Labour in ‘lean’ times
Geography, scale and the national trajectories of workplace change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8962060 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tod D Rutherford, Tod Rutherford (Maxwell Technologies (United States), corresponding author), Meric S Gertler (University of Toronto) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 195-212 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1475-5661.00049 |
| OpenAlex | W2028135901 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 14 |
In this paper we argue that far from being surpassed by globalization, the nation‐state remains a key space for organized labour. However, labour geographers’ focus on patterns of union organization and strategies of ‘internationalism’ underplays the enduring role of national institutions. Moreover, while labour geographers have recognized the significance of new forms of work organization, such as just in time and lean production, with some exceptions they have not examined how unions both formally and informally determine the trajectory of workplace change. Based on case studies of unions in the Canadian and German auto industries, we stress that the linkage between national and workplace scales remains critical to understanding how unions are responding to the challenges being presented by lean and just in time production. Finally, while there is a re‐scaling of bargaining in the automobile industry to the firm or enterprise scale, the outcomes of decentralization depend largely on the national regulatory context
Consolidation (business · Context (archaeology · Decentralization · Economic geography · Economic system · Economics · Geography · Globalization · Internationalism (politics · Lean manufacturing · Management · Market economy · Operations management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Industrial relations · Labor Movements and Unions · Law
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De/Re‐Centring Work and Class
Low-Wage Capitalism, Social Difference, and Nature-Dependent Production
Moving central knowledge to a northern periphery
Variegated capitalism
Convergence, the institutional turn and workplace regimes
Forced to Concede
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Genuine Renewal or Pyrrhic Victory? The Scale Politics of Trade Union Recognition in the UK
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Food Systems Planning and Sustainable Cities and Regions
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Scaling up by law? Canadian labour law, the nation‐state and the case of the British Columbia Health Employees Union
Labour, organisational rescaling and the politics of production
World Cities and Union Renewal
Rescaling Employment Relations
Australian Trade Unions and the Politics of Scale
Learning from America? Knowledge Flows and Industrial Practices of German Firms in North America
Industrial constructions
The Associational Economy
Global Shift
The Free Trade Agreement—A Decade Later
Workplace
Community Unionism in Canada and Labor's (Re)Organization of Space
The Siege of German Social Market
The condition of postmodernity
Union Retreat and the Regions
Rescaling Power Relations between Trade Unions and Corporate Management in a Globalising Pharmaceutical Industry
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Employment Systems in Transition? A Comparative Analysis of Britain and Australia
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The Resurgence of the Local Union
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,79 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2015 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |