* 1. Workers' Rights as Human Rights. By: Kaminski, Michelle; Moccio, Francine. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p5-7, 3p; Abstract: This article presents the author's views on the framing of workers' rights as human rights and how it would affect employees. The author reflects on labor issues related workers' rights, noting how they affect interests, working conditions, and industrial relations. Information is also provided on labor unions, labor laws and legislation, and wages, as well as on several articles on rights presented in this issue.;

* 2. Workers' Rights as Human Rights. By: Savage, Larry. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p8-20, 13p; Abstract: In the wake of a series of prolabor Supreme Court decisions in Canada, the mantra of "workers' rights as human rights" has gained unprecedented attention in the Canadian labor movement. This article briefly reviews the Canadian labor movement's recent history with the Supreme Court before arguing that elite-driven judicial strategies, advocated by several academics and Canadian unions, threaten, over time, to depoliticize traditional class-based approaches to advancing workers' rights. The argument is premised on the notion that liberal human rights discourse does little to address the inequalities in wealth and power that polarize Canadian society along class lines.

* 3. Mapping the Boundaries of Human Rights at Work. By: Hilgert, Jeff. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p21-38, 18p; Abstract: Over the past twenty years, International Labour Standards have been cited increasingly as the authoritative, worldwide body of jurisprudence on workers' rights as human rights. Continuing the debate on what constitutes labor rights, the author contrasts the definition of workers' rights under international human rights standards with U.S. labor history's notion of "pure and simple unionism," examining the boundaries of rights defined by international standards in a comparative historical context. The standards examined include workers' right to organize; coercive employer speech; access to employer premises; nonmajority representation; the right to strike, picket, and boycott; union security clauses; the scope of bargaining; government enforcement; and the legal doctrine of employer association rights. Aligning U.S. labor relations law with international human rights standards would in part be a social advancement, but significant aspects of the standards advocate pure and simple unionism more than the original National Labor Relations Act, raising questions about how labor movements should use international standards as advocacy tools and public policy goals.

* 4. Synchronizing Meanings and Other Day Laborer Organizing Strategies. By: Camou, Michelle. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p39-64, 26p; Abstract: Day labor centers have been proposed as a mechanism for curbing the exploitation and abusive conditions faced by immigrant day laborers soliciting work from urban street corners. Transitioning day laborers from street corners to centers is certainly not easy, and it involves active organizing. This article examines efforts to organize day laborers toward a day labor center in Denver, Colorado. The author finds that a key strategic consideration in organizing day laborers toward centers involves questions about the meanings and purposes of day labor centers. In Denver, organizers and day laborers held different notions of what centers should be and should mean, with organizers emphasizing solidarity and collective action and day laborers emphasizing material reward. Strategically, reconciling collectivist and materialist views of day labor centers is an important task of day labor organizing.

* 5. Would the Employee Free Choice Act Effectively Protect the Right to Unionize? By: Nissen, Bruce. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p65-90, 26p; Abstract: This article examines in detail union busting in a nursing home facility in Florida and asks whether the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would have protected workers' freedom to choose if it had been in effect at the time. It systematically applies EFCA's provisions to the events of the case and concludes that EFCA would have been helpful to the workers. However, EFCA would not have erased all obstacles to free employee choice, especially for low-wage workers like these. It also reveals that one of the least known features of EFCA would have been most crucial in this case.

* 6. The Rise and Decline of the Democratic Organizational Culture in the South African Labor Movement, 1973 to 2000. By: Buhlungu, Sakhela. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p91-111, 21p; Abstract: From 1973 to 2000, the emerging black union movement in South Africa made efforts to construct a collectivist and democratic organizational culture. The development and decline of this culture correspond with three phases in the history of the black trade union movement. Political and economic changes in the past fifteen years have affected this culture, specifically the unions' political engagement and new pressures arising out of globalization. However, although it is true that union democracy in the South African labor movement is under stress, it is premature to conclude that this labor movement has become oligarchic.

* 7. Polish Workers in Ireland A Contented Proletariat? By: Turner, Thomas; D'Art, Daryl; Cross, Christine. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p112-126, 15p; Abstract: Since 1990, Ireland has experienced rapid economic growth and a corresponding increase in immigrant workers, particularly of Polish origin. On the basis of survey evidence, the relatively low level of unionization among Polish workers is examined. Although attitudes to trade unions are positive, there is a high level of satisfaction generally with work, pay, and conditions among Polish immigrant workers. A sense of injustice or grievance appears to be largely absent with regard to either pay and working conditions or their treatment by employers, supervisors, and immediate Irish workers. The general picture is one of a relatively contented proletariat.

* 8. The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. By: Barry, Bill. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p127-128, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker," by Steven Greenhouse.;

* 9. Why Is There No Labor Party in the United States? By: Bruno, Bob. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p128-130, 3p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Why Is There No Labor Party in the United States?" by Robin Archer.;

* 10. Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party. By: Bussel, Bob. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p130-131, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party," by Paul Frymer

# 11. Surviving the New Economy. By: Harper-Anderson, Elsie. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p131-133, 3p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Surviving the New Economy," edited by John Amman, Tris Carpenter, and Gina Neff.;

# 12. Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History. By: Lancaster, Guy. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p133-134, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History," by Eric Arnesen.;

# 13. Justified by Work: Identity and the Meaning of Faith in Chicago's Working-Class Churches. By: Mishler, Paul C.. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p134-135, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Justified by Work: Identity and the Meaning of Faith in Chicago's Working-Class Churches," by Robert Anthony Bruno.;

# 14. The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi. By: Nack, David. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p136-137, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi," by Les Leopold.;

# 15. Trade Union Responses to Globalization. By: Nissen, Bruce. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p137-139, 3p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Trade Union Responses to Globalization," edited by Verena Schmidt

# 16. US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below. By: Shor, Fran. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p139-140, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below," by Kim Moody.;

# 17. Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town. By: Stanger, Howard R.. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p140-142, 3p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town," by Arnold R. Alanen.;

# 18. The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor. By: Syphax, Yvonne J.. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p142-143, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor," edited by Dorothy Sue Cobble.;

# 19. Labor-Environment Coalitions: Lessons for a Louisiana Petrochemical Region. By: Walchuk, Bradley. Labor Studies Journal, Mar2009, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p143-144, 2p; Abstract: This article reviews the book "Labor-Environment Coalitions: Lessons for a Louisiana Petrochemical Region," by Thomas Estabrook.