en materia de regulación del mercado de trabajo.

An Assessment of Worker Reaction to their Union and Employer Post-Strike: A Canadian Experience - Chaulk, Kimberly; Brown, Travor C. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Union members (n = 187) completed surveys assessing five affective measures (organizational commitment, job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, management satisfaction, and union commitment) following a five-month long strike. Paired t-tests (using retrospective questions where participants assessed pre and post-strike affect on a single survey) found that the strike had a negative impact on worker reactions to both their management group and their union across all five measures. The significance of this study is that the negative effects of strikes can, and do, carry over into the workplace in terms of worker affect towards their union and employer. From a theoretical perspective, these findings are consistent with the IR systems' concept of a feedback loop and suggest that future strike research and theories should be expanded to examine issues related to worker reaction.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Job satisfaction; Labor Unions; Labor relations; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Strikes; Studies; Union membership; Work environment

Les nouvelles formes d’organisation du travail : Le rôle des perspectives contingente et institutionnelle - Chênevert, Denis; Dubé, Mireille (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cette étude analyse le taux de pénétration des nouvelles formes d’organisation du travail (NFOT) ainsi que leurs déterminants. Pour ce faire, les perspectives contingente et institutionnelle ont été mises à profit afin de caractériser les facteurs explicatifs des NFOT dans 252 entreprises québécoises. Les résultats de cette étude sont concluants : la perspective contingente explique mieux la présence des NFOT lorsque le taux de pénétration de ces pratiques est élevé, alors que la perspective institutionnelle s’avère dominante lorsque ce taux est faible. Concrètement, les résultats suggèrent que la stratégie d’affaires, la gestion participative, le type de culture et la qualité totale, caractérisant la perspective contingente, sont les facteurs déterminants d’une pénétration élevée des NFOT, alors que le secteur d’activités, la concurrence à l’international et la structure de gouvernance, caractérisant la perspective institutionnelle, expliquent mieux la présence des NFOT lorsque celles-ci sont implantées superficiellement., This study deals with new forms of work organization (NFWO). Whereas, in the past, this subject has been approached by many authors from the perspective of the impact of innovative practices on business performance (Arthur, 1994; Handel and Gittleman, 2004; Handel and Levine, 2004), this study rather sets out to study the diffusion and the determinants linked to work organization. Consequently, we can ask the following question: what differentiates firms having implemented new forms of work organization (NFWO)? To answer this question, two perspectives will be used: the institutional perspective and the contingent perspective. On the one hand, according to the institutional perspective, businesses could be tempted to imitate competitors and/or to follow the enthusiasm which increasingly, many industries show for NFWO (Dirsmith, Fogarty and Gupta, 2000). They might equally be compelled to adopt NFWO due to surrounding coercive forces. According to this approach, the choice would thus be rather the result of sectoral imitation (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) limited or encouraged by the different groups of actors in the business. On the other hand, according to the contingency theory, businesses should be bound to their internal structure as well as to their policies and human resource management practices on their business strategies and their internal strategies. The choice to adopt or to implement NFOW would stem, from this perspective, from a rational and strategic choice (Dunphy and Bryant, 1996). Thus, businesses opting for participative management and having initiated a quality management approach would be more inclined to adopt new forms of work organization oriented towards autonomy and, conversely, those having adopted autocratic management and mass production without concern for quality would be less attracted by these practices (Dean and Bowen, 1994; Handel and Levine, 2004). The results of this study show that 27% of establishments surveyed chose to implement NFOW substantially, which is comparable to the results obtained by Osterman (1994a, 2000). Also, although we did not test for the presence of complete practice systems, it appears that few businesses chose to thoroughly implement several practices linked to work organization. To this end, we observe that autonomous work teams are less implemented than are the other selected practices. Our results suggest that the contingent perspective and mainly internal strategies better account for the presence of NFOW than does the institutional perspective. Concretely, we found that the presence of a leadership strategy by costs, of participative management, of a quality management approach, and a market culture based on performance are all linked to the presence of NFOW when the degree of penetration for these practices is considered. However, on the institutional perspective side, the sector to which the business belongs, the competitive pressure to which businesses are exposed, the governing mechanism and their level of growth are linked to the presence of NFOW only when these are superficially implemented. In conclusion, certain businesses implement NFOW in a way so as to be coherent with their strategies and values, while others seem rather to follow the style of the day, without achieving true change as concerns their work organization method., Este estudio analiza la tasa de penetración de las nuevas formas de organización del trabajo (NFOT) así que sus determinantes. Para ello hemos utilizado las perspectivas contingente e institucional para caracterizar los factores explicativos de las NFOT en 252 empresas quebequenses. Los resultados de este estudio son concluyentes: la perspectiva contingente explica mejor la presencia de NFOT cuando la tasa de penetración de dichas prácticas es elevada, mientras que la perspectiva institucional se revela dominante cuando esa tasa es baja. Concretamente, los resultados sugieren que la estrategia empresarial, la gestión participativa, el tipo de cultura y la calidad total, que caracterizan la perspectiva contingente, son los factores determinantes de una penetración elevada de NFOT, mientras que el sector de actividad, la concurrencia en el campo internacional y la estructura de gobernanza, que caracterizan la perspectiva institucional, explican mejor la presencia de NFOT cuando estas son implantas superficialmente.

The Realities of Work: Experiencing Work and Employment in Contemporary Society, 3rd ed. - Clarke, Louise (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The Realities of Work: Experiencing Work and Employment in Contemporary Society, third edition, by Mike Noon and Paul Blyton, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Graduate students; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Work environment; Work life balance

Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy - Clinch, Graham (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy, by Stephen Sweet and Peter Meiksins, is reviewed.
Keywords: Affirmative action; Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Global economy; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Workforce

Predictors of Participation in Voluntary Vocational Training: An Empirical Study among Canadian Female and Male Managers - Cloutier, Julie; Renaud, Stéphane; Morin, Lucie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Using Canadian national data from the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), this study aims to identify predictors of participation in voluntary vocational training for female and male managers, respectively. Results show a higher rate of participation for female managers and a differential effect of predictors by gender. For men, schooling is the sole human capital variable significantly linked to the probability of participating in voluntary vocational training. For women, the probability of participating in voluntary vocational training varies by age, organizational tenure and schooling. Results also indicate that both participation in mandatory training and family responsibilities are significantly and negatively linked to participation in voluntary training for female managers but not for male managers.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Effectiveness; Labor Unions; Managers; Participation; Probability; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Training; Vocational education

La contractualisation de la relation de travail - Coiquaud, Urwana (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "La contractualisation de la relation de travail," by Christian Bessy.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Les intermittents du spectacle. Sociologie d'une exception - D'Amours, Martine (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, :Les intermittents du spectacle. Sociologie d’une exception," by Pierre-Michel Menger.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Hommage à Rodrigue Blouin (1942-2007) / A Tribute to Rodrigue Blouin (1942-2007) - Déom, Esther (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
1 Le 11 septembre 2007, Rodrigue Blouin, professeur au Département des relations industrielles de l’Université Laval, décédait subitement. Sa famille perdait un mari et un père aimés, la revue RI/IR, un collaborateur constant et indéfectible, le Département des relations industrielles perdait un collègue inestimable, les étudiantes et étudiants, un enseignant passionné, le monde du travail perdait un collaborateur de haut niveau apprécié par tous et toutes et beaucoup perdaient un ami irremplaçable. Les témoignages reçus de partout au Québec, du Canada et de l’Europe révèlent l’attachement que collègues et amis témoignaient à Rodrigue et mettent en lumière son influence importante comme référent dans le monde du travail. // On Sep 11, 2007, Rodrigue Blouin, Professor in the Department of Industrial Relations of Universite Laval, died suddenly. The tributes received from all corners of Quebec, Canada and Europe are an eloquent testimonial to the attachment to Rodrigue felt by his colleagues and friends and to his important influence as a model in the world of labor relations. He was impassioned by the subjects that he taught, highly organized, disciplined and always available to his students. After being accustomed to seeing a colleague like Rodrigue every day, everyone is left with a deep sense of emptiness because his presence touched them in many ways and at many levels.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Deaths; Labor Unions; Personal profiles; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; University professors

Reorganizing Higher Education in the United States and Canada The Erosion of Tenure and the Unionization of Contingent Faculty - Dobbie, David; Robinson, Ian (Labor Studies Journal, 2008)
Every year in Canada and the U.S., the share of higher education faculty who teach off the tenure track grows. One might expect that faculty unionization would limit this process, but the data examined here indicate that this is not so. While Canadian universities are significantly more unionized than their U.S. counterparts, they rely at least as heavily on contingent faculty. Similarly, U.S. states with high levels of unionization do not exhibit lower levels of casualization. Union strategies that institutionalize divisions between tenure-track and non-tenure-track, and/or between part-time and full-time faculty, probably play a role in this outcome. They can and should also play a pivotal role in reversing these trends if they develop the political will to do so.
Keywords: Unions; contingent labor; job security; part-time; tenure; union density

L’effet médiateur du soutien et de la confiance dans la relation entre le leadership et l’engagement - Doucet, Olivier; Simard, Gilles; Tremblay, Michel (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
L’objectif de cet article est d’évaluer, sur la base de la théorie de l’échange social, dans quelle mesure le soutien et la confiance envers le supérieur et l’organisation permettent d’expliquer l’influence de chacune des dimensions associées au leadership transformationnel, transactionnel et laisser-faire sur l’engagement affectif des employés. De nombreuses études montrent que ces différentes formes de leadership ont un impact important sur plusieurs attitudes et comportements des employés, mais encore très peu de chercheurs se sont intéressés aux processus par lesquels les leaders produisent de tels effets. À cet effet, nos résultats font ressortir que la confiance et le soutien constituent des mécanismes cruciaux pour expliquer l’effet du leadership sur l’engagement organisationnel des employés., Over the last few years, the transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership theory has attracted the attention of many researchers (Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Lowe and Gardner, 2000, Yammarino et al., 2005). Furthermore, numerous studies (Bycio, Hackett and Allen, 1995; Dumdum, Lowe and Avolio, 2002; Rafferty and Griffin, 2004; Yammarino, Spangler and Dubinsky, 1998) have shown that these three forms of leadership have a significant impact on several employee attitudes and behaviours, including affective organizational commitment, which is characterized by an individual’s emotional attachment to his company (Meyer and Allen, 1997). Nevertheless, there are still very few researchers taking an interest in the processes through which leaders can produce such effects (Bass and Riggio, 2006; Bono and Judge, 2003; Yukl, 2006). Only a few authors have tackled this problem, particularly by identifying empowerment (Avolio et al., 2004) and fairness (Pillai, Schriesheim and Williams, 1999) as mechanisms explaining the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ affective commitment. We intend to build on these recent results in improving the understanding of this dynamic. Based on the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), this research is aimed at exploring how supervisors can strengthen their employees’ affective commitment. More specifically, we will assess the extent to which support and trust can account for the influence of each of the dimensions associated with transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership has on commitment. These dimensions are: charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, contingent reward, active management by exception, and passive avoidance. One of the primary contributions of this article resides in the fact that currently, there are still very few empirical research projects that have focussed on the effects of these dimensions on other variables, and that such research has only concentrated on the influence of global forms of leadership, and almost exclusively on the transformational form. However, recent works have indeed highlighted the importance of using specific dimensions rather than these three major forms of leadership since the later provide an imperfect and oversimplified image of all the leaders’ behaviours and potential (Antonakis, Avolio and Sivasubramaniam, 2003). In addition to filling a gap at this level, the second significant contribution of this project lies in the fact that, to our knowledge, no study has as yet validated the role of support as an intermediate mechanism lying between leadership and affective commitment. In concrete terms, we are first proposing that the charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration and contingent reward dimensions are positively related to employees’ perceived supervisor support and trust in their supervisor, whereas the active management by exception and passive avoidance dimensions are negatively related to those same two variables. Secondly, we are proposing that employees’ perceived organizational support and trust in their organization act as mediating variables between perceived supervisor support and trust in their supervisor and affective commitment, respectively. This research, which was conducted in the spring of 2004 among all the employees (excluding physicians) of a Quebec hospital center, allowed the collection of 568 questionnaires, representing a 46% response rate; 80% of the subjects in the sample were women, whose average age was 43, and who had been working in the organization for 12 years, on average. To test our hypotheses, confirmatory factorial analyses and structural equations were conducted, while controlling for gender and employment status (full time vs. part time). The results of the study indicate that only the charisma dimension seems to lead employees to trust their supervisor. This observation is particularly interesting for researchers with an interest in interpersonal trust since other studies have arrived at similar conclusions (Gillespie and Mann, 2004). However, our results indicate that charisma and contingent reward are positively related to perceived supervisor support whereas active management by exception is negatively associated to it. This observation is particularly important in that it provides responses to the theoretical arguments which were paving the way for such a possibility (Yammarino and Bass, 1990; Jung and Avolio, 2000). Lastly, this research shows that the constructs of perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational support constitute an important explanatory mechanism in the relationship between leadership and affective commitment. Trust in the organization also contributes to explaining the dynamic existing between leadership and commitment; however, it is not significantly influenced by trust in the supervisor. Our results open up several avenues of further research. Although our analyses have identified support and trust as intermediate mechanisms between leadership and commitment, other mediators could still account for this relationship. In addition to exploring this avenue, future research could simultaneously analyze the intermediate variables that have been identified to date in the literature (e.g., support, trust, fairness, empowerment) with respect to commitment, but also to other consequences which are often related to transformational and transactional leadership (e.g., satisfaction, mobilization, performance), in order to better understand their relative importance. Finally, this study has certain limitations, including the difficulty in generalizing results (sample composed of a single organization), the possible inflation of the strength of certain relationships (common variance bias) and the impossibility of inferring the causality of the observed relationships (cross-sectional design)., El objetivo de este artículo es de evaluar, sobre la base de la teoría del intercambio social, en qué medida el apoyo y la confianza hacia el superior y la organización permiten de explicar la influencia sobre el compromiso afectivo de los empleados de cada una de las dimensiones asociadas al liderazgo transformacional, transaccional y de “laisser-faire”. Numerosos estudios muestran que estas diferentes formas de liderazgo tienen un impacto importante sobre varias actitudes y comportamientos de los empleados, pero son pocos los investigadores que se interesan a los procesos por los cuales los líderes producen tales efectos. A este propósito, nuestros resultados resaltan que la confianza y el apoyo constituyen mecanismos cruciales para explicar el efecto del liderazgo sobre el compromiso organizacional de los empleados.

Innovations sociales dans le travail et l'emploi : recherches empiriques et perspectives théoriques - Dupuis, Jean-Pierre (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Innovations sociales dans le travail et l’emploi : recherches empiriques et perspectives théoriques," edited by Paul-André Lapointe and Guy Bellemare.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Rethinking Work: Time, Space and Discourse - Duxbury, Linda (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Rethinking Work: Time, Space and Discourse, edited by Mark Hearn and Grant Michelson, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor relations; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Social change; Time

Shakespeare in the Worlds of Communism and Socialism - Egan, Gabriel (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Shakespeare in the Worlds of Communism and Socialism," edited by Irena R. Makaryk and Joseph G. Price.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; MAKARYK; Irena R.; Nonfiction; PRICE; Joseph G.; SHAKESPEARE in the Worlds of Communism & Socialism (Book); SHAKESPEARE; William; 1564-1616

Daring to Care: American Nursing and Second-Wave Feminism - Ellison, Jenny (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Daring to Care: American Nursing and Second-Wave Feminism," by Susan Gelfand Malka.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DARING to Care: American Nursing & Second-Wave Feminism (Book); Feminism; MALKA; Susan Gelfand; Nonfiction

The Manly Modern: Masculinity in Postwar Canada - Fahrni, Magda (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Manly Modern: Masculinity in Postwar Canada," by Christopher Dummitt.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DUMMITT; Christopher; MANLY Modern: Masculinity in Postwar Canada; The (Book); Masculinity; Nonfiction

Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion: Social Sector Reform in Latin America - Finkel, Alvin (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion: Social Sector Reform in Latin America," by Kurt Weyland.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; BOUNDED Rationality & Policy Diffusion: Social Sector Reform in Latin America (Book); Nonfiction; Social policy; WEYLAND; Kurt

Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy - Finkel, Alvin (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy," by Jody Heymann.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; FORGOTTEN Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children & Working Parents in the Global Economy (Book); HEYMANN; Jody; Nonfiction; WORKING parents

On the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan - Finkel, Alvin (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "On the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan," by Jim Warren and Kathleen Carlisle.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CARLISLE; Kathleen; Labor Unions; Nonfiction; ON the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan (Book); WARREN; Jim

Des services publics toujours essentiels au Québec ? - Fontaine, Laurence Léa (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Les services essentiels doivent être assurés tout en permettant l’exercice légal du droit de grève. Après avoir fait un rappel historique des services essentiels, le présent article étudie l’exercice définitionnel de ces services et tente de mettre en lumière la manière dont est déterminée l’essentialité légale des services à maintenir en cas de grève. Aux termes du Code du travail, il n’existe qu’un seul et unique critère définitionnel des services essentiels, c’est-à-dire la « santé ou sécurité publique ». Mais, depuis peu, comme l’illustre la jurisprudence du Conseil des services essentiels, se dessine une tentative d’extension des services essentiels. L’article présente trois facteurs qui concourent à cette extension., In the event of a legal strike affecting the provision of some public services and the public and parapublic sectors, the parties in the dispute must ensure that the activity is partly maintained due to its critical nature. In other words, the legislator sometimes compels them to provide essential services. This notion exists at both the supra-state and national levels. However, there is no universal legal definition. It is interpreted more or less broadly, depending on the meaning of the concept in use in a particular legal system. In Quebec, the notion of essential services has been constructed over the years. Its history is long and marked by the evolving labour relations in the area of public services and the public and parapublic sectors. It first appeared in the law in 1965 and has continued to evolve ever since: it has become more precise, more refined, but has also expanded. Two important events have marked the history of this notion: the Martin-Bouchard Commission (1978) and the creation of the Conseil des services essentiels (essential services council) (1982). The implementation of essential services gives rise to issues of a political, economic or legal nature. A fundamental legal issue relates to the methods used to define these services. The law stipulates the use of a single criterion to determine essential services, that is, “public health or public safety.” According to the International Labour Organization and the Quebec legislator, essential services are those which when interrupted would endanger the safety or health of a person, in the entire population or in a segment of a population. The Council is the Quebec organization responsible for ensuring protection of the population’s health and safety in the event of a strike. Under this mission, the only relevant criterion it can use is the impact of the provision or non-provision of services on the health and safety of the public. However, the Council can use various subcriteria to determine in a concrete way the essential nature of services, involving, for example, the duration of the strike, the time of year in which the strike takes place, or the characteristics of the services provided. The inconvenience caused by a strike is considered to be normal. Thus, subject to special obligations, the inconvenience, impracticability or discomfort generated by a strike, and its economic impact do not in any way constitute relevant factors in determining the sufficiency of essential services. The Quebec legislation is particularly consistent in this matter. On the one hand, one single definitional criterion is used throughout the process of implementing essential services: from when agreements are worked out between the parties to when they are applied and subsequently controlled. On the other hand, the sole parameter constituted by public health or safety is imposed on very different environments: the health and social services sector, the provision of public services and the civil service. More specifically, it constitutes the basic definitional instrument of the notion of essential services which is adjusted based on the specific characteristics of each “sector.” The Council’s case law effectively clarifies the idea of an activity’s essential nature. Although, for a long time, public health or safety has been the sole criterion that can be applied and is applied, recent case law reveals several phenomena which tend to increase the number of services maintained in the event of a strike in the public services and the public and parapublic sectors. First, the definitional criterion is interpreted broadly. The examination of case law shows that a greater number of services are today considered to be essential. The disputes in the transportation sector are an apt illustration of this finding. Whereas for about 20 years, the way essential services were defined in public transport involved providing service during the peak hours of the week, they now include bus service during the week-end. Second, a number of provisions in the LabourCode related to institutions in the health network are applied beyond the legal requirements. Thus, two trends have emerged: the voluntary application of percentages of employees to be maintained at work that are higher than those set out by law (section 111.10 LC); and the conventional extension of the scope of application of the law by organizations not specified by the legislator that voluntarily apply the rules imposed on institutions in the health network. The application of the LabourCode beyond the legal requirements can be explained in part by the evolving methods used by the state in the area of health management. Third, new criteria have appeared because of the extension of the Council’s field of jurisdiction. Current practices in the public service show that criteria other than public health or safety are being used. In particular, the parties are using the following criteria: public health or safety, the independence of the judiciary, parliamentary privilege and contingent loss of rights or the fact that university training is now included among the essential services to which anyone is entitled. The appearance of these new criteria is acceptable insofar as it leads to the consideration of the specific characteristics pertaining to each sector that has recently come under the Council’s jurisdiction., Los servicios esenciales deben ser asegurados al mismo tiempo que se permite el ejercicio legal del derecho de huelga. Después de hacer un esbozo histórico de los servicios esenciales, el presente artículo estudia el ejercicio de definición de estos servicios y intenta esclarecer la manera como es determinada la esencialidad legal de los servicios que deben ser mantenidos en caso de huelga. Según los términos del Código del trabajo, existe un solo y único criterio de definición de los servicios esenciales, es decir la “salud o seguridad pública”. Pero desde hace poco, como lo ilustra la jurisprudencia del Consejo de servicios esenciales, se bosqueja una tentativa de extensión de los servicios esenciales. El artículo presenta tres factores que concurren a esta extensión.

The Emergence of Feminism in India, 1850-1920 - Forbes, Geraldine (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Emergence of Feminism in India, 1850-1920," by Padma Anagol.
Keywords: ANAGOL; Padma; BOOKS – Reviews; EMERGENCE of Feminism in India 1850-1920; The (Book); Feminism; Nonfiction

Global Labour History: A State of the Art - Frank, David (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Global Labour History: A State of the Art," edited by Jan Lucassen.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; GLOBAL Labour History: A State of the Art (Book); LUCASSEN; Jan; Labor; Nonfiction

Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade - Frank, David (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade," by Alan M. Wald.
Keywords: ANTI-fascist movements; BOOKS – Reviews; Nonfiction; TRINITY of Passion: The Literary Left & the Antifascist Crusade (Book); WALD; Alan M.

Coal Miners Revisited - Fry, Richard (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews several books including "Miners and the State in the Ottoman Empire: The Zonguldak Coalfield, 1822-1920," by Donald Quataert, "The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century," by Thomas Dublin and Walter Licht, and "The Struggle for Dignity: Industrial Politics and the 1926 Lockout," edited by John Mcllroy, Alan Campbell, and Keith Gildart.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CAMPBELL; Alan; DUBLIN; Thomas; FACE of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the 20th Century; The (Book); GILDART; Keith; LICHT; Walter; MCLLROY; John; MINERS & the State in the Ottoman Empire: The Zonguldak Coalfield 1822-1920 (Book); Nonfiction; QUATAERT; Donald; STRUGGLE for Dignity: Industrial Politics & the 1926 Lockout; The (Book)

The Supreme Court of Canada and the Right to Bargain Collectively: The Implications of the Health Services and Support case in Canada and Beyond - Fudge, Judy (Industrial Law Journal, 2008)
In June 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada expressly overruled 20 years of jurisprudence that interpreted the freedom of association as excluding collective bargaining. This about-face by the Supreme Court was unexpected. What gave rise to this remarkable decision and what does it portend for the role of the courts in labour relations in Canada and beyond? The recent successes before courts have led some observers to suggest that it may now be a propitious time for a coordinated and proactive litigation strategy to vindicate labour's collective rights. This article offers some preliminary answers to these broader questions and issues by focussing on the Supreme Court's decision in the Health Services and Support case.
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=addf58101b23aed7490cae1290397b1c15da353e

Fragments sur l'essentiel du droit de l'emploi - Gagnon, Mélanie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Fragments sur l’essentiel du droit de l’emploi," by Fernand Morin.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

The Business of Everyday Life: Practice and Social Politics in England, c. 1600-1900 - Ganev, Robin (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Business of Everyday Life: Practice and Social Politics in England c. 1600-1900," by Beverly Lemire.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; BUSINESS of Everyday Life: Gender; Practice & Social Politics in England; c. 1600-1900; The (Book); HOME economics; LEMIRE; Beverly; Nonfiction

Latina Activists Across Borders: Women's Grassroots Organizing in Mexico and Texas - Garcia, Alma M. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Latina Activists Across Borders: Women's Grassroots Organizing in Mexico and Texas," by Milagros Pena.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LATINA Activists Across Borders: Women's Grassroots Organizing in Mexico & Texas (Book); Nonfiction; PENA; Milagros; Women political activists

Les absences au travail dans les mines de Kirkland Lake, 1927-1943 : congés, fins de semaine et vacances annuelles. (French) - Gaudreau, Guy (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
À partir des fiches du personnel et de livres de paie de deux sociétés minières de Kirkland Lake, la Lake Shore Gold Mines et la Wright-Hargreaves Mines, l’auteur aborde la question des absences au travail entre 1927 et 1943. Les mineurs examinés, qui font partie des travailleurs les mieux payés du secteur industriel canadien, ont profité d’une organisation du travail qui les sollicite à faire des heures supplémentaires ou à toucher des primes de rendement. Ces revenus additionnels tout comme les hauts salaires que commande leur travail contribuent à une pratique d’absentéisme occasionnel qui se présente sous deux formes : des semaines de vacances non payées et le prolongement du congé dominical pour profiter de ce qu’on appellera la fin de semaine. Ces pratiques, qui varient d’une mine à l’autre et selon le type de travail, sont ainsi en place bien avant l’adoption des deux semaines de vacances en Ontario en 1944 et bien avant l’adoption de la semaine de travail de 40 heures au début des années 1950. Les absences au travail ne seraient donc pas seulement provoquées par des accidents, des maladies ou du chômage, mais elles pourraient être aussi volontaires, signalant ainsi la très grande indépendance de ces travailleurs face au patronat.
Keywords: ABSENTEEISM (Labor); ATTENDANCE; Canada; Mineral industries; Miners; WORK-life balance; Working hours

Labor's Cold War: Local Politics in a Global Context - Gereluk, Winston (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Labor's Cold War: Local Politics in a Global Context," edited by Sheldon Stromquist.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; COLD War; 1945-1989; LABOR'S Cold War: Local Politics in a Global Context (Book); Nonfiction; STROMQUIST; Sheldon

L'introuvable sécurité de l'emploi - Giasson, Guylaine (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Trois réponses à la précarité subie : Le cas des intérimaires peu qualifiés - Glaymann, Dominique; Grima, François (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Ce travail vise à comprendre comment des intérimaires subissant ce statut y font face. Il apparaît que confrontés à une situation vécue comme stigmatisante, ces salariés réagissent de façon différente selon les raisons qui les ont conduits vers le travail temporaire, selon les ressources qu’ils parviennent à mobiliser pour définir et poursuivre différents objectifs et, en partie au moins, selon la durée de leur passage dans cette forme d’emploi. Trois réponses émergent : la résignation, la résilience et l’adaptation. Loin des schémas explicatifs unidimensionnels valorisant un précaire contraint ou acteur de son développement de carrière, cette recherche suggère une réaction au travail contingent subi qui questionne les différents modèles de coping, c’est-à-dire de stratégies adaptatives., Insecure and discontinued work has spread significantly in France and in other developed industrialized countries over the last thirty years. A significant number of employees are experiencing precarious employment, for lack of finding a secure job which remains a strong social norm in France. This situation of imposed insecurity is to be found in particular in temporary employment and concerns two million employees in France, predominantly low-skilled or unskilled young people. Many studies tend to show that low-skilled contingent workers accept their situation very passively, having no real means to do anything about it, waiting for the situation to improve. On the other hand, in contrast, one can find the description of self-willed, better skilled, mobile workers who implement strategies including chosen mobility to develop their employability, helped by their independence and their ability to diversify their competencies. In spite of the relevance of this dichotomy that enables us to characterize two typical situations, it has a downside which is to assume that involuntary contingent workers have almost no room at all for maneuver. We have tried to understand to what extent low-skilled, involuntary contingent workers get organized to make do with and face up to their difficulties. We then tried to distinguish how they reacted, the strategies and the tactics they adopted to put up with their situation, and if need be, how they tried hard to turn it around to their benefit. We carried out a field survey in the Paris area among 16 temporary work agencies belonging to three large temporary work companies and an SME in the sector to collect data that would enable us to know more about the subject. Resorting to semi-directive interviews, in situ observations, and questionnaires put to temporary workers as well as to the permanent employees of the agencies that employed them, we identified three types of response to the constraint on the part of low-skilled workers. The first type of response was adjustment, and corresponded to constructive acceptance of the situation the worker was confronted with, by trying to optimize the conditions in which it was experienced; the objective was to force the constraint to find a way out. The worker displayed conspicuous good will, as well as permanent cooperation with the agency during his assignment to serve this adjustment, aimed at showing that he was a good and reliable contingent worker even if his main objective was to become a good stable employee. The second type of response was resilience and consisted in doing everything in order not to give up in the face of difficulties, acting with a view to attempting to access stable employment which was the permanent hope. The worker tried to respond to the constraint so as to create an opportunity for development. This posture often involved a twofold refusal of being victimized as a contingent worker on the one hand, and being trapped in this status on the other. This translated into asserting the reasons for and objectives of resorting to temporary work presented as a moment in one’s career that was accepted if not really chosen, and during which the worker refused to be the victim of circumstances. This positive re-interpretation led to the adoption of active individual tactics. The third type of response was resignation and defined the position of those who felt unable to react to the constraint imposed on them and which generated a lot of suffering. The wide gap between the stable employment they aspired to and the durable job insecurity they suffered put these workers in front of a gap between expectations that could only be coped with by being on the defensive. This frequently led, often after many years, to a passive approach similar to a descent into despair. In quite a few cases, we noticed a scenario in which the three attitudes appeared successively: adjustment, which often characterized the first phase, was followed by a phase of resilience during which the worker tried to get organized so as to hold out without suffering too much, followed by resignation when the time spent in contingent work lasted and generated the feeling that one was trapped within precariousness, from which one increasingly felt unable to escape. However, this succession did not take place systematically in this order; neither did it affect all the career paths of the contingent workers studied. Available professional capital (experiences, acquired experience) and social capital (support, know-how) as well as socio-demographic (age, ethnic origin) and family (parents, spouses able or not to provide emotional and material support) characteristics were elements that were often correlated with the level of reactivity and, in particular, the ability to avoid falling into depression. There again, however, it was difficult to establish very recurrent causality links On the other hand, however, it appeared possible to assert that the duration of contingent work suffered and the fact of being stuck in a position which one hoped would be temporary gradually atrophied the ability of many actors to act with a minimum of room for maneuver and often reduced them to being less efficient agents before sometimes turning them into agents in search of collective reasons that accounted for their situation and their helplessness in escaping from it., Este trabajo se propone comprender cómo los trabajadores temporales bajo este estatuto hacen frente a la situación. Confrontados a una situación vivida como estigmatizante, estos trabajadores reaccionan de manera diferente según las razones que les han conducido hacia el trabajo temporario, según los recursos que logran movilizar para definir y conseguir diferentes objetivos y, al menos en parte, según la duración de su pasaje en este tipo de empleo. Tres respuestas emergen: la resignación, la resilianza y la adaptación. Lejos de los esquemas explicativos unidimensionales que valorizan un trabajador precario obligado o actor del desarrollo de su carrera, esta investigación sugiere una reacción al trabajo eventual no deseado que cuestiona los diferentes modelos de “coping”, es decir de estrategias adaptativas.

Global Competitive Strategy - Gould, Anthony M. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Global Competitive Strategy, by Daniel F. Spulber, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Competitive advantage; Corporate planning; Executives; Globalization; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Industrial Relations: A Current Review - Gould, Anthony M. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Industrial Relations: A Current Review, edited by Richard Hall, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Collective bargaining; LABOR market; Labor Unions; Labor law; Labor relations; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Regulating Labour in the Wake of Globalisation: New Challenges, New Institutions - Gould, Anthony M. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Regulating Labour in the Wake of Globalisation: New Challenges, New Institutions, edited by Brian Bercusson and Cynthia Estlund, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Globalization; LABOR market; Labor Unions; Regulation; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival from Below - Gould, Anthony M. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival from Below, by Kim Moody, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Human resource management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Transitions; competition

Rethinking the Future of Work: Directions and Visions - Gould, Tony (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Rethinking the Future of Work: Directions and Visions, by Colin C. Williams, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Future; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Work environment

Organizing for Defeat: The Relevance and Utility of the Trade Union as a Legitimate Question - Green, Brian (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article focuses on declining and retreating of the North American labour movement. The combination of rapid and often reckless capitalist expansion and massive resistance by both unionized and non-unionized workers led to the collapse of the North American economy. Implying greater physical and cultural distance between employers and employees, technological displacement, industrial capitalism required new forms of organization and mobilization.
Keywords: Capitalism; Employees; Employers; Industrial relations; Labor Unions; Labor movement; NORTH America

Le développement durable comme compromis : la modernisation écologique de l'économie à l'ère de la mondialisation - Halley, Paule (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Le développement durable comme compromis : la modernisation écologique de l’économie à l’ère de la mondialisation," by Corinne Gendron.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Auteurs et textes classiques de la théorie des organisations - Harrisson, Denis (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Auteurs et textes classiques de la théorie des organisations," edited by Laurent Bélanger and Jean Mercier.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development - Herod, Andrew (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development," by David Harvey.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Capitalism; HARVEY; David; Nonfiction; SPACES of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development (Book)

The Rich Man - Homel, Gene (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Rich Man," by Henry Kreisel.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Fiction; KREISEL; Henry; RICH Man; The (Book); RICH people

Fairness at Work: Federal Labour Standards for the 21st Century - Hunt, Gerald (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Fairness at Work: Federal Labour Standards for the 21st Century, by Harry Arthurs, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor law; Labor standards; Modernization; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Work life balance; Working hours

Glass Houses: Saving Feminist Anti-Violence Agencies from Self-Destruction - Janovicek, Nancy (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Glass Houses: Saving Feminist Anti-Violence Agencies From Self-Destruction," by Rebekkah Adams.
Keywords: ADAMS; Rebekkah; BOOKS – Reviews; GLASS Houses: Saving Feminist Anti-Violence Agencies From Self-Destruction (Book); Nonfiction; Women's rights

La fréquentation scolaire à Québec, 1871-1901 : l'effet de l'industrialisation de l'appartenance culturelle et de la classe sociale - Julien, Mélanie (Cahiers québécois de démographie, 2008)
L’industrialisation qui marque la ville de Québec à la fin du xixe siècle est associée à une généralisation de la fréquentation scolaire, mais aussi à une mise au travail plus précoce des enfants. Ainsi, plutôt que d’accompagner une expansion de la scolarisation, l’industrialisation aurait nui à l’allongement de la fréquentation scolaire en générant des emplois qui exigent peu de qualifications, dont certains pouvaient même être exercés par des enfants. Par ailleurs, le paysage culturel diversifié de Québec au xixe siècle permet de vérifier le « mythe » de la sous-scolarisation des Canadiens français. En bref, ces derniers se distinguent des Irlandais catholiques et de l’ensemble des Protestants par des taux de fréquentation scolaire plus faibles et une mise au travail des enfants plus courante. Or, l’analyse statistique ne nous permet pas d’attribuer cette faible fréquentation scolaire uniquement à la culture canadienne-française. Les enfants d’origine canadienne-française des classes sociales supérieures ont des taux élevés de fréquentation scolaire. Bien plus, une fois contrôlé l’ensemble des variables, l’effet de la classe sociale l’emporte sur l’effet de l’appartenance culturelle, résultat qui fait écho à la thèse de la reproduction sociale.

Qu'est-ce que l'intégration ? - Keith, Sheldon (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Qu’est-ce que l’intégration ?," by Dominique Schnapper.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Growth of a Modern Union Local: A People's History of SEIU Local 880 - Kelleher, Keith (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)
This article examines the growth of one of the fastest-growing union locals in North America, the Services Employees International Union Local 880 in Chicago. As union membership has declined nationally, Local 880 has achieved exponential growth over the last twenty five years by being among the first to organize extremely low wage home based child care and home care workers. The article highlights the tenets of the local's organizing philosophy, including community organizing and political activism, as well as other strategies and tactics 880 has utilized in growing its membership to more than 65,000 members. Along the way, it has secured notable victories on behalf of its members, including winning the largest organizing campaign of home childcare workers in U.S. history.

Traité de sociologie du travail - Kirouac, Laurie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Traité de sociologie du travail," seconde édition actualisée, by Thierry Pillon and François Vatin.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Race, Gender, Class, and Colonial Nationalism: Railway Development in Newfoundland,1881-1898 - Korneski, Kurt (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
Historians have long noted that policies of "progress" were integral to men and women throughout northern North America in the 19th century. A range of scholars have commented on the centrality of railway technology to these policies. Indeed, they have suggested that, in the 19th century, bourgeois nationalists were swept up in a kind of "railway fever," and that even though there were detractors, the tenacity of pro-railway elites, and the considerable patronage that huge construction loans and contracts provided them, ensured that these projects triumphed over other possibilities. The Newfoundland case suggests that there is a need for both a slightly revised assessment of elites and their views and goals, and a more nuanced reading of the role of ordinary men and women in the policy-making process. While elites in the colony did view the railway as a means of becoming a "progressive" or "modern nation," and while they viewed economic prosperity and "enlightenment" as central to modernity and progressiveness, commercial dynamism was only one important component of a more encompassing program. Tlites supported the railway because it provided them with a way of living according to standards of Britishness that became important to Newfoundlanders and others in "white" settler dominions, especially after the mid-19th century. Central to "Britishness" as policy makers understood the term, was the idea that "British societies" were those in which men lived according to their "god given manly independence." A careful analysis of the daily press suggests that many working people took these ideals seriously, and that they saw railway work, and the future employment and other economic opportunities its promoters promised, as a means of living according to them. When opponents of railway development did maneuver themselves into power, they found efforts to change course were met with popular upheaval. Ultimately, it was a broadly based solidarity founded on notions of male entitlement that determined which policies were "feasible."
Keywords: Fisheries; NEWFOUNDLAND & Labrador; Railroads; SAVING & investment; Social structure

Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital - Kulchyski, Peter (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital," by Amiya Kumar Bagchi.
Keywords: BAGCHI; Amiya Kumar; BOOKS – Reviews; Capitalism; Nonfiction; PERILOUS Passage: Mankind & the Global Ascendancy of Capital (Book)

Les conditions de la confiance entre gestionnaires et représentants syndicaux dans un contexte d’innovations - Laplante, Normand; Harrisson, Denis (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cet article analyse les conditions associées au développement de la relation de confiance entre les gestionnaires et les représentants syndicaux au sein d’entreprises qui ont adopté des innovations de différentes formes. Nous nous intéressons à la confiance entre des agents qui interviennent au nom de commettants. Notre étude démontre que si le développement de la confiance bénéficie d’un climat de travail moins conflictuel, d’autres conditions sont également requises, particulièrement le partage des informations entre les parties. Par ailleurs, un contexte de transformation peut améliorer la relation de confiance, particulièrement lorsqu’un processus participatif confiant un rôle au syndicat est adopté pour introduire les innovations. Celles-ci peuvent ainsi favoriser le développement de la confiance cognitive entre les parties, tout en respectant des intérêts spécifiques à chacune., This article examines the development of relationships of trust between managers and union representatives in a context of social innovations. Trust acts as a social lubricant and thus plays an important role in social relations within organizations undergoing change and which depend more on cooperation. However, trust is a multidimensional concept that appears in various forms that can be dichotomized between cognitive trust, which is based more on knowledge and reason, and identity-based trust, which is more emotional and may even involve holding common values. Within organizations, studies of trust have most often examined relations between workers and managers, or even members’ trust in their organization. Few studies have examined the relationship of trust between employers and unions. However, the interactions between institutional agents at work tend to encourage the development of the cognitive dimension of trust rather than its identity-based dimension. While encouraging cooperation between these agents and leading them to develop new relationships outside the traditional institutional framework, innovation nevertheless conceals two essential conditions for the development of trust: the interdependence of actors, and risk in the face of the future and unknown behaviour of their counterpart. Trust is not a given, but is rather a social construction that develops through the interactions of the actors at work according to the diverse conditions that we will examine. The data come from a study on new work relations between employers and unions. The sample includes union representatives and managers in goods and services firms that adopted different kinds of innovations. One thousand firms, each with more than 50 workers, were included in the study. A total of 242 union representatives and 221 managers returned their questionnaires. The sample was generally characterized by medium- or large-sized firms with a high proportion of male workers occupying permanent positions and with several years of seniority. However, there are differences between manufacturing sector firms and services sector firms. The latter employ more women who are less likely to have permanent positions and who have fewer years of seniority. Trust was measured using the average of four dimensions of the Butler scale: integrity, discretion, promise of results, and overall trust. The alpha coefficient of this trust indicator is 0.93 for both union representatives and managers. A second dependent variable measures the improvement in the trust relationship following the adoption of the innovation that the respondent considers to be the most significant. The two dependent variables (trust relationship and improvement of this relationship) have been analyzed using multiple regression and according to a model that includes several dimensions: socio-demographic characteristics, socio-economic context, labour relations climate, access to information, types of innovations, implementation process for innovations and their impacts. The union representatives indicated a lower level of trust (3.15 vs. 3.81/5) and fewer of them believe that trust increased following the adoption of the most significant innovation (27% vs. 44%). The differences between the union representatives and managers remain significant, after adjustment for different dimensions of the analytical model. This shows that the relationship is asymmetrical: the union representatives have less control over the situation and feel more vulnerable to potential opportunistic behaviours on the part of their management counterpart. Nevertheless, both the trust relationship and its improvement following the adoption of the most significant innovation are influenced by different dimensions of the analytical model. First of all, both the managers and the union representatives in the manufacturing sector are less likely than those in the services sector to feel trust. Trust is not highly related to the socio-economic context, although managers have more trust when the work force is declining; the trust of union representatives is lower when subcontracting increases. Trust is influenced by the labour relations climate. Thus trust is lower when there are more grievances or when grievances are increasing. However, trust is stronger when grievances tend to be resolved internally. Trust is also higher when respondents have access to the information requested from their counterpart. Innovations also influence trust, which is lower following the adoption of monetary innovations, but higher when other types of innovations are adopted: labour relations, work organization, training. The process of adopting innovations is important for improving the trust relationship, both when they are adopted to respond to human factors rather than factors linked to productivity, as well as when they are established through a negotiation process and a joint monitoring mechanism. Finally, negative impacts decrease trust while positive impacts do not influence the relationship of trust between union representatives and managers. The study revealed the factors that can favour the development of a relationship of trust between union representatives and managers following the adoption of social innovations. The process of adopting these innovations rather than the type of innovations seems to have a more important impact on the improvement of the trust relationship. However, this development should not be seen as an automatic transposition of the trust relationship to other members of the organization. Another question to be addressed is to what extent trust can be built without the parties losing their own identity. Our results support those of other studies that seem to show that although the cognitive dimension of trust can be developed readily between the agents at work, this is not true of identity-based trust., Este artículo analiza las condiciones asociadas al desarrollo de la relación de confianza entre directivos y representantes sindicales al interior de empresas que han adoptado diferentes formas de innovaciones. Nos interesamos a la confianza entre agentes que intervienen en nombre de comitentes. Nuestro estudio demuestra que si el desarrollo de la confianza beneficia de un clima de trabajo menos conflictivo, otras condiciones son igualmente requeridas, particularmente el hecho de compartir las informaciones entre las partes. De otro lado, un contexto de transformación puede mejorar la relación de confianza, particularmente cuando se adopta un proceso participativo para introducir las innovaciones, confiando así un rol al sindicato. De esta manera, estas innovaciones pueden favorecer el desarrollo de la confianza cognitiva entre las partes sin dejar de respetar los intereses específicos de cada uno.

Relations au travail, relations de travail - Le Capitaine, Catherine (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Relations au travail, relations de travail," edited by François Aballéa and Michel Lallement.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

A Clash of Histories: Encounters of Migrant and Non-Migrant Laborers in the Canadian Automobile Parts Industry - Leach, Belinda (Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 2008)
This article considers the confrontations between immigrant and non-immigrant workers in the workplace and the implications of these confrontations for workplace unity and class formation. Contributing to scholarship at the intersection of history, class, and migration, the article argues that workers bring to work histories that are constructed as oppositional. The roots of these oppositions lie in shared but different histories of dispossession and migration, masked by dominant cultural and class narratives, which privilege non-immigrant histories that are class-based, masculinist, and nationalist, and subordinate those of immigrants. In the process, neo-liberal agendas are bolstered. Questions of how such processes take place are important for understanding class formation within societies with large immigrant populations.
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/focaal/2008/51/focaal510105.xml
Keywords: class; gender; history; migration

Theoretical Issues with New Actors and Emergent Modes of Labour Regulation - Legault, Marie-Josée; Bellemare, Guy (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
As the global economy undergoes a major transformation, the inadequacy of labour relations theories dating back to Fordism, especially the systemic analysis model (Dunlop, 1958) and the strategic model (Kochan, Katz and McKersie, 1986), in which only three actors–union, employer and State–share the stage is becoming increasingly obvious. A good example is provided by companies offering information technology services to businesses, where new means of regulation emerge and illustrate the need to incorporate new actors and new issues if we are to account for its contemporary complexity. A survey of 88 professionals has revealed regulation practices that call into question the traditional boundaries of the industrial relations system from two points of view: that of the three main actors, by bringing the customer and work teams onto the stage, and that of the distinction between the contexts and the system itself.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor relations; Regulation; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Theory

The New Left: Legacy and Continuity - Lexier, Roberta (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The New Left: Legacy and Continuity," edited by Dimitrios Roussopoulos.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; NEW Left: Legacy & Continuity; The (Book); New Left; Nonfiction; ROUSSOPOULOS; Dimitrios

Chinese Immigrants on the Canadian Prairie, 1910-47 - Li, Peter S. (Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 2008)
This paper examines the job histories of a group of first-generation Chinese immigrants who have been living in Canada from 50 to 70 years. The study focuses on the working experience of the Chinese prior to and during the exclusion era between 1923 and 1947, when they were barred from immigrating to Canada. The purpose of the analysis is to draw some general conclusions about the economic survival of an ethnic minority which has historically encountered severe discrimination and other structural barriers. The use of case histories in this study provides detailed insights into the organization of the working world of an immigrant group, and its incorporation into the Canadian economy.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1755618x/1982/19/4

Workers' Power and Intentional Learning among Non-managerial Workers: A 2004 Benchmark Survey - Livingstone, David W.; Raykov, Milosh (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This paper explores relations of workers' power, in terms of unionization and delegated workplace authority, with incidence of participation in adult education and job-related informal learning activities. Empirical analysis is based primarily on the first Canadian survey to document both aspects of workers' power and both formal and informal learning. Prior inconsistent research on unionization and adult education is critically reviewed. The current study focuses on non-managerial employees between 25 and 64. The findings of this 2004 survey, as well as secondary analysis of other relevant surveys, confirm that union membership is consistently positively related to both participation in adult education and some informal learning topics. Delegated workplace authority also has positive effects on both adult education and some informal learning topics. While delegated workplace authority is not related to unionization, their positive effects on workers' intentional learning are additive. Implications of these findings for further research and optimizing workplace learning are discussed.
Keywords: Adult education; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Decision making; Delegation of authority; Labor Unions; Organizational learning; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Union membership; Unionization

Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870-1950 - Loeb, Lori (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870-1950," by Elizabeth Darling and Lesley Whitworth.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DARLING; Elizabeth; England; Nonfiction; WHITWORTH; Lesley; WOMEN & the Making of Built Space in England 1870-1950 (Book)

Bibliography: Recent Publications in Canadian Labour History - Lonardo, Michael; Sweeny, Robert C. H. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
Compilation of recent English/French publications on Canadian labour history that emphasize the period 1800-1975. Materials pertaining to the post-1975 period may also be included, although more selectively. [See the database, Canadian Labour History, 1976-2009, published at Memorial University of Newfoundland.]
Keywords: BIBLIOGRAPHY (Documentation); History; Labor

The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management - Long, Richard J. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management, edited by Peter Boxall, John Purcell, and Patrick Wright, is reviewed.
Keywords: Best practice; Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Corporate culture; Human resource management; Integration; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

'The Comforts of Married Life': Metis Family Life, Labour, and the Hudson's Bay Company - Macdougall, Brenda (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
Since the 1980s, scholars have sought to understand how the Canadian fur trade shaped the Metis. Less attention has been paid to the impact of Metis concepts of family and community on the nature of their relationship with their employer, the Hudson's Bay Company (hbc). This article focuses on how Metis family structures in the English River District molded the contours of the community's relationship with the hbc in the 19th century. More specifically, only certain families established a relationship with the Company, wherein male servants and their extended families laboured for the hbc in return for wages and/or access to Company resources. The Company's willingness to participate in these types of exchanges with its employees' families cultivated an intergenerational loyalty amongst those Metis, as successive generations were employed by the Company and, in turn, drew upon it as part of their economic resource network. Still, Company officials faced a dilemma. They recognized that these extended families were loyal contributors to the Company's trading successes, but likewise regarded them as burdensome and a drain on precious resources. Throughout the 19th century, the ambivalence of the Company grew, negatively impacting its relationship with once loyal hbc servants and their families. The loyalty of families to the Company was only as strong as its loyalty to them. By the end of the century, as the Company's focus turned to reducing its obligations to families, Metis loyalties also shifted to competing economic ventures, thereby threatening the hbc monopoly in the region.
Keywords: Canada; Employers; HUDSON'S Bay Co.; METIS; NATIVE Americans – Mixed descent

Protest Song and Verse in Cape Breton Island - MacKinnon, Richard (Ethnologies, 2008)
In regional enclaves throughout North America where labour and capital have fought battles over the years, there are many songs and verses about labour and protest. ...This article explores some previously unexamined protest songs and verses of Cape Breton Island. I will show how these vernacular materials were used for solidarity during times of upheaval and change in the mid 1920s. I will examine a body of songs culled largely from the Maritime Labour Herald, a newspaper of the 1920s that included both locally and internationally composed works. ...My intent is to show that a well-developed protest song tradition was alive and well and played an important role in the labour struggles of the 1920s. –From introduction

Industrial Relations in the New Europe: Enlargement, Integration and Reform - Mangan, David (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Industrial Relations in the New Europe: Enlargement, Integration and Reform, edited by Peter Leisink, Bram Steijn and Ulke Veersma, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; EU membership; Labor Unions; Labor relations; Reforms; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Perceptions de justice et implication : Les salariés contingents et permanents seraient-ils différents les uns des autres ? - Manville, Caroline (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cette recherche vise à aider à la compréhension de l’implication organisationnelle des salariés contingents grâce au cadre de la justice organisationnelle. Elle repose sur une étude empirique par questionnaire réalisée auprès de 183 salariés permanents et 71 contingents, embauchés pour une durée déterminée. Nos résultats démontrent le pouvoir explicatif des perceptions de justice sur l’implication. Ils soulignent la sensibilité des salariés contingents à la façon dont ils sont traités dans l’organisation et montrent que les entreprises n’ont pas intérêt à considérer les salariés contingents comme une main-d’oeuvre périphérique, peu encline à s’engager dans l’organisation. Sur la base des analyses effectuées, l’article propose une réflexion sur les effets du statut d’emploi et en tire des implications managériales., The traditional work relationship performed on a full-time basis with a single employer is tending to lose its hegemony. Polivka and Nardone (1989) defined these new work arrangements as contingent in opposition to permanent work positions. According to these researchers, contingent work includes “any job in which an individual does not have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment and one in which the minimum hours can vary in a non-systematic way” (1989: 11). Traditionally, contingent work includes part-time work, temporary work, “in-house” temporary arrangements and independent work. Today, these forms of employment represent a significant and growing proportion of the workforce in western countries. This research is dedicated to “in-house” temporary workers in the French context. Indeed, little research has dealt with this subject (Connely and Gallagher, 2004). The behaviours of this type of workers are quite unknown. Moreover, Conway and Briner (2002) point out that research which focuses on contingent work does not often use an explicit theoretical framework which may be helpful in understanding the organizational behaviours of contingent workers. In line with their recommendations, this study aims to identify the role of organizational justice on contingent workers’ organizational commitment and to show if established relationships are similar according to employment status (i.e., contingent or permanent). On the one hand, organizational justice perceptions have significant effects on several attitudes and behaviours (Colquitt, 2001) but this effect has rarely been tested on contingent workers. On the other hand, the employment status is likely to have an influence upon the relationships between organizational justice and organizational attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, according to the fairness heuristic theory (Lind, 2001) which describes the shaping of justice judgments and their use, it seems that a fixed-term relationship with the organization may lead contingent workers to focus primarily on the interactional aspects of their organizational treatment. This research is based on an empirical study carried out with a sample of 181 permanent employees and 71 contingent employees in French private clinics. The moderator effect of work status was tested with hierarchical regression analysis. The results partially support the predictions. However, they show the significant effects of justice perceptions on commitment, in the case of permanent workers, as had been already demonstrated in previous research, but also in the case of contingent workers, which has been less shown, especially for “in-house” temporary workers and in the French context. Nevertheless, the results show a moderator effect for work status on the relationship between informational justice and commitment. Several observations are drawn from these results. First of all, the results demonstrate that contingent workers are sensitive to the treatment they experience within their organization and that it influences their commitment as well as is the case for permanent workers. Therefore, organizational commitment of the permanent and contingent workers is significantly and positively influenced by their distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions. Secondly, the effects of informational justice are different according to job status. Indeed, the effect of informational justice is weaker in the case of contingent workers than in the case of permanent workers. These results present theoretical and practical interest. Firstly, they support and extend the predictive power of organizational justice upon commitment, mainly established in the context of traditional work. Thus, the organizational justice framework seems to be useful for the analysis of a non standard employment relationship. Moreover, this kind of employment arrangement may not be seen as an economic one as long as contingent workers seem to value the social aspects of their relationships with their organization. Secondly, our results show that according to the type of employment relation, the effects of justice perceptions may be different, even if this difference is marginal. For this reason, organizations could have an interest in implementing differentiated management of their workforce according to work status. We believe that the nature of the detected moderator effect does not decrease the importance of informational justice perceptions. It rather underlines the inappropriateness of the information given to contingent workers. Trombetta and Rogers (1998) have put the emphasis on this information and its appropriateness upon the organizational commitment of nurses and nursing auxiliaries. Thus, it seems of great importance to make sure that the explanations and information delivered to contingent workers are accurate and relevant. We also believe that our results reinforce the role of the direct supervisor. Because the direct supervisor is in charge of the integration of contingent workers within the service or the team, these supervisors have a key role. It could be necessary to make them aware of this. Therefore, the organizations which use contingent work arrangements should implement a specific human resource management approach in order to reap the benefits of quantitative work flexibility., Esta investigación pretende ayudar a la comprensión de la implicación organizacional de los asalariados eventuales gracias al enfoque de la justicia organizacional. Se basa en un estudio empírico por cuestionario realizado con 183 asalariados permanentes y 71 eventuales, contratados por un tiempo determinado. Nuestros resultados demuestran el poder explicativo de las percepciones de justicia sobre la implicación. Sobresale la sensibilidad de los asalariados eventuales respecto a la manera como son tratados en la organización y se muestra que las empresas no tienen interés en considerar los asalariados eventuales como mano de obra periférica, no muy favorable a comprometerse con la organización. Sobre la base de los análisis efectuados, el artículo propone una reflexión sobre los efectos del estatuto de empleo y deduce las implicaciones para la gestión.

The World Bank: A Critical Primer - Masterson, Thomas (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The World Bank: A Critical Primer," by Eric Toussaint.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; INTERNATIONAL banking industry; Nonfiction; TOUSSAINT; Eric; WORLD Bank: A Critical Primer; The (Book)

Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia - Mathieu, Sarah-Jane (Saje) (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia," by Peter Cole.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; COLE; Peter; Labor Unions; Nonfiction; WOBBLIES on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia (Book)

Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party - Mayer, Heather (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party," by Paul Frymer.
Keywords: BLACK & Blue: African Americans; the Labor Movement & the Decline of the Democratic Party (Book); BOOKS – Reviews; FRYMER; Paul; Labor movement; Nonfiction

Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal Got Political - Maynard, Steven (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal Got Political," by Lucy Robinson.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; GAY Men & the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal Got Political (Book); GAY people; Nonfiction; ROBINSON; Lucy

Writing Chinese Labour History: Changes and Continuities in Labour Historiography - McQuaide, Shiling (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
[In this bibliographic essay which focuses on historical studies of Chinese labour,] ... I summarize Western interpretations of pre-1949 Chinese labour and identify broad differences separating Western interpretations of Chinese labour movement trends from those conceived by Chinese scholars. Next, I present a discussion of major debates in labour historiography to shed some light on the different perspectives adopted by Chinese labour scholars relative to other social historians. Finally, I examine a number of factors that contribute to Chinese labour historians’ reticence to embrace and adapt newer models, and conclude by noting that beneath the apparent consistency of message characterizing pre-1949 Chinese labour studies in general, political and social changes are having a subtle impact on the ways in which Chinese labour historians depict the working-class. –Author's introduction
Keywords: CHINA; Historians; History; Labor; POLITICAL change; Social change

The Cinema of Globalization: A Guide to Films About the New Economic Order - Melnyk, George (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Cinema of Globalization: A Guide to Films About the New Economic Order," by Tom Zaniello.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CINEMA of Globalization: A Guide to Films About the New Economic Order; The (Book); Globalization; Nonfiction; ZANIELLO; Tom

The Indigenous Foundation of the Resource Economy of BC's North Coast - Menzies, Charles R.; Butler, Caroline F. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article focuses on the Indigenous Foundation of the Resource Economy of British Columbia's north coast. It discusses the emergence of capitalist resource extraction, and the canneries and village-based labour in the region. It also highlights the combined forestry, fisheries work, and harvesting of traditional food resources by Ts'msyen people until the middle of the 20th century.
Keywords: BRITISH Columbia – Economic conditions; British Columbia; CANNERIES; Capitalism; FORESTS & forestry; Fisheries; Labor

Unwrapping the European Social Model - Morel, Sylvie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

New Technologies and the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from France - Moreno-Galbis, Eva; Wolff, François-Charles (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This paper focuses on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the gender pay gap along the wage distribution. Our empirical analysis relies on two complementary French surveys conducted in 1998 and 2005 on a large sample of employees. We estimate quantile regressions and use a difference-in-difference strategy to assess the effect of new technologies. Both in 1998 and 2005, we find that the gender gap estimated for the group of ICT-users is not really different from the gap for non-users. Among ICT-users, wage differentials between men and women are mostly explained by a divergence in the rewards to identical characteristics.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Gender identity; Impact analysis; Labor Unions; Qualitative research; Regression analysis; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Wage differential; information technology

Psychological Socialism. The Labour Party and Qualities of Mind and Character, 1931 to the Present - Morgan, Kevin (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Psychological Socialism: The Labour Party and Qualities of Mind and Character 1931 to the Present," by Jeremy Nuttall.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LABOUR Party (Great Britain); NUTTALL; Jeremy; Nonfiction; PSYCHOLOGICAL Socialism: The Labour Party & Qualities of Mind & Character 1931 to the Present (Book)

Trade Unions and Worker Movements in the North American Communications Industries - Mosco, Vincent (Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation, 2008)
This paper reports on a project that examines trends in North American labour movements, and specifically in the workforce, in the converging communications, culture, and information technology sectors. Drawing on documentary evidence and interviews, the paper concentrates on two important developments: efforts to unify workers across the knowledge and communication industries, and the rise of worker movements that operate in conjunction with, but outside, the formal trade union structure. The paper begins by situating these developments within debates about labour in a 'post-industrial', 'information', or 'network' society. It describes the challenges facing workers in the knowledge sector, especially rapid technological change, massive corporate consolidation, the rise of the neo-liberal state and divisions between cultural and technical workers in the knowledge sector. The paper proceeds to describe how North American workers are responding within the traditional trade union system, primarily through forms of consolidation or trade union convergence (such as the Communication Workers of America), and also through worker movements operating outside the traditional trade union system in the information technology and cultural sectors (for example WashTech and the National Writers Union). The paper concludes by addressing the significance of these developments. Do they portend a rebirth of North American labour activism or do they represent its last gasps?

What's Right is Right: The Supreme Court Gets It - Norman, Ken (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)
Examines the Supreme Court's B.C. Health Services decision (2007) as a crucial change in the discourse of labour rights in Canada.

Wal-Mart: The Face of 21st Century Capitalism - O'Gorman, Melanie (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Wal-Mart: The Face of 21st Century Capitalism," edited by Nelson Lichtenstein.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; LICHTENSTEIN; Nelson; Nonfiction; WAL-Mart Stores Inc.; WAL-Mart: The Face of 21st-Century Capitalism (Book)

Red Chicago: American Communism At Its Grassroots, 1928-1935 - Palmer, Bryan D. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Red Chicago: American Communism at Its Grassroots, 1928-1935," by Randi Storch.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Communism; Nonfiction; RED Chicago: American Communism at Its Grassroots 1928-1935 (Book); STORCH; Randi

The Cultural Economy of Survival: The Mi'kmaq of Cape Breton in the Mid-19th Century - Parnaby, Andrew (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
By the mid-19th century, the Mi'kmaq of Cape Breton Island, much like the Mi'kmaq on the Nova Scotia mainland, were nearly destitute. The outcome of over two centuries of political, economic, and cultural interaction with Europeans, this condition was exacerbated by the massive influx of Scottish settlers to the island after the end of the Napoleonic Wars – nearly 30,000 between 1815 and 1838. With their lands occupied and access to customary hunting and fishing grounds severely limited, the island's Mi'kmaw population – estimated to be about 500 in 1847 – adopted numerous economic initiatives to stay alive: they pursued agriculture and wage labour, mobilized older skills toward different occupational niches, and maintained, at least to some extent, customary rounds of seasonal resource procurement. This essay examines this evolving pattern of occupational pluralism, and highlights how customary norms, codes, and behaviours provided part of the logic through which the island's Mi'kmaw people made decisions about what to do, economically, to survive. Mid-19th century Cape Breton was a contested place as the forces of immigration and settlement exerted new pressures on Mi'kmaw life. This paper is about that changing context and how the island's indigenous people sought to understand it, negotiate its pressures and possibilities, and blunt its negative effects.
Keywords: CAPE Breton Island (N.S.); CULTURAL pluralism; Economics; MI'KMAQ (North American people); Nova Scotia

The Many Motivations of Jack Tar - Parnaby, Andrew (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews several books including "Slave Ship Sailors and Their Captive Cargoes, 1730-1807," by Emma Christopher, "Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution," by Paul A. Glije, and "Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age," by Marcus Rediker.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CHRISTOPHER; Emma; GLIJE; Paul A.; LIBERTY on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution (Book); Nonfiction; REDIKER; Marcus; SLAVE Ship Sailors & Their Captive Cargoes 1730-1807 (Book); VILLAINS of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age (Book)

From Peasants to Labourers: Ukrainian and Belarusan Immigration from the Russian Empire to Canada - Petryshyn, Jaroslav (Jerry) (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "From Peasants to Labourers: Ukrainian and Belarusan Immigration From the Russian Empire to Canada," by Vadim Kukushkin.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; FROM Peasants to Labourers: Ukrainian & Belarusan Immigration From the Russian Empire to Canada (Book); Immigrants; KUKUSHKIN; Vadim; Nonfiction

Union Discourse and Perceived Violation of Contract: A Social Contract-Based Approach - Peyrat-Guillard, Dominique (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This article proposes a study of the violation of contract process through a case study. The study is based on a discourse of the union, SUD Michelin, which is contrasted both with those of another union, the CFE-CGC Michelin and of the senior management of the corporation. The results highlight the possibility of applying Morrison and Robinson's (1997) Psychological Contract Violation model at the social contract level. The emotional reactions appearing in the literature, which are associated with contract violations, can be seen in the union discourse of the SUD. The other union does not perceive any breach of contract. These differences may be attributed to the very nature of social contracts-relational in the first case, and more balanced in the second.
Keywords: Breach of contract; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Models; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Tire industry

Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants - Phillips, Lisa (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants," by Kathleen M. Barry.
Keywords: BARRY; Kathleen M.; BOOKS – Reviews; FEMININITY in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants (Book); Femininity; Nonfiction

L’emploi durable, une relation de type don/contre-don : De la validation aux enseignements d’un paradigme - Pihel, Laetitia (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cet article s’intéresse à la question des relations d’emploi durables et se propose de démontrer la pertinence du paradigme du don/contre-don de Mauss (2003) pour lire et comprendre les réglages de ces relations et l’engagement des individus inscrits à l’intérieur. Il étudie, à partir d’une recherche de type ethnographique et inductive menée au sein de l’entreprise France Télécom, les moteurs et les ressorts de l’engagement durable des acteurs dans un contexte où les conditions initiales d’entrée dans la relation ont été modifiées par les restructurations de l’entreprise. En s’appuyant sur les résultats de l’enquête, il témoigne de la force explicative des thèses de Mauss et de leur intérêt pour la GRH, en montrant comment celles-ci complètent les approches managériales traditionnelles et redéfinissent les conditions d’efficacité des politiques d’accompagnement proposées par l’entreprise., There is much research into occupations, and a growing marked interest in what are called “new careers.” These new careers, which are defined in relation to traditional occupations, are typified by lower loyalty and less attachment to the employer on the part of the employee. There are various factors that account for this. From a sociological viewpoint, modern workers tend to need to give a sense to their professional life and so, depending on the moment and their desires, they change organization and accumulate diverse experiences over the course of their career. Economically, with the ubiquity of corporate restructuring and organizational change, employees aim to protect themselves from the risk of redundancy having come to the realization that jobs for life no longer exist. These changes correspond to a new, more contractual and more rational, psychological relationship between the individual and the organization. This means that in the new areas of exchange, loyalty and reciprocity are maintained through the synchronous realization of expectations. As a result, attachment to the organization and emotional investment are weaker than was the case in the past. While being both justified and pertinent, the above mentioned research engenders a particular viewpoint. Through a certain prioritization, this research has lead to an almost total neglect of research into single-employer careers and into long-term employment relationships which were historically the basis of an employee’s relation with the organization. Although single-employer careers have not disappeared, it must be admitted that nowadays they have taken on a new form. Internal reorganization and permanent changes have contributed to a redefinition of the conditions of long-term employment relationships. They also contribute to the modification of the rules of involvement and the transformation of the relationship between contribution and remuneration. This leads to the question of the longevity of the commitment of those who choose to stay with one organization. It is to this rarely investigated question that this article is addressed. This article analyses the sustainable employment relationship in order to understand the motives for the commitment of the actors engaged in such a relationship. The study is based on an ethnographic survey which was conducted over fifteen months within the firm France Telecom. Over the last fifteen years, this firm has undergone major restructurings which has had as a result that the firm’s employees work in a professional and social framework that is different from the one in place when they joined the company. The legal status, the meaning given to their work, the values as well as the job itself have all been redefined to match the new obligations of the organization. Classic management approaches consider that undergone changes in conditions induce hitches or even a rupture of the psychological contract. They also show that these hitches in the exchanges between employer and employee go along with negative consequences on the employees’ commitment, their loyalty, their social behaviour, and their performance (Delobbe et al., 2005). Studies on the psychological contract have mainly highlighted the fact that, under such circumstances, most employees resign. Our research seeks to understand what causes employees to maintain their involvement even when their employment conditions have been radically redefined. To do this, we start with the paradoxes seen in our study. At France Telecom, even when those involved have undergone professional reorientation, moving them away from their previous experiences, none of them wish to leave the company. The behaviour of the individuals and the performance of the company show a strong commitment to the company and to the work on the part of the employees. The inductive survey reveals that the reasons for a lasting/long-term commitment are grounded in and protected by the history of the relationship that links the employees to the firm (primary socialization, protection of traditional values, behaviour standards, social dependence) and also by a great number of mixed features that are specific to lasting/long-term employment relationships (strong identity roots, affection for the firm, etc.). The paradigm of gift/counter-gift (don/contre-don) and of the social phenomenon initiated by Marcel Mauss (1923–1924) is used here to analyze this type of relationship. This paradigm allows us to take into account the complexity of the relationship, the dynamics of the different features considered and, most importantly, the role of the lasting/long-term interaction between the employee and the particular context of the relationship. Moreover, it allows us to better understand the issues raised by reorganization for those involved. Using the results of the survey, the article confirms that Mauss’ gift/counter-gift paradigm is relevant to the analysis and understanding of lasting/long-term employment relationships. It also proves that Mauss’ theories are particularly illuminating and of a great interest for human resource management, showing that they complement the traditional management approaches as they define new conditions for the support programmes implemented by the firm in order to be efficient. In this article, we put forward the concept of a “chain giving.” This concept emphasizes the overall and historic dimensions of the relation with the enterprise. It encourages the measurement of all the implications involved in long-term employment relationships (professional, personal and social implications) and their incorporation into managerial decision making. This concept can bring us a clearer reading of the expectations of the individual, comprehension of the paradoxes observed at the workface and a deepening of our understanding of reactions to changes put in place by organizations., Este artículo se interesa a la cuestión de las relaciones de empleo durables y se propone demostrar la pertinencia del paradigma del don/ contra – don de Mauss (2003) para leer y comprender los reglajes de esas relaciones y la implicación de los individuos inscritos al interior. A partir de una investigación de tipo etnográfica e inductiva llevada a cabo en la empresa France Telecom, se estudia los motores y los resortes de la implicación durable de los actores en un contexto donde las condiciones iniciales de entrada en la relación han sido modificadas por las restructuraciones de la empresa. Apoyándose en los resultados de la encuesta, el estudio testimonia de la fuerza explicativa de las tesis de Mauss y de su interés para la GRH, mostrando cómo ellas se completan los enfoques de gestión tradicionales y redefinen las condiciones de eficacidad de las políticas de acompañamiento propuestas por la empresa.

Strategy and Human Resource Management - Plumb, Barry (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Strategy and Human Resource Management, Second Edition, by Peter Boxall and John Purcell, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Human resource management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Strategic management

Broken English, Broken Bones? Mechanisms Linking Language Proficiency and Occupational Health in a Montreal Garment Factory - Premji, Stéphanie; Messing, Karen; Lippel, Katherine (International Journal of Health Services, 2008)
Language barriers are often cited as a factor contributing to ethnic inequalities in occupational health; however, little information is available about the mechanisms at play. The authors describe the multiple ways in which language influences occupational health in a large garment factory employing many immigrants in Montreal. Between 2004 and 2006, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women and 10 men from 14 countries of birth. Interviews were conducted in French and English, Canada's official languages, as well as in non-official languages with the help of colleague-interpreters. Observation within the workplace was also carried out at various times during the project. The authors describe how proficiency in the official languages influences occupational health by affecting workers' ability to understand and communicate information, and supporting relationships that can affect work-related health. They also describe workers' strategies to address communication barriers and discuss the implications of these strategies from an occupational health standpoint. Along with the longer-term objectives of integrating immigrants into the linguistic majority and addressing structural conditions that can affect health, policies and practices need to be put in place to protect the health and well-being of those who face language barriers in the short term.

Dreams of Peace and Freedom: Utopian Moments in the 20th Century - Purdy, Sean (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Dreams of Peace and Freedom: Utopian Moments in the 20th Century," by Jay Winter.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DREAMS of Peace & Freedom: Utopian Moments in the 20th Century (Book); Nonfiction; UTOPIAN socialism; WINTER; Jay

Domestic Reforms: Political Visions and Family Regulation in British Columbia, 1862-1940 - Purvey, Diane (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book "Domestic Reforms: Political Visions and Family Regulation in British Columbia, 1862-1940," by Chris Clarkson.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CLARKSON; Chris; DOMESTIC Reforms: Political Visions & Family Regulation in British Columbia 1862-1940 (Book); LAW reform; Nonfiction

Quand mobiliser et proximité riment : le rôle déterminant du supérieur immédiat - Quenneville, Nadine; Simard, Gilles; Bentein, Kathleen (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Cet article examine l’influence de la perception de certaines pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines sur les comportements de mobilisation des employés, au travers de deux processus d’échange sociaux distincts, employé-organisation et employé-supérieur. Les comportements de mobilisation étaient évalués par les supérieurs et toutes les autres variables par les employés. Les analyses ont été réalisées sur un échantillon de 222 employés et 38 supérieurs de commerces au détail d’une chaîne canadienne. Nous avons établi les relations à l’aide de la méthode d’équations structurelles avec LISREL. Les résultats mettent en relief le rôle fondamental de la relation d’échange social entre les employés et leur supérieur, à travers la perception de support et de l’engagement affectif orientés vers ce dernier.

Théories des organisations : approches classiques, contemporaines et de l'avant-garde - Racine, Michel (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Théories des organisations : approches classiques, contemporaines et de l’avant-garde," by Linda Rouleau.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Forestry Workers and their Communities - Robbins, William G. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews and comments on several books, including "Capital and Labour in the British Columbia Forest Industry 1934-1974," by Gordon Hak, "The Tribes of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South," by William P. Jones, and the "Up-Coast: Forests and Industry on British Columbia's North Coast 1870-2005," by Richard A. Rajala.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CAPITAL & Labour in the British Columbia Forest Industry 1934-1974 (Book); HAK; Gordon; JONES; William P.; Nonfiction; RAJALA; Richard A.; TRIBES of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South; The (Book); UP-Coast: Forests & Industry on British Columbia's North Coast 1870-2005 (Book)

Fading Corporatism: Israel's Labor Law and Industrial Relations in Transition - Rosenhek, Zeev (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Fading Corporatism: Israel's Labor Law and Industrial Relations in Transition," by Guy Mundlak.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; FADING Corporatism: Israel's Labor Law & Industrial Relations in Transition (Book); Industrial relations; MUNDLAK; Guy; Nonfiction

Labour Left Out: Canada’s Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right - Ross, Stephanie (Socialist Studies/Études socialistes, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Labour Left Out: Canada’s Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right ," by Roy J. Adams.

Blue-Collar Aristocrats? General Motors Autoworkers and Oppositional Class Consciousness - Roth, Reuben N. (Humanity & Society, 2008)
Postwar social theorists (Goldthorpe, Lipset, Giddens, Hout, Brooks and Manza) have typically portrayed members of the Western industrial working-class as accommodative and suggest that an affluent proletariat has seen its oppositional working-class consciousness subverted and transformed by the ‘cash nexus’ into various forms of social integration. With reference to Mann's (1973) measures of class-consciousness I explore expressions of proletarian consciousness among organized workers at one of Canada's largest industrial union locals, the Canadian Auto Workers Local 222 of General Motors, Oshawa, Canada. Here I tested for the existence and degree of working-class imagery, proletarian identity and oppositional working-class consciousness using a survey questionnaire (N=102), in-depth interviews and participant observation. I found a shared view of class relations as primarily characterized by conflict, a clear working-class self-identification and measurable forms of oppositional working-class consciousness among this group. My findings confirm the hypothesis that Oshawa autoworkers' relative material advantage is insufficient to completely transform their proletarian consciousness. In this context I discuss the 1996 Oshawa plant occupation as an example of elevated oppositional class consciousness among Oshawa autoworkers.
Publisher: SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA

The Ongoing Challenge: American Workers and Unions - Russell, Jason (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews several books on American workers and unions including "Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement," by Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss, "Demanding Work: The Paradox of Job Quality in the Affluent Economy," by Francis Green, and "Freedom Is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace," by Nancy MacLean.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DEMANDING Work: The Paradox of Job Quality in the Affluent Economy (Book); FANTASIA; Rick; FREEDOM Is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace (Book); GREEN; Francis; HARD Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement (Book); MACLEAN; Nancy; Nonfiction; VOSS; Kim

The State of Working America, 2006/2007 - Russell, Jason (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The State of Working America 2006/2007," by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein and Sylvia Allegretto.
Keywords: ALLEGRETTO; Sylvia; BERNSTEIN; Jared; BOOKS – Reviews; Labor; MISHEL; Lawrence; Nonfiction; STATE of Working America 2006-2007; The (Book)

“Queen of the Picket Line”: Beauty Contests in the Post–World War II Canadian Labor Movement, 1945–1970 - Sangster, Joan (Labor, 2008)
This article examines the proliferation of beauty contests sponsored by the union movement after World War II, as a means of exploring the contradictions of the Fordist accord for women workers, and also feminist scholarship on beauty and the body. Beauty contests were articulations of labor pride and identity; they reflected the popular culture of the post-war period, labor's search for respectability, and labor's attempts to entice women into the movement by appealing to women's culture. A few contests even offered more subversive meanings of beauty by celebrating the `queen of the picket line.' However, most labor beauty contests promoted competitive individualism, consumption, and images of passive femininity that kept women marginalized on the sidelines of the labor movements. Le Bal des Midinettes, sponsored by the ILGWU, was an excellent example of these contradictions, espousing both faith in the Cinderella myth and a sense of French Canadian working-class pride. While theories stressing identity, agency, and subjectivity offer some insights into beauty contests, feminist-materialist analyses of commodification, exploitation, and ideology remain essential to our understanding of their meaning for, and impact on women workers in this period.

Ageing Labour Forces - Promises and Prospects - Sarfati, Hedva (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Ageing Labour Forces – Promises and Prospects, edited by Philip Taylor, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Cultural change; International; Labor Unions; Labor force; Older workers; Public policy; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Competing Claims in Work and Family Life - Sarfati, Hedva (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Competing Claims in Work and Family Life, edited by Tanja van der Lippe and Pascale Peters, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor relations; QUALITY of life; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Work life balance

Labour Rights as Human Rights? A Response to Roy Adams - Savage, Larry (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)

Organized Labour and Local Politics: Ontario's 2006 Municipal Elections - Savage, Larry (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article provides information on the municipal elections which were held in Ontario in November 2006. The elections represented a strategic shift in the political priorities of organized labour. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) held a series of strategy sessions, candidate schools, public speaking and media courses, and political organizer training sessions. The campaign was rolled out in four phases including visioning, training and endorsement, and accountability.
Keywords: CANADIAN Labour Congress; LOCAL elections; Labor Unions; Ontario; POLITICAL campaigns; POLITICAL endorsements

Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves - and the Labor Movement - in Harm's Way? - Sexton, Jean (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves - and the Labor Movement - in Harm’s Way?," by Kris Paap.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 - Shrivastava, Meenal (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Power and Contestation: India Since 1989," by Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam.
Keywords: 20th century; BOOKS – Reviews; History; INDIA; MENON; Nivedita; NIGAM; Aditya; Nonfiction; POWER & Contestation: India Since 1989 (Book)

The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth - Slee, Tom; Lévesque, Andrée (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth," by Mark Anielski.
Keywords: ANIELSKI; Mark; BOOKS – Reviews; ECONOMICS of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth; The (Book); Nonfiction; Wealth

Captive Audience Meetings and Forced Listening: Lessons for Canada from the American Experience - Slinn, Sara (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Widespread adoption of mandatory representation votes and express protection of employer speech invite employer anti-union campaigns during union organizing, including employer-held captive audience meetings. Therefore, the problem of whether and how to restrict employers' captive audience communications during union organizing is of renewed relevance in Canada. Captive meetings are a long-standing feature of American labour relations. This article considers how treatment of captive meetings evolved in the U.S., including the notion of employee choice; the "marketplace of ideas" view of expression dominating the American debate; and the central role of the contest between constitutional and statutory rights. It also considers the concept of "forced listening" and the associated Captive Audience doctrine in U.S. constitutional law and considers its possible application to captive audience meetings and the Charter definition of free expression. Finally, it offers suggestions about how Canadian labour law can benefit from lessons learned from the American experience.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Labor law; MEETINGS; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Unionization

The Politics of the Ontario Labour Relations Act: Business, Labour, and Government in the Consolidation of Post-War Industrial Relations, 1949-1961 - Smith, Charles W. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The Ontario Labour Relations Act (OLRA) has long dictated the legal relationship between trade unions and employers in the province. Although subject to years of delay, when the provincial government introduced the OLRA in 1950, its official stance on labour relations was a "hands off" program that was designed to leave collective bargaining to the participants. Often defined as industrial pluralism, this new legal regime was supposed to have been crafted in the name of "fairness and balance" in which trade unions abandoned previous militancy for state-sponsored freedoms. Upon closer examination, however, the provincial government's approach to industrial pluralism was much less hands off than has previously been assumed. Rather, the entrenchment of collective bargaining in Ontario was closely aligned with the class interests of Ontario businesses. Through an examination of the politics surrounding OLRA, this article argues that Teslie Frost's Conservative government structured the Act in order to appease employer demands surrounding increased legal regulation of collective bargaining and union organizing, which limited the extension of unionization throughout the province. In making this observation, the article maintains that the Conservative regime of industrial pluralism was both the by-product and the purveyor of ongoing class antagonism throughout the 1950s.
Keywords: Canada; LABOR laws & legislation; Labor Unions; Labor disputes; Legislation; Ontario

What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace - Spencer, Bruce (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace," edited by Richard B. Freeman, Peter Boxall and Peter Haynes.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; BOXALL; Peter; Employees; FREEMAN; Richard B.; HAYNES; Peter; Nonfiction; WHAT Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace (Book)

Kin: A Collective Biography of a New Zealand Working-Class Family - Stephen, Jennifer A. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Kin: A Collective Biography of a New Zealand Working-Class Family," by Melanie Nolan.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; KIN: A Collective Biography of a New Zealand Working-Class Family (Book); NOLAN; Melanie; Nonfiction; Working class

The Logic of Contingent Work and Overwork - Stormer, Flora (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
In this article, I draw on institutional theory to propose that a macro-societal market logic is shaping our understanding of the workplace trends of contingent work and overwork. This logic, in combination with specific societal changes, affects how workers experience such trends. Yet paradoxically, the market logic can be used to both support and oppose the trends, resulting in a conceptual stalemate. Research implications are discussed.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; Logic; Organization theory; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; Working hours

A Special Kind of Downsizing: An Assessment of Union Member Reaction to Bumping - Stringer, Krista G.; Brown, Travor C. (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The present study investigated the impact of bumping on union member (N = 100) perceptions of job security, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, union commitment and organizational justice. Analysis revealed a negative correlation between bumping experience and organizational commitment and job satisfaction (at the .05 level). There was a similar negative relationship between bumping and both union commitment and organizational justice at the .10 level. MANCOVA found that organizational commitment and job satisfaction levels were higher for union members without bumping experience versus those with either direct or indirect bumping experience. No significant differences were found on any variable between union members who were directly involved in bumping and those who were indirectly involved.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Commitments; Employment security; Impact analysis; Job satisfaction; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies

The HR Management Perspective on the Elimination of Mandatory Retirement in Ontario - Templer, Andrew J.; Armstrong-Stassen, Marjorie (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Effective as of December, 2006, an end to mandatory retirement was legislated in Ontario. Prior to this move, some employers and labour organizations were opposed to eliminating mandatory retirement and expressed concern about the negative impact such a move would have on business and on individual workers. This exploratory descriptive study examines HR managers' (N = 415) perceptions of the impact of the elimination of mandatory retirement in Ontario. Compared with HR managers in organizations not practicing mandatory retirement, HR managers in organizations with a mandatory retirement policy reported their organization had significantly fewer HR practices in place tailored to older employees and would be significantly more likely to respond to the elimination of mandatory retirement by implementing new HR practices or by modifying existing HR practices.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Federal legislation; Human resource management; Impact analysis; Labor Unions; Managers; Mandatory retirement; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies

Disciplining Statistics: Demography and Vital Statistics in France and England, 1830 - 1885 - Tfaily, Rania (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Disciplining Statistics: Demography and Vital Statistics in France and England 1830-1885," by Libby Schweber.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; DISCIPLINING Statistics: Demography & Vital Statistics in France & England 1830-1885 (Book); Nonfiction; POPULATION statistics; SCHWEBER; Libby

Collective Bargaining on Working Time: Recent European Experiences - Thomas, Mark (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Collective Bargaining on Working Time: Recent European Experiences, edited by Maarten Keune, and Bela Galgoczi, is reviewed.
Keywords: Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Collective bargaining; Flexible hours; Labor Unions; Labor law; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Working hours

Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change among Transnational Activists - Thomas, Mark (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change Among Transnational Activists," by Shareen Hertel.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; Employee rights; HERTEL; Shareen; Nonfiction; UNEXPECTED Power: Conflict & Change Among Transnational Activists (Book)

Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in Nineteenth-Century Britain - Tucker, Eric (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in Nineteenth-Century Britain," by Jamie L. Bronstein.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; BRONSTEIN; Jamie L.; CAUGHT in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents & Injured Workers in 19th-Century Britain (Book); Nonfiction; WORK-related injuries

The Constitutional Right to Bargain Collectively: The Ironies of Labour History in the Supreme Court of Canada - Tucker, Eric (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article focuses on the constitutional right to bargain collectively in Canada. Employers in Canada have adopted labour management policies that including resistance to and avoidance of collective bargaining, shifting from secure employment forms and increasing demand on the workforce. It mentions the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) which had successfully fought a long battle to achieve pay equity for its largely female membership.
Keywords: Canada; Collective bargaining; Collective labor agreements; Employers; HOSPITAL personnel – Salaries; etc.; Labor Unions

The No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism - Tufts, Steven (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism," by Pamela Nowicka.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; NO-Nonsense Guide to Terrorism; The (Book); NOWICKA; Pamela; Nonfiction; Tourism

Labour Migration and Development: Towards a North-South Vision for Change - Valiani, Salimah (Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 2008)
This article is adapted from a presentation made at a meeting of policy experts of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Trade Union Advisory Council. The presentation provided the "trade union expert perspective" at the seminar held in Paris, October 17, 2007, entitled "Fair Labour Migration" from vision to reality." Tracing an alternative approach to understanding "global labour supply", the article makes links between jobless growth, trade and investment liberalization, and the increased use of temporary migrant workers around the world. The article concludes with proposals for a broad framework of change leading to decent work and sustainable development - in both the global North and the global South.

An Analysis of the Relation between Personality and the Attractiveness of Total Rewards Components - Vandenberghe, Christian; St-Onge, Sylvie; Robineau, Évelyne (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This study examines the links between personality and the relative attraction of various total rewards components. A survey approach is adopted, with 967 individuals completing a questionnaire. These individuals are currently employed. Results show that, after controlling for the effects of several demographic variables, "Big-Five" personality traits do affect individuals' attraction to the following total rewards components: quality of work and of social relationships, development and career opportunities, variable pay, indirect pay, flexibility of working conditions, and prestige. Among Big-Five personality traits, openness to experience best predicts the relative importance employees give to the various total rewards components.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Demographics; Labor Unions; Personality traits; Polls & surveys; Rewards; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies

International and European Protection of the Right to Strike : A Comparative Study of Standards Set by the International Labour Organization, the Council of Europe and the European Union - Verge, Pierre (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "International and European Protection of the Right to Strike : A Comparative Study of Standards Set by the International Labour Organization, the Council of Europe and the European Union," by Tonia Novitz.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

La relative originalité de l'Accord Canada-Peru de coopération dans le domaine du travail - Verge, Pierre (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
Analyzes the distinctive features of the Canada-Peru trade agreement in the context of accords with other nations.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution - Way, Peter (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution," by Paul A. Gilje.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; GILJE; Paul A.; 1951-; LIBERTY on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution (Book); Nonfiction; Sailors

The Cypress Hills: An Island by Itself - Wetherell, Donald G. (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "The Cypress Hills: An Island by Itself," by Walter Hildebrandt and Brian Hubner.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CYPRESS Hills (Alta. & Sask.); CYPRESS Hills: An Island by Itself; The (Book); HILDEBRANDT; Walter; HUBNER; Brian; Nonfiction

The Organizational Impact of University Labor Unions - Wickens, Christine M. (Higher Education, 2008)
The current review presents both postulated and empirically tested consequences of university unionization and labor strikes on the North American institution’s administration, faculty, and students. The review explores the impact of collective bargaining on employee working conditions including job security, academic freedom, university governance, and due process. More importantly, this review examines the much neglected issue of organizational work relationships in a unionized academic environment. The relationships discussed include those between faculty members, between the faculty and administration, between the faculty and the university as an institution, and between the faculty and their union. The threat of unionization and labor strikes to the professor–student or mentor–mentee relationship has been a central concern of those opposed to graduate student unions, and this issue is also addressed here. The text concludes with the identification of potential areas for future research.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-008-9110-z
Keywords: Coping; Industrial relations; Labor strikes; Labor unions; Organizational behavior; Public administration; Stress

A Glowing Dream: A Memoir - Wiseman, Nelson (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews the book, "A Glowing Dream: A Memoir," by Roland Penner.
Keywords: AUTOBIOGRAPHY; BOOKS – Reviews; GLOWING Dream: A Memoir; A (Book); Nonfiction; PENNER; Roland

Diversity and Transformation within Varieties of Capitalism, Work, and Employment: The Sustainability of Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism - Wood, Geoffrey (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews and comments on several books including "Changing Governance of Local Economies," edited by Colin Crouch, Patrick Le Galès, Carlo Trigilia, and Helmut Voelzkow, "Convergence and Persistence in Corporate Governance," by Jeffrey N. Gordon and Mark J. Roe, and "The Global and the Local: Understanding the Dialectics of Business Systems," by Arndt Sorge.
Keywords: BOOKS – Reviews; CHANGING Governance of Local Economies (Book); CONVERGENCE & Persistence in Corporate Governance (Book); CROUCH; Colin; GLOBAL & the Local: Understanding the Dialectics of Business Systems; The (Book); GORDON; Jeffrey N.; LE Gales; Patrick; Nonfiction; ROE; Mark J.; SORGE; Arndt; TRIGILIA; Carlo; VOELZKOW; Helmut

The Challenges Facing the South African Labour Movement: Mobilization of Diverse Constituencies in a Changing Context - Wood, Geoffrey; Dibben, Pauline (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
There is a growing body of literature on the role and impact of unions in the developing world, and on their ability to mobilize members against a background of neo-liberal reforms. The South African trade union movement represents a source of inspiration to organized labour worldwide, but has faced many challenges over the years. This article engages with debates on union solidarity and worker democracy, and draws on the findings of a nationwide survey of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to explore the extent of fragmentation according to gender, age, skill level and ethnicity. The survey reveals regular participation in union affairs, democratic accountability, participation in collective action, and a strong commitment to the labour movement, but variation in levels of engagement between categories of union members indicates significant implications for union policy and practice.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Commitments; Impact analysis; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies; Union membership

Challenging States of Illegality: From "Managed Migration" to a Politics of No Borders - Wright, Cynthia (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
The article reviews several books about labour including "Labor Movement: How Migration Regulates Labor Markets," by Harald Bauder, "Managing Labor Migration in the Twenty-first Century," by Philip Martin and Manolo Abella, and "International Migration: Globalization's Last Frontier," by Jonathon W. Moses.
Keywords: ABELLA; Manolo; BAUDER; Harald; BOOKS – Reviews; INTERNATIONAL Migration: Globalization's Last Frontier (Book); LABOR Movement: How Migration Regulates Labor Markets (Book); MANAGING Labor Migration in the 21st Century (Book); MARTIN; Philip; MOSES; Jonathon W.; Nonfiction

Building the Great Lucrative Fishing Industry': Aboriginal Gillnet Fishers and Protests over Salmon Fishery Regulations for the Nass and Skeena Rivers, 1950s-1960s - Wright, Miriam (Labour / Le Travail, 2008)
In the 1950s and 1960s, Aboriginal gillnet fishers protested new state salmon regulations restricting access to the industrial fishery of the Nass and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia. Using cannery records, as well as letters, petitions, and statements native people made to the Department of Fisheries, this article examines both the protests and the impact of the regulations that the state introduced in a time of massive structural, economic, technological, and ecological change in the northern fishery. The native fishers' letters suggest that both their Aboriginal heritage and work-centered, class-based identities were shaping their opposition to the state. Those leading the protests were active in other areas of native politics, but also strongly identified as gillnetters, small-boat fishers in an increasingly stratified and competitive fishery. Moreover, native fishers in British Columbia had had a long history of labour activism and organization. This article suggests that understanding the ways these Aboriginal groups navigated between both the colonial and capitalist legacies can provide insights into native politics and experiences in this period.
Keywords: British Columbia; FISHERS; FISHERY law & legislation; Fisheries; Indigenous Peoples; SALMON

Riding the Boom: Labour Market Experiences of New Generation Youth from Visible Minority Immigrant Families - Yan, Miu Chung; Lauer, Sean; Jhangiani, Surita (Canadian Ethnic Studies, 2008)
With changes in the source of origin of immigrants, a new cohort of new generation youth from visible minority immigrant families has begun to be established and become the key replacement of the aging Canadian labour force. Based on existing research, being young, being visible, and coming from an immigrant family are possible disadvantages in the labour market. Research on this new generation youth, however, is limited. This paper reports findings of two qualitative studies examining how this new generation youth, with or without a university degree, found work and what kinds of resources they used in their job search. The economic boom in British Columbia has offered easy access to the labour market. Coming from an immigrant family, however, visible minority youth benefit very little from their social ties and those of their family.

Low-Paid Workers and On-the-Job Training in Canada - Zeytinoglu, Isik U.; Cooke, Gordon B.; Harry, Karlene; Chowhan, James (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2008)
This paper provides evidence of on-the-job training for low-paid workers in Canada and examines workplace and individual factors associated with their on-the-job training. The study uses Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) 2001 data. Results show that less than a quarter of low-paid workers received on-the-job training in 2001 as compared to one third of higher-paid workers. A decomposition of regression models indicated that this substantive gap is statistically significant. With the shrinking labour force, ongoing skills development is needed to enable workers to earn a decent living, fulfill their work-related goals, and contribute to the current and future productivity of their workplaces and the economy. We recommend governments provide support for low-paid workers' on-the-job training.
Keywords: Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Employment training programs; Labor Unions; Low income groups; Organization theory; Regression analysis; Skill development; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Studies

Divergent Decline: Trade Unions, Labour Regimes and Globalisation in Australia and Canada - Lipsig-Mummé, Carla; McBride, Stephen (Just Policy: A Journal of Australian Social Policy, 2007)
In the past two decades, the complex of forces known as neo-liberal globalisation has transformed the environment for work, labour regulation and trade unionism in both Australia and Canada. The development of labour regimes in Australia and Canada is discussed. The influence of free trade agreements with the United States in which both countries participate is also discussed.

Local Produce, Foreign Labor: Labor Mobility Programs and Global Trade Competitiveness in Canada* - Preibisch, Kerry L. (Rural Sociology, 2007)
Abstract Temporary visa workers are increasingly taking on a heightened profile in Canada, entering the workforce each year in greater numbers than immigrant workers with labor mobility rights (Sharma 2006). This paper examines the incorporation of foreign workers in Canadian horticulture under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). I argue that foreign labor supplied under the SAWP secures a flexible workforce for employers and thus improves Canada's trade competitiveness in the global agrifood market. Using multiple research strategies, I track the evolution of Canadian horticulture in the global market and the transformation of labor in this industry. I outline the steady growth in the employment of temporary visa workers in the horticultural industry and show how they have become the preferred and, in some cases, core workforce for horticulture operations. The benefits of SAWP workers to employers include the provision of a workforce with limited rights relative to domestic workers and considerable administrative support in selecting, dispatching, and disciplining workers provided at no cost by labor supply countries. I conclude that the SAWP is a noteworthy example of the role of immigration policy in regulating the labor markets of high-income economies and thus ensuring the position of labor-receiving states within the global political economy.

Making a Fur Coat: Women, the Labouring Body, and Working-Class History - Sangster, Joan (International Review of Social History, 2007)
This article historicizes the making of a fur coat in post-1940 Canada, exploring the social relationships and forms of labour that made the fur coat possible: skinning, sewing, and selling. Focusing especially on women's labour, the author examines the significance of Aboriginal women's work, often unwaged, and seldom recognized in many fur-trade sources, as well as the way in which racial constructions of Aboriginal women intersected with the appropriation of their labour. The wage labour of women in a manufacturing sector dominated by eastern European Jewish immigrants, and by a masculine hierarchy of skill, as well as working women's protests and unionization, are also examined, as is retail selling labour in large and small stores. An exploration of these forms of labour, with a focus on gender, provides insights into discussions about the body and working-class history. While many feminist works have emphasized the cultural and discursive in their explorations of fur, the author argues for a theoretical perspective that fuses a feminist critique of race and gender hierarchies with a materialist understanding of labour, class, and alienation. While embracing a feminist scepticism about the existence of a “natural” body, she argues for the need to avoid the dematerialized body of much postmodern theory in explorations of the body and working-class history.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231967036_Making_a_Fur_Coat_Women_the_Labouring_Body_and_Working-Class_History

An Index to Labour/Le Travail Volumes 57 and 58, 2006 (Labour / Le Travail, 2007)
A subject index for the May 2007 issue of "Labour/Le Travail" is presented.
Keywords: INDEXES; Labor

Employment Equity and Affirmative Action: An International Comparison - Agócs, Carol (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2007)
The article reviews the book, "Employment Equity and Affirmative Action: An International Comparison," by Harish C. Jain, Peter J. Sloane and Frank M. Horwitz.
Keywords: Affirmative action; Book reviews; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Equality; International; International comparisons; Labor Unions; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z

Activity System Model, Perceived Self-Efficacy, and Newcomer Integration Behaviour - Almudever, Brigitte; Croity-Belz, Sandrine; Hajjar, Violette (Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 2007)
The research presented here contributes to the current debate on the effects of perceived self-efficacy (PSE). The study, undertaken with 157 schoolteachers who had just started their first teaching position, examined the moderating role of PSE on the effects of mismatches between expectations and actual work conditions on newcomer integration behaviour. Based on the theoretical model of multiple socialization, the results suggest that: 1) the degree of exchanges that subjects establish between different areas of their life influences PSE efficiency; 2) PSE effects can be positive or negative depending on the nature of the disturbances to which PSE is applied.
Keywords: Behavioral decision theory; Business And Economics–Labor And Industrial Relations; Business And Economics–Personnel Management; Efficiency; Hypothesis testing; Integration; Labor Unions; New employees; Qualitative research; SnR_publicationTitle_Relations Industrielles_Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations_2025-09-22T16:07:02.081Z; Teachers