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This thesis studies the historically varied political strategies pursued by the Canadian branch of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers in the union's attempts to shift the balance of power in its favour between 1936 and 1984. In so doing, the thesis examines and explains the Canadian UAW's changing relations to governments, corporations and political parties. Particular emphasis is placed on explaining the conditions under which this union pursued militant forms of political action. The analytical framework used in this work is constructed around an understanding of unions as strategic actors which make choices under limits arising from the historical, political-economic and internal conditions in which the union operates. In turn, a union's strategic capacity--defined as its ability to pursue a particular course of action successfully--is understood as being determined by both external conditions, such as the state of the economy, and by the internal resources and dynamics of the union. The most important external constraint on the Canadian UAW's strategic pursuits was the construction/destruction of the Fordist mode of regulation, which was organized around a wage/productivity trade-off and encouraged the institutionalization of labour-management relations, union control of membership militancy and the practice of 'responsible' unionism. At the same, it is argued that the Canadian UAW shaped the nature of this compromise and the timing of its own acceptance of this arrangement. More specifically, the Canadian UAW's distinctive organizational structure and collective identity are argued to have delayed the union's acceptance of the practices of 'responsible' unionism and influenced the particular regulatory mechanisms put into place in the Canadian auto industry. Overall, this study finds that, in contrast to current interpretations of union postwar political behaviour, Canadian Autoworkers continued to pursue militant, mobilization-based forms of political action until the early 1960's. It was only at this time that Canadian Autoworkers appeared to accept constraints on their militancy in exchange for improved wages and benefits and greater access to political decision-making. This period of detente between the UAW, governments and corporations was short-lived, however, owing both to emergent strains within the union between the rank and file and the leadership and the crisis of Fordism. Consequently, the UAW, in an attempt to protect its organizational integrity and position of strength in the workplace and society, returned to militant forms of political action, the effects of which were a shift in the balance of power in favour of the union and Canadian Autoworkers' split from their International union.
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In the wake of the continuing recession and destabilized global economy, theorizing about the industrial peace that reigned after World War II through the 1970s has undergone considerable revision. In this path-breaking discussion of Canadian labor relations, Charlotte Yates shows how the state-centered European theories of political economy did not fit the Canadian and United States experiences and treated them as anomalies. Through a case study of the Autoworkers Union in Canada (a branch of the UAW until 1984), Yates subjects this theorizing to critical scrutiny. Using extensive archives of union political activities, Yates describes how unions were demobilized in their relationships with the state, employers, and political parties as Fordist regulatory structures and practices forced unions to accept the constraints of responsible union behavior. She argues that the Canadian Autoworkers' collective identity and internal organizational structure counteracted these demobilizing tendencies. This historical legacy laid the groundwork for the Autoworker Union's return to militancy in the 1980s and 1990s and has shaped its responses to the pressures of economic globalization and heightened competition. From Plant to Politics demonstrates how continued union militancy in resisting concessions from employers and other attacks on unions has placed the union in a position of strength from which it now hopes to negotiate the Canadian path to a restructured economy. This study of the internal dynamics of a major union contributes to an understanding of unions as complex organizations engaged in strategic activities that have a definite impact on the national political economy. --Publisher's description
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The article reviews the book, "Sisters of Solidarity," by Julie White.
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