By Gerard Di Trolio There has been a modest but not insignificant revival of the strike in the United States. After all, it is the ultimate weapon of workers and its decline alongside that of the American labour movement has had a disastrous impact on economic inequality and working conditions. Teacher strikes have been a Continue readingBook Review: Red State Revolt
Book review
By Gerard Di Trolio Canada’s labour market training system is broken for workers. But just because it’s broken for workers doesn’t mean that no one benefits. Corporations, despite periodic complaints about a “skills gap” in the Canadian labour market have it pretty good. They are not compelled by governments to spend more on training (in Continue readingBook Review: Canada’s Labour Market Training System
By Jared Ong Direct Action Gets the Goods and 1919 by the Graphic History Collective provide an illustrated history of workers strikes in Canada that add to a culture of activist art that will inspire new generations of activists to organize, fight and win. Where Direct Action provides a broad overview of strikes from 1800 Continue readingIllustrating Canada’s History of Strikes: Book Review
By Jason Edwards In Unions in Court: Organized Labour and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by Larry Savage and Charles W. Smith make a sober, cautiously-optimistic assessment of the labour movement’s increasing confidence in Charter litigation as an avenue to pursue the interests of union and non-union workers. The book tracks labour’s relationship with Continue readingBook Review: Unions in Court
By Gerard Di Trolio Lane Windham convincingly shows that the history of U.S. unions in the late 1970s and early 1980s is not one of stagnation that easily led Ronald Reagan to declare war on them and win. There were significant organizing drives led by women and people of colour that showed the possibility of Continue readingBook Review: Knocking on Labor’s Door
By Mike Parker Jane McAlevey’s No Shortcuts is an exciting book. It tells the stories of important struggles and it tackles the big questions facing the labor movement. McAlevey is a former staffer, organizer, and national leader of the Service Employees (SEIU) on the losing side of a power struggle, then an academic and now Continue readingBook Review: No Shortcuts
By Gerard Di Trolio To rebuild a working class movement that can actually push back against neoliberalism and intervene at every level of society – from the workplace, to the community, and in politics – it is essential that activists understand how capital has reshaped workplaces in advanced economies. Kim Moody’s new book, On New Continue readingBook Review – On New Terrain: How Capital is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War
By Robert Devet The Mill – Fifty years of pulp and protest published by Pottersfield Press and written by journalist Joan Baxter is a really good book, and don’t let Kathy Cloutier, the person in charge of communications at Northern Pulp, tell you otherwise. Cloutier famously sent an email to employees urging them to boycott Continue readingBook Review: The Mill – 50 years of pulp and protest
By Daniel Tseghay Released in September by Fernwood Publishing, Robyn Maynard’s Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present clearly details a long and, arguably, actively forgotten, history. It’s a history of the repression and exploitation of black people in this country – a country whose identity is largely formed by Continue readingBook Review: Policing Black Lives
By Gerard Di Trolio The history contained in the pages of Union Power: The United Electrical Workers in Erie, Pennsylvania by James Young is an invaluable lesson for those looking to reinvigorate the labour movement today, especially in former industrial areas facing decline. Union Power tells the history of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Continue readingBook Review – Union Power: The United Electrical Workers in Erie, Pennsylvania
By Larry Kuehn, Director of Research, BC Teachers’ Federation The appointment of Betty DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education aroused considerable opposition. Many of those challenging her were acting on the subtitle of Howard Ryan’s book, “organizing against the corporate juggernaut.” Education Justice is a rewarding mix of political analysis about the corporate forces pushing U.S. Continue readingBook Review: Education Justice
By Gerard Di Trolio United Parcel Service was founded nearly 108 years ago. In that time, both the American and world economies have gone through massive transformations. And throughout all of these changes, UPS has managed to capitalize on them and become one of the world’s most recognizable corporate brands. In the new e-book, The Continue readingBook Review: The Package King