Rising Up
The Fight for Living Wage Work in Canada
Published on 1. April 2021
Book
Hardback
300 pages
978-0-7748-6436-7 (ISBN)
Description
Canada has one of the highest rates of low-wage work among advanced industrial economies. In a labour market characterized by the ongoing fallout from COVID-19, deepening income inequality, job instability, and diluted union representation, the living wage movement offers a response. Rising Up traces the history and international context of living wage movements across Canada. In the 1970s, the balance of political and economic power began to shift in favour of business, as trade unions weakened and governments failed to check corporate power. By the 2000s, austerity measures had dismantled social spending, facilitating the growth of low-waged employment. Contributors to this astute collection of essays examine union- and community-based approaches to labour organizing, migrant labour, and media (mis)representations, among other key topics. Offering stimulating debate about living wages and social inequality, Rising Up promotes alternatives to a neoliberalized labour market.
Reviews / Votes
This is an older, more classical, and well-informed political economy analysis. - T. M. Bateman, St. Thomas University (CHOICE Connect)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Vancouver
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Illustrations
17 charts, 16 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
580 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7748-6436-7 (9780774864367)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Bryan Evans is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University and an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. He is co-editor, with Greg Albo, of Divided Province: Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism; with Stephen McBride, of The Austerity State; and, with Carlo Fanelli, of The Public Sector in an Age of Austerity: Perspectives from Canada's Provinces and Territories. Carlo Fanelli is an assistant professor and coordinator of work and labour studies in the Department of Social Science at York University. He is the author of Megacity Malaise: Neoliberalism, Public Services and Labour in Toronto, and co-editor, with Mark P. Thomas, Leah F. Vosko, and Olena Lyubchenko, of Change and Continuity: Canadian Political Economy in the New Millennium. Tom McDowell is an instructor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University and book review editor for Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research.
Contributors: Harald Bauder, Mohammad Ferdosi, David Goutor, Kendall Hammond, Charity-Ann Hannan, Carol-Anne Hudson, Mary-Dan Johnston, Biko Koenig, Catherine Ludgate, Meg Luxton, Stephen McBride, Patricia McDermott, Sorin Mitrea, Sune Sandbeck, Christine Saulnier, John Shields, Andrew Stevens, A.J. Wilson, and Deva Woodly
Contributors: Harald Bauder, Mohammad Ferdosi, David Goutor, Kendall Hammond, Charity-Ann Hannan, Carol-Anne Hudson, Mary-Dan Johnston, Biko Koenig, Catherine Ludgate, Meg Luxton, Stephen McBride, Patricia McDermott, Sorin Mitrea, Sune Sandbeck, Christine Saulnier, John Shields, Andrew Stevens, A.J. Wilson, and Deva Woodly
Content
1 Resisting Low-Wage Work: The Struggle for Living Wages / Bryan Evans, Carlo Fanelli, and Tom McDowell
Part 1: The "Standard" Employment Relationship: Low-Wage Work
2 The Comparative Political Economy of Low Wages / Stephen McBride, Sorin Mitrea, and Mohammad Ferdosi
3 Labour Justice: Assessing the Politics of the American Labor Movement / Biko Koenig and Deva Woodly
4 Media (Mis)Representations and the Living Wage Movement / Carlo Fanelli and A.J. Wilson
Part 2: The Fight for Living Wages in Canada
5 The Emergence of the Living Wage Movement in Canada's Northern Territories / Kendall Hammond
6 Getting By but Dreaming of Normal: Low-Wage Employment, Living in Toronto, and the Crisis of Social Reproduction / Meg Luxton and Patricia McDermott
7 The Living Wage and the Extremely Precarious: The Case of "Illegalized" Migrant Workers / Charity-Ann Hannan, John Shields, and Harald Bauder
8 Working for a Living, Not Living for Work: Living Wages in the Maritimes / Mary-Dan Johnston and Christine Saulnier
9 The BC Living Wage for Families Campaign: A Decade of Building / Catherine Ludgate
10 Challenging the Small Business Ideology in Saskatchewan's Living Wage Debate / Andrew Stevens
Part 3: Resistance and Alternatives
11 The Living Wage Campaign in Hamilton: Assessing the Voluntary Approach / David Goutor
12 Why Business-Led Living Wage Campaigns Fail: The Case of Calgary, Alberta 1999-2009 / Carol-Anne Hudson
13 The Low-Wage Economy in the Age of Neoliberalism: What Can be Done? / Tom McDowell, Sune Sandbeck, and Bryan Evans
List of Contributors; Index
Part 1: The "Standard" Employment Relationship: Low-Wage Work
2 The Comparative Political Economy of Low Wages / Stephen McBride, Sorin Mitrea, and Mohammad Ferdosi
3 Labour Justice: Assessing the Politics of the American Labor Movement / Biko Koenig and Deva Woodly
4 Media (Mis)Representations and the Living Wage Movement / Carlo Fanelli and A.J. Wilson
Part 2: The Fight for Living Wages in Canada
5 The Emergence of the Living Wage Movement in Canada's Northern Territories / Kendall Hammond
6 Getting By but Dreaming of Normal: Low-Wage Employment, Living in Toronto, and the Crisis of Social Reproduction / Meg Luxton and Patricia McDermott
7 The Living Wage and the Extremely Precarious: The Case of "Illegalized" Migrant Workers / Charity-Ann Hannan, John Shields, and Harald Bauder
8 Working for a Living, Not Living for Work: Living Wages in the Maritimes / Mary-Dan Johnston and Christine Saulnier
9 The BC Living Wage for Families Campaign: A Decade of Building / Catherine Ludgate
10 Challenging the Small Business Ideology in Saskatchewan's Living Wage Debate / Andrew Stevens
Part 3: Resistance and Alternatives
11 The Living Wage Campaign in Hamilton: Assessing the Voluntary Approach / David Goutor
12 Why Business-Led Living Wage Campaigns Fail: The Case of Calgary, Alberta 1999-2009 / Carol-Anne Hudson
13 The Low-Wage Economy in the Age of Neoliberalism: What Can be Done? / Tom McDowell, Sune Sandbeck, and Bryan Evans
List of Contributors; Index