Steven Tuft
Biographic Data
| ID | 387261 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steven Tuft |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steven |
| FAMILY NAME | Tuft |
| SIGNATURE | TUFT S |
| AFFILIATIONS | York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7532-3301 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 178 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
“Meeting of the Lines”: Lessons from a Lived Labour Life
This paper is a personal reflection about ‘learning labour’ within the context of a twenty-year relationship with my late partner, Mary-Jo Nadeau (1965–2021). As an academic, self-identified labour geographer, I give recognition to a number of lessons that I learned from Nadeau, herself a feminist sociologist, anti-racist activist, and labour organizer. The paper borrows from a largely feminist inspired literature on academic relationships and ho…
Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America
With a focus on police unions in the United States and Canada, this article argues that the construction of 'blue solidarity', including through recent Blue Lives Matter campaigns, serves to repress racial justice movements that challenge police authority, acts as a counter to broader working class resistance to austerity and contributes to rising right-wing populism. Specifically, the article develops a case study analysis of Blue Lives Matter c…
Unionism, Community
The concept of community unionism dates back to the 1960s. It was adopted by geographers in the 1990s as they began to explore community union coalitions. There are a number of conceptual debates and issues around community unionism.
Labor Geography
The emergence of labor geography in the 1990s was received enthusiastically as an alternative to capital‐centric readings of economic landscapes. Over the last decade there have been several challenges to the insertion of labor agency into contemporary accounts of capitalist development. Critiques range from the accusation of an unsophisticated analysis of class from more traditional Marxists to the limits of labor geography's focus on institutio…
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC): Between Company and Populist Unionism
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (clac) has historically had a relatively small presence in Canada's labour movement. Increasing interest in clac over the last decade is due to its expanded membership, largely in western Canada and Ontario: the union claims to represent 60,000 workers. Further, the tactics used to achieve this growth have been controversial within organized labour. In fact, clac was expelled from central labour bodies f…
Austerity, Right Populism, and the Crisis of Labour in Canada
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, neoliberal governments embarked on austerity programs that include reducing public services, imposing public sector wage restraint, and reorganizing public sector working conditions and labour relations. In this context of economic crisis and austerity, populism has risen across North America and Europe on both the right and left of the political spectrum. The rise of right populism in particular con…
Populist Unionism Confronts Austerity in Canada
The 2008 financial crisis continues to have profound implications for workers worldwide, as governments have embarked on “austerity” programs and employers have confronted organized labor with concessionary demands, placing unions on the defensive. At the same time, populist movements have arisen across North America and Europe as increasing numbers of people grow disenchanted with government action and corporate incompetence. We examine the inte…
Labouring geography: Negotiating scales, strategies and future directions
Hospitality unionism and labour market adjustment: Toward Schumpeterian unionism
World Cities and Union Renewal
This article discusses how interpretive accounts and practices of labour union renewal in the Anglo-American context are linked to the forms of post-industrialism and polarized labour markets evident in world cities. I accordingly argue that the world city is implicated in various components of union renewal, including changing organizational structures, intensive organizing, leadership and democracy, coalition building, new labour internationali…
Emerging Labour Strategies in Toronto's Hotel Sector: Toward a Spatial Circuit of Union Renewal
I discuss the recent union renewal strategies adopted by UNITE-HERE Local 75, the union representing a majority of Toronto's organized hotel workers-a fragmented and diverse labour force. Local 75's renewal strategies are multiscalar with knowledge and resources flowing through the organization forming a spatial circuit of union renewal. Conceptualizing union renewal as a spatial circuit maps the interdependencies of different scales of labour or…
We Make it Work: The Cultural Transformation of Hotel Workers in the City
This article explores the “cultural project” of a hotel workers’ union in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is an examination of the efforts of HERE (now UNITE-HERE) Local 75 to transform the identity and image of hotel workers through the promotion of cultural activities involving rank-and-file members. Part of a larger union renewal project, the cultural project attempts to build solidarity by connecting with members’ lives beyond the workplace. Fur…
Florida, Richard 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books, 404p.
Building the ‘competitive city’: Labour and Toronto’s bid to host the Olympic games
Museums
Community Unionism in Canada and Labor's (Re)Organization of Space
The extensive restructuring of industrialized economies continues to challenge workers and their unions in the 1990s. Labor unions are trying to remain viable institutions in the face of globalization of economic production, deindustrialization, and technological change. These processes have increasingly challenged workers in traditionally highly unionized sectors of the economy such as manufacturing and resource extraction industries. At the sam…
Industrial Restructuring and the Future of the Small Firm: The Case of Canadian Microbreweries
The dramatic flourishing of small-scale enterprise in recent years has stimulated a great deal of academic interest. Indeed many researchers have given the small firm pride of place in theories designed to explain the growth of a new, more 'flexible', economic environment. Recently, however, commentators have questioned whether these analyses are perhaps not overly optimistic in the role they ascribe to small firms. We add to the debate through a…
Labouring geography: Negotiating scales, strategies and future directions
Community Unionism in Canada and Labor's (Re)Organization of Space
The extensive restructuring of industrialized economies continues to challenge workers and their unions in the 1990s. Labor unions are trying to remain viable institutions in the face of globalization of economic production, deindustrialization, and technological change. These processes have increasingly challenged workers in traditionally highly unionized sectors of the economy such as manufacturing and resource extraction industries. At the sam…
Building the ‘competitive city’: Labour and Toronto’s bid to host the Olympic games
Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America
With a focus on police unions in the United States and Canada, this article argues that the construction of 'blue solidarity', including through recent Blue Lives Matter campaigns, serves to repress racial justice movements that challenge police authority, acts as a counter to broader working class resistance to austerity and contributes to rising right-wing populism. Specifically, the article develops a case study analysis of Blue Lives Matter c…
Emerging Labour Strategies in Toronto's Hotel Sector: Toward a Spatial Circuit of Union Renewal
I discuss the recent union renewal strategies adopted by UNITE-HERE Local 75, the union representing a majority of Toronto's organized hotel workers-a fragmented and diverse labour force. Local 75's renewal strategies are multiscalar with knowledge and resources flowing through the organization forming a spatial circuit of union renewal. Conceptualizing union renewal as a spatial circuit maps the interdependencies of different scales of labour or…
We Make it Work: The Cultural Transformation of Hotel Workers in the City
This article explores the “cultural project” of a hotel workers’ union in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is an examination of the efforts of HERE (now UNITE-HERE) Local 75 to transform the identity and image of hotel workers through the promotion of cultural activities involving rank-and-file members. Part of a larger union renewal project, the cultural project attempts to build solidarity by connecting with members’ lives beyond the workplace. Fur…
Museums
Hospitality unionism and labour market adjustment: Toward Schumpeterian unionism
Austerity, Right Populism, and the Crisis of Labour in Canada
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, neoliberal governments embarked on austerity programs that include reducing public services, imposing public sector wage restraint, and reorganizing public sector working conditions and labour relations. In this context of economic crisis and austerity, populism has risen across North America and Europe on both the right and left of the political spectrum. The rise of right populism in particular con…
Industrial Restructuring and the Future of the Small Firm: The Case of Canadian Microbreweries
The dramatic flourishing of small-scale enterprise in recent years has stimulated a great deal of academic interest. Indeed many researchers have given the small firm pride of place in theories designed to explain the growth of a new, more 'flexible', economic environment. Recently, however, commentators have questioned whether these analyses are perhaps not overly optimistic in the role they ascribe to small firms. We add to the debate through a…
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC): Between Company and Populist Unionism
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (clac) has historically had a relatively small presence in Canada's labour movement. Increasing interest in clac over the last decade is due to its expanded membership, largely in western Canada and Ontario: the union claims to represent 60,000 workers. Further, the tactics used to achieve this growth have been controversial within organized labour. In fact, clac was expelled from central labour bodies f…
Populist Unionism Confronts Austerity in Canada
The 2008 financial crisis continues to have profound implications for workers worldwide, as governments have embarked on “austerity” programs and employers have confronted organized labor with concessionary demands, placing unions on the defensive. At the same time, populist movements have arisen across North America and Europe as increasing numbers of people grow disenchanted with government action and corporate incompetence. We examine the inte…
Industrial Restructuring and the Future of the Small Firm: The Case of Canadian Microbreweries
The dramatic flourishing of small-scale enterprise in recent years has stimulated a great deal of academic interest. Indeed many researchers have given the small firm pride of place in theories designed to explain the growth of a new, more 'flexible', economic environment. Recently, however, commentators have questioned whether these analyses are perhaps not overly optimistic in the role they ascribe to small firms. We add to the debate through a…
Community Unionism in Canada and Labor's (Re)Organization of Space
The extensive restructuring of industrialized economies continues to challenge workers and their unions in the 1990s. Labor unions are trying to remain viable institutions in the face of globalization of economic production, deindustrialization, and technological change. These processes have increasingly challenged workers in traditionally highly unionized sectors of the economy such as manufacturing and resource extraction industries. At the sam…
Museums
Florida, Richard 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books, 404p.
Building the ‘competitive city’: Labour and Toronto’s bid to host the Olympic games
We Make it Work: The Cultural Transformation of Hotel Workers in the City
This article explores the “cultural project” of a hotel workers’ union in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is an examination of the efforts of HERE (now UNITE-HERE) Local 75 to transform the identity and image of hotel workers through the promotion of cultural activities involving rank-and-file members. Part of a larger union renewal project, the cultural project attempts to build solidarity by connecting with members’ lives beyond the workplace. Fur…
World Cities and Union Renewal
This article discusses how interpretive accounts and practices of labour union renewal in the Anglo-American context are linked to the forms of post-industrialism and polarized labour markets evident in world cities. I accordingly argue that the world city is implicated in various components of union renewal, including changing organizational structures, intensive organizing, leadership and democracy, coalition building, new labour internationali…
Emerging Labour Strategies in Toronto's Hotel Sector: Toward a Spatial Circuit of Union Renewal
I discuss the recent union renewal strategies adopted by UNITE-HERE Local 75, the union representing a majority of Toronto's organized hotel workers-a fragmented and diverse labour force. Local 75's renewal strategies are multiscalar with knowledge and resources flowing through the organization forming a spatial circuit of union renewal. Conceptualizing union renewal as a spatial circuit maps the interdependencies of different scales of labour or…
Labouring geography: Negotiating scales, strategies and future directions
Hospitality unionism and labour market adjustment: Toward Schumpeterian unionism
Populist Unionism Confronts Austerity in Canada
The 2008 financial crisis continues to have profound implications for workers worldwide, as governments have embarked on “austerity” programs and employers have confronted organized labor with concessionary demands, placing unions on the defensive. At the same time, populist movements have arisen across North America and Europe as increasing numbers of people grow disenchanted with government action and corporate incompetence. We examine the inte…
Austerity, Right Populism, and the Crisis of Labour in Canada
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, neoliberal governments embarked on austerity programs that include reducing public services, imposing public sector wage restraint, and reorganizing public sector working conditions and labour relations. In this context of economic crisis and austerity, populism has risen across North America and Europe on both the right and left of the political spectrum. The rise of right populism in particular con…
Unionism, Community
The concept of community unionism dates back to the 1960s. It was adopted by geographers in the 1990s as they began to explore community union coalitions. There are a number of conceptual debates and issues around community unionism.
Labor Geography
The emergence of labor geography in the 1990s was received enthusiastically as an alternative to capital‐centric readings of economic landscapes. Over the last decade there have been several challenges to the insertion of labor agency into contemporary accounts of capitalist development. Critiques range from the accusation of an unsophisticated analysis of class from more traditional Marxists to the limits of labor geography's focus on institutio…
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC): Between Company and Populist Unionism
The Christian Labour Association of Canada (clac) has historically had a relatively small presence in Canada's labour movement. Increasing interest in clac over the last decade is due to its expanded membership, largely in western Canada and Ontario: the union claims to represent 60,000 workers. Further, the tactics used to achieve this growth have been controversial within organized labour. In fact, clac was expelled from central labour bodies f…
Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America
With a focus on police unions in the United States and Canada, this article argues that the construction of 'blue solidarity', including through recent Blue Lives Matter campaigns, serves to repress racial justice movements that challenge police authority, acts as a counter to broader working class resistance to austerity and contributes to rising right-wing populism. Specifically, the article develops a case study analysis of Blue Lives Matter c…
“Meeting of the Lines”: Lessons from a Lived Labour Life
This paper is a personal reflection about ‘learning labour’ within the context of a twenty-year relationship with my late partner, Mary-Jo Nadeau (1965–2021). As an academic, self-identified labour geographer, I give recognition to a number of lessons that I learned from Nadeau, herself a feminist sociologist, anti-racist activist, and labour organizer. The paper borrows from a largely feminist inspired literature on academic relationships and ho…
Political science (15 works) · Law (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Economic geography (6 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (6 works)