PhD Graduate Louise Birdsell Bauer, PhD Candidate Angela Hick, and Professor Cynthia Cranford published an article in the Labor Studies Journal. The article analyzes union interactions with homecare workers in the late 2000s. The authors use interviews with both union members and officials to study the role of social unionism, which refers to the interaction between unions and workers that involve economic and social justice.
Louise Birdsell Bauer obtained her PhD in Sociology at the University of Toronto in 2018. She researches contract academic work in universities, employment relations, and trends in unions and strikes in Canada and the US. Angela Hick is currently a PhD Candidate in the Sociology Department at University of Toronto St. George. Cynthia Cranford is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Toronto Mississauga and her research bridges the areas of work, gender and migration.
We have posted the citation and the abstract of the article below. The full text is available through the University of Toronto Library Portal here.
Cranford, Cynthia, Angela Hick and Louise Birdsell Bauer. 2018. "Lived Experiences of Social Unionism: Toronto Homecare Workers in the late 2000s." Labor Studies Journal, 43(1):74-96.
This article examines workers’ experiences with a union characterized by a social unionist framing and repertoire in the political realm and bureaucratic servicing of problems in the workplace realm. It analyzes interviews with members and officials about union strategies within privatized homecare predominately provided by immigrant women in Toronto. Workers report both consensual and tense relations with clients prompting them to praise their union’s political strategies yet criticize its limited workplace support. Findings indicate the importance of framing and repertoire that connect quality work with quality care, yet indicate a complex labor process that requires more conceptual and strategic attention.
Read the full article here.