As part of CAWLS’ 4th annual conference, there are several open calls for proposals to themed panels. Those interested in having their proposal considered as part of these themed panels should contact the panel organizers directly by the deadlines indicated below.
Geographies of Work: Theorizing and Researching Social Difference
Panel Organizers: Ania Ek (University of Toronto) and Carmen Teeple Hopkins (University of Oxford and Concordia University)
By questioning what counts as “work”, feminists have demonstrated that both paid and unpaid work are constitutive elements of the economy. One of the central contributions of feminist geography is a multi-scalar analysis of both paid and unpaid work. Since the early 1980s there has been a tradition of feminist geography that builds on political economy; this session draws on these traditions to consider theoretical and empirical research in feminist labour geography. Using the concepts of space and place, feminist geography has made important inroads to analyze the ways in which gender is experienced through race, class, citizenship, ability, and sexuality. Feminist labour geographers use a range of approaches that include intersectional, interlocking, materialist and Marxist, to name a few. Recent scholarship also highlights the place-specific forms of masculinity that working-class white, racialized, and migrant men experience. We gather interventions from both historical and contemporary perspectives that strengthen and advance the study of labour (paid or unpaid) and social difference from a range of feminist perspectives (antiracist, anticolonial, anticapitalist, transnational, queer, trans, crip) and contexts (global north, global south, urban, rural). Interested panel participants should email abstracts and a short bio to both Ania Ek at [email protected] and Carmen Teeple Hopkins at [email protected].
Gig-Economy: Critical Perspectives and Challenges for Labour Studies
Panel Organizers: Rabih Jamil and Yanick Noiseux (Université de Montréal), Myer Siemiatycki, Jenny Carson and Kristina Fuentes (Ryerson University), and Marie-Pierre Boucher (Université du Québec en Outaouais).
In the context of the 4th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS), we organize a thematic stream which aims at addressing the problematic of the emerging on-demand economy which is increasingly cited as “sharing economy” and/or “Gig Economy”, which use electronic marketplaces to supply on-demand jobs and/or tasks, its impacts on the work relations in terms of works conditions and social impacts. In this regard, we intend to investigate the role of the emerging platforms (Uber, Mechanical Turk, AirBnb, Deliveroo, TaskRabit, etc.) in supplying on-demand contracts to the mounting numbers of job seekers while the formal “job system” keeps on registering shortfalls in the creation of quality jobs opportunities.
The thematic stream aims at creating a space for upcoming research on this object and will be seeking interventions on, but not exclusively, the following topics : the political economy of so- called independent work and its impact on the working class, the dynamics of the on-demand economy as an advanced stage of economic tertiarization and capital accumulation, the Uber phenomenon and the algorithmic discipline of work relations, the changing landscape of today’s working class from the proletariat to the cybertariat, the pertinence of traditional unionism to current labour context and the prospect of workers’ organization and mobilization in the gig- economy. Finally, the works of this thematic stream intend to contribute to the production of knowledge that bring the most marginalized and precarious workers into the forefront of the work and labour studies.
Submission requirements: Proposals should include a 250-word abstract for each panel/paper and a short bio for each presenter. Please email proposals to the stream organizing committee c/o Rabih Jamil, Département de sociologie, Université de Montréal. Please submit your proposal to [email protected] before January 28th 2017.
Teachers, Unions and Education Activism
Panel Organizers: Chris Bailey, PhD Candidate (Political Science, York University) and Paul Bocking, PhD Candidate (Geography, York University)
This interdisciplinary panel discussion will focus on teachers’ work, unions and education activism. Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
Teacher union struggles
Building alliances between parents and teachers
International solidarity
Teacher unions and the state
Race and teachers’ work
Neoliberalism and education
Policy networks
Alternative education and pedagogy
Gender and teachers’ work
Standardized evaluations
Interested participants should submit a title and a 250-word abstract of the proposed presentation, along with a short biography to [email protected] and [email protected]. Deadline for submissions is January 20, 2017.
Continental Unionism Revisited
Panel Organizers: Richard Roman, Professor Emeritus (Sociology, University of Toronto) and Katherine Nastovski, Assistant Professor (School of Labour Studies, McMaster University)
Continental unionism (U.S.- Canadian unions) has often been seen by the Canadian Left as a form of domination by U.S. business unionism and imperial intentions over Canadian workers and unions. This panel seeks papers that critically explore the historic experience of continental unionism in various periods and forms. It will also explore the question whether continental unionism in the era of NAFTA and the presidency of Trump is destined to play a conservative role or could play a progressive role, and whether it could or should expand to include Mexico.
Proposals should be sent to: [email protected] before January 28, 2017.
The $15 Campaign: Challenges and Strategies of Collective Actions
Panel organizers: Mylène Fauvel (Université de Montréal), Yanick Noiseux (Université de Montréal) and Sid Ahmed Soussi (Université du Québec à Montréal).
Launched in the US , the campaign for uplifting the minimum wage to 15 $ per hour has been taken over by many canadian stakeholders; civil society actors, organizations defending social rights, trade unions and/or community-based organizations. In this context, we are organizing a round-table/ workshop to discuss the campaign’s main issues and the collective strategies used to mobilize around the 15 $ per hour as minimum wage. We aim at addressing the main intakes and challenges of the campaigns; intakes suggesting, for example, an argumentative rhetoric that acknowledge the living realities of the working poor and the internal tensions within the social actors calling for an uplifting of the minimum wage as well as mobilization challenges engendered by the adoption of a 15 dollars minimum wage within the mobilized organizations. Our goal is that by discussing the specific, intakes, challenges and practices encountered throughout the coalitions’ lifetime and drawing-up of the potential interlinks we will be able to enhance our understanding of the challenges arising as result of the minimum wage campaign.
Proposals should include a 250-word abstract for each panel/paper and a short bio for each presenter. Please email proposals to the stream organizing committee c/o Mylene Fauvel, Département de sociologie, Université de Montréal. Please submit your proposal to [email protected] before February 1, 2017.
