Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, 2nd Edition
This updated multidisciplinary collection of essays explores the strategic political possibilities and challenges facing the Canadian labour movement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the book
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to re-establish the labour movement’s political capacity to exert collective power in ways that foster greater opportunity and equality for working-class people has taken on a greater sense of urgency. Understanding the strategic political possibilities and challenges facing the Canadian labour movement at this important moment in history is the central concern of this second edition of Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada.
With new and revised essays by established and emerging scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this edited collection assesses the past, present and uncertain future of Canadian labour politics in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bringing together the traditional electoral-based aspects of labour politics with analyses of newer and rediscovered forms of working-class organization and social movement-influenced strategies, which have become increasingly important in the Canadian labour movement, this book seeks to take stock of these new forms of labour politics, understand their emergence and assess their potential impact on the future of labour in Canada.
What people are saying
David Camfield, Labour Studies, University of Manitoba“This book brings together a wide range of contributions about labour and politics in Canada, some of them unprecedented. It is much needed: there is nothing like it available and the issues it deals with are becoming ever more important.”
Contents
- Part I: Contextualizing Labour and Working-Class Politics Chapter 1 - Canadian Labour and COVID-19: Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage
- Chapter 2 - Business Unionism and Social Unionism in Theory and Practice: Stephanie Ross
- Part II: The Challenge of Electoral Politics Chapter 3 - Struggling to Survive: The New Democratic Party and Labour in the Neoliberal Era: Alan Ernst and Bryan Evans
- Chapter 4 - Labour and Politics in Quebec: Peter Graefe
- Chapter 5 - Anybody But Conservative: Canadian Unions and Strategic Voting: Larry Savage
- Part III: The Prospects of Extra-Parliamentary Activism Chapter 6 - Interrogating the Union Politics of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity: Winnie Ng and Carol Wall
- Chapter 7 - Which Side Are You On? Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s Labour Movement: Suzanne Mills and Tyler McCreary
- Chapter 8 - The Politics of Migrant Worker Organizing in Canada: Karl Gardner, Dani Magsumbol and Ethel Tungohan
- Chapter 9 - Community Unionism and Alt-Labour in Canada: Simon Black
- Chapter 10 - Canadian Labour and the Environment: Addressing the Value-Action Gap: Dennis Soron
- Chapter 11 - Class Struggle Goes to Court: Workers’ Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Charles Smith and Alison Braley-Rattai
- Bibliography
- Index