THE EXPERIENCE of ORGANIZING MICHELIN, 1971-19891 By
THE EXPERIENCE OF ORGANIZING MICHELIN, 1971-19891 by Andrew Anningson, Gregor Bertram, Darren Burns, Pamela Chase, Paul Holt, Chris McDonald, Steven Montgomerie, John Russell, Alex Stevenson, Jane Taylor, Todd Taylor, and Melanie Tonge. Edited by A. Thomson. 1992 Introduction Gregor Bertram and Andrew Anningson The experience of organizing Michelin workers in Nova Scotia was quite different for each of the parties involved. Labour struggles are two-sided affairs. When the crunch comes, there is no neutral, middle ground. Each party presents its part of the story as though only their version does justice to the issues. This sense of bias is found, to a certain extent, in the media coverage of the events. Depending on the point of view of the writer and on the intended audience, the author gives more weight to certain issues and interpretations than others, either blatantly or more indirectly. Much of this story about organizing Michelin concerns the actions and reactions of the contending groups to each other in their determination to win the struggle. Michelin was determined to remain union-free; various unions operating in Nova Scotia had other ideas. If the situation were to be described simply, it would appear to reflect constant jockeying for position in the control of the worker’s situation. By the end of the nearly two-decade battle, Michelin had the upper hand, as they had through most of the time, and as had been the case from the very beginning, they had the full support of the provincial government in ensuring that a union did not make headway with Michelin workers.
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