Trade Unions and Regions: Better Work, Experimentation, and Regional Governance is about the place of workers and their unions in the modern world. It addresses current challenges for unions working in regions and the experiments that may take place at this level of governance.
The book addresses pressing questions concerned with the conditions for better work and a humane society. The focus is on the capacities of unions to address questions relating to regional governance, in both supranational and sub-national regions. It examines workers and their unions in a variety of contexts: multinationals, industries, workplaces, and communities. The authors address the experiments that can be initiated by unions, governments, or employers and the ways in which collective organisations engage to address these matters in regional contexts. The analysis takes as a starting point the fracturing and divisions evident in various regions, in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and USA. The contributors propose novel analyses with lessons for unions. It should be of interest to union activists and leaders, political parties, governments, and those who make decisions in and about regions.
Researchers and students of labour markets, political mobilisation, and employment relations will take the analyses further.
Author(s): Christian Lévesque, Peter Fairbrother, Blandine Emilien, María C. González, Lucie Morissette
Series: Routledge Studies in Employment and Work Relations in Context
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 226
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Figures
Tables
Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Understanding Union Power and Regional Governance
Unions
Regions and Regional Governance
Workers, Unions, and Regional Governance
The Making of Experimentation
Using Power Resources
The Processes and Consequences of Experimentation
The Book and Its Focus
Organisational Experimentations
Institutional Experimentations
Comparative Studies of Experimentation
The Interconnections between Organisational and Institutional Experimentation
References
Part I: Organisational Experimentations
2. Urban Regimes: Experiments and Institutional Innovation
Introduction
Urban Regimes and Forms of Governance
Bristol: Understanding Urban Regimes
The Fordist/Labourist Urban Regime 1950s-1970s
Bristol and the Neo-liberal Revolution 1970s-2000s
From Neo-liberalism to Partnership and Networked Governance?
Conclusions
Note
References
3. Collective Bargaining and Regional Resilience: Recalibrating Labour Relations in the Great Lakes Region Automotive Industry
Introduction
The GLR Automotive Industry
Automotive Production in the GLR
Auto Industry Collective Bargaining in the United States and Canada
Restoring Regional Competitiveness: Concessionary Bargaining in the Great Lakes Auto Industry: 2000-2015
The Advent of Ultra-Concessionary Bargaining: 2003-2007
The 2008-2009 Bankruptcy Restructuring Crisis
Post-Crisis Bargaining: 2011-2015
The 2016 Unifor-D-3 Contract Negotiations in Canada
Context for Negotiations
Bargaining Process and Outcomes
Assessment of Outcomes
Conclusion
Postscript
Notes
References
Part II: Institutional Experimentation
4. Reflections on Labour Strategy in Urban and Regional Governance
Unions and Urban Political Economy
Union Capacities within Urban Regions
Capacity to Assemble Productive Territories
Capacity to Balance Production and Social Reproduction
Capacity to Grant Social Legitimacy to Growth Strategies
Capacity to Connect Planning to Everyday Life
Limits and Possibilities
References
5. Institutional Experimentation in the Montreal Taxi Industry: What Role for the State and Collective Action?
Framework of Analysis
Methodology
The Montreal Taxi Industry
Research Methodology
Presentation of Results
Uber: From Contesting to Experimentation
Social Innovation - the Case of Téo Taxi
Between Contesting, Innovation, and Experimentation
Discussion
Notes
References
Part III: Comparative Studies of Experimentation
6. Marginalising Manufacturing: The Politics of Downgrading in the UK Apparel Industry
Growth in UK apparel manufacturing across regions and subsectors
Economic and Social Downgrading within United Kingdom Wearing Apparel Manufacturing
Marginalising Apparel Manufacturing in Greater Manchester and Leicester: Two Political Projects
From the Lockdown to New Public-private Beginnings?
Conclusions
Notes
References
7. Power Dynamics, Regional Governance Institutions, and the Quality of Work: A Comparison of Baja California and Queretaro Aerospace Clusters
Introduction
Power Dynamics, Regional Governance Institutions, and the Quality of Work
Institutional Legacies and Power Dynamics in Mexico
The Aerospace Industry in Mexico
Baja California Aerospace Cluster
Queretaro Aerospace Cluster
Understanding Skill Traps and Wage Gaps in the Aerospace Industry
Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Part IV: The Interconnections between Organisational and Institutional Experimentation
8. An Instance of Tripartite Successful Institutional Experimentation: Dual Vocational Education and Training in Spain
Introduction
The Metalworking Sector in Asturias
The Dual VET in Asturias
The Labour- and Education-based Dual VET of Asturias
The Making of the Agreement within Social Concertation (2005-2014)
Implementation, Follow-up, and Main Results (2014-2017)
Appraisal by the Social Actors and Implications (2019)
Discussion: Strategic Associational Capabilities, Institutional Work, and Triggers and Drivers of Common Knowledge Creation
References
9. From Organisational to Institutional Experimentation in the Montreal Aerospace Industry: Understanding the Role of Trade Union Strategic Capabilities
Introduction
The Role of Trade Unions in Processes of Experimentation at the Regional Level
The Montreal Aerospace Industry
The Process of Experimentation in the Montreal Aerospace Industry
Phase 1: Experimenting with Joint Regional Governance Organisation (1980-1994)
Phase 2: Building Thick Governance Organisations (1995-2010)
Phase 3: Experimenting with New Institutions (2011-2019)
Understanding the Role of Trade Union Strategic Capabilities in the Transition from Organisational to Institutional Experimentation
Conclusion
Note
References
10. Unions Interrogating Regions and Regionalism in Australia: The Challenges of Experimentation
Conceptual Questions
Approach and Method
Gippsland
Tasmania
Summary
Unions, Regional Governance, and Challenges
Gippsland
The Gippsland Experiments
North West Tasmania
The North West Tasmanian Experiment
An Assessment
Conclusion
Note
References
Index
