Work and Labour in Canada

CSPI have just published the second edition of my book, Work and Labour in Canada: Critical Issues.

While this is written mainly as a text for university level courses, others may find it useful as a resource on a wide range of labour market issues and trends, including the role of unions.
The book can be ordered from CSPI or from Chapters ($36.26)

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Work-Labour-Canada-Critical-Issues-Andrew-Jackson/9781551303666-item.html

From the Publisher:

Now in its second edition, and with a new foreword by Wallace Clement, this original and timely book focuses on critical issues surrounding work and labour in Canada. It examines changes in the labour market and in the workplace, with a strong empirical component based upon the most recent Statistics Canada data. An ideal text for Sociology of Work, and a wide range of courses in Labour Studies and Industrial Relations programs across Canada. New to this edition:

All chapters substantially revised and thoroughly updates.

A discussion on the causes of the current economic crisis and its roots in the labour market, including a special appendix.

More emphasis on the fortunes of racialized Canadian-born workers as opposed to recent immigrants.

Brand new chapter on young workers.

Up-to-the-minute newspaper articles on the current global economic crisis.

Added material on occupational health and safety, emphasizing the connection between work and health.

New material on workers’ rights as well as non-standard and precarious work.

From the Foreword by Wallace Clement:

“Work life is fundamental to how we experience life in general. Most of us work to live but many of us also live to work. We gain our quality of life, identities, and much of our sense of meaning from our work lives. And, the link between work life and family life and/or leisure and education is also shaped by the quality of our work lives—our hours of work, its rewards, self-esteem, and social interactions. It is important to have a holistic view of work—that it is embedded in a series of economic, political, social, and cultural forces. Equally important is what we call “work”—whether for pay or not (volunteer, domestic work, etc.)—and recognize that the essential reproduction of citizens through care work is to be valued. How we understand work in terms of how we frame it as a value for individuals and societies matters. Work does not just happen. It is created, conditioned, and destroyed by the political economy in which it is embedded.

For these reasons, it is important to acknowledge the contribution of Andrew Jackson’s Work and Labour in Canada. It is a book designed to inform and educate its readers. Clearly, he has done a great deal of thinking about the right questions to ask and how to frame our understanding. He offers fresh ways to think about changing times by locating his analysis of Canada in a comparative context. At the base of his analysis is his penetration of struggles over whose views and/or interests prevail in the construction of work, such as his detailed account of conflicts over the implications of the debate about social spending versus tax cuts.”