2024 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

McGill University
Montréal/Tiohtià:ke, Québec
June 19-21, 2024

The conference organizing committee invites submissions for participation in the 10th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS). We welcome proposals on all topics that focus on the past, present, and future of work and labour studies. Our goal is to create a conference program reflective of the broadest range of methodological, theoretical, and disciplinary themes and approaches. The committee welcomes proposals for single papers, thematic streams, multiple-paper panels, roundtables, and workshops. The participation of researchers in union and community settings is encouraged.

The consequences of global warming, combined with global migration, socio-demographic aging, and polarizing politics, are now visible on a daily basis. As their impact on workers is getting more obvious, so is the evidence that sustainability will not be possible without challenging capitalism and emancipating labour. The 2024 CAWLS conference is an opportunity to engage conversations and share ideas about the interplay between acting on climate change and promoting social justice on many fronts, as workers and their organizations are at the forefront of these struggles. Questions relevant to these conversations include: What would be a “just transition” combining environmental and social justices? How do we build labour solidarity and power around these issues to challenge Green Capitalism? What does the current “strike wave” mean for these struggles? How do they interact and intersect with those against racism and colonialism? What can we learn from feminist and gender studies perspectives in order to build those solidarities? What political strategies can be adopted to advance workers’ perspectives and confront the rise of the radical right and climate change denialism? Can environmental issues act as an inspiration for revitalizing labour internationalism?

The organizing committee will also welcome proposals reflecting the current workers’ struggles and rich labour history of Montréal/Tiohtià:ke and Québec. These may include reports and analyses of migrant workers organizing campaigns, new strategies to reach gig economy workers, coalition-building between labour and social movements, or challenges for labour in the public sector.

Participants are not required to limit themselves to the above list of questions. Other potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Healthy Workplaces and Occupational Safety
• Affect and/at Work
• Poverty and Precarious Work
• Artificial Intelligence, Worker Surveillance, and Digital Colonialism
• Platform Capitalism and its Implications for Workers
• Workers, Pension Funds and Financialization
• Migration and Workers’ Justice
• Unequal, Informal, and Unpaid Work
• Imperialism, Colonialism, and Labour Internationalism
• Labour, Social Movements, and Alternative Models of Workers’ Justice Organizing
• Inequality, Populism, and (De)Democratization
• Anti-Capitalist Anti-Racism: Intersectional and Decolonial Approaches

Conference Association Fees

Notes

Additional Congress registration fees will also apply.

Submission process

• Submission requirements: A 250-word abstract for each paper with the name and affiliation of the author(s) must be submitted via our submission portal.
• All abstracts are due by January 31, 2024. Presenting authors will be contacted in early March regarding the acceptance of their paper.
• Panels: To facilitate new conversations, participants may organize panels, roundtables, and workshops. Please contact the organizing committee ([email protected]) by December 23, 2023 with a proposal. Please note that even if a panel proposal is accepted, each paper will be evaluated individually by the program committee.
• Accepted presenters must register by April 30, 2024 or risk being removed from the program.

For more information go to https://cawls.ca/.