Larry Savage

In the decades following the Second World War, autoworkers were at the forefront of the labour movement. Their union urged members to rally in the streets and use the ballot box to effect change for all working-class people. But by the turn of this century, the Canadian Auto Workers union had begun to pursue a more defensive political direction. Shifting Gears traces the evolution of CAW strategy from transformational activism to transactional politics. Class-based collective action and social democratic electoral mobilization gave way to transactional partnerships as relationships between the union, employers, and governments were refashioned. This new approach was maintained when the CAW merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union in 2013 to create Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union. Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage explain how and why the union shifted its political tactics, offering a critical perspective on the current state of working-class politics.

In the decades following the Second World War, autoworkers were at the forefront of the labour movement. Their union urged members to rally in the streets and use the ballot box to effect change for all working-class people. But by the turn of this century, the Canadian Auto Workers union had begun to pursue a more defensive political direction. Shifting Gears traces the evolution of CAW strategy from transformational activism to transactional politics. Class-based collective action and social democratic electoral mobilization gave way to transactional partnerships as relationships between the union, employers, and governments were refashioned. This new approach was maintained when the CAW merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union in 2013 to create Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union. Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage explain how and why the union shifted its political tactics, offering a critical perspective on the current state of working-class politics.

This fourth edition of Building a Better World offers a comprehensive introductory overview of Canada's labour movement. The book explores why workers form unions; assesses their organization and democratic potential; examines issues related to collective bargaining, grievances and strike activity; charts the historical development of labour unions; and describes the gains unions have achieved for their members and all working people. This new and expanded edition also analyzes the challenges facing today's labour movement as a result of COVID-19 and the strategies being developed to overcome them.

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, Canadian unions have scored a number of important Supreme Court victories, securing constitutional rights to picket, bargain collectively, and strike. But how did the labour movement, historically hostile to judicial intervention in labour relations, come to embrace legal activism as a first line of defense as opposed to a last resort? Unions in Court documents the evolution of the Canadian labour movement's engagement with the Charter, demonstrating how and why labour has adopted a controversial, Charter-based legal strategy to challenge and change legislation that restricts union rights. This book's in-depth examination of constitutional labour rights will have critical implications for labour movements as well as activists in other fields.

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, Canadian unions have scored a number of important Supreme Court victories, securing constitutional rights to picket, bargain collectively, and strike. But how did the labour movement, historically hostile to judicial intervention in labour relations, come to embrace legal activism as a first line of defense as opposed to a last resort? Unions in Court documents the evolution of the Canadian labour movement's engagement with the Charter, demonstrating how and why labour has adopted a controversial, Charter-based legal strategy to challenge and change legislation that restricts union rights. This book's in-depth examination of constitutional labour rights will have critical implications for labour movements as well as activists in other fields.

Socialist Cowboy is a political biography detailing the life and activism of longtime New Democrat mpp Peter Kormos, one of the most colourful and controversial political personalities in the history of Ontario politics. Throughout his illustrious twenty-three-year career as a member of the Ontario Legislature, Kormos's unapologetic commitment to democratic socialism and his shoot-from-the-hip brand of small-town populism won him strong accolades back in his blue-collar hometown of Welland, while raising eyebrows at Queen's Park and within his own party. From his days as a student strike leader, to his short-lived time in Bob Rae's cabinet, to his run for the Ontario ndp leadership and his epic battles with the province's political establishment, the book chronicles Kormos's political trajectory, through interviews and archival research, with a view to unpacking the ideas and traits that made him a New Democrat icon.

From factory workers in Welland to retail workers in St. Catharines,from hospitality workers in Niagara Falls to migrant farm workers inNiagara-On-The-Lake, Union Power showcases the role of workingpeople in the Niagara region. Charting the development of theregion's labour movement from the early nineteenth century to thepresent, Patrias and Savage illustrate how workers from this highlydiversified economy struggled to improve their lives both inside andoutside the workplace. Including extensive quotations from interviews,archival sources, and local newspapers, the story unfolds, in part,through the voices of the people themselves: the workers who fought forunions, the community members who supported them, and the employers whoopposed them. Early industrial development and the appalling working conditions ofthe often vulnerable common labourer prompted a movement toward workerprotection. Patrias and Savage argue that union power – power notbuilt on profit, status, or prestige – relies on the twinconcepts of struggle and solidarity: the solidarity of the sharedinterests of the working class and the struggle to achieve commongoals. Union Power traces the evidence of these twin conceptsthrough the history of the Niagara region's labour movement.