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As many of the traditionally unionized sectors of the economy experience crisis, unions are turning to social unionist strategies of coalition-building and community mobilization as a means of defending jobs through external solidarity. This paper explores the politics and dynamics of the Canadian Auto Workers' (caw) organization of a union-community coalition and rally in Windsor, Ontario as a means of defending the manufacturing base. The paper contends that while Windsor's May 2007 Manufacturing Matters rally was quite successful in its short-term aims, due to the caw's strong mobilizing structures and longstanding relationships between local unions and community organizations, internal coalition dynamics and framing processes led to decisions which limited the longer-term capacities of the campaign. The coalition opted to emphasize place over class as the unifying element, to produce non-adversarial discourses and tactics so as to avoid appearing anti-business, and to marginalize more militant talk and tactics. These outcomes raise questions about both the sustainability for ongoing solidarity and mobilization amongst the Windsor working class, and the capacity of the local labour movement to articulate counter-hegemonic interpretations of economic problems and promote policy options not dominated by the needs and interests of economic and political elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER EXAMINES the evolution of Ontario's tree planting industry and the segmentation of its labour force since the end of WorldWar II. To. do so, it draws upon Jamie Peck's causal emphases of labour market segmentation: labour demand, labour supply, and the state. Concomitantly, it seeks to better conceptualize tree planting amongst other forestry and seasonal natural resource occupations, such as loggers and agricultural workers. The paper is organized around four distinct time periods, all of which are marked by significant changes to the structure and political economy of the forest products industry and legislation governing forest tenure and management. It also examines mechanization in the logging and tree planting industries, the shift from public to private service delivery, the role of unions, remuneration systems, the potential for the use of migrant guest workers, and the ensuing effects on the segmentation, marginalization, and stigmatization of tree planters in Ontario since the mid-1940s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER PRESENTS a portrait of sub-contracting foresters at work in northeastern Ontario in the opening decades of the 20th century. Drawing upon a little-known source, the provincial forestry registers for Sudbury and North Bay Districts, the author traces the evolution of a sample of 269 sub-contractors. The length and locality of their activities, their ethnicity, the extent and nature of their contracts, and the number of firms they did business with, are the study's main variables. Although there is no doubt about their economic precariousness in some respects, notably the fact that they were constantly moving their operations and suffering frequent interruptions, it appears in the long run to have been exaggerated in the literature. In fact, the economic performance of paper-makers in the region was not much more brilliant than that of the sub-contractors. In addition the way Ontario assigned cutting permits allowed several other regional forestry enterprises to work at the same time. Regional monopolies in the woods, such as we find in Québec and New Brunswick, did not occur. Also, the sub-contractors showed a surprising degree of flexibility by the contracts they negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER INVESTIGATES the changing experience of child factory labour in late 19th and early 20th century Ontario. It explores the largely accepted, though untested assumptions that restrictive legislation (the Ontario Factory Act of 1884) was achieved at the behest of middle and upper-class social reformers whose concern was motivated by a new concept of childhood. The evidence provided reveals that, contrary to historical myth, organized labour was the motivating force behind the anti-child labour legislation. It also indicates that, once proclaimed, the legislation was poorly monitored and enforced and, as such, was largely ineffective in curtailing the practice of child labour. Despite this, however, the paper provides evidence to show that child factory labour did decline significantly after the mid-1890s. The explanation offered is essentially one of changes in the demand for and the supply of child labor. That is, the centralization and accumulation of industrial capital in concert with technological advances in production restricted opportunities for child factory labor. At the same time, improvements in workers' standards of living reduced the need for families to send children to work. The study does not deny the importance of the changing concept of childhood in curtailing child labour. However, rather than being afforded primacy, the new views of childhood are seen as part of the social backdrop which made employers of children subject to criticism and adult workers desirous of protecting children's 'tender years'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores employers’ anti-union strategies in the Niagara Peninsula from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s in order to enhance our understanding of the nature of relations between labour and capital during the period generally described as that of the postwar compromise. Relying on such unexplored archival collections as the papers of the St. Catharines firm, Ontario Editorial Bureau, as well as the collections of the Archives of Ontario and Library and Archives Canada, the study focuses on four main union-avoid­ance strategies: the establishment of company-dominated unions, anti-union public relations campaigns, corporate welfarism, and company relocation. By illustrating the depth and endurance of Niagara employers’ opposition to unions during the period of supposed compromise between employers, workers and the state the study demonstrates that there was greater continuity than we have supposed between management views of workers’ rights during the period of the postwar compromise and the neoliberalism that character­ized subsequent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the musical culture of Kirkland Lake miners and considers one of its dimensions, as expressed by their musical practices, whether classical or pop, vocal or instrumental, performed at concerts or accompanying dances or parades. With access to the names and occupations of all the employees of two of the major mining companies in the city. Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves Gold Mines, we sought to determine if the miners were linked in one way or another to the different music events reported in the local paper, the Northern News, over the year of 1934. In our view, the diversity of musical practices observed could be explained by the presence of many ethnic communities in the mining workforce, and also by widely different working conditions, depending on whether a miner worked underground or at the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

URANIUM MINERS IN ELLIOT LAKE went on a wildcat strike in 1974 to protest their occupational health concerns on the job after a spike in cancer cases. They learned that the provincial government had known of the poor working conditions causing their illnesses, but had not informed them of the dangers or acted to improve their situation. As a result of union and political pressure, the Ontario government created the Ham Commission to investigate and make recommendations. Its hearings revealed the industry's scandalous conditions, and its report eventually resulted in the Ontario Health and Safety (OHS) Act in Ontario. It did not cover the miners until 1984, so they worked through their internal health and safety committees to gain improvements in the work environment. Others have discussed this situation in relation to the emergence of the OHS and environmental movements. This paper discusses the events in terms of the mine owners' attitudes towards their employees, the industry's relationship to governments, and the impact of the uranium mining industry (part of the nuclear industry) on the local community and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rise of class politics in Toronto, Ontario in the era around the Rebellion of 1837. In particular, the introduction of "gentlemanly capitalism" into Upper Canada by British financiers and corporations is discussed, including their creation of what are described as three "fictitious commodities": money, land, and labor. Topics discussed include the introduction of paper money, the rise of chartered corporations as an extension of state power, the creation of a land market, and the effects of these developments on the relations of production for farmers and tradesmen.

AS AN EXPLORATION of the childhood memories of working-class Ukrainians who grew up in Depression-era boarding houses (or houses with a few boarders) in Sudbury, Ontario, this paper treats the oral histories as the subject, not merely the method, of analysis and highlights, in particular, the gendered differences that emerge in the narratives of the men and women interviewed for this project. Moreover, this article argues that even within a politically polarized immigrant group such as the Ukrainians, where left/right, progressive/ nationalist, and secular/religious splits were so pronounced, and thus central to shaping the histories and historiographies of both camps, it was the influence of dominant gender roles rather than politics, religion, or ideology that most directly informed the differing memories of experience that men and women had of growing up Ukrainian and working class in Sudbury. In particular, this article focuses on informants' recollections regarding three areas of activity that were part of everyday boarding house life: children's relationships with male boarders, their domestic chores, and leisure activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER CONSIDERS the presence of Christianity in the labour movement in early 20th-century Ontario. During this period labour leaders were unquestionably disillusioned with the established churches and did not hesitate to criticize clergy-men for their indifference and hostility to labour's cause. This disillusionment did not mean, however, that organized labour abandoned religion. Both moderate reformist and radical labour leaders articulated a non-sectarian, activist Christianity that helped them frame the issues they were concerned about. Alliances also developed between the churches and labour bodies at the national level and labour-friendly clergy and a small group of labour leaders in industrial centres in southern Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OVER THE LAST FEW years, the activities of minimum wage commissions in the western provinces and in Ontario have been the subject of several historical studies. Inspired by these projects, this paper examines the work of the Quebec Women's Minimum Wage Commission, from its inception in 1925 to its dismantling in 1937. After giving reasons which forced the Quebec government to legislate on this issue, the author presents the position of international and catholic unions on women in the work force. In his analysis of the operating mode of the commission and, more precisely, his critical evaluation of its mechanism for enforcing the law, the author concludes that as with the other commissions across Canada, the Quebec Women's Minimum Wage Commission would not have allowed wage increases for women. In a socio-economic context where women on average made half of the salary of men, the decision to use the minimum wage as stool to fight the abuse of the capitalist system had the major consequence of keeping salaries low. In fact, the low rate of the minimum wage agreed to by the commission upheld the principle of pay inequity by gender, thus reflecting the dominant ideology of the era during which the work of women was considered marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the annual meeting of the Canadian Committee on Labour History (CCLH) that was held on May 27, 2002 in Toronto, Ontario. Jim Naylor, one of the attendees, discussed papers on labour history. Discussion concerning organising and funding the 2003 CCLH workshop took place. 26 people attended the meeting.

AT THE TURN of the century, the legislative, administrative, and judicial branches of the Canadian state responded to the labour conflicts associated with the second industrial revolution by simultaneously expanding both their coercive and their facilitative roles. This paper examines one aspect of this development, the rise of the labour injunction, through a study of a series of strikes conducted chiefly by metal workers in south central Ontario between 1900 and 1914. In addition to retrieving the largely forgotten genealogy of a body of law that continues to play an important role in regulating and containing trade union activity, the study contributes insights into debates raging among labour historians regarding the role and significance of state institutions and public discourse in determining the trajectory and fate of organized labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE RECENT HISTORIOGRAPHY pertaining to women during World War II has tended to focus on women in either the war industries or armed forces. While the first feminist scholars argued that women experienced a type of second emancipation during this period due to changes in societal attitudes, more recently, historians have contended that women were temporarily treated to certain economic and social benefits during the War because the government and industries were in desperate need of workers. This paper attempts to offer an alternative interpretation of women's experiences during this time, through the investigation of female textile workers in Cornwall, Ontario. Using a dual structural analysis, this study illustrates how male union leaders and company owners often collaborated in maintaining a segregated work force. Instead of experiencing a type of liberation from traditional occupational constraints, Cornwall's female textile workers remained subjugated in lower paying and lower skilled "female" jobs in the mills. Within this industry then, continuity rather than change characterized the experiences of female textile workers during World War II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN THE 1880S BOTH the Knights of Labor, and the Salvation Army, which in this period was an exclusively revivalistic movement, drew mass support from Ontario's working class. This paper looks at the nature of working class support for the two movements, noting that the Salvation Army was more likly to attract working class women and unskilled men, while the Knights were most popular among skilled men. The possibility of overlap in membership is also addressed. In assessing the appeal of the two movements to working class Ontarians the relationship between working class religion and class consciousness is explored. Christianity was clearly important to many individual Knights, and fueled the Order's class conscious critique of nineteenth century society. The Salvation Army's otherwordly emphasis meant that it ignored contemporary social and economic issues; nonetheless the Army provided a distinctly working class religious alternative which was actively critical of the respectable mainstream churches. The popularity of both the Knights and the Army demonstrate the importance of class identity and religious belief within the late nineteenth century Ontario working class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL capitalism in the second half of the nineteenth century in Ontario brought new and more serious hazards into the workplace and drew women and children into the waged labour force. As a result of working class lobbying and the efforts of middle class reformers, the state empowered itself to regulate health and safety conditions in factories and to protect child and female labour. The implementation of these regulations was left to an inspectorate which was armed with substantial legal powers to enforce the law. These powers were rarely invoked by the inspectors. However, the failure to prosecute does not in itself indicate that the law was unenforced. An alternative enforcement strategy based on persuasion was followed by most inspectors, It has been argued that persuasion was chosen over prosecution because it made more efficient use of the scarce enforcement resources available to the inspectors, and that persuasion was effective. This paper argues that although it is true that the government chose to devote woefully inadequate resources to enforcement of factory legislation, this is not an adequate explanation of the inspectors' enforcement behaviour. The belief that persuasion was an effective enforcement model also flowed from the inspectors' values and assumptions, including the following: that worker carelessness was the major cause of accidents; that employers were socially responsible; that workers and employers had common interests in occupational health and safety; and that women and children needed special protection. It is further argued that persuasion was not an effective enforcement strategy, especially because it was linked with an acceptance by the inspectors of `normal' industrial practices, even where those practices generated significant risks for workers. In effect, health and safety regulation probably did as much to legitimate industrial capitalism as it did to protect workers health and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TEACHERS HAVE BEEN left out of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century labour history just as they have been ignored, as workers, in the history of education. This paper investigates themes in the history of elementary public school teachers' work in Quebec and Ontario during the period when state school systems were being put in place and public teaching forces were becoming predominantly female. During this period teachers contended with the introduction of new subjects and methods, the introduction of increasing amounts of paperwork, and a growing insistence on discipline and uniformity in increasingly hierarchical work places. In addition they had to deal with unhealthy working conditions and conflicts over who was responsible for the upkeep and physical improvement of schools. Although, by the turn of the century, increasing workloads, difficult working conditions, and low pay had pushed urban women teachers to form single-sex protective associations, most schoolmistresses failed to identify with other organized workers. Neither self-identified workers, nor the professionals they aspired to be, they began to understand one major source of their problematic status when they perceived that this derived, in large part, from their Status as women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The call for papers for the 8th annual North American Labor History Conference in Toronto, Ontario from October 23-25, 1986 is presented.