From the Environment to the Workplace and Back Again? Occupational Health and Safety Activism in Ontario, 1970s–2000*

This article addresses the issue of alliances between social movements through an investigation into the possibility of a convergence and/or allliance between two of the most enduring social movements in Ontario over the past three decades: the occupational health and safety (OHS) and the environmental movements. Both movements have not only endured, but been successful movements. Presently, however, each movement is fragmented and becalmed. Recent political developments are leading many OHS/labour movement activists to argue for an alliance with environmental movements. I argue that while there is benefit to both movements in such undertakings, continuing class differences between these two movements militates against any enduring alliance.