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A study was performed to measure the centrality of beliefs about unions, to outline general tendencies in the centrality of workers' beliefs about unions, and to identify the salient beliefs of different typical working-class perspectives on labor unions. One technique for measuring centrality is to ask respondents to identify the importance of each belief in relation to their other beliefs concerning some social object. In the Q sort, each participant was given 48 one-sentence statements about unions, each typed on a separate card, and asked to physically sort them following a quasi-normal pattern. Some 100 workers in Hamilton, Ontario, completed the Q sort during the summer of 1987. Two dimensions are most salient for Hamilton workers: defense and rights. An average Q sort for the individuals sharing each typical union belief system was calculated. An exploratory factor analysis revealed 6 typical perspectives on unions. A key finding of this study is that there are typical ambivalent and antiunion perspectives on unions, just as there are typical prounion perspectives.
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Marxists have long argued that major strikes produce an explosion of workers' class consciousness. A study discusses some weaknesses of the explosion-of-consciousness thesis, and tests research hypotheses using data from a case study of the 1987 strike by the Hamilton local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. A major finding is that an increase in a postal worker's negative attitudes toward out-groups did not necessarily go hand in hand with an increase in that striker's positive identifications with in-groups such as fellow workers, the local union and the labor movement. This supports treating the in-group and out-group dimensions of class consciousness as distinct. A second finding supports the hypothesis that an explosion of in-group consciousness due to inter-group conflict is more likely to occur among workers who are already identified with the in-group.
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Responds to Martin Glaberman's critique of his paper, "Strikes and Class Consciousness," published in the Fall 1994 issue. of Labour/Le Travail. Argues that his concept of class consciousness and collective struggle is at the individual, rather than the supraindividual level espoused by Glaberman and György Lukács. Also argues that history does not produce preordained outcomes such as workers' councils, only possibilities of what can be done, which is why he urged Canadian socialists to focus on activist workers who are broadly politicized, non-sectarian, and linked through community networks.
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This article uses a classical Marxist framework to study the consciousness and action of inside postal workers in Hamilton, Ontario during and after their participation in the 1987 strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). At the time of the strike the Hamilton Local of CUPW was 58 per cent women; the article includes a discussion of the impact of gender processes on women worker's consciousness and action. It also deals with three more general issues. First, through a discussion of conceptual issues and the presentation of a multi-level theoretical model, I offer advice on how to proceed with empirical research on strikes and class consciousness. Second, the "culture of solidarity" portrayal of strikers, as developed by Rick Fantasia, is criticized for presenting an over-integrated view of the participation and consciousness of strikers. I argue that one need not romanticize striking workers in order to be optimistic about the political role of the contemporary working class. This optimism must recognize that in a macro context of politico-economic stability, only a minority of a striking workforce can be expected to experience an expansion of generalized class consciousness. Third, I suggest that Marxist political action in the 1990s should concentrate on the development of generalized class consciousness, especially workers' positive sense of class unity, through the organization of local worker solidarity networks.
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- Journal Article (4)