Professor Larry Savage in the Department of Labour Studies has been elected to a two-year term as President of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS), an academic organization that helps connect scholars and programs in the field for mentorship, research collaboration and professional development.<\/p>\n
Though faculty members across the department have given many years of service to CAWLS (Savage himself is a founding member and chaired its inaugural meeting back in 2013), this is the first time a Brock University researcher has been chosen to head up the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cLabour studies is a dynamic field distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach to the study of work, workers and workers\u2019 organizations,\u201d says Savage. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to playing a role in helping to shape the future direction of labour studies research and scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Savage, who has just completed a term as communications coordinator on the CAWLS executive, also has plans to help \u201camplify labour studies research by expanding the Association\u2019s knowledge mobilization capacities and strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n
He takes the helm at a time when many labour issues, including unemployment, worker protections and workplace safety, and remote work have come into sharp focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough there are fewer than a dozen labour studies programs in Canada, interdisciplinary research on and about work will likely take on greater\u00a0significance in a post COVID-19 world,\u201d says Savage. \u201cAs a result, COVID-19 is likely to help push labour studies from the margins to the centre of academic debates and research about how to reimagine work in the wake of the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working closely with Savage on the CAWLS executive will be Assistant Professor Alison Braley-Rattai, also from the Department of Labour Studies, who has been re-elected to a second two-year term as secretary.<\/p>\n
She agrees that the Association will have a greater role to play as the implications of the global pandemic unfold.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the disruption brought about by COVID-19 among other things, the time is ripe for a rethinking and restructuring of so many work and related processes,\u201d says Braley-Rattai. \u201cThe space that CAWLS provides for not only labour studies scholars but community organizers and union researchers to come together and share research and strategies about improving the lives of workers is perhaps more important than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n