In October 2005, Jason Foster, then a staff member of the Alberta Federation of Labour, was holding a picket line outside Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alberta with the members of local 401. It was a first contract strike. And although the employees of the meat-packing plant—many of whom were immigrants and refugees—had chosen an unlikely partner in the United Food and Commercial Workers local, the newly formed alliance allowed the workers to stand their ground for a three-week strike that ended in the defeat of the notoriously anti-union company, Tyson Foods.

It was but one example of a wide range of industries and occupations that local 401 organized over the last twenty years.

In this study of UFCW 401, Foster investigates a union that has had remarkable success organizing a group of workers that North American unions often struggle to reach: immigrants, women, and youth. By examining not only the actions and behaviour of the local’s leadership and its members but also the narrative that accompanied the renewal of the union, Foster shows that both were essential components to legitimizing the leadership’s exercise of power and its unconventional organizing forces.

Jason Foster is a professor of human resources and labour relations at the University of Athabasca. He also serves as the director for the Parkland Institute, a research consortium of academics and advocates for a stronger public sector run out of the University of Alberta. Jason worked in the non-profit sector for years, as well as with the labour movement as the director of policy analysis at the Alberta Federation of Labour. With a wide public profile, Jason is actively engaged in the discourse around the state of work and welfare in Canada. He also serves as the president of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association. He works and lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Jason Foster's profile page

"Riveting . . . Foster is a skillful writer whose account reads like a screenplay."

"Studying a thriving labour union in Alberta is a bit like studying an organism that flourishes in scorching, sulfur-laden undersea vents. [...] Defying Expectations portrays an imperfect organization that, despite a harsh political climate, has brought concrete gains to low-wage workers and their families. Simultaneously, it underscores how the North American labour movement might connect with those who stand to benefit most from unionization by redistributing not just profits, but power."

“...a deeply interesting look at how unions and their members can work together to create much-needed change.”