Union Responses to Nafta in the US and Canada

Explaining Intra- and International Variation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7921145
AutoresMichael Dreiling (University of Oregon, Eugene, OR), Michael C Dreiling (0000-0002-2190-627X, University of Oregon), Ian Robinson (0000-0002-2747-8077, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI)
Año1998
Volumen3
Número2
Páginas163-184
Fecha de publicación1998-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMobilization An International Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1086-671X • E-ISSN: 1938-1514
EditorialMobilization Journal (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17813/maiq.3.2.w86063127ht4kj33
OpenAlexW2302207747
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas25

In this article we ask why some unions in Canada and the United States were more actively opposed to NAFTA than others, and why these "activist" unions differed in the strategies that they adopted for fighting NAFTA and in the alternatives that they offered to it. We ask the same questions about differences between the U.S. and Canadian labor movements as embodied in the rhetoric and behavior of their central federations. We distinguish four union "types" on two dimensions: the inclusiveness of union leaders' collective identity (i.e., the kinds of workers that the union actively seeks to organize), and the radicalness of union leaders' moral economy (i.e., how critical the union is of the status quo political economy). We hypothesize that differences in union type, so defined, explain a significant part of the variation in the levels of union activism against NAFTA in both countries, as well as differences in strategies of opposition. Differences in the relative strength of union types is also hypothesized to be an important factor explaining strategic differences between the two national labor federations. We use statistical analysis of survey data, as well as qualitative analysis of institutional variables, to operationalize and assess these hypotheses. We find considerable support for them

Economics · International trade · Operationalization · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Status quo · Trade union · Variation (astronomy · International Labor and Employment Law · Labor Movements and Unions · Law