Negotiating job security and capital investments in response to deindustrialization
The case of Canada’s auto sector
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10252004 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dimitry Anastakis (Department of History, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, USA, corresponding author), Steven High (0000-0001-7224-4133, Concordia University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 352-368 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labor History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-656X • E-ISSN: 1469-9702 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0023656x.2024.2321243 |
| OpenAlex | W4392908760 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
Job security has always been a paramount concern for the trade union movement. This article explores the ways that unions used collective bargaining to gain a measure of job security for their members in the face of deindustrialization as unionized factories in North America began to close in large numbers after the 1970s. These new measures included advance notice, severance pay, plant closing moratoria, restrictions placed on plant movements, transfer rights, and expanding the scope of collective 'social' bargaining to cover training and adjustment. In some sectors, such as automotive, collective bargaining has also been extended into areas normally left to management. The price was often high. Eventually some unions, notably the Canadian Auto Workers (established 1985; part of Unifor after 2013), prioritized winning new capital investments and product lines for unionized plants in their negotiations, though often at the cost of jobs, wage freezes or reductions, and other concessions. By focusing upon auto sector deindustrialization in Canada since the 1980s, we draw lessons from more recent union bargaining strategies, and how they constitute an important element of worker responses to industrial job loss and manufacturing closure
Bargaining power · Business · Collective bargaining · Deindustrialization · Economics · Economy · Job security · Labour economics · Management · Market economy · Negotiation · Political science · Trade union · Wage · Employment and Welfare Studies · Industrial relations · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies
The state and the unions
Buy American
Against the Law
Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement
Industrial Sunset
Policy Entrepreneurs and FDI Attraction
The Restructuring of Canada's Automotive Industry, 2005–2014
The Deindustrialization of America
A Needle, a Bobbin, a Strike
La désindustrialisation, une histoire en cours
The Canadian Auto Workers
Plant Closings and Their Regulation in Maine, 1971-1982
The Challenge of Restructuring
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |