Union Involvement in Workplace Change: A Comparative Study of Local Unions in Canada and Mexico
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2005.00366.x |
| Author | Gregor Murray,Christian Lévesque |
British Journal of Industrial Relations
43:3 September 2005 0007– 1080 pp. 489– 514
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
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Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Oxford, UKBJIRBritish Journal of Industrial Relations0007-1080Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005September 2005433489514Articles
Union Involvement in Workplace ChangeBritish Journal of Industrial Relations
Christian Lévesque is at HEC Montréal. Gregor Murray is at Montreal University.
Union Involvement in Workplace Change:
A Comparative Study of Local Unions in
Canada and Mexico
Christian Lévesque and Gregor Murray
Abstract
This paper examines the sources of local union power to cope with workplace
change. Are workplace unions active participants, merely passengers, outright
opponents, or entirely excluded from the change process? Drawing on 18 case
studies and a survey conducted in the auto and metalworking industries in
Mexico and Canada, the results suggest that greater internal solidarity, stronger
articulation with other levels of union and community activity and the pursuit
of an autonomous agenda all provide the basis for enhanced local union bar-
gaining power in the context of globalization. This general conclusion applies
to Canadian as well as Mexican local unions and suggests analytical paths for
understanding the construction and renewal of union power.
1. Introduction
It is commonly held that the increasing transnationalization of production is
prompting a shift in power and weakening the capacity of local unions to
participate in workplace change. The increasing mobility of capital in liber-
alized trade regimes has reinforced the ability of employers to make coercive
comparisons (for example, benchmarking) and to secure concessions in
exchange for promises of future investment.
Accelerated workplace change and significant modifications in the political
economy of workplace power relations have prompted observers to argue that
globalization, whatever the national institutional arrangements, leads to sim-
ilar patterns of labour relations in which the local union is either excluded
from workplace change or forced to cooperate with management. But is the
nature of local union involvement in workplace change so readily predeter-
mined? An alternative hypothesis — the core focus of this paper — suggests
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British Journal of Industrial Relations
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2005.
that union power, irrespective of transnational pressures and institutional
setting, is closely linked to the capacity of a local union to mobilize various
power resources.
In order to explore this idea, we draw on survey data from 96 firms and 18
case studies conducted in the automobile and metalworking industries in
Canada and Mexico. These countries offer an intriguing comparison to inves-
tigate the relationship between workplace change and local unions in a global
context. In addition to being NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agree-
ment) partners, both countries have a decentralized collective bargaining
system. In general, there is only one union per workplace, bargaining in the
private sector typically takes place at the workplace level and the agreement
concluded between local actors covers only that workplace. The sole excep-
tion is the negotiation of master company agreements in Canadian automo-
tive assembly (but not in the auto parts) plants.
Despite these common features, there are also important differences in
institutional settings. In Canada, even though geographic structures are sig-
nificant, the primary reference for union action is the industry. This is where
union action such as organizing and collective bargaining takes place and
where collective identities emerge. In the auto and metalworking industries,
workers are generally affiliated to an industrial national or international
union, the two most important being the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)
and the Canadian districts of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).
In Mexico, even though the majority of workers in auto and metalworking
are affiliated to the ‘Confederación de Trabajadores de México’ (CTM) (Ben-
susán and Cook 2003), there is far less uniformity. The underlying structure
of unions has always been decentralized and fragmented. For example, there
is no national autoworker or steelworker union. Consequently, regional
industry structures and enterprise unions, akin to regional labour councils,
are the key reference points beyond the workplace. These regional industry
bodies and regional labour councils are responsible for organizing and union
education programmes. They also hire union staff to service local collective
bargaining.
Another significant difference between Canada and Mexico concerns the
links between the state and unions. In Canada, even though most unions lend
their electoral and organizational support to social democratic parties, there
are few, if any, organic links with the state. In Mexico, over many decades,
the official unions, notably the CTM, have built close links with the state.
This regime has been labelled ‘authoritarian corporatism’ by several analysts
of Mexican industrial relations (Bizberg 1999; Middlebrook 1995). The Insti-
tutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which, prior to the election of Vicente
Fox, held power federally from the early 1930s to 2000, has always maintained
very close ties with the official unions, notably the CTM. The official unions
acted like a transmission belt for the PRI, which controlled the levers of the
state, and they contributed greatly to the PRI’s electoral hegemony. In
particular, the unions exercised a tight control over worker demands (Bizberg
1999; Middlebrook 1995).
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