Fighting for a Working Future: Emerging Models of Local Union Strategy in a New Era of Global Cornpetition
Sean M. DiGiovanna
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Gnduate Department of Geography University of Toronto
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ABSTRACT The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine and discuss ernerging models of local union strategy in what has been identified as a new era of global cornpetition. This study addresses two central concems within economic geography. First and forernos&this research examines the issue of the role of local unions in influencing the economic future of their communities in a period of intense industrial restnicturing. By focussing on unions as agents in economic change, it challenges the notion that firm strategy is the sole, or even deciding determinant of the geography of capitalisrn. Second, it contributes to our understanding of economic change at the local level. In investigating the expenence of two industrial communities undergoing substantial change in the face of global pressures. this study recognizes that the unique focal social relations evident in each community have had profound influence over the direction of local economic restructuring - particuIarly when one considers the level and character of interaction arnong local unions, local business and local govemment. This dissertation concludes that workers have transforrned their institutions frorn organizations focussed strictly on representing workers rights in the workplace to mechanisrns through which workers can enter into the active production (or reproduction) of space at the local level. This transformation is part and parce1 of the process by which stakeholders are responding to what some have called the "crisis of Fordism". In so doing, they are active participants in the subsequent rearticulation of local modes of social regdation. The transformation of local social relations produced (in part) by union activity calls into question the applicability of traditional class analysis with its static view of workers and their relationship
CO the means of production. Furthemore, a cornparison of two Ontario communities - Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines - illustrates that there is a great deal of local specificity in both the manner in which workers (and their organizations) enter into the production of space and the desired outcorne of such transfomative activity. Acknowledgments
The design and implementation of this study could not have happened without the help of a nurnber of individuals who tirelessly gave me guidance and support. First. 1 wish to acknowledge the assistance of Gabe McNally. President of the St. Catharines and District Labour
Council. and Dan Lewis. President of the Sault Ste. Marie and District Labour Council. for their cooperation in the development and implementation of the postal survey. 1 would also like to thank the union and community leaders who took the tirne to answer my many questions and provide me with requested information. This project would not have been possible without the support of the staff at the Department of Geography - with a special mention to Zehra Al par who I shall always remember and admire for her strength and kindness. This dissertation has also required the support and understanding of my farnily and 1 would like to thank them for their patience and understanding. 1 would dso like to acknowledge my fellow students. Marc Arnold.
Shauna Brail. Marc Despatie and Betsy Donald for their constant advice and support. 1 owe my ability to conduct this research to my excellent thesis cornmittee. who allowed me the freedom to take some risks and who gave freely of their timr and wisdom - thdsto Car1 Amrhein. John
Brinon. Kim England. Jim Lemon and Sue Ruddick. Finally. 1 wish to thank my supervisor.
Ment C-der. Seldom have 1 had the pleasure to work with such an intelligent. compassionate and inspiring human being. Without his tireless assistance and unwavering support. this study would not have been possible. Thank you.
This study is dedicated to the working people of St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie. Table of Contents
Chapter 1 : Introduction
1.1 Research Questions and Findings 1.2 The Focus of Inquiry in Economic Geography 1.3 Outline of Dissertation
Chapter 2: Workers. Firms and Communities in Crisis: A Regdation Approach to Local Economic Change and the Character of Class Struggle
2.0 Introduction 17 2.1 Global Economic Restructuring and Regional Change 18 2.2 A Theoretical Frarnework for Local Economic Transformation 32 2.3 Contributions of the Study to the Advancement of Geography 46
Chapter 3 : Background and Methodology
3 .O Introduction 3.1 Research Methods Utilized 3.2 Limitations of the Research Conducted 3.3 Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines
Chapter 4: Manifestations of Unique Worker Experience in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines
4.0 Introduction 69 4.1 Geography Matters: The Importance of Relative Location 70 4.2 Defining Experiences in the Development of Worker Identity 74 4.3 Postai Survey of Local Union Leadership 82 4.4 Conclusions 94 Chapter 5: An Examination of Local Union Strategy in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines
5 .O Introduction 5.1 A Place at the Table: Local Unions and Workplace Restructuring 5.2 Local Unions and Formal Economic Development Activities 5 -3 Informai Economic Deveiopment 5 -4 Emerging Models of Union Activity 5.5 Conclusions
Chapter 6: Explaining Local Di fferences Observed: A regulation Approach
6.0 Introduction 6.1 Spatial and Temporal Specificities as Institutional Forrns 6.2 Exarnining the Wage Labour Nexus 6.3 The Labour-State Accord 6.4 Institutionai Foms and the Perception of the Current Crisis 6.5 Conclusions
Chapter 7: Epilogue and Conclusions
7.0 Introduction 7.1 Implications for the Study of Class Analysis 7.2 Ontario Workers and the Harris Goverment 7.3 Findings 7.4 Condusion
Appendices
Sources C ited List of Tables
Table Page
Location Quotients for Labour Force Activity: Sault Ste. Marie Location Quotients for Labour Force Activity: St. Catharines Ten Largest Industrial Employers in Sault Ste. Marie. 1994 Ten Largest Industrial Employers in St. Catharines. 1994 Population Growth Rates for Sault Ste. Marie. St. Catharines and Ontario Questions for Part 1 of Survey Local Govenunent Agencies Identified by Local Unions Provincial Govemment Agencies Identified by Local Unions Summary of Local Differences in Institutional Forms Dynamics of the Development of Union strate^
List of Figures
Figure Page
Schematic View of Decision-Making in a Local Union 43 Location of Sautt Ste. Marie and St. Catharines 55 Comparative Average Wage Rates for Production Workers 57 Industrial Structure of Sault Ste. Marie by Establishments and Employment 58 Industrial Structure of St. Catharines by Establishments and Employment 59 Unemployment Rates for St. Catharines. Sault Ste. Marie and Ontario 62 Percentage of Workers in Foreign and Domestic Firms. St. Catharines 64 Percentage of Workers in Foreign and Domestic Fims. Sault Ste. Marie 64 Average Level of Agreement with Survey Questions in Part 1 85 Perception of Governrnents by Union Activists: St. Catharines v. Sault Ste. Marie 87 Perception of Govemments by Union Activists: Public v. Private Sector 88 Importance Assigned to Causes of Local Economic Decline 90 Importance Assigned to Potential Solutions 92 Importance Assigned to Potential Union Activities 93 The Structure of Algoma Steel's Labour-Management Partnership 101 Canada's Share of North Arnerican Auto Production, 1950- 1985 134 Percentage of Organized Canadian Workers in Canadian Unions. 1945- 1988 137 Industrial Employment Indices for Canada and The U.S.. 1968-1988 139 Union Membership as a Percentage of Non-agricultural Production Workers 140 Representation of Lean Production 146 Percentage of Voters Who Supported the NDP in Ontario Provincial Elections 155 List of Appendices
Appendix
Appendix A: Survey of Local Union Leadership
Appendix 8: List of Interviewees
Appendix C: Sample Interview Schedule Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research Questions and Findings
The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine and discuss ernerging models of local union strategy. through documenting and analysing the recent experiences of local unions in
Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. Ontario. in what has been identified as a new era of global cornpetition.' Worken and their institutions act with a degree of geographic variation. contributing to differences in local economic outcornes. Thus. in order to hlly understand local economic change. one must examine the causes of local specificity in union behaviour. The main thesis of this dissertation is that geographical variation in local union strategy can only be understood by examining the institutionalized compromises which constitute the local mode of social regulation (MSR). The local MSR is constnicted through the accurnulated histoncal experiences of stakeholden and institutions at the local level and at other spatial scales. By focussing on certain key institutional foms of the local MSRs evident in Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines. this dissertation demonstrates the marner in which local variation in union activity can be better understood. Furthemore. this work contributes to the field of economic geography by better theonzing economic change at the local level and by advancing the use of regulation theory in local analysis.
1 The concept of a "new era of global cornpetition" was articulated by Drache and Gertler (1 99 1) in their book of the same name. The authors argue that. for Canada. this new era is characterized by increased global trade, increased capital rnobiiity and greater specialization. This study is indebted to that work as a foundation for understanding Canada's changing economic role in an increasingly global economy and as a starting point From which to examine the challenges faced by Canadian workers and their communities. 2
This dissertation makes a number of important assertions. First and foremost. workers and their institutions are important to local econornic restructuring and. therefore. are worthy of study. Through their strategies. cultures and actions. local unions enter actively in the production of space. Second. the interpretations of local economic change most offered in the geographic literature are insuficient to explain the experience of many localities. This failure is the result of too liale attention paid to the dialectical nature of globalization and to the specificities of the local MSR. Third, the accumulated historical expenence of locai unions is important in understanding how local union leaders perceive contemporary situations and formulate appropnate strategies. Fourth - notwithstanding the above - events. institutions and processes extemal to the community are important in explaining locai economic outcornes. Nevertheless. such events, institutions and processes at greater spatial scales may be mediated and interpreted at the local level in quite distinct ways. Finally. an analytic frarnework informed by regulation theory is important in understanding and comparing differences in local union strategy. Since workers and their institutions are central to this dissertation. the first assertion will be deait with in the following section. Afierwards. the outline of the rest of the dissertation will be discussed. .
1.2 The Focus of Inquiry in Economic Geography
In the past twenty years, the ever-increasing rate of global industrial restructuring has driven many geographers to examine the ways in which capital accumulation has influenced regional economic development. Corporations, through their investment decisions, production organization and cornpetitive strategies. it is argued, have actively entered into the production of space, contributing to the "inconstant geography of capitalism." (Storper and Waiker 1989). The 3 influence of capital on regions is such that its needs and preferences cm lead some regions into prosperity and others to decline. When labour has been considered in this process. it has often been reduced to just another contributing ingredient to capital's search for the perfect spatial fix.
The presence of a high unionization rate. it is suggested. could mean that capital would look elsewhere for new investment. By approaching the study of regional economic change fiom the standpoint of the needs of capital. economic geographers have placed the capacity to transform the geography of capitalism solely in the hands of the capitalist class. with workers and their institutions sitting on the sidelines awaiting the outcorne. The transfomative capacity of labour has been largely ignored.
This focus on capital investment as the determining agent in the production of space mirrors the more general preoccupation of economic geographee with production organization and corporate strategy. As a result of these tendencies. most other aspects of capitalist accumulation in the contemporary penod remain under-theorized. (Tickell and Peck 1992) Once one broadens the focus to include not just the firm but also the worker. it quickly becomes evident that labour. through its institutions. also has the capacity to influence the character of regional economic development. not simply in how capital reacts to it. but through its active participation in the production of space.
I.2. I The Firrn-Centred Apprmch
In the pst decade or so, there has been much written on the intensity of global econornic restmctunng and its geographical implications. The decline of the Fordist era and the resultant cnsis of profitability have brought about major shifis in the structure and location of industry and, therefore, in the fates of many localities. Yet, despite the fact that this current round of 4 restnicturing has had devastating consequences for innumerable workers in rnany communities. most scholars have analysed the post-Fordist cnsis as a problem for the firm. What strategies for production. marketing or oqanization are most appropriate as firms respond to new competitive realities? Should the firm lower production costs or become more -'flexible" in order to maintain profits and if so, how? What govemment regulations must be developed or changed to restore firms to a competitive position?
Underlying such speculation is the belief that restoring competitiveness to indigenous firms will lead to a way out of the current crisis - and to new giowth for declining regions.'
However. this belief haî been undermined by recent experience which has shown us that profitable and globally competitive fims do not necessarily contribute to solving the problems of massive job loss and industrial decline. Much has been written recently of tirms who. once restored to profitability. embark on a strategy of --streamlining" their organizations. leading to massive lay-offs and plant closures. In fact. downsizing has been seized upon as the latest panama for corporate performance and is reported as "almost as popular in corporate America today as takeovers and mergers were in the 1980s." (Uchitelle 1993. C3) This phenornenon. of course. is not limited to the US. There is also evidence of similar behaviour among Canadian firms.' As red wages fa11 and profits rise. it seems that restonngfirms to a cornpetitive position will not necessarily solve the economic iIIs facing communities across the industrialized world.
Gertler (1 992) pointed out that such beliefs were reflected in the "new" economic geography, where the focus had shifted from "overthrowing" to "overhauling" capitalism.
Mackenzie (1 992) echoes this concem for Ontario. refemng specifically to the experience of Northern Telecom. A good example of the faith placed by some scholars in competitive firm reorganization as a solution to rconornic woes is found in the work of Flonda and Kemey ( 1992). In their research on the impact of Japanese investment on the restmctwing of the US steel indusuy. the authors tend to ignore the negative consequences of production reorganization. Florida and
Kenney insist that US steel producers fell behind in the technology race due to lack of investment. They reject the deindustnaiization argument of Bluestone and Harrison ( 1982) by painting out that the adoption of "just in time" production techniques (JIT) has led to in silu restructuring rather than capital flight. Unlike Bluestone and Harrison, who judge corporate strategy on its ability to create good jobs. Florida and Kemey focus almost entirely on capital investment. Throughout the paper. Flonda and Kenney fail to discuss the thousands of steelworkers who have lost their jobs.
The authors go on to discuss the transformation of workplace relations in US steel plants.
They describe how work mies and job classifications are becoming liberalized in exchange for greater job secunty. Yet. there is little evidence that jobs are more secure - even as productivity increases. more and more workers are laid off. 1t appears that. in Florida and Kemey's view. worker behaviour must be "'transformed" to suit the needs of the firrn:
To restructure the U.S. Steel industry in light of the hnctional requirements of Japanese production organization meant not only transforming the concrete organization of work. but restructuring worker behavior and human labor power. This has centred around the strategic use of recruitment, socialization, and training prograrns to mold workers to the demands and requirements of new production organization." ( 1992, p. 166)
Florida and Kemey are critical of Amencan workers who do not seem willing to adopt the behavioural changes required in the new production organization, yet they do not seem to 6 question the level of American management's commitment to its workers. Finally. the authors regard work speed-up as a necessary part of this new organization. to which worken willingly and happily submit. They denounce any efforts to label JIT as "super-exploitation" or
"management-by-stress." However. iheir evidence is stnctly anecdotal (a couple of quotes fiom individual workers) and they do not provide a detailed argument to support their assertion.'
What if we turned the implicit assurnption in such scholarship on its head? What if the goal of research was not to determine how best workers and communities (and governent regulation) must be transformed to meet the needs of fims. but instead focussed on the equally valid goal of how best fim behaviour and government policy might be transformed to meet the needs of worken and communities? Starting fiom this assumption leads to a very different focus of inquiry. Instead of investigating restructured firms, the emphasis is placed on investigating restructured cornmunities. The agents of change are no longer just the human resource managers and CEOs. but also local govemrnents. cornrnunity groups and workers and their organizations.
In this way. workers - and the unions which represent them - are no longer merely reactive or obstructive agents in need of transformation. They are important stakeholders capable of transforming their economic milieu and entering actively into the production of space ar the local level and. therefore. are important objects of study.
4 An extensive study of so-called lean production techniques conducted by the Canadian Auto Workers (Robertson 1993) calls into question the popularity of these new methods with worken in the CAM1joint venture in Ingenoll, Ontario. A more recent survey of CAW workers across Canada (Lewchuk. et al. 1996) found a widespread increase in stress, work speed-up and on-the-job injury. 1.2.2 Cornmunifies in Crisis
On January 23. 1991. Dofasco announced it would be writing off its $740 million investment in the Algoma Steel Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie. thus leaving the fate of Algoma
Steel in the hands of its creditors who seemed only too happy to close the Company and sell-off its assets. Of course. the union and the community were shocked. The closure of the steel mil1 - which had employed nearly a third of the community's total workforce - would have had catastrophic consequences for Sault Ste. Marie. In fact. the survival of Algoma Steel was so integral to the survival of the comrnunity that many began to question the right of Dofasco to decide unilaterally the fate of the Soo. The community sprang into action. United Steelworkers of America Local 225 1. with the help of the international union. began to put together a plan that would satisQ the crediton and Save the mill. Both the USWA and the local government appealed to the Province to intervene and to convince Dofasco and Algoma's creditors to entertain the notion of a restructuring process which would Save the plant. Fortunately for Sault
Ste. Marie. the Rae govemment was committed to an industrial policy with a high level of union and community involvement. Raising the spectre of heaw fines for environmental clean-up. the
NDP government was able to persuade Dofasco and its creditors to come to the table.
By May of 199 1, Dofasco proposed a restructuring plan which would have closed the company's mining facilities in nearby Wawa, halted production of steel tubing and rails. eliminated 3,000jobs, and reduced wages of the remaining workforce for a 14% worker-owned stake in the new Algoma. In effect. the Dofasco plan would have led to a concentration in structural steel (without any cornmitment to new investrnent). and a situation where Dofasco would still be calling the shots and workee would be working at reduced wages. The 8
Steelworkers viewed this as a stop-gap measure - one which would condemn Algoma to stagnation and eventual decline. Afier the US WA rejected the plan. Dofasco made it clear they wanted no part in a restructured Algoma. The union would now have to deal with Algoma's credi tors.
Meanwhile. the US WA was not merely a passive participant. The Steelworkers. due to the extensive restructuring of the steel industry in both the U.S. and Canada had a great deal of experience in this area. In fact, by 199 1. the union had developed a set of guidelines to aid
Steelworker locals in issues of restmcturing. In Empowering Workers in the Global Economy: A
Labour Agendu for the 1990s. the USWA had detailed the pnnciples around which Algoma would be restructured. While recognizing the need for restructuring. the union argued that such action should be predicated upon the corporatist modeis of Germany and Sweden. In this way. any workplace restructuring would have to involve the union as an equal partner. with opportunity for worker input and influence in planning. design. implementation and oversight.
The US WA believed that such changes would require a fundamental shifi away from the traditionally adversarial relationship between labour and management. but they believed that these changes were essential to the continued survival of the steel industry and that workers. and corporations. should embrace these changes rather than fear them. By August of 199 1. the
US WA and its locals at Algoma Steel had unveiled a labour-centred restmcturing plan for the
Company.
The Steelworkers' plan called for the maintenance of al1 current operations and the undertaking of a major capital expansion program. (Members had already voted to donate part of their wages to a "Save our Jobs" fund.) To address the issue of debt. the union would accept a 9 reduction of wages in exchange for a majoriîy ownership stake in Algoma Steel. The union's proposal also committed the company to provide bridge pensions for any laid-off employees. to fully comply with and exceed environmental regulations and to develop a joint training and economic development institute. The Soo community. through its Community Action Team. imrnediately endorsed the Steelworkers' plan. By June of 1992. through much intense neptiating and some revisions. the union's plan became a reality. The Steelworkee were now the majority owners of the Soo's largest employer and. as we shall see. the relationship between labour and capital had begun to change fundamentally.
Across Ontario, residents in St. Catharines had troubles of their own. In December of
1991, General Motors - the community's largest industrial employer - had embarked on a continentai restnicturing which focussed on reducing its production capacity and increasing the efficiency of remaining operations. The company was clear that it would consider plants on both sides of the border for closure and that no plant's survival could be guaranteed. At the time. GM directly employed over 8.000 workers in St. Catharines. or about half of the total manufacturing workforce. While workers in GM's foundry in St. Catharines (which manufactured engine blocks. cylinder heads. crank shafts and brake components) were nervous. they had reason to be optimistic. The St. Catharines facility was one of four the company owned throughout North
Arnerica and, although it was small, it was widely regarded as the most productive facility with the highest quality product. On Febmary 24. 1992. however. GM announced that it would close the St. Catharines facility by 1995 - resulting in a loss of approximately 2.3 15 jobs. The prospect of losing the foundry devastated more than just GM workers. Analysts in the CAW estimated that up to 20,000 additional jobs would be lost through the local multiplier effect. The Canadian Auto Workers Local 199. dong with the national union. began an ambitious political action campaign designed to convince General Motors to reverse its decision.
Local 199's Fight Back Cornmittee was created to increase public awareness and garner political support for the CAW's cause. In May of 1992. the St. Catharines city council. afier an appeal fiom St. Catharines Labour Council President Gabe McNally. adopted two resolutions put forward by the CAW which committed the city to lobby GM to preserve the jobs and reaffirm the city's opposition free trade. A rally outside the foundry's gates aiso brought attention to the plight of the workers. Throughout this pressure. GM remained resolute in its decision - maintaining that the plant was just too small to remain viable. In July of 1992. the provincial legislature passed a motion cornrnitting itself to --urge General Motors to continue the operation of its foundry in St. Catharines." (Rice 1992. Al ) In August. however. Premier Bob Rae came to St. Catharines and told the foundry workers that convincing GM to change its mind was an
"illusion". This angered many in the community who Felt that the Ontario govemment had given up without really trying. Eventually. the Rae govemment did offer GM funds to expand the foundry. but. as expected. GM declined the offer. clairning the decision to close the facility was final.
While the Fight Back Cornmittee proved unsuccessfùl at saving the foundry, its ability to attract popular support transfomed it from a union comrnittee focussed on a single issue to a broad-based coalition intended to address a host of economic concerns within the comrnunity. In
January of 1993, the cornmittee was renamed the Coalition for Fighting for a Working Future.
Within a year, it was renamed simply the Working Futures Coalition (WFC) and consisted of representatives from labour. government, business and community groups. Through its annual conferences and semi-annual strategy meetings. the WFC began articulating an al temat ive eccnomic vision for the Niagara region based on full ernployment. cornmunity developrnent and govemment reform. Although the foundry finaily closed in 1996. the experience of the CAW in challenging GM's decision helped the local labour movement move beyond the workplace to establish closer ties with local govemments. community groups and businesses and to convince some in the community of the validity of a labour-centred development stratem.
I.2.3 Unions und the Production oj'space
Over the past few decades. much has been written on how corporate capital shapes and reshapes regions through investrnent decisions. organizational strategies and. more generally. corporate culture. In docurnenting these processes. geographers have argued that industries and corporations are involved in the active producrion oj'sprrce - moulding places to fit their needs.
Benjamin Chinitz (1961 ) pointed out that variations in wage rates and labour markets between
New York City and Pittsburgh were directly attributable to the different industrial structures of the two cities. More recently. Storper and Walker ( 1989) have argued that emerging industries. such as electronics and biotechnology. have sought out locations with little history of industrial development in order to put their unique stamp on the region.
It cannot be doubted that industries have great influence on the character and development of the regions they inhabit. Nevertheless. it should be pointed out that firms are not the only inhabitants of a region. The two exampies in the previous section illustrate that local
Mons can play important roles in influencing local economic outcomrs. In the same way that corporations (through their decisions, strategies and cultures) can enter actively into the production of space. then it can be argued that unions (through their decisions, strategies and cultures) can also enter actively into the production of space. Labour historians have long
acknowledged this fact. Gutman's ( 1976) study of Paterson. New Jersey. Kealey's ( 1980) study
of Toronto and Montgomery's (1 979) depiction of Bridgeport. Connecticut al1 illustrate how
labour organizations have shaped their cornmunities through their confrontations with employers.
their newspapers. their social organizations and their support for community service organizations. The sarne can hold true for other groups in a community. such as local
govemment, churches. social service organizations. etc. Although firms may have more money
and resources at their disposal. this does not automatically result in unchallenged power to shape
a cornmunity. As Gutman (1 976) states in his discussion of Paterson:
...economic power was not easily translated into social and political power. and changes resul ting from rapid industrialization stimulated opposition to the industrialist to deprive him of the status and authotity he sought and needed. (p. 258)
As a result. by focussing solely on the ways in which corporations engage in the production of
space, geographers are not getting at the full story. Thus. the study of local unions can be crucial
to an understanding of how communities are shaped and reshaped over time.
Of course. such an argument is not entirely without precedent. Some scholars have
atternpted to look at restructuring fiom the point of view of the place-bound.' Yet. much of this
work examines how unions fit (or do not fit) the exigencies of capitalist accumulation. 1 propose
to examine unions as active agents in the production of space. rather than as obstacles to it or
victims of it. Unions are political as well as economic organizations. They are capable of
articulating alternative economic futures for their communities to the ones proposed by corporate
' For good general discussions, see Bradbury ( 1984), Clark ( 1986,1989). Cooke ( l98S), Goodwin, et. al. (1993). Rodwin and Samami (1989), and Sayer and Walker (1992). 13
capital. They also often have the resources and the person power to act on these ideas. Hudson
and Sadler ( 1986). Lynd (1 982. 1987). and Herod ( 199 1 ) have al1 documented how coalitions of
local labour groups and community organizations have formed to resist plant closure or
disinvestrnent. In addition. the advent of locality studies (see Cox and Mair 1988. 199 1 and
Massey 199 1 ) has focussed attention on how local agents (including labour. business and local
govemments) have cooperated over economic development strategy. Finally. the recent work of
Gertler and Rutherford ( 1993) uncovers several exarnples of labour unions and cornmunity
groups formulating strategies to promote regional economic growth.
1.7 4 Implications of a Worker-Centred A pprocich
The preceding discussion identifies some important elements which will be revisited
throughout the dissertation. First. it is evident that the actions of local labour unions have the
potential to influence local economic outcornes. This is certainly the case in Sault Ste. Marie.
where the worker buyout of Algoma Steel saved the city's most important industry. Second. the
history of interaction between union and corporation (and union and community) influenced the
way in which union strategy was developed and implemented. Third. institutions at greater
spatial scales - especially the parent unions and the provincial and federal govemments - were
also very important in determining local union strategy. Finally, the actions and strategies of
local unions in both comrnunities represent the advancement of alternative notions of economic justice. The experience of these unions illustrates that workers are challenging the centrality of
business-centred developrnent.
Such alternative visions are important in challenging the hegemonic control many
corporations exert over communities. but they become even more important when corporations 14 decide to abandon a comrnunity which they have helped to shape. McCollester and Stout ( 1990) illustrate the importance of labour-cornmunity alliances in mitigating the horrendous impacts of steel plant closings in the Pittsburgh area. The point is that unions are not merely passive victims of corporate restructuring. They cm also prove to be important contributors to the future direction of the local economy and active participants in the production (or reproduction) of space. And yet. their constructive role in this regard has not received the attention from social scientists (including economic geographers) that it deserves.
This study was designed to document and analyse the emerging strategies of local labour unions in confronting the challenges of restructuring wrought by an increasingl y globalized economy. Of particular interest is the extent tu which local unions have moved beyond their traditionai role as solely bargaining agents and becorne actively involved in corporate and workplace restructunng. local economic development. and coalition activities. By comparing the expenences of local unions in two communities. this study contributes to our understanding of the unique local social relations which intluence the course of local economic change. ln the end. this research demonstrates the need for a more sophisticated understanding of local unions as agents of economic transfomation.
1.3 Outline of Dissertation
In the next chapter. I discuss in some detail the theoretical debates from which this study has emerged. As a starting point. it is important to consider contemporary theones of capitalist restructuring and examine their implications for industrial communities. The prevailing explanations of local economic change, 1 argue, are insuficient to explain. or to aid. many industrial communities. Focussing on the dialectical nature of the globalization process. I discuss the advantages of using regulation theory in examining local economic change and suggest a framework for applying the theory at the local level by analysing the process of local union decision-making.
Chapter 3 discusses the particular research methods which 1 utilized in the study. addressing some of the constraints and opportunities encountered throughout the research. 1 then present some background information on the communities selected for case studies. I discuss the reasons for choosing Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. as well as illustrating the important sirnilarities and differences evident in the communities.
Chapters 4 and 5 are devoted to the articulation and analysis of the specific expenences of
Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. Chapter 4 identifies some important unique local characteristics of the two communities and details important events in their recent histones which have helped to shape the particular institutionalized relations evident in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines in the contemporary period. Afierwards. 1 introduce and discuss the resulis of a postal survey of local union leaders. Chapter 5 details the experience of local labour unions houghout the most recent economic crises. In particular. 1 discuss the role of unions in mitigating the impact of those crises and in participating in local economic developrnent planning and industrial restmcturing. In so doing. 1 discuss both forma1 development activities and those based around cornmunity mobilization. The end of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the lessons to be learned from unions' activities in each of the communities and the depiction of two emerging models of local union strategy. Chapter 6 identifies and elabomtes an undentanding of the degree to which local specificity is important in shaping the range of actions open to local unions at any piven time.
Through a discussion of the main differences in local industrial relations and union-govenunent interaction. both at the local level and at greater spatial scales. 1 demonstrate that distinctive local modes of social regulation (MSRs) are in evidence and that these distinctive MSRs influence local union activity. Thus. this chapter endeavours to show how regulation theory might successhlly be applied to the local level and evaluaies the usefulness of this emerging body of theory.
In the final chapter. 1 address the implications of this study for the theorization of local class formation and relations. 1 argue that the actions of local unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines indicate that the character of ciass struggle might be changing. Contemporary modes of class analysis would seem to indicate that some unions are acting in ways which are thought to be contradictory to their '-objective" class interests. Nevertheless. 1 argue that such actions can be considered precisely the result of class interests and, therefore. a more satisfactory understanding of local class relations must be developed. Afierwards. 1 examine some key issues conceming the future of industrial communities in Ontario. In particular. I discuss the implications of impending regulatory change with the defeat of the New Democratic provincial govenunent and the ascension of Mike Harris and the neo-cons6rvative agenda. Finally. 1 argue that the findings of this research have important implications for both theoretical debates within geography and die formulation and implementation of local economic development policy. Chapter 2 Workers, Firms and Communities in Crisis: A Regulation Approach to Local Ecooomic Change
2.0 Introduction
Scholars in many disciplines have devoted their careers to trying to undentand and explain the changing nature of capitalism. but it has been geographers pt-imarily who have concentrated on the spatial manifestations of global economic restructwing. Of particular importance have been the attempts to create or anticipate new rnodels of the capitalist organization of production. Insofar as production organization has direct implications for industrial communities. it is necessary to examine the literature on changing global production.
In the first part of this chapter. 1 will review critically the literature surrounding two important arguments about capitalist production organization and its implications for local places. The first is the deindzrs~riulizationdebate and its connections to theones of the nerv international division of labour and the emergence of free trade regimes. Next. 1 will examine the literature on flexible specialization and the growth of industrial districts. Both lines of argument have made important contributions to our understanding of the relationship of the local to the global. 1 will therefore examine the debate in geography on the place of the local and why 1 believe it is crucial to appiy a dialectical approach to study of globalization and the interaction between local and global forces in a specific location.
The second section of this chapter will introduce and discuss the important contribution that regulation theory has made to understanding change in a capitalist economy. The importance assigned to crises and the recognition of the centrality of institutionalized social 18 compromises are two key components of regulation theory which inforni the debate on regional economic change in geography. 1 will examine the attempts to apply regulation analysis to the local level and discuss the implications this work has for studies of particular communities. This section concludes by detailing an analytic framework to be used in expiaining observed local differences in union activity. Finally. 1 will articulate how the research questions 1 have identified will contribute to the advancement of the geographic debates 1 have addressed.
2.1 Global Economic Restmcturing and Regional Change
The past few decades have been a penod of intense and drarnatic restnicturing of capitalist investment and production. Advances in communications and transportation technologies have enabled capitalist enterprises to manage operations on a global level - ofieten producing finished goods whose parts have been produced in several nations. In addition. the increased flow of capital investment has led to a concomitant increase in the importance of foreign markets for firms. Although scholars agree that the process of globalization is continuing. they are still sharply divided over its implications. For some. globalization represents the ability of corporations to bypass state regulation and effectively force the world's workers into direct cornpetition resulting in the eventual lowering of wages and living standards.
As globalization intensifies. and as govemments seem powerless or unwilling to mitigate its effects, worken and their communities will eventually be reduced to the lowest common denominator. with a global capitalist class exploiting an increasingly impoverished global proletariat (Bluestone and Harrison 1982, Nash and Femandez-Kelly 1983. Hudson 1986.
Harvey 1988. Peck 1996). To others, globalization represents the final liberation of worken 19 from the shackles of monopoly capitalism (Lash and Urry 198% Florida 199 1 ). As the world economy becomes more integrated. it is argued. regions cm take advantage of global niche markets by concentrating production on their traditional strengths. As the importance of the nation-state declines. and corporate capital increasingly embarks on strategies of vertical disintegration. communities will be assured a secure economic future through specialization and trade.
Of course. the visions I presented above are on the extreme ends of the spsctnim. Rarely do geographers express such depressing cynicism or ecstatic optimism. Nevertheless. the 1980s witnessed the emergence of two bodies of geographic theory which divided many scholars on the issue of whether globalization was cause for deep concem or ardent enthusiasm. It is important to note that 1 am not presenting the following theones as the only explmations offered by geographen for the dramatic shifts in industrial production witnessed dunng the period. It cannot be denied. however. that both deindustrialization andjlewible specialization are two concepts which have corne to inform a large proportion of the debate within economic geography
- particularly when it cornes to discussing policy options for local economic development. Thus. a brief critical analysis of these two theories is essential to setting the stage for my own research.
2.1. I Deindustrialization: the locui us victirn of global restructuring
The dramatic reversa1 in the fortunes of many of the industrialized nations in the 1970s and 1980s - what Harrison and Bluestone (1 988) refer to as "The Great U-Tum" - is at the heart of the deindustrialization debate. Indeed. by the end of the 1 970s it seemed as if entire regions of the core economies6 were about to be stripped entirely of their manufacturing capacity. Ln an attempt to explain how once successful industrial regions could teeter on the verge of economic extinction in the span of a decade. social scientists put forward the notion of deindustrialization - the conscious strategy of disinvestment in productive capacity in core regions. (See Blackaby
1979. Bhestone and Hanison 1982. Rodwin and Sazanarni 1989.) Bluestone and Harrison's The
Deindustrializdon of America ( 1982) quickly becarne a central text in the advancement of this theory. According to the authors. the string of plant closings and job tosses suflered in the
United States throughout the 1970s was the result of a conscious corporate policy in the face of increased international cornpetition and decfining profits:
By deindustnalization is meant a widespread. systematic disinvestment in the nation's basic productive capacity. Controversial as it may be. the essential problem with the US. economy can be traced to the way capital - in the forms of financial resources and of real plant and equipment - has been diverted from productive investment in our basic national industries into unproductive speculation. rnergers and acquisitions. and foreign investment. Left behind are shuttered factories. displaced workers. and a newly emerging group of ghost towns. (p. 6)
Cntics of deindustnalization theory argued that disinvestment from unproductive activities was a necessary part of the creative destruction inherent in capitalist economies - freeing capital for more productive uses (Thurow 1980). Nevertheless. proponents of the deindustrialization hypothesis demonstrated that the targets of disinvestment were ofien productive and profitable facilities (Harrison and Bluestone 1988. Rodwin 1989) and that "li berated" capital was often diverted from productive uses. (See Strange 1986.)
6 The use of the tems core and periphery is derived from world systems theory. (See Wallerstein 1979 and Chase-Dunn 1 989) 2 1
It is possible to identiQ five principal theses within the deindustrialization argument. as outlined by Bluestone and Harrison. Fint there is a recognition that while there is a general strategy of deindustrialization affecting al1 regions within core economies. certain areas have suffered disproportionately due to their inability to attract new investment. Good examples of such regions during the 1980s were the U.S. Midwest (Markusen and Carlson 1989). and the
English Northeast (Hudson 1986). Second. although plants are being lost in particular regions. investrnent and jobs are growing in others. This process is manifest both through investment in penpheral regions within the core (Southern U.S.. Southeast England) and through foreign direct investment. (It is here that we find an explicit link between the deindustrialization debate and the new international division of labour. discussed later.) Third. deindustrialization is a conscious decision on the part of corporations. not an inevitable outcorne of market forces. These decisions are usually attributed to a finn's desire to reduce the costs of production and to find more tractable workforces. Hence. Enns attempt to remain cornpetitive through cost reductions rather than investrnent in research. product development or quaiity irnprovement. Fourth. corporations are able to implement deindustrialization strategies due to the increasing mobility of capital.
Furthemore. national govemment policies have allowed for the increasingly "footloose" nature of capital and thus encourage the process of deindustnalization. Finally. it is argued that communities are powerless against the forces of deindustrialization and. in the absence of national govemment intervention. industrial communities will continue to decline.
As noted above, most proponents of the deindustnalization argument implicitly (or in some cases explicitly) accept the arguments advanced by theorïes of a new international division of labour (NIDL). The NIDL argument was initially proposed by sociologists as a way to account for the '~cateddevelopment" of lesser developed countries (LDCs). Nash (1983) notes that the 1970s witnessed an increasing amount of manufacturing investment in LDCs. something which seemed counter to traditional development literature which claimed that core economies were only interested in LDCs as sources of raw materials and markets for manufactured goods. The expianation O ffered by proponents of the NIDL was that the deskil hg of the labour process in manufacturing (Braverman 1974) allowed many corporations to move parts of their manufacturing operations to LDCs in order to take advantage of lower production costs. These actions necessarily had an impact on manufacturing employrnent in the core. especially as international cornpetition led to the saturation of global markets. Since the NIDL hypothesis was first advanced. there have been numerous attempts to link deindustrialization in the core with industrialization in the periphery. (See Froebel. Heinrichs and Krege 1980. Massey
1984. Dicken 1986. Lipietz 1988.) Given the importance of the NIDL argument to the deindustrialization hypothesis, it stands to reason that the advent of regional trading blocs and the advancement of free tnde is viewed as a mechanism through which globalization - and. thus. deindustrialization of the core - is intensified. (See Drache and Gertler 199 1. Gertler and
Schoenberger 1992, Wolfe 1992.)? The acceptance of free trade. rhen. ieads ru an accelerated loss of manufacturing jobs, or as Ross Perot stated during the 1992 U.S. presidential campai@,
"a giant sucking sound" as U.S. finns invest in Mexico at the expense of American workers. For
7 It is important to note that I am concentrating on the perceived impacts of fixe trade on core economies. My focus on industrial comrnunities in core economies stems frorn the centralit-of such communities to the "Fordist" regime of accumulation. discussed later. There is, of course, much wriîten on the impact of trade liberaiization on LDCs. See, for example. Nash and Femandez-Kelly (1 983). Portes, Castells and Benton (1989) and Chase-Dunn (1 989). 23 those who wish to preserve manufacturing jobs in core regions. free trade is something that must be opposed.
When the above arguments are taken together. the experience of a typical industrial cornmunity in an era of deindustrialization can begin to be theorized. First. and most important the increased mobility of capital and the propensity of firms to use spatial strategies to reduce production costs means that industrial comrnunities are put in direct competition with each other in order to attract or maintain manufacturing employment. The resuits of this cornpetition cmbe devastating. Hudson and Sadler (1 989) descnbe how the rapid downsizing of British Steel
Corporation pitted steel communities against each other and destroyed chances for organized resistance to deindustrialization policy. Even perceived intention to divest fiom a comrnunity can lead to the acceptance of increased concessions frorn workers and local govemments (Herod
1991). In addition, Cox and Mair ( 1988. 1991 ) and Harvey ( l989a) articulate how place competition can undermine class solidarity as communities develop growth c~alitionswhich align workers and capitalists in one cornmunity against their counterparts in another. Given that the causes of deindustrialization are by and large extemal to the cornmunity (i.e.. corporate head- office decisions. national government policy) there is Mecommunities can do to protect themselves Save pressure the national governrnent to rein-in the power of corporations. (Harrison and Bluestone 1988) In the meantirne. communities will continue to lose manufacturing jobs and investment unless they agree to increasingly unfavourable terms set down by corporations. In short, the local is the victim of global restmcturing and the deindustrialization hypothesis is very pessimistic about a cornrnunity's chances to irnprove its economic position in the absence of national governrnent intervention. Of course. recent empirical research throws doubt on the vaiidity of some of the claims made by proponents of the deindustriaiization argument. For one thing. manufacturing is still important in traditional industrial regions within the core economies some 15 years since the recognized advent of deindustrialization. The fact that output and sales continue to grow
(Florida 1994) indicates that loss of employment may have been more the result of in siru restructunng and productivity gains than a conscious policy of disinve~tment.~Indeed. evidence suggests that areas such as the U.S. Midwest - once the undisputed poster child for the deindustrialization argument - have in fact become favoured regions for foreign direct in~estment.~(Florida and Kenney 1992. See also Morris 199 1 regarding Japanese investment in
Ontario.) In addition, scholars such as Clark and Wngley (1993) and Mair ( 1997) are beginning to question the ability of firms to relocate production as easily and as quickly as was once presumed. While there can be no doubt that some core regions have experienced a catastrophic loss in manufacturing employrnent. the evidence suggests that the causes are more complex than the wholesale deindustrialization of the core.
2.1.2 Flexible Specializution: the local us beneficiury ojgiobal restructzrring
At the sarne time that some geographers were studying regions which were being driven towards decline and min, others were examining regions within core econornies which seemed to
This was even suggested by Froebel. Heinrichs and Krege in 1980.
9 In fact, recent news coverage bas reported that areas such as the U.S. Midwest ("Mid- western Thundei' 1994, Prowse 1995). southwestern Ontario (Little 1994) and the Midlands of England (Cheeseright 1995) have al1 been leading regions of manufacturing employment growth in their respective nations. The articles attribute the success of these regions to a boom in export sales (due in large part to currency devaluations) as well as to more efficient and productive firms. Interestingly, in al1 cases the motor vehicle industry has been identified as the leading sector in the recovery. be experiencing incredible rates of growth based on manufacturing. In fact. the very existence of these regions seemed to cast doubt on the claims of deindustrialization theory that the
restnicturing of global production wouid necessarily lead to the decline of core regions.
Throughout the 1980s. scholars noted that many regions experiencing hi& growth exhibited high
levels of product specialization and non-Fordist production methods - rspecially the use of non- standardized production machinery and flexible organizational structures. Thus. in 1984 Piore and Sabel declared the emergence of a Second Indusaial Divide. which marked the eclipse of outdated mass production by a newly-forming regime of flexible specialization. with important consequences for regional economic development.
According to Piore and Sabel:
Flexible specialization is a strategy of permanent innovation: accommodation to ceaseless change. rather than an effort to control it. This strategy is based on flexible - multi-use - equipment: skilled workers: and the creation. through politics. of an industrial cornmunity that restncts the foms of competition to those favoring innovation. For these reasons. the spread of flexible specialization arnounts to a revival of crafi foms of production that were emarginated at the fint industrial divide. (p. 17)
It is important to note that Piore and Sabel were cautious in their claims that flexible
specialization would. in fact. replace mas production as the predominant organization of capital.
Nevertheless, this did not deter many geographers and other social scientists from wholeheartedl y
embracing the advent of flexible specialization and making the most extraordinary claims,
including "'theend of organized capitalism" (Lash and Urry 1987) and "the new industrial
revolution" (Florida 199 1). The transformation to a flexibly-specialized economy. it is argued, represents a complete reorganization of capitalist production - kom the shop floor to the global econorny.
Perhaps the most important consequence of the advent of flexible specialization (at least theoretically) is the resurgence of the region as a unit of capitalist production (Sabel 1989). With
increasing globalization and the decreasing importance of the nation-state. it is argued. flexible speciaiization allows regions to compete by specializing in production for global market niches.
Within such regions. individual finns concentrate on particular pans of the production process. thus creating a dynamic enclave of smali. specialized firrns competing and cooperating through a
myriad of flexible network arrangements. The end result. it is argued. is a future where
industrial districts will become the main spatial unit of capitalist production.
According to Sabel:
Perhaps the most dramatic response to the continuing instability of internationai markets has been the formation or revitalisation of regional economies that strongly resemble the nineteenth-century centres of flexible specialisation. These districts escape minous price cornpetition with low-wage mass producers by using flexible machines and skilled workers to rnake semi-custom goods that cornrnand an affordable premium in the market ...the new industrial districts constantly renew their products and production methods. (1989.22)
These characterizations, and others (Brusco 1982. Cooke and Pires 1984. Rosenfeld 1 99 1,
Trigilia 1992), of iz~dustrialdistricts enable us to identify the prerequisite components of the
model. First, industrial districts revolve around specialiïution. The region specializes in a
product or range of products. Each fim in the region specializes in the production of a specific
component or process needed in the chain of production. Second. production within the
industrial district is invariabiy characterized asflexible. Short production runs, fiequent product 27 changes and dense subcontracting relationships are al1 pillars of the industnal district. Third. cornpetition in the industnal district is not centred on cost, but on quaMy. Alongside this assurnption is the implication that amis-length market transactions between firms are shunned in favour of more coliabora~iveforms of production. Finally. the industrial district is driven by constant innovation. Success is highly dependent upon the continuous introduction of new production techniques and frequent product improvements.
Flexible specialization. then. leads to quite different conclusions about the ability of regions to control their economic development. Cases such as Emilia-Romagna Silicon Valley and Baden-Württemberg (Bapasco 1981. Bmsco 1982. 1986. Green 1983. Piore and Sabel
1984. Cooke and Pires 1984. Saxenian 1985a. 1985b. 1990. 1994. Sabel. et al. 1987. Capecchi
1989, Castells 1989. Esser and Hirsch 1989. Hemgel 1 989. Cooke and Morgan 1990. 199 1.
Flonda and Kemey 1990. Rosenfeld 199 1. Amin 199 1. Gertler 199 1. Carnagni 1992. Harrison
1994). are held up as examples which illustrate what regions can achieve if they possess the nght mix of ingredients to nurture the necessary relationships among firms. Rrgional institutions. we are told. take on a crucial fùnction in regulating the cornpetitive environment in industnal districts. (See Bmsco 1982, Cooke and Morgan 1990. Saxenian 1990. Trigilia 1992.) Such instihitions as producer associations. universities, technology centres and marketing co- operatives can make or break a region's fortunes. Thus, flexible specialization bears a hopeful message for communities - the key to success is within the grasp of regional policy-makers. In short, cornmunities should not fear increased globalization. but should capitalize on it. Global restmcturing and trade Iiberalization offer communities the opportunity to take advantage of local strengths and offer hi&-quality products for sale on the global market. As with the deindustrialization hypothesis. the flexible specialization constmct mns into trouble when confionted with empirical reality. Above all. the appellation of industrial district has been applied to so many diverse regions as to make the concept meaningless. Geofraphers have studied industrial districts ranging from a few city blocks to large. somewhat vague areas such as Southem California (Scott 199 1 ) and everything in between. Perhaps it is just such obfuscation which has led Gertier ( 1992) to ask:
.. .how do we recognize a true "industrial district" or .*temtonal industrial cornplex" when we see one? How big or small. in tems of areal extent. can these be? What proportion of transactions involving producers within such districts need be wholly contained within the same area? And what kinds of social relations between producers in the area in question qualifL as being representative of the unique behaviour believed to oke place within such districts? (p. 263)
Aside from problems of spatial scale. scholars have ofien considered areas to be industrial districts which exhibit quite different forms of social and economic organization. Even three of the "canonicai" industrial districts (Emilia-Romagna Silicon Valley and Baden-Wiimemberg) contain highly differentiated labour market structures. fi rm organization and government regulation. (See DiGiovanna 1996.) In addition. one has to consider how "local" such districts are. By this 1 mean that the forms of organization and cooperation which charactenze the industrial district are often encouraged and supported by national institutions and poli~y.'~
Finally, there is prolific evidence to suggest that the advent of flexible production has been
1O Consider. for example, the role of national technology and training policy in the support of inter-firm product and process innovation in Baden-Württernberg in Germany (Cooke and Morgan 1990). somewhat overstated and that. despite intensive restructuring. vertically-integmted firms remain the key units of corporate production (Cooke and Pires 1984. Scott 199 1. Gertler 1992).
2.1.3 Global Resfruc~uringand Local Economic Development
Both deindustrialization and flexible specialization are theones that have been developed to help explain the changing inequalities across space observed over the past couple of decades.
They are both attempts to answer the question - why do some regions decline while others grow?
To the extent that these theories have attempted to expiain the predicament faced by many communities and offer solutions to those cornmunities they are to be commended. Yet the deindustrialization and flexible specialization arguments are ultimately insufficient for those who wish to understand the process of local economic change.
Markusen (1993) considers the policy implications of both the deindustrialization and flexible specialization arguments for regional economic development. She tinds that deindustrialization. with its emphasis on the NIDL. offers little hope to regions who wish to alter their economic Futures. In fact. aside from decimating local labour standards and business regulations. regions can only improve their economic situation through pushing for changes at die national. or even supranational. level. On the other hand. flexible specialization implies that regions stand or fa11 on the basis of successful industnal networks. Yet it is dubious that such networks can be created artificially and, as Markusen asserts. the nurnber of successful districts
"remains small, and their ongins and nature a matter of controversy" (p. 300).Ii
II The literature on new industrial spaces (Scott and Storper 1986. Scott 1988. Storper and Walker 1989) is equally unsatisfactory from the standpoint of the local. While this work recognizes local variation, it places prime importance on the preferences of emerging technology industries, particularly in their ability to shape a region to their own needs. Such observations are certainly important in explaining the geography of high-tech production. but are ultirnately of Part of the dissatisfaction that Markusen feels stems. 1 argue. fiom the persistent tendency to view globalization as fact (or thing) rather than process. A diaiectical view of globalization
(Harvey 1996). as both creating and being created by its interaction with local actors and processes allows an alternative view. In other words. globalization is not a state of being which defines the experience of the local. Rather. it is a process which is constantly rnediated at al1 spatial scales. including the local. As Harvey States:
There is a strong predilection these days to regard the future of urbanization as already determined by the powers of globalization and of market competition. Urban possibilities are limited to mere cornpetitive jockeying of individual cities for position within a global urban system. There seems then to be no place within the urbanization process from which to launch any kind of militant particularism capable of grounding the drive for systernic transformations.... The ideological effect of this discursive shifi has been extraordinarily disempowering with respect to al1 foms of local. urban and even national political action. ( 1996.420)
The acceptance of globalization as fact has led to the assumption that the only recouse for the local is to compete within a system where the rules are set by capital. Any kind of initiatives viewed as "anti-capitalist" are doomed to failure. Once one takes a dialectical view of globalization - as a process continually mediated at al1 spatial scales - then the possibility for alternative visions of local action are allowed. Thus. communities and workers a-create" globalization as they in turn are "created" by it. (See also Herod 1997)
The evidence presented in response to both the deindusuialization and flexible specialization arguments suggests that the actual expenence of regions and communities is much little use to older industrial cornmunities which. as the story goes. are hobbled by their history of Fordist production and union traditions. In any event. development through growth in hi&-tech rnanufacturing is not likely a generalizable solution, because there are only so many emerging industries to go around. 3 1 more complex than these theories allow. Although some communities have lost large numben of manufacturing jobs. others (sometimes their neighbours) have maintained hi@ levels of ernployment. Similarly. although some regions seem successfûl due to flexibly-speciaiized production. other successful regions maintain a high level of diversification. In short. both theones write traditional industrial communities off the map - either through inevitable disinvestment. or through transformation to specialized. craft-based production. The problem is. the majority of industrial communities stubbornly refuse to be written off. For every doomed
Youngstown" or burgeoning Silicon Valley. there are countless comrnunities whose continuing existence. though at times insecure. indicates the need for an alternative explanation. 1 suggest that the inadequacy of deindustrialization and flexible specialization as expianations of local economic change stems from their concentration on corporate strategy as the deciding factor in the geography of capitalist production and their view of globalization as an established fact rather than a mediated process. A fuller understanding of the nature of changing production organization cmonly emerge if we move beyond such narrow constraints and include other aspects of the capitalist system in our research. What is needed is an attempt to theorize capitalkt change at the local level. to view communities not just as sites of capital investment. but as places where sets of social relations exist and change over time. influencing its relationship with the wider economy.
" Lynd (1982, 1987) documents how U.S. Steel destroyed their abandoned mills in Youngstown, rather than sel1 them to an interested group of workers and cornmunity organizations. The residents failed to persuade a court that the Company should be forced to seil the facilities to them. As a result, the economy of Youngstown was decimated. In advocating the study of local economic change. 1 am in no way dismissing the importance of national policies and institutions. Specific places. unique as their expenence might be. still exist within a larger context which ultimately will have a strong influence on their economic tnjectory. Research on comrnunities does not necessarily entai1 an acceptance of the arguments of those proponents of flexible specialization who claim that each region's fate will be determined within its boundaries. Nevertheless. national and global events are experïenced at the local level through a filter of locally-constmcted institutions. social relations and values which result in some degree of geographic variability. The desire to understand the process of local economic change should not be equated with ~localism". In the next section. 1 will discuss a hework which allows us to examine the local with an eye to its intercomectedness with higher spatial scales.
2.2 A Theoretical Framework for Local Economic Transformation
Both of the theoretical explanations outlined above. and a host of others. recognize that the capitalist world-economy is undergoing profound changes in the geography of production.
Implicit in these models is the acceptance of a periodization of capitalist accumulation. In other words. proponents of such theories believe that it is possible to identi& distinct eras of accmulation based upon different primary foms of production organization. technology or social relations. For this study. regulation theory. with its emphasis on the importance of social institutions and geographic specificity. constitutes the theoretical foundation for my andysis of local change. 33
2.2. I The Replation Approuch
Regulation theory is a forrn of analysis which examines crisis and change in capitalist societies. As a body of theory. it originally developed as an attempt to explain the crisis which began in the 1970s in which the industrialized countries were experiencing declining rates of productivity and a number of economic shocks (Le.. higher oil prices. the abrogation of Bretton
Woods. stagflation). Unlike in previous crises since the Second World War. the normal policy tools which govemments used seemed only to exacerbate the situation. In order to address this problem. the original French regulationists began to examine the history of change under capitalism. (Aglietta 1979: Boyer and Mistral 1983: Lipietz 1985. 1987a l987b: and Boyer
1989. 1990) Their efforts caused them to reject the neoclassical view that crisis was an aberration under capitalisrn. Instead. combining aspects of Marxist and Schumpetenan analysis. they concluded that crises occurred constantly under capitalism as a normal outcome of capital accumulation. Further. it is the crises themselves. and their subsequent resolution. which provide for dynarnic change and accumulation under capitalism. Thus was created a new language which included such tenns as regime of accumulution mode lefsociul replation and insrirurional forms.
Bnefly. regimes of accumulation mark stable periods of capitalist growth. Such regimes are based on a number of institutional forms which are the resultant compromises between societal groups with normally conflicting interests (i.e.. capital and labour or citizen and state).
The mode of social regulation is the set of institutionalized compromises which ensures the proper functioning of the economic system and its reproduction over time. Of course. a system which is based on soch a delicate balance of (usually) decentralized compromises is always prone 34 to crisis. Those crises which cm be resolved within the existent mode of social regulation are known as cyclical crises and generally correspond with the normal recessions of the business cycle. However. the regime of accumulation will eventually reach a point where its internai contradictions become insurmountable under the current mode of social regulation. Such crises are known as srrucrural crises and result in the destabilisation of the regime of accumulation.
One strength of regulation theory is its focus on the specificity of capitalist regulation.
First it was noted that regimes of accumulation are historicaliy specifc. In other words. although each regirne has a stable mode of social regulation and ends in a structural crisis. no two regimes of accumulation will be qui te the same. Furthemore. structural crises of different periods (Le.. the "Great Depression" v. the post-1973 crisis of Fordism). although they may appear sirnilar. have very different causes and must be resolved in different ways. (Boyer 1990)
Second. capitalist regulation is also pluce specific. As regulationists have noted (Boyer 1989.
Lipietz 1987). the Fordist regime of accumulation functioned quite differently in each industrialized country (a fact which has led Boyer to question whether Germany. Japan or
Sweden ever experienced Fordism.) Although most of this work has focussed on Europe. Jenson
(1 989) articulates quite well some of the differences in Fordist regulation between Canada and the United States. This histonc and place-based specificity stronply suggests that regulation theory cm also be applied at a local level.
Since each regime of accumulation holds within it the seeds of its own destruction. another important descriptive strength of the regulation approach is the concept of the institutional form. As Boyer defines it: The concept of structural (or institutional) foms is intended to shed light on the origins of the patterns guiding reproduction of economic formations over given historical periods. It also extends the approach discussed above in regard to accumulation to the fundarnental social relations themselves. whose invariant aspects can only be reproduced through continual alterations of their foms and precise articulations. which are particularly evident over long periods of time. I will thus define institutional fornis (or structural forms) as any kind of codification of one or several fundarnental social relations. ( 1990. 37)
Thus institutional foms ernbody the compromises needed in the formation and maintenance of a stable regime of accumulation. Yet these foms are not static. They change over tirne and vary over space. In the long term. the very functioning of the regime of accumulr!ion highlights the contradictions sewn into these institutional forms and forces them into crisis and eventual re- articulation. In Boyer's analysis. institutional forms are codified at the level of the nation state.
Nevertheless. it is not diffïcult to imagine more localized institutional forms which define the character of a given region. In fact. 1 would argue that it is the interaction of institutional foms operating at al1 levels - local. national and global - which helps to explain why some regions achieve a favourable position within the hegemonic national econornic system and others do not.
Although many pographen have used regulation terrninology liberally in their work. very few have actually employed the regulation framework to examine change at the local level.
Harvey ( 1988. 19890) has been a proponent of regulation theory. yet his analysis is limited to the global and national level. When Harvey does discuss localities. it is usually in the context of how they are reacting to the cnsis of Fordism or the advent of flexible accumulation.
...precisely because spatial barriers have been so reduced. spatial cornpetition has also become much more acute in the struggle to survive... Though the patterns. powers. and politics Vary greatly. al1 urban govemrnents throughout the advanced capitalist countries have been forced these last few years to corne up with some kind of entrepreneurial response to the problems posed by flexible accumulation under conditions of generalized over-accumulation. ( 1988. 126-27)
Thus. radier than considenng regulation within a locality. Harvey is content to rely on two different theoretical frameworks - one for the global and another for the local. This is
particularly puuling when Harvey's theorization of '-stmctured coherence" is so close to
capturing the institutional compromises articulated in regulation theory. Harvey ( 1989a) states
that relations between capital and labour over time will produce a sirucrured coherence which is composed of a particular technological mix and a dominant set of social relations.
Together these define models of consumption as well as of the labor process. The coherence embraces the standard of living. the qualities and style of life. work satisfactions (or lack thereof). social hierarchies ...and a whole set of sociological and psychological attitudes toward working. living. enjoying, rntertaining and the like. (p. 140)
In effect. the stnictured coherence of a community arnounts to the compromises among classes
which shape its production and consumption processes - clearly reminiscent of Boyer's
institutional fonns.
Peck and Ticke11( 1992) point out that most work with regulation theory has tended to
ignore the mode of social regulation (MSR) in favour of the production and accumulation
systems." Peck and Tickell argue that when a region's MSR is compatible with a national or
13 This is especially true of flexible specialization theorists - who have implicitly adopted the framework and language of the regulation school. The result has been that those who disagree with flexible specialization often reject regulation theory as well (Page and Walker 199 1, Walker 1 995). 37
global accumulation system. then the region will prosper. On the other hand. regions whose
MSRs are contrary to the newly constituted national and global regirnes of accumulation will find
thernselves in decline. Peck and Tickell-s characterization of South East England demonstrates the dimculty in analysing such relationships. Although the authors present the South East as a
region suited to benefit from Thatcherist policies. there is little analysis of the specific historical. social. political or economic compromises which have produced its unique structured coherence.
Of interest. however. is the implicit argument that regions can serve as innovation sites for new
institutional forrns or even new modes of social regulation. Yet much of the literature on successful regions. particularly on industrial districts. has only considered innovation in production. thus considering the locality as rnerely a product of invested capital. (See. for exarnple. Storper and Walker 1989.) It is clear that much more research is needed in the study and articulation of local modes of regulation.
One useful example is the work of Goodwin. Duncan and Halford ( 1993) who examine the role of the local state in restructuring in three British communities. These geographers clearly show that the institutional compromises under Fordism differed in each community and. subsequently. that the reformulation of these structures dunng the post-Fordist cnsis has differed as well. In their examination of Bracknell. Camden and Sheffield the authors show how uneven development is reinforced by the differentiated practices of the local state. Although each case is marked by an abandonment of governrnent services. variations in local politics have resulted in labour having a greater Say in some localities than in others. In my own previous research
(DiGiovanna 1996). 1 have found that the regulation framework can be useful in articulating the reasons why place-bound agents in successful regions can often have quite different experiences. 38
In a review of work done on industrial districts. I used the concept of institutional compromises to illustrate that the local underpimings of capital accumulation ofien rested on quite distinct relations arnong capital. labour and the state. Such analysis can also be used to help explain regions which once were successfûl cornpetiton on the global scene. but now seem to be in increasingly precarious positions.
Exarnining the local MSR can also help to undestand and clai@ the strategies of particular groups within a locality. In comparing engineering workers in two different regions of
Britain, Martin. Sunley and Wills ( 1994) have argued that local '-resources" available to unions influence local union strategy.
These individuals will have had particular working expenences which continue to shape their attitudes and disposition towards union activity. These experiences produce a regional -residue0or 'repertoire' which continues to be retlected in the present. (p. 467)
Thus. the local MSR not only influences (and is influenced by) the relationship of the locality to higher levels of spatial organization. but it also influences (and is influenced by) the actions of groups within the locality.
2.7 3 Local Munifestu~iunsof the Genrralized Crisis
Since local modes of social regulation cm Vary over time as weil as space. it is necessary to consider explicitly the periodization used in the following ernpirical analysis. It has generally been acknowledged that the industrialized nations of the world (inciuding Canada) began to experience the structural crisis which ended the Fordist regime of accumulation sometime around the early 1970s. Although flexible specialization has been heralded by some as the successor to Fordism. there is little agreement as to whether Canada and the other industrialized nations have yet to achieve a new stable regirne of accumulation.
... it is premature to talk about a post-Fordist regime of accumulation because. while some signifiant experiments are under way in the production sphere. a coherent post-Keynesian mode of social regulation ha yet to stabilize ...The institutional and political conditions for a renewed period of sustained economic gowth remain elusive. (Peck and Tickell 1 994.307)
Furthermore. although the Fordist crisis began in the early 1970s. the dismantling of Fordist institutional forms is not complete. In fact. one could argue that many regions within the advanced industrial democracies have witnessed a considerable Iag in expenencing the brunt of the Fordist crisis. (See Wolk and Gertler 1996.)
Such trends as declining profitability. slow productivity growth. displacement and adjustment due to trade iiberalization and the dismernberment of the wei fare state experienced since the 1970s cm be considered part of the generdized crisis of Fordism. To some extent. al1 people in al1 commucities have felt the bmnt of decreased purchasing power. cuts in government services and increased budget deticits. Nevertheless. these problems are often at some distance from a particular community and. in and of thernselves. do not force a Iocality to abandon its previously established institutional forms. In other words. as long as the cisis remains a generalized crisis. the institutional compromises present at the local level may not have to be restmctured. The prohlem arises when a community faces its own purticuiariied crisis - a localized version of the crisis of Fordism. For some communities. such as Detroit or Pittsburgh. this local manifestation might have arrived early in the post-Fordist period. For others. the axe bas yet to fall. In the cases of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. the particularized crisis of 40
Fordism did not arrive until the early 1990s. This is not to assert that there were no problems
earlier; throughout the 1980s. wages stagnated and jobs declined in both communities.
Nevertheless, it was not until the particular shocks of the early 1990s that the communities were
forced to reexamine fully the way things had been done.
Oniy recently. then - begiming in 1992 - has the process of rebuilding local institutional
forms in the two case study cities been undenvay. Unions in both comrnunities. through their activities, are actively engaged in this process. Of course. the slate has not been wiped clean.
Vestiges of the old institutionai forms remain and one might expect that the very activities in
which unions are now engaged would be influenced by their expenence under these old
compromise^.'^ Thus. this is very much the study of a work in progress - a process still
unfolding. At this time. it is too early to Say with any certainty what the new institutional forms
will entail. Nevertheless. sorne of them have already been formalized in the communities being
studied. This empirical analysis will examine how some of the institutional foms in Sault Ste.
Marie and St. Catharines inherited from an earlier period of relative stability are influencing the
activities of unions as they seek to assert their influence in reconstituting these forrns in the
contemporary penod.
2.2.4 A Frameworkjor Eramining Regdarion ut the Locul Level
As stated above. the concept of institutional foms allows for the investigation of specific
sets of compromises which are fomulated. at least in part. at the local level. For the purposes of this research. 1 have concentrated on two institutional forms: the wage labour nexus and the role
14 Moreover, it is unlikely that the transformation to any new set of institutionalized compromises could be completed in such a short period of time. 41 of the state. particularly as it relates to labour. On a national scale the wage labour nexus (WLN) describes the compromises that have resulted in a codified set of national labour relations. Such factors as how wages are detemined. the strength of unions. labour market structure and control over work are al1 important aspects of this compromise. However. despite the avowedly national focus in the regulation literature. it is important to note that the wage labour nexus can take varïed forms across different regions - consider the difference in ihis regard between the north central Midwest and the South in the United States. Furthemore. even cornmunities within a larger region can have differing WLNs. Such differences can be based upon distinct levels of unionization. different industrial sectors. variations in local govement intervention and cultural/ethnic divenity. Chinitz ( 196 1 ). for example. points to many such distinctions when cornparhg New York and Pittsburgh. Of particular concem are issues such as the fiequency of strike action. the local character of conflict resolution and inter-union soliduty.
The role of the stute is highly intercomected with other institutional forms. In fact.
Boyer defines the state as '-a set of institutionalized compromises." (1 990.4 1 ) Of central importance is the relationship between local govemment and the labour movement - has local govemment been supportive or hostile to the labour agenda and how has this changed over time?
Whether labour unions have the ability to affect local government policy in a meaningful way is strongly influenced by the nature of the relationship between the local government and higher levels of govemment. If. as Clark and Dear (1984) argue. the local state is merely an extension of higher tiers of government. we might expect to see little variation across space in labour's influence on local policy. On the other hand. if local govemments are to some extent independent entities, as Esser and Hirsch ( 1989) assert. the possibility exists for the local government to be at odds with higher levels of govemment. As a result. the possibility for greater variation in the local governrnent-labour relationship exists. Of coune. regulation theory allows us to acknowledge that both characterizations have some validiry and that the tension local government must stmddle between local stakeholden and higher levels of govemment represents an intemal contradiction which must be addressed through institutional compromises.
In choosing two cities both situated within the same broader regulatory framework (Le.. within the same federal and provincial jurisdictions). 1 hope to show how the wage labour nexus and the role of the local state has differed in each community due to the specificity of the local stmctured coherence. In other words. I argue that the distinctive ways in which stakeholders in these localities have attempted to restructure local institutions (or create new ones) to promote capital accumulation should result in detectable variations in local politics. By documenting the reformulation of these institutional compromises during the crisis of Fordism. 1 expect to be able to illustrate that regulation theory is a suitable tool with which to examine the locality.
7 2.5 Erp fuining Local Diferences
As will be demonstrated. the evidence suggests that the actions of workers in St.
Catharines have been geared towards building alliances within the community. challenging government policy and fighting the broader. national corporate agenda - particularly with respect to free trade and cuts to public services. On the other hand. unions in Sault Ste. Marie have been much more involved in economic development planning as well as in workplace restructuring.
Explaining why unions in these two communities seem to be following different trajectories is no simple task. A good place to start is to examine how unions decide which actions are to be taken. Figure 2.1 is a schematic view of union decision-making. In this somcwhat simplified model. any action taken is influenced by three main factors. Fust, any proposed action must Iie
within a range of actions which is open to the union at a given point in time and space. Unions
Figure 2.1
Schematic View of Decision-Making in a Local Union
National and Existing Regional Possibilities Institutions for Action
. -
Geographic Perception of and Historic Action Cris is - .b - Specificity Taken (Institutional Foms) or Situation
4 - -
Dernocratic ldeological Decision- Considerations Making
cannot join organizations which do not exist, nor are they as likely to utilize tactics which are forbidden them under the law, such as a wildcat strike. Every time a local union makes a decision it is confionted with a range of actions fiom which to choose. This range, in turn, is strongly 44 influenced by time and place specific experience. Thus. unions in different communities (or at different times within a single community) might face somewhat different ranges of action from which to choose - even when confionted with similar challenges.
Next. the fact that unions are democratic organizations is important to the decision- making process. Just as the CE0 must report to the shareholders of a corporation. so must a union president face his or her membership and justify any decisions made. Certainly. union executives have a great deal of freedom in determinine the day to day activities of the union. The final Say. however. rests with the members. Thus. a union's actions are further constrained by what the membership will allow. For example. a union cannot strike without a successful strike vote. In addition . a president who makes public statements with which a rnajonty of her or his members disagree might end up being removed from office. (This. in fact. was the case with
Denis Abemot. who was removed as president of USWA Local 225 1 at Algoma Steel after he spoke publicly in favour of frer trade.)
Of course. any action a union is likely to take will be strongly influenced by how the situation is perceived by those who are charged with rnaking the decision. In order to respond appropriately to a crisis. a union must first have some understanding of its causes and implications. Within a broad range of possible interpretations. it is not improbable that two individuals who share sirnilar ideologies. material conditions and histoncal backgrounds would have somewhat more similar interpretations than others with differing backgrounds and ideologies. In this way, it can be said that perceptions. in tum. are influenced by an individual's
(or group's) ideology and experience. 45
In the case of a union. ideology is often determined and prctnulgated at the national (or international) level. Although an ideology. which represents a complex set of beliefs and values. cannot be reduced to a set of policies. such policies are often very good. concrete indications of an underlying ideology. While it is possible for groups with widely different ideologies to agree on a given policy for diflerent reasons. in a union context most policies are created with explanatory prearnbles. clearly outlining--. the reasons the given policy is consistent with union ideology. Thus. it was clear that CUPE's cnticism of the NDP provincial govemment (for its perceived attack on fiee collective bargaining) sternmed from quite different beliefs than that of the bankers on Bay Street (for its perceived neglect in addressing the budget deficit). Most of the larger unions hold conferences where the union's stand on particular issues is debated and discussed. The resultant accepted policies are then passed down to the local level through educational events and informational materials. This is not to claim that unions dways work in a top-down marner. In fact policy is often developed by representatives from the locals. who can also bnng their particular concerns to the floor of national meetings for discussion and action. Of course. locals will not always act in strict accordance with the agreed-upon national union policy''. and some locals have a stronger tradition of innovation and leadership than othen.
Nevertheless, unions pride themselves on maintaining and strengthening solidarity. and since locals rely on their national (or international} office for advice and support. significant deviations from basic union ideology are fairly rare. Although ideology might become standardized within a union, there is still a wide range of policy and ideological variation between unions. Of course,
l5 For example, Yates ( 1993) documents how CAW Local 222 in Oshawa has consistently opposed the union3 stance on teamwork. ideology is constmcted and modified through lived experience. As a result ideology is also intimately tied with the specificities of time and place/'
Finally. and perhaps most importantly. the geographical and historical specificities in which a local union is situated influence the existing range of actions open to it as well as how a given situation or crisis is perceived and how ideolog is constructed and modified. It is here that regulation theory may prove helpful. The unique geographic and histonc specificities of each community can be interpreted as distinct local modes of social regulation. Thus. investigating such specificities at the local level provides the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of why local unions in St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie are pursuing somewhat different strategies in the wake of similar economic crises. and an analytical framework informed by regulation theory is appropriate.
2.3 Contributions of the Study to the Advancement of Geographic Debates
Through the above discussions of geographic theory. 1 have attempted to demonstrate the need for further studies of the role of labour in shaping local economic trajectories. First and foremost. 1 have argued that there are weaknesses in geographic theories which have attempted to explain the changing geography of capitalism as a function of production organization determined solely by fims. Empirical evidence indicates that not only have these theones had
16 Of course. certain times and places prove to be more critical than others in defining union or working-class ideology. E.P. Thompson ( 1 963) and Fantasia ( 1988) demonstrate how particular instances of solidaristic action can precipitously change long-held beliefs (or at least bring to the fore beliefk which have been buried in the sub-conscious.) Nevertheless. ideology is also created and maintained through the lived expenence of workers in their daily routines. work conditions, rituals and community structures. 47 diffculty in explaining the wide variety of production organization which exists. but that they dso fail to take account of the actual expenence of most industrial communities in the contemporary period. While these theories provide insight into the pressures created by shifting production organization. they are inadequate. in and of themselves. in explaining the experience of particular localities. What is needed. therefore. is Merresearch on communities and the ways in which global pressures are mediated at the local level. By investigating the experience of two industrial cornmunities confionted with their own particular manifestation of the crisis of
Fordism. I hope to provide more evidence with which to build an accurate picture of local economic change. In addition. by using regulation theory as a starting analytical frarnework for my research. this study hopes to provide valuable insight into the usefulness of regulation theory as a tool for studying change at the local level. at the same tirne recognizing the as yet underdeveloped nature of a local regulation theory.
Second. 1 have demonstrated that much of current geographic research into local economic restnicturing is preoccupied with documenting new models of firm organization. This bias, 1 argue. is based in part on the aforementioned belief in the centrality of production organization in determining local economic reality. As 1 have argued. research on firm strategies, though crucial in understanding the objectives of the capitalist class. is not suffrcient to explain the complexity of observed reality. In order to get a fuller picture. then. we need to examine the other significant components of capitalist society. By focussing on the activities of local labour unions, 1 hope to provide some insight into the ways in which labour is developing its own strategies in the wake of the cnsis of Fordism. It is important to note here that there is also a normative motive for this line of research. 1 believe that focussing solely on firms reinforces the 48 view that what is good for business is good for society. Articulating the strategies of unions and other groups in society. 1 hope. will aid in the creation of alternative strategies of development.
It is my hope that. at the very least this research will prove to be one of many emerging projects dedicated to the investigation and analysis of the local character of economic change. 1 am encouraged by recent work which is beginning to focus on labour not merely as an input into the production process or as a victim of corporate strategy. but as an intepl part of capitalist society with the tools and the vision to play an active role in restructuring the economy. If this research helps to shed light on that process. then 1 believe it is an important contribution to the field. Chapter 3 Background and Methodology
3.0 Introduction
Before presenting the findings of rny research. it is necessary to provide some background to the study as well as discuss sorne key components of the methodology used. In general terms. one could characterize my research methods as qualitative. My main goal was to examine the research questions through the experiences and interpretations of the people being studied. narnely the union mernbers of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. Where possible. 1 have endeavoured to descnbe events and processes with the thoughts and words of the worken themselves. whether in speech or in writing. As a result. I have oRen involved the subjects of study in the implementation of the research. including survey preparation. face-to-face interviews and as sounding boards for my own thoughts and theorisations. While this type of research has some limitations. it also has some advantages. After discussing my particular research methods and acknowledging some of the limitations present in the study. 1 will provide some background information on the comrnunities chosen for study.
3.1 Research Methods Utilized
Qualitative geography is based upon a range of theoretical and methodological practices which have been developed since the 1970s. At the heart of qualitative geography is the belief that general theories and descriptions are oHen inadequate to capture the observed reaiity of specific locations. In its ideal form. qualitative geography is an attempt to inform general theories by elucidating the experience of lived reality. As Eyles (1 988) explains: Suggestions to study the specific are not to demand a return to the idiography of regional geography. They put forward the desire for specific descriptions from theoreticaily informed positions. a strategy diRering fiom the grand theorizing of the conceptualizers. the wide-mnging generalizations of the quantifien. and the abstract descriptions of the idiographers. An emphasis on methodologicai contributions thus focuses on the need for theoiy-infotmed descriptions of specific places to enhance our understandings and explanations of the world. (p. 3)
The need for specific case studies in economic geography is echoed by scholars like Gertler
( 1992) and Markusen ( 1993).
Furthemore. qualitative geography is attractive because of its flexibility in utilizing several different types of research methods. In addition to interviewingl' and observation. one can also add to the depth of description by using statistical data and structured surveys. In the course of this research. I have used ail of these research methods. viewing them as complementary. As my research hopefûlly reflects. the use of a variety of complementary
research methods can only strengthen our understanding of the lived expenence of the people we
study .
In preparation for my field research. 1 constructed a statistical profile of the chosen communities. Statistics on population and labour force charactenstics help to describe the general situation with which these communities are confronted, especially when compared with
average figures at the provincial and federal levels. Nevertheless. I do not rely on such figures to divulge any causai relationships. Instead. the value of these statistics lies in their use as
descriptive aids, as well as their usefùlness for general cornparison between communities.
17 See Schoenberger (1 991) for an insightful analysis on the use of the interview as a research method in economic geography. Ln addition to statistics collected by various governrnent agencies. 1 conducted a structured survey of local union leaders using a four-page questionnaire. (See Appendix A.) The survey was initially intended as a means of identieing potential interview subjects. but it has also served as another source of descriptive information to corroborate the findings of oher methods.
The survey was prepared with the involvement of the labour councils in both cities. which also ageed to distribute the survey to their affiliated locals. The structure of the survey was such that respondents were asked to choose from answers provided. although there were some opportunities for write-ins as well as four open-ended questions.
Given that my research interests encompass the changing nature of local labour relations in the wake of the Fordist crisis. it was necessary to do some analysis of archivai material. since it is impossible to undentand cumnt events fully without an examination of their historical roots. On the other hand. a true historical study of the chosen communities. whiie desirable. is beyond the means and scope of this project. As a result. 1 have chosen to document some specific exarnples of the role of unions in each locai rconomy over the past 75 years in an attempt to trace developments from the end of the Fordist period through the present. The historical sources utilized include records and publications of local labour organizations. local govemment publications and local newspapers. Together. these sources help to give an adequate
(though by no means comprehensive) historical account of the actions and expenences of local unions.
Through the course of my research. I conducted extensive interviews with 23 individuals in key positions within the communities (Appendix B). Most of the interview subjects were leaders of local labour unions. In addition. 1 interviewed some representatives from local 52 govemment agencies and community groups. The interviews were al1 based around a simi!ar set of questions (Appendix C). but allowed me the flexibility to follow-up on interesting leads as they were disclosed through the course of the conversation. The interviews range in length from
30 minutes to over two hours. Al1 interviews were conducted at the subject's choice of location and al1 subjects gave permission for the interview to be recorded on audio tape. In addition to these planned interviews. 1 also engaged rnany individuals in conversation at conferences. seminars and meetings which I was invited to attend.
The goal of using multiple research rnethods was to try to paint as full a picture as possible of the expenence of workers in Sault Sie. Marie and St. Catharines. On the whole. my expenence was that the findings of each rnethod either corroborated or clarified the findings of the others. Nonetheless. there are some limitations which. by nature or circumstance. have been thst upon my research.
3.2 Limitations of the Researcb Conducted
There are certain inescapable limitations which arose from the methodology described above. Most importantly. due to my decision to focus on local labour unions. 1 made a conscious choice not to interview representatives of firms. In establishing my credibility and in gaining the confidence and tmst of the union representatives whom 1 intewiewed. it was important to assure hem that 1 would not be speaking with their employers. My expenence within the labour movemenr has taught me that union leaders are much more forthcoming with individuals who are not perceived as being involved with the Company. While this strategy prevented me from being able to get a full business perspective. 1 do believe that it provided for niore open and frank 53 responses from the union officiais. Nevertheless. 1 have presented the publicly expressed views of local business leaders and their organizations through statements to local media and other publications.
While my decision to take a comparative approach meant that rny meagre resources were stretched even fûrther. 1 believe that sutricient time was spent in each community to give me a sense of the character of the places which. though subtle. aids in understanding how local residents perceive and interpret events in their midst. In addition. 1 was able to keep in regular contact with local labour leaders through the telephone over a penod of one year.
Another important limitation on the study arises from the srnaIl population sizes and. thus. the small sample sizes. There are only so many local unions from which to choose interview subjects. This issue was further complicated by the disparate size and influence of various unions. For example. representatives of the Steelworkers in Sault Ste. Marie exert much more influence over the activities of the local labour council than do representatives from a small
CUPE local in the sarne comrnunity. Yet. in both the interview and the survey. these individuals are accorded equal weight. Nevertheless. despite this complication. triangulation through a cornparison of survey. interview and archival data has mitigated these concems and helped to paint a more accurate picture of the labour movement in each community.
The limitations outlined above represent departures from ideal research conditions. Yet. it is rare that scholars are in a situation where their field research can be conducted under optimal conditions. In spite of these limitations. this research presents many intriguing possibilities and has contributed to setting an agenda for future research. 1 remto this theme in the final chapter of this thesis. in which I discuss the ways to build upon the research completed for this study. 54
3.3 Sau1tSte.MarieandSt.Catharines
The choice of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines provides significant insight into both
the impact of unions on their communities and the ways in which industnal structure influences
economic development. In many ways. Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are very similar.
Although St. Catharines (with a population of 13 1.200 in 1993) is bigger than Sault Ste. Marie
(at 84,000)'8.both cities are mid-sized industnal communities with extensive port facilities.
Both are located at important junctures on the Great Lakes - Sault Ste. Marie at the confluence of
Lakes Supenor and Huron and St. Catharines along the Welland Canal which connects Lake Erie
with Lake Ontario. (See Figure 3.1 .) In addition. both are border cities and important centres of
trade and commerce with the United States.
Tables 3.1 and 3 -2 detail the main components of labour force activity in each city. The
location quotients illustrate that borh Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are under-represented in
most categories other than manufacturing. In addition. the locational advantage both of these
cities possess in manufacturing has decreased over time. Such profiles are common for declining
industrial cities. (Note the increasing importance of govemment employment in Sault Ste.
Marie. This is due to the relocation of the Ontario Lottery Corporation to the Soo in the late
1980s.) In terms of wages Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are almost identical. Workers in
both communities have historically had higher wages than the average Ontario worker (Figure
3.2) - due in part to the prevalence of unions in both cities.
l8 Statistical information provided by the Niagara Region Development Corporation and the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation. Industrial statistics are from Scon '.Y Industrial Directory - Ontario and Statistics Canada
Table 3.1 Location Quotients for Labour Force Activity Sault Ste. Marie as Compared to Ontario and Canada 1971-q 991
1971 1981 1991 - I Labour Force Activity LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
I Ontario Canada Ontario . Canada Ontario Canada,
Construction 0.93 0.92 0.86 0.76 0.8 1 0.8 1 Transport/Cornm 0.98 0.84 0.84 0.75 0.9 1 0.84 Trade 0.95 0.96 0.95 0.94 0.98 0.98
1 Other 1 0.95 1 0.92 1 1-00 1 0.98 1 1.1 1 1 1.10 1
Table 3.2 Location Quotients for Labour Force Activity St. Catharines as Compared to Ontario and Canada 1971-1 991
1971 1981 1991 Labour Force Activity LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ Ontario Canada Ontario Canada Ontario Canada
Construction 1 .O0 0.98 1 .O0 0.88 1 .O9 1 .O9 TransportKomm 0.89 0.76 0.86 O. 76 0.82 0.76 Trade 1 .O2 1-03 1 .O3 1 .O2 1.O9 1 .O9 FlRE 0.69 0.77 0.82 0.9 1 0.72 0.82 Govemment 0.56 0.55 0.59 0.55 0.70 0.68 Other 1 .O4 1 .O1 1 .O5 I .O3 1 .O4 1 .O3 Figure 3.2
Comparative Average Wage Rates for Production Workers in St. Catharines, Algorna District and Ontario, 1965-1985
herege wege Rate (1988 Dollars) $20 f
Year
Another important similarity is the fact that although both cities have a wide variety of industrial enterprises. the employment structures of both Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are dominated by a single industry (Figures 3.3-3.4). In 1992. Sault Ste. Marie metal firms (SIC 33 and 34), which represented about 14% of establishments, employed over 7 1% of industrial workers. Similady, in St. Catha~ines'~,motor vehicle parts and assembly firms (SIC 37) cornpnsed only 5% of establishments, but employed over 57% of industrial workers. The ten largest firms in each of the community are given in Tables 3.3 and 3.4. Given the concentration on employment in single industries and the close proximip to the US market. the economic hralrh of both these comrnunities is tied strongly to the global competitiveness of the dominant sectors.
- -- - 19 Data for St. Catharines includes the adjoining community of Thoroid. Figure 3.3 Industrial Structure of Sault Ste. Marie by Establishments and Employment 1994
Establishments
Food 8 Beverage (13.51 %) Mechanical Produds (9.46%)
Metal Products (12.16%) Wood Prod uds (20.27%)
Paper Products (1 -35%) Non-Metallic Materials (1 7.57%)
Employrnent
Source: Scott's Industrial Diiedoty Figure 3.4 Industrial Structure of St. Catharines by Establishments and Employment 1994
Establishments
Non-Metallic Matenals (7.04%)
Employment
r Food & Beverage (3.21%)
Source: Scott3 Industrial Di~ctory Table 3.3 The Ten Largest industrial Employers in Sault Ste. Marie, 1994
1 Company Name Products Employees Union Steel (Rolled. Plate. United Stee1 workers of Algoma Steel Inc. Tubing. Pipe. 5000 Amenca. Locals 225 1. Structural) 3288.4509.5595 Communications, Energy St. Marys Paper Paper and Papenvorkers Union. Locals 47.67.69, 1 33 Lajarnbe Forest Forestry Products. Lumber. IWA Canada, Local 1000 Il Produc ts Veneer Lumber, Miilwork. Counter Soo Mill Buildall IWA Canada, Local 1O00 Il Tops, Cabinets Woodwork, Firewood. Soogoma Industries II Printing, Bags (Plastic) Communications Workers of America. Local 746 Southam Newspaper Newspapers (Suult Star). Graphic Communications Group Printing International Union, Local 436 United Steelworkers of Steel Tubing Arnerica. Locai 8748
Towland-Hewitson International Union of Asphalt Paving, Grave1 Operat ing Engineers. Construction Ltd. LocaI 793 Robinson 11 Asphalt Paving
Machining (CNC), Steel China Steel Ltd. Fabricating, Metal sStampings
Source: Scott S /nd~trialDirecfory, Ontario Table 3.1 The Ten Largest Industrial Employers in St. Catharineszo,1994
1 Company Nsme Products Employees Union 7Engines. Axles. Cylinders. General Motors of Canadian Auto Workers, Brake Assemblies. 7000 Canada Local t 99 II Automotive Parts TRW Canada Ltd. - Automotive Parts. Steering Thompsons Independent Union Mechanisms Products Division Automotive Parts, Frames, Canadian Auto Workers. Hayes-Dana Inc. II Stampings. Joints. Shafis Local 676 Communications. Energy Quno Corporation Newsprint. Lumber and Paperworkers Union. Local 84 Communications. Energy Noranda Forest Paper. Wallcoverings and Paperworkers Union. Recycled Papers Locals 290, 1 52 1 Canadian Auto Workers. ITT Automotive Brake Assemblies Il Local 199 Bazaar & Novelty Games. Printing II Company II Domtar Inc. Paper (Fine and Specialty) United Steelworkers of Ferranti-Packhard Transfomers America. Locals 5788. Transforrners Ltd. 748 1 United Steelworkers of Metal Fabricating. Boilers. Foster- Wheeler L td. America Locals 65 19. Nuclear Apparatus 6595
Source: Scott 's Industrial D irectoty Onfario
" Including Thorold 62
Indeed, another similarity the communities share in recent times is unemployment rates among
the highest in the province (see Figure 3.5).
Figure 3.5
Unemployment Rates for St. Catharines, Sault Ste. Marie and Ontario, 1985-1993 18%
Sault Ste. Marie -LL St. Catharines -Ontario Source Magara RDC and Sauit Ste. Mane EDC
Nevertheless. the similarities behveen these two communities should not be overstated.
For one thing, the cities are located in two very distinct regions. St. Catharines is situated in what has been dubbed the "Golden Horseshoe" - Ontario's manufacturing heartland stretching around Lake Ontario f?om Oshawa to Niagara. This area is characterized by high rates of urbanization and a large number of manufacturing centres in close proximity. In contrat, Sault 63
Ste. Marie stands relatively isolated as a manufacturing centre in the Algoma District. Its closest urban neighbours are Sudbury (at 185 km)and Thunder Bay (at 438 km) - both a substantial distance away. While the communities of the Golden Horseshoe are known for the manufacturing of consumer goods. the economy of Sault Ste. Marie. like the rest of Northern
Ontario. is focussed almost exclusively on the extraction and processing of primary goods. This helps to explain why St. Catharines has a more highly diversified rnanufacturing sector (Figure
3.4).
Another important difference is the extent to which employment in these two communities has been dominated by foreign-owned firms. Figure 3.6 illustrates that. as early as
1965. manufacturing employment in St. Catharines was dominated by foreign-owned firms. A full 53% of manufacturing workers were employed by fims based outside of Canada (mostly in the United States.) This stands in stark contrast to the situation in Sault Ste. Marie (Figure 3.7). where less than 7% of manufactunng workers were employed by foreign-owned firms.
Moreover this difference has grown over the past thirty years. By 1994.65% of St. Catharines' workers were employed by foreign-owned firms. while this number slipped to under 2% for Sadt
Ste. Marie. The St. Catharines economy has been. and remains. dependent on firms with headquarters outside of Canada." While General Motors is the prime esample. other such fimis include TRW. ITT, Foster-Wheeler, Kimberly-Clark. Hayes-Dana (al1 U.S. owned) and Ferranti-
Packard (a division of Rolls Royce.)
" See Bntton (1 996) for an interesting discussion of the impact of foreign direct investment on the development of Canadian industry. Figure 3.6
Percentage of Workers Employed in Foreign and Domestic Firms St. Catharines, 1965-1994
Figure 3.7
Percentage of Workers Employed in Foreign and Domestic Firms Sault Ste. Marie, 1965-1 994
Rest of Canada mForeign Owned Perhaps the most important distinction between these two comrnunities. and the one which interests me the most. is the composition of their respective labour movements. St.
Catharines. with its concentration in auto parts production. is dominated by the Canadian Auto
Workers (CAW). while Sault Ste. Marie. a steel town. is dominated by the United Steelworken of America (USWA). Over the years. these two unions have developed different strategies in dealing with the "new managerial agenda*' inherent in restructuring. In the past decade. the
CAW has broken with the United Auto Workers. an international union. and adopted a cornparatively more aggressive bargaining strategy. (See Gindin 1989 and Yates 1990.) The union leadership has been very wary ofcooperative programs with management and has resisted consistently wage cutbacks. concessions. work reorganization and technological change. On the other hand. the USWA. an international union headquartered in the United States. has adopted what some consider to be a much more accommodationist strategy. (See USWA 199 1 and CAW
1993.) Recognizing the more competitive environment in the global steel industry today. the
US WA has seemed more willing to accept concessions in bargaining and develop joint initiatives with management. (See Corman. et al. 1 993 .) It must be rernembered that the attitudes of the national unions have certainly been influenced by the structure of the industries in which they work. The Canadian auto industry enjoys several advantages within North America including a history of guaranteed levels of production within canada''. more modem and productive plants and competitive production costs. In contrast. the Canadian steel industry is characterized by relatively old production facilities and has been significantly out-competed by foreign producew.
--39 The 1965 Auto Pact between the United States and Canada ensured that the proportion of Canadian value added in the production of North Arnerican automobiles would at least be cornmensurate with Canada's market share. (See Chapter 6.) 66
Such different cornpetitive environments ofien have enabled the CAW to take more assertive positions than the US WA around restnictunng issues. as illustrated by the unions' differing approaches to work reorgani~ation.~
3.1.1 Recenr Econornic Shoch
As detailed in Chapter 1. both Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines have undergone severe economic stress in the past few yean as their dominant industries restmctured. By the end of
1990. it looked like Algoma Steel. Canada's third largest steel producer employing nearly 8.000 workers in Sault Ste. Marie. kvas on the verge of bankruptcy. Having purchased Algoma in 1989.
Dofasco (Canada's second largest steelmaker). made a series of bad investment decisions which caused Algoma to acquire over $800 million in debt. Faced with a poor steel market and a unionized workforce (something Dofasco was unaccustomed to at its Hamilton works) the
Company decided to close the plant and write it off as a bad investment. As the USWA Local
225 1 collective agreement expired in 1990. Dofasco instituted a lock-out. demonstrating its intention not to conclude a new agreement. Recognizing the economic catastrophe that would result fiom the closure of Sault Ste. Marie's largest employer. the city. the union and al1 levels of govemment became involved in an effort to Save the plant. By 1992 a restnictunng plan had been worked out which resulted in the loss of 3,000 jobs. but gave the Steelworkers a 60%
'' A cornparison of each union's positions on work reorganization reveals that the CAW urges i ts locals to resist calls for participation in so-called cooperative " team" programs, while the USWA believes that making the production process more efficient is necessary for the future survival of the industry and locals should seek out opportunities for cooperative strategies. This will be further developed in Chapter 6. (See Canadian Auto Worken 1993 and United Steel Workers of America 1991 .) 67 ownership stake in the Company. Under the new collective agreement. the union was guaranteed prominent representation on the Board of Directors and al1 other plant cornmittees. As a result of f the restmcturing and a resurgence in the steel market. Algoma Steel has recently returned to pmfitability (Steed 1994. Ej). Nevertheless, the crisis has made Sault Ste. Marie aware of its precarious position and high unemployment remains a persistent problern.
Meanwhile. St. Catharines had problems of its own. In December of 199 1. General
Motors announced that it was planning to close a nurnber of plants throughout North America as part of its rationaiization plan. The company was clear that it would consider plants on both sides of the border for closure and that no plant's survival could be guaranteed. At the time. GM directly employed over 8.000 workers in St. Catharines. or about half of the total manufacturing workforce. While workers in GM's foundry in St. Catharines (which manufactures engine blocks. cylinder heads. crank shafis and brake components) were nervous. they had reason to be optimistic. The St. Catharines facility was one of four the company owned throughout North
America and. although it was small. it was GM's most modem foundry and had always been rated highly in quality and productivity (Bogacz and Rice 1992. Pritchard and Galt 1992). On
Febniary 24. 1992. however. GM announced that it would close the St. Catharines facility by
1995 - resulting in a loss of approximately 2.3 15 jobs. The prospect of losing the foundry devastated more than just GM worken. Analysts in St. Catharines estimated that up to 20.000 additionai jobs would be lost through the multiplier effect. To add insult to injury. in December of 1992. GM announced its intention to close its St. Catharines axle plant if it could not find a buyer by the fa11 of 1993. (Bogacz 1993. B 1) Although a buyer was eventually found. the new 68 owner has recently decided to close the plant and move production to another plant in nearby
Buffalo. NY.
Given the intriguing similarities and differences represented by Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines, and the fact that both communities have undergone severe economic stress in recent years. a cornparison of the experience of local unions in each community provides interesting and important insights into the mechanics and outcomes of economic restructuring at the local level. Chapter 4 Manifestations of Unique Worker Experience in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines
4.0 Introduction
One of the central assertions of this study is that local union strategy in the contemporary period has been strongly influenced by the local experiences of workers as residents of communities with unique industrial histories. The formulation of a distinct local mode of socid regulation is intimately tied to the accumulated experience of a community with respect to such factors as comrnunity identity. population characteristics. workforce composition and industrial relations. This chapter argues that the accumulated experiences of workers in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are marked by some important differences. These differences have contributed to variations in the perceptions of local labour leaders as to the causes of local econornic crises and the appropriate solutions. In the following section. the distinct nature of the two communities due to relative location is identi fied and anal yzed. A fierwards. speci fic events in the history of industrial relations in the two cornmunities are detailed. with an emphasis on how historicai relations between labour and management have led to distinct perceptions as to the role of unions in economic restnicturïng. Finally. the results of a postal survey are presented and evaluated. The survey results demonstrate that labour leaders in each community differ in some fundamental ways on issues relating to the causes of and solutions to contemporary economic insecurity. 61 Geography Matters: The Importance of Relative Location
Sault Ste. Marie is a community on its own. Strategically located on the St. Marys River between lakes Huron and Superior. this small industrial city - affectionately dubbed '-the Seo'- by its residents - has played a significant role in Great Lakes shipping and manufacturing throughout the 70th century. Despite its strategic location (or perhaps because of it). the Soo is in sorne senses an isolated community. Its nearest urban neighbours. Sudbury and Thunder Bay. are four and eight hours away by car. respectively. Its sister city. Sault Ste. Marie. USA. is sirnilady isolated. in contrast. St. Catharines is situated within the "Golden Horseshoe" - a virtually uninterrupted industrial agglomeration stretching from Buffalo. New York to Oshawa. Ontario.
Although St. Catharines is the largest city on the Niagara Peninsula its role as a regional center has often been overshadowed by the proximity of much larger cities. such as Hamilton and
Toronto.
The relative location of these two cities has contributed to differences in the extent to which residents ÎdentiQ with the community. In Sault Ste. Marie. the sense of isolation engendered by the large distances to other urban centers has helped to form a very strong identity of what it means to be a resident of the Soo. On the other hand. the Iocation of St. Catharines in the midst of a much larger agglomeration has led to the creation of a more diffised identity. where residents generally tend to identi@with the region more than with the community.
Throughout the interviews conducted for this study. local leaders in Sault Ste. Marie consistently indicated a strong sense of community identity and a strong cognizance of their fellow residents' attitudes and values: 1 find that Soo people are usually positive people. fnendly people involved people. They usually volunteer or what have you. Sault Ste. Marie is very unique. (Lewis 1994)
There's nothing that can't be overcome in the Soo. We're a community that really pulls together in circumstances. whether its maybe losing the Greyhounds or fixing the iocks. (Pastore 1994)
Ln contrast. such sentiments were not fonhcoming in interviews conducted with St. Catharines leaders. In fact. one labour leader even questioned whether a distinct St. Catharines identity exists:
Is there a St. Catharines identity? 1 don't think so. People tend to see themselves as Southem Ontarians. They go to concerts or bal1 games in Toronto. or even Buffalo. If anything. people identify with the Niagara Region. because a lot of what we're going through. they're going through. too. (Tate 1 995)
This variation in the strength of local identity is of importance to this study for two reasons. First. the degree to which the community is at the center of residents' concems will have implications as to what may or may not be considered important problems in need of action.
For example. even though both cities have experienced relatively weak population growth rates. residents in Sault Ste. Marie expressed much greater concern about the ability of their sons and daughters to find employment and remain the Soo. Second. variations in local identity might have implications for community mobilization and coordination in the face of crisis. Thus. the prospects for major restructunng might be brighter in a community with a strong local identity than a community with a weak sense of local identity. The following section examines the fint of these concems. focusing on the perceptions of residents regarding slow population growth.
The second concem is considered in Chapter 5. Ci.1 The Impuct of Population Change on Sault Sie. Mmie und Sr. Catharines
Table 4.1 presents population growth rates for Sault Ste. Marie. St. Catharines and
Ontario. Throughout the penod examined. it is clear that both Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines lagged behind the provincial growth rate for most of the penod. For the whole huenty year span. the Soo registered a paltry 1.4% growth rate. St. Catharines' population growth rate was roughly half of that of the province - mostly due to robust growth in the early 1970s.
Table 4.1 Cornparison of Population Growth Rates for Sault Ste. Marie, St. Catharines and Ontario, 1971 -91
II 11 Po~ulationGrowth Rates (%l II
II Source: S~atisticsCanada Cemm Dora. 1 9 11-9 1 II
Table 4.1 indicates that both of the case study communities are confronted with stagnating population growth. although the situation in Sault Ste. Marie is arguably more severe.
Local leaders in the Soo expressed their concem that the next generation of Sooites mi@ be forced to leave the region to find work. In fact. concem over Sault Ste. Marie's stagnating population growth was a recdng theme throughout the 1970s and 80s.:~ Two major reasons were mentioned as to why such limited population growth is problematic. First and foremost. interviewees expressed a desire for their children to find work and remain in the SOO:
Part of the problem is that young people ieave the region to go off to college or what have you and they don? come back. Many of them want to come back. but there just aren't as many opportunities here as in Toronto. (Pastore 1994)
In addition. Soo residents are concemed ihat slow population growth will Iead to a scarcity of available labour that might hamper economic developrnent (Strategic Implementation Plan
1992). Denis Desjardin. a representative of the USWA. even suggested that Sadt Ste. kkie should be designated as a gateway city for immigrants to Canada. The fact that Soo residents have identified the loss of young people to other regions as a serious problem has increased the urgency on the part of the comrnunity in addressing economic decline.
On the other hand. residents in St. Catharines are not as concerned about the out- migration of young workers. since many of them remain in the region:
You have to understand. ifs hard to motivate people to preserve jobs in St. Catharines for their kids when their sons and daughters cm work in Toronto and still be close by. (James 1994)
In addition. St. Catharines has benefitted from a greater influx of immigrants to Canada.
Census data indicates that as of 199 1. recent immigrants to Canada (those arriving between 197 1 and 1991) comprised 7% of St. Catharines' population and only 2% of that of the Soo. The availability of altemate employrnent within the region combined with a larger influx of
26 Numerous studies conducted for the city rnentioned the necessity of reversing the SOO'Sstagnating population growth. (See Municipal Finance Branch 1974. Department of Economic Development (1978). Sault Ste. Marie Planning Department (1 983). Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie (1 984). S.O.O. Agenda (1990). 74 immigrants and slightly stronger population growth rates. has mitigated the sense of urgency with which St. Catharines residents might othenvise view eçonomic decline. Thus. confionting industrial restmcturing and plant closures is perceived as important to the preservation of economic growth in St. Catharines. while in the Soo it is seen as crucial to the preservation of the cornmunity.
4.2 Defining Experiences in the Development of Worker Identity
While this study is not intended to detail the history of industrial relations in the case study communities. certain historical events indubitably hold importance for the way that local union leaders perceive challenges and determine strategy in the contemporary period. Therefore. it is necessary to discuss some of the formative events leading up to the contemporary round of restmctunng which have contributed to the development of unique worker identities in St.
Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie. What follows is a depiction of particular historical factors and events which are illustrative of the ways in which the unique histories of the two communities have forged some distinct differences in local worker identity.
42.1 Sault Ste. Marie
The past two decades in the Soo's history of industrial relations have contributed to a number of attitudes and beliefs held by Soo workers. First and foremost. several "near misses" in terms of plant closures have led workers to question the ability of managers to successfully run the manufactunng facilities of the Soo. Part and parcel of this iack of faith in the abilities of management is a distrust of "white knights" - outside investors or corporations who were hailed as saving the Soo's industries and ended up bringing them to the verge of bankruptcy. The second major theme in Soo industrial relations is that unions have had some experience with participatory management which has given them confidence that if actively involved. they could contribute to the successful operation of the city's manufachng enterprises. Finally. the restmcturing of the city's municipal development efforts provided a forum in which unions could actively participate in government decision-making.
In 198.1. Abitibi-Price sold its troublesome paper mill to Dan Alexander. a Chicago business man. who was hailed as a saviour. Abitibi had refused to invest in upgrading the miil. which produced groundwood paper. Prior to the buy-out. Abitibi threatened closure of the mil1 during almost every bargaining period. The new venture. called St. Marys Paper. looked foward to a brighter future. Brad Jourdin. President of the mill's largest local. was optimistic at first:
Dan Alexander has given us a future. Before. St. Marys workers lived in fear each year that the mil1 was going to be closed. (Richardson 1987)
Alexander's grand vision was to upgrade the mill to produce supercalendered paper - used in magazines and advertisements. The move was expected to provide the mil1 with a more stable market and create more jobs at the mill.
By the 1990s. however. Alexander's plans became a rather expensive mistake. The market for supercalendered paper collapsed and the huge investment that St. Marys had put into the project (over $200 million) contnbuted to severe financial pressure on the Company. Mr.
Alexander attempted to make up this shonfail by freezing wages. reducing holidays and laying- off worken. By 1993. the mill was on the verge of banhptcy. Talks between the union and a new investor resulted in the purchase of the facility in which the workers would have a 30% share. In a recent interview. Jourdin reflected on the Alexander period: There we were with this multimillion dollar machine and the damn thing just lying idle. They brought in al1 these engineers and other professional types and they couldn't solve the problem. Nobody asked us for Our input. We could have told them what was wrong. (Jourdin 1995)
The St. Marys experience illustrates two points. First. that lack of investment in modemization has been a consistent problem in the Soo and second. that corporate "white knights" have not always provided a happy ending.
These themes are repeated in the experience of Algoma Steel. At the time of Dofasco's purchase of the facility. the union was optimistic that the plant would be turned around and recover from its declining market share. Dofasco had promised to invest in plant modemization.
The problem was that Dofasco. already possessing a large amount of steel plate and rolled steel capacity in Hamilton. decided to focus Algoma's production on steel tubing - mostly for the oil industry. Of course. in the late 1980s the oil industry experienced a severe downtum. Thus.
Dofasco's corporate strategy placed Algoma in even greater jeopardy (with a larger debt) than before it was purchased. nie failure of outside investors or corporations to accurately gauge markets and successfuliy manage the two largest industrial employers in the Soo contributed. in no small way. to a belief on the part of Soo worken that they were the victims of bad management decisions. and that the answer was not necessarily the importation of new managers.
Of equal importance in the Soo's industrial history are examples of workers participating in the successfûl operation of its industries. For al1 Algoma's problems under Dofasco's ownership. there is evidence that the USWA and Algoma Steel had a historkally cooperative relationship in some aspects of decision-making. In 1975. the Algorna Unionist (the US WA's local newspaper) dubbed Algoma Steel "First in Industrial Democracy". At Algoma a progressive management team. with approval and assistance fiom the local unions. has installed the participative management plan. This plan aliows workers in the plant to participate - through a three-level cornmittee system - in the actual management of the plant. The management team at Aigoma Steel has been remarkably progressive in many areas. and 1 think that they should be conpulated on their regard for people as well as profits. (Assistant Editor's Viewpoint 1975)
Although the participative management plan may not have given workers an equal Say with the corporation. it did represent a significant departure fiom normal management techniques and provided Algoma workers with their first taste of participatory management.
Sault Ste. Marie also had a historical exarnple of successful worker ownenhip. In 1977. when Doran's Breweries and Beverage Company was on the verge of closure. some of the unionized workers and managers banded together to buy the plant - giving the workers a two- thirds stake in the plant (Guertin 1977). By 1979. the Company was renamed Northem Breweries and the worker-ownership share had declined to one-third (Brewery Workers 1979). Still. the transition was successful and throughout the period the brewery was noted for its short bargaining sessions. hi& quality product and excellent safety record. Thus. between participation in joint labour-management committees and the example of a successful worker buy-out. the Labour movement in the Soo learned that unions could participate in a meaningful way in the management of rnanufactunng enterprises.
The final defining event of importance to this study is the restructuring of the local govemment's planning apparatus to provide greater cornmunity input into development strategy and to broaden its activities to develop a comprehensive approach to economic restructuring and cornmunity health. Through a series of forums and studies contracted to consulting firrns, the 78 city created a new Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in 1992 which guaranteed labour representation in the discussion of economic development." In addition. by acting as a central body for the coordination of development efforts. the EDC might have pre-empted the development of stronger ties between the Soo's unions and comrnunity organizations.
42.2 St. Catharines
The accurnulated experience of workers in St. Catharines is characterized by two major themes. First. workers in St. Catharines have ofien been the victims of (or threatened victims of) the decisions of multilocational firms. This experience has led to situation whereby union leaders are distrustfui of management - not for their inability to successfully manage operations as in the Soo. but for their perceived lack of cornmitment to the workers or the comrnunity. As a result. unions in St. Catharines have placed a lot of emphasis on resisting the attempts of employen to gbwhipsaw"the workforce by forcing workers to compete with those in other locations. The second major theme is that unions in St. Catharines have been largely successful in bargaining - particularly the CAW. Thus. the distrust of management aims combined with a history of bargaining success has led local labour leaders to be skeptical of the need and efficacy of labour-management cooperation.
In 1974. UAW workers at Hayes-Dana - a subsidiary of the Dana Corporation of
Toledo, Ohio - went on strike for the third time in as many contract rounds. Irnrnediately following the start of the strike, Hayes-Dana threatened to rnove its production to the U.S. unless the workers were back to work within the week. The strike Iasted almost seven weeks. The
Company began to ship some of the equipment to a Dana plant in Reading. Pemsylvania. The
--- -
" This process is fbrther discussed in Chapter 5. equipment was retumed when the strike was settled (Hayes-Dana 1974). William Marshall. a
UAW representative. said of the strike:
In my opinion the basic discontent within the plant has been caused by the inhumane treatment of the workers by first-line supervision. This has created such hatred that the benefits obtained were only secondary. and it proved that humanizing the workplace rnay be a priority. (Won't know ... 1974)
This episode illustrates much of the mistration industrial workers in St. Catharines have expenenced as a result of the domination of their economy by foreign-owned. multilocational firms. Similar threats were made during Hayes-Dana's negotiations in 1982 (Sadlier 1982). The statements made by Gerry Mitchell (Chairman of the Dana Corporation and a St. Catharines native) at a speech given at Brock University in 1984 give some indication of the company's cornmitment to St. Catharines:
Social conscience has no place in a successful business operation. The interests of individuals and the community take second place at Dana to the cornpany's profit statement ... The drive for increased benefits for shareholders and employees means firms must search the world for the ideal business location. regardless of cornmunity ties (Cooney 1984).
Mitchell went on to Say that the only way for workers to make certain that their jobs were secure would be by --stealing" them from other workers in other communities by working harder and being cheaper. Of course. Mitchell's views are somewhat extreme. but - as the experience of
Hayes- Dana's workers shows - St. Catharines employers had few qualms in threatening relocation of production to extract concessions from unions.
The protracted strike and eventual closure of Columbus-McKimon reinforces the above point. On October 24. 1977 the 186 hourly workers at the chain. hoist and starnping firm (represented by UAW Local 199) walked off the job in search of a wage increase and a three year contract. The company immediately idormed the workers that if they did not retum to work, production would be relocated to the firm's plants in upstate New York. The company refùsed to meet with the union to discuss a settlement (Columbus-McKinnon 1977). The workers held out for ten months. at which tirne the company announced that the plant would not reopen
(Columbus-McKinnon 1978). Aside fiom illustrating the poor relations between management and labour in St. Catharines, this episode demonstrates that the autoworkers were opposed to granting concessions in the face of threats of relocation - even if it meant the plant would close.
Nevertheless, resistance to threatened plant closure was not always unsuccessful. In
1987. Hayes-Dana announced plans to shed more than 800 jobs in St. Catharines and relocate the work to smaller. non-union facilities in other parts of Ontario. This was part of a larger corporate strategy of the Dana Corporation in which it had closed 30 of its 60 unionized plants and opened
70 smaller. mostly non-union facilities throughout North Amerka (Bogacz 1987a). Bob White. then President of the CAW, declared war on the corporation:
We just told the company that its strategy is absolutely unacceptable to our union. As far as we're concemed you just can't expect to take jobs out of these plants and move them around the province without taking the union and the employees with them (Bogacz 1987b).
One month Iater, the union forced the company to reverse its decision. This feat was accomplished through the declaration that CAW members at Ford and Chrysler - Hayes-Dana's major customers - would refuse to handle Hayes-Dana parts. This, in tum,caused the automaken to apply pressure to Hayes-Dana to reverse its decision (Bogacz 1987~). The accurnulated experience of St. Catharines workers in confronting the threat of production relocation head-on and consistently withstanding pressure to engage in concessionary bargaining went a long way towards providing union leaders in the city with confidence that they could protect their members' jobs using the bargaining power of the union. The actions of ernployers in no way contributed to an environment of cooperation and trust. Thus. it was not surpnsing that the CAW's fint reaction to GM's announcement of the foundry closure was to fom a **fightback cornmittee in attempt to pressure the Company to reverse its decision. This time. however. there was no leverage to be used over GM and the CAW's reliance on its traditional strengths was not enough to persuade GM to change its mind.
Another lesson learned by union leaders in St. Catharines was that their community's econorny was highly subject to the decisions of corporations based in the US. As a result. St.
Catharines workers were vehement in their opposition to the Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA.
On December 15, 1992 CAW Local 199 called for a one-day general strike nationwide to protest
NAFTA (CAW Local ... 1992). Although this failed to materialize. the 1ocal.s effons provided the impetus for the labour rally at Ottawa on May 15. 1993. Thus. in addition to their distrust of ernployers in St. Catharines. local labour leaders also recognized the role of governrnent policy in contributing to their community's econornic diffkulties. 43 Postai Survey of Local Union Leadership
The conceptuai mode1 of local economic change introduced in Chaptea 1 and 2 suggests that union locals perform a key role as agents in helping to shape local outcornes. Consequently. it is important to obtain a clear indication of the attitudes and motivations underlying the behaviour of local union leaders and the actions of their organizations. In an attempt to document attitudes arnong local labour activists and identiQ potential interview subjects. a postal swey of local union leadership was conducted From November 1994 to February 1995. This questionnaire was sent to the leadership of the local unions affiliated with the district labour councils in both Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. Although the populations are relatively srnall(60 in St. Catharines and 50 in Sault Ste. Marie) the response rate was relatively high (74 responses or 40% for St. Catharines and 22 responses or 44% for Sault Ste. Marie.) A copy of die survey is provided in Appendix A. I was particularly interested in the attitudes of local union leaders towards the state of the local economy. the performance of various levels of govemment. the media and community organizations. as well as their views on potential causes of and solutions to local economic instability. The survey was designed in such a way as to reveal the possible differences in opinion between the populations of local union leaders.
This survey was conducted as an exploratory exercise designed ro provide a starting point for more detailed investigation. As a complement to the intemiews and archival research. the survey provides a helpful. though limited, picture of the opinions held by labour leaders in Sault
Ste. Marie and St. Catharines and the possible motivations underlying the actions of the organizations they represent. As such. the survey results represent a first contribution to Our Table 4.2
Questions for Part 1 of Survev
02) 1 think that our local economy is currently in good shape.
03) 1 believe that workers in our community are secure in their jobs and are not wncemed with the prospect of sudden job loss.
Q4) In my opinion, local labour organizations are well-represented among the groups which are working towards the restructuring of the local economy.
05) 1 feel that our local govemment understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs:
Q6) Ifeel that the Ontario provincial govemment understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs.
Q7) I feel that the federal govemment understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs.
Q8) Most of the wmmunity groups with which I have corne into contact are supportive of local labour organizations.
Q9) Our national union has provided our local union with the leadership and education needed so that we can actively participate in the local restructuring process.
Q10) Our local media portrays unions in a positive light.
QI1) In my opinion, our local business community has shown a willingness tu work closely with labour to address future local econornic concems.
Q12) Unions should consider giving concessions to employers in bargaining in order to guarantee job secunty.
Q13) If a company decides to close a production facility, workers should seek to buy the plant from the company and nin it themselves. 84 understanding of the differences in union activity in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines and the forces producing hem; it is also a good introduction to the discussion of these activities.
4.3.1 Resuits of Survey: ..lttitudes on the State of the Locd Economy
The first part of the survey was designed to gauge the respondents' attitudes conceming the local economy. various levels of government and specific restructuring issues. (The statements in Part 1 are reproduced in Table 4.2.) The respondents were asked te indicate their level of agreement by choosing frorn a range of given responses. Possible responses included
"strongly disagree. somewhat disagree. neutral. somewhat agree and strongly agree." Responses were then ranked according to level of agreement. with a value of 5 assigned to "strongly agree" and a value of 1 assigned to "strongly disagree." Hence. a mean response above 3 indicates general agreement with the given statement. while a mean response below 3 indicates general disagreement. The results for Part 1 (questions 2-1 3) are summarized in figure 4.1 below.
What is irnmediately clear is that labour leaders in both St. Catharines and Sault Ste.
Marie were in general disagreement with most of the statements in Part 1. Labour leaders are not pleased with the status quo. The only two statements which drew mean responses above 3 were
Q9: "Our national union has provided Our local union with the leadership and education needed so that we cm actively participate in the local restnictunng process." and Q 13: "If a Company decides to close a production facility. workers should seek to buy the plant and run it themselves." Not surprisingly, the lowest mean response was on 43: "1 believe that workers in
OU comrnunity are secure in their jobs and are not concemed with the prospect of sudden job
Ioss." in general. while comrnunity groups (Q8)were viewed as being more supportive of local labour organizations than were al1 three levels of governrnent (45-7). al1 of thcse groups received unfavourable (or. at best, neutral) ratings. Local business (Q1 1) also was not viewed as being particularly willing to cooperate with labour. Despite the general disagreement with most of the statements. it is still possible to fmd statistically significant variations in the responses of union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines on a number of responses.
Figure 4.1
Averaae Level of Aareement With Survev Questions in Part 1 u Y 4 St. Catharines v. Sault Ste. Marie Level of Agreement
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 QIOQI~ ~72~13 Question 86
Fint and foremost. the mean response in Satilt Ste. Marie for the staternent in 42: "1 think that our local economy is currently in good shape". was twice as high as the mean response in St.
Catharines. Interestingly. this is the case despite a higher unemployment rate in Sault Ste. Marie.
(See Figure 3.5). Although labour leaders in both communities generally disagree with this statement. it appears that those in St. Catharines are more negative about the state of the local ec~nomy.'~Similarly. mean local responses to 43: --I believe that workers in our cornmunity are secure in their jobs and are not concemed with the prospect of sudden job loss." show a statistically significant difference. with union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie having more confidence
(or. rather. less pessimism) in the future security of their members' jobs.
In response to Q 13 : --If a Company decides to close a production facility. workers should seek to buy the plant and run it themselves." Sault Ste. Marie respondents were again more positive than those in St. Catharines. This is hardly surprising considering the number of fins which are at least partially employee-owned in Sault Ste. Marie. It is interesting. nonetheless. that support for this statement is as hi& as it is in St. Catharines. given the ideological position of the CAW on worker-ownership. This will be discussed in more detail below.
The responses regarding the various levels of government (45-47) deserve further examination. The given statements were as Follows: "1 feel that Our (local/provincial/federal) governments understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs." In ail cases. the mean responses of al1 union leaders surveyed in both communities were below 3. indicating a
" This result is consistent wirh the interviews conducted. In Sault Ste. Marie, the prevailing sentiment expressed by interviewees was one of cautious optimism about the direction of the local economy. while in St. Catharines. the union leaders with whom 1 spoke remained largely pessimistic. 87 grneral dissatisfaction with al1 levels of govemment. Interestingly, even the provincial rovemment, which at the time was controlled by the allegedly pro-labour New Democratic Party t
(NDP) was considered sornewhat lacking when it came to the needs of workers. In any event. statistically significant differences between St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie were noted for mean responses at both the local and feded levels. (See Figure 4.2.)
Further examination of theses results produces some interesting insights. When the responses are disaggregated by city and union sector (i.e., private or public) three things become clear. (See Figure 4.3.) First and foremost, it cm seen that, with one exception, there is much greater variation between the responses of private sector union representatives in the two cities C than between the responses of public sector union representatives in the two cities. This indicates
Figure 4.2
Perception of Governments by Union Activists St. Catharines v. Sault Ste. Marie
Level of Agreement 3
Local Govemment Provincial Government Federal Government
St. Catharines Sault Ste. Marie Figure 4.3
Perception of Governments by Union Activists Public v. Private Sector Unions in Both Cities
Level of Agreement 3.5
Local Government Provincial Govemment Federal Govemment
SC - Private (SSM - Private SC - Public SSM - Public
that public sector unions are likely to feel the same way about the various levels of governrnent
(which are. after dl, their employers) regardless of location. This is an important point given the assertion in Chapter 3 that public sector unions might be expected to show less variability across space. Second, the disaggregated data show that, among private sector respondents, the differences in level of agreement between the two cities are especially pronounced for the local and federal governrnents. Pnvate sector union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie, on average, were considerably less negative in their assessments of local govemment's understanding of and responsiveness to the needs of workers than were their counterparts in St. Catharines. Finally. the disaggregated data indicate that public sector union leaders in both cities shared a more 89 negative assessrnent of the provincial governrnent than did their private sector counterparts. The responses of private sector union leaders in both cities show a mean response above 3. indicating a generally (though just slightly) favourable view of the NDP governrnent. This public-private split is not surprising when one considers the impact of the Social Contract Iegislation on the enthusiasm for the NDP among public sector workers." This will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6.
5 2 Results of the Sumey: Causes of und Responses to Local Economic Insrubiiity
Part 2 of the sweywas designed to encourage respondents to rank what they perceived as the various causes (Q15) and remedies (Q 16) regarding local economic instability. as well as their preferred activities in light of limited time and resources (QI 7). A number of choices were provided for each question (Appendix A). but respondents were also given space to fiil-in their own answers and assign them a ranking.
For question 15. which asked respondents to identifL the 5 most important contributing factors io the economic instability of the community. the responses are summarized in Figure 4.4.
Again. a few significant differences are evident. Union leaders in St. Catharines believed that free trade agreements were the most important factor in determining the economic instability of their community. On the other hand. union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie were more likely to attribute local economic hardship to poor management by local firrns. Ali in all. factors which have their origins outside of the community, such as fiee trade agreements. federal and provincial government policies and international cornpetition. a11 scored higher arnong respondents fiom St.
29 This difference is also noticeable in responses regarding the federal governrnent (although with less statistical significance) - a factor no doubt exacerbated by the Liberal government's decision in the Fa11 of 1994 to eliminate 45,000 public sector jobs. Importantce Assigned to Causes of Economic Decline by Local Labour Activists (Expressed as a % of total whlch woutd resutt If al1 respondents had ranked category as most Important)
Lack of Skilled Workers
International Cornpetition
Poor Management
FTAINAFTA
Poor Quality Products
Adversarial Relations
Local Government
Provincial Government
Federal Government
Sault Ste. Marie St. Catharines Catharines. Conversely. factors which were intemal to the community. such as poor management by local ernployers and adversarial relations between labour and management. scored higher among the respondents fiom Sault Ste. Marie - this despite the fact that both local economies had been equally exposed to the vicissitudes of the international economy and non- local ownenhip of production facilities.
Question 16 asked respondents to designate the five most important factors necessary to alleviate the economic instability of their comrnunity. As Figure 4.5 illustrates. while union activists in St. Catharines thought that repealing free trade legislation was the most important factor. respondents in Sault Ste. Marie chose a more cooperative relationship between labour and management. In addition. union activists in St. Catharines rated both organizing unemploycd workers and the institution of a shorter work week three times as highly as did those in Sault Ste.
Marie.
Further differences are identified when one considers the responses to question 17 (Figure
4.6). which asks respondents to choose the five most important activities in which they and their unions should engage given limited time and resources. The most important difference here is that union leaders in St. Catharines view working with other unions and community groups to find ways to promote job growth as fa more important than do their counterparts in Sault Ste.
Marie. Nevertheless. it is interesting to note that respondents in both cities chose educating their memberships as the most important activity. Figure 4.7 also shows that respondents from St.
Catharines found lobbying the provincial governrnent a more worthy exercise than their counterparts in Sault Ste. Marie. Furthemore. both populations ranked working with their local govemment economic development agencies very low. though more support for this activity was Figure 4.5 -- -. -- .. ------. Importance Assigned to Potential Solutions by Local Labour Activists (Expressed as a % of total which would result if al1 respondents had ranked category as most important)
4ore Appropriate Training
Shorter Work Week
Worker Ownership
Repeal FTNNAFTA
Irganize the Unemployed
h ore Cooperation between Labour & Management New Local Government
N :w Provincial Govemment
dew Federal Govemment
Sault Ste. Marie St. Catharines Importance Assigned to Potential Union Activities by Local Labour Leaders (Expressed as a % of total which would resuit if al1 respondents had ranked categoiy as most important)
Hel~Deslan Better Training Programs
Education of Members Bargaining with Employer l I lobbying Provincial Govemrnent
Working with NROC\EDC
Campaign for Pro-iabour Candidates Campaign for NDP
Working wiai ûther Unions b Community Groups
O IO 20 30 40 50 60
Sault Ste. Marie St. Catharines
. . . ------. . . .- -- -.----. -. - . .. -- - -. . - ...... - - 94 found in Sault Ste. Marie than in St. Catharines. Finally. respondents in the Soo placed a higher degree of importance on actions inside the workplace (better training programs. bargaining with employers) than did union representatives in St. Catharines. although these differences were not statistically significant.
As with Part 1. the responses in Part 2 support the evidence uncovered through interviews and archival research. The CAW in St. Catharines. for example. has been continually committed to fighting free trade. In Sault Ste. Marie. the experience at Algoma and St. Marys has led many unionists to believe that the causes of economic hardship. and the solutions. lie within the restructuring of the workplace. In general. the survey supports the assertion that union leaders in
St. Catharines have focused more attention on factors externul to the workplace or the cornrnunity. while those in Sault Ste. Marie have been occupied mainly with workplace restructuring. In addition. as we shall see. the results from question 17 are supported by research which suggests that links between community groups and unions are much more developed in St.
Catharines than in Sault Ste. Marie.
4-4 Condusions
This chapter has illustrated that workers in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines have accumulated a nurnber of distinct experiences as a result of the unique histoncal development of industriai relations in their comrnunities. Generally. the relative isolation of the Soo. its history of failed "white knights' and the experience of successfd labour-management cooperation have given union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie both the motivation and the confidence in their ability to participate in a meaningfül way in the operation of the manufacturing enterprises in which they 95 were employed. In St. Catharines. the success of adversarial bargaining tactics as well as a long history of threatened relocation of production have contnbuted to the view that labour- management cooperation is neither possible nor necessary. These views are manifest in the results of the survey. which indicates that union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie consider labour- management cooperation an important component of economic restructuring while those in Si.
Catharines believe that there is more to be gained by focusing on govemment policy and working with community groups. The results of the local labour union strategies developed fiom these views are presented in the next chapter. Chapter 5 An Examination of Local Union Strategy in Sault Ste. Marie and St, Catharines
5.0 Introduction
Local unions have begun to move beyond traditional union strategy and to become actively involved in the debates and discussions about the future economic direction of their communities. Lod unions not only represent their members as workers. but also increasingly as residents of the community. Many scholars have ignored the role that local unions play during economic restructuring. except. of course. in terms of their relationship with their employer.
(See Chapter 2.) Nevertheless. local union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines believe that their unions do have an important role to play for a variety of resûns. which are perhaps best outlined in their own words.
Union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines believed that one important contribution they make to the development of restructuring policy is to assen a different perspective on what is important to the community and what is needed to address economic woes. Ken Charlesly. a representative of CUPE in Sault Ste. Marie states:
The people of the labour movement are radical enough that we cm see things corning more easily ihan politicians. One example is that in 1977.1 remember presenting a report to the City Council. on behaif of the Labour Council. saying that we had to divers@ the economy of the city - and the next day Our reports were found in the closet. (Charlesly 1995).
Joe DaCosta (CEPU). also in the Soo echoes this point:
We know what it means to have a good-paying job. A job that enables you to improve your standard of living. And we have al1 kinds of ideas and thoughts. and we cm work in cooperation with the types of industries we represent. (DaCosta 1995). Jim Tate. an OPSEU representative in St. Catharines asserted:
Unions represent 38% of workers in Canada. Imagine the impact we could have if we were given a voice equal to what our numbers indicate we deserve. We have a lot to contribute. especially in terms of developing a managed econorny - one charactenzed by employrnent stability and the managed introduction of technology into society. (Tate 1995)
Sandy O'Dell. CAW member and founder the Working Futures Coalition in St. Catharines explained:
Unions have to get involved in economic issues. because if we don't. who will? Right now. no one is really taking responsibility for making sure our jobs are there and will be there in the fut~e.If no one eise is going to do it. then we're going to get people together and start to talk about these things. 1 get so fmstrated when people Say that unions have no place talking about these things - as if we're supposed sit down and be quiet about issues that affect our jobs and our lives. (0'Dell 1995)
Mile union leaders agreed that unions had a lot to contribute to the restructuring debate. they do not always agree on the best way this can be accomplished. This chapter illustrates that local unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines have pursued somewhat different strategies in confronting the economic challenges facing their communities.
The cnsis in the Soo's major workplaces in the early 1990s. as described in Chapter 4. resulted in the opportunity for the local labour movement to play an active role in economic restnicturing. First and foremost. the USWA. CEPU and IWA have al1 been involved in transforming their workplaces from ones characterized by hierarchical and confrontational industrial relations to ones based upon labour-management cooperation with the potentid for much greater union participation in decision-making. The enhanced role that unions are playing in the Soo's major employers has also resulted in greater clout with the local government and its 98 agencies. The increased importance of the labour movement in Sault Ste. Marie occurred sirnultaneously with a restructured municipal govemment which encouraged the participation of
a variety of comrnunity stakeholders. including representatives of the labour movement.
Nevertheless. although economic restnicturing has resulted in a higher profile for the labour
movement. many local union oficials have expressed their disappointment with the low level of
interaction between unions and non-govemmental cornmunity groups. One result of this is that
some labour representatives believe that their important role in the restructuring of the Soo
economy is not recognized or appreciated by the general populace. Thus. local unions in Sault
Ste. Marie have concentrated primarily on intemal workplace restructunng and to a lesser extent
on (govemment-led) formal economic development activities - with an emerging recognition of
the need to strengthen links with local community organizations.
In contrast. the closure of GM's foundry and the relocation of the avle plant to Buffalo
have reinforced and strengthened unions' distrust of management in St. Catharines - especially
for the CAW. While there is evidence of some joint labour-management restructuring. the labour movement. for a variety of reasons outlined below. has not embraced employee participation
prograrns as an integral part of local economic restructunng. In addition. the lack of an inclusive local govemment and the presence of a regional developrnent corporation with a traditional business development focus. have denied local unions the opportunity to participate seriously in forma1 economic development activities. Nevertheless. local unions have left their mark on local economic developrnent through their many and varied links with community organizations and coalitions. As a result. local unions in St. Catharines have focused more of their attention on comrnunity mobilization. coalition-building and protest activities than those in Sault Ste. Marie. 99
One consequence of this strategy has been a greater concem with the direction of government policy and the discussion of more "radical" solutions to the region's economic troubles.
5.1 A Place at the Table: Local Unions and Workplace Restnicturing
5.1. I Sauff Sfe. Marie
As detailed in Chapters 1 and 4. the crisis of the Soo's major industries led to a period of restructuring in which union members becarne majority owners of Algoma Steel and minority owners of St. Marys Paper. As the example of Northem Brewenes indicates (Chapter 4). the concept of worker-ownership is not entirely foreign to the region. Nevertheless. the events of
1992-93 lefi both the USWA and the CEPU with significantly greater influence over the future direction of the Soo's two largest private ernployers and. thus. over the Future direction of Sault
Ste. Marie's economy. The advent of worker-ownership in the Soo has led to three major changes. the impact of which can be observed both inside the workplace and in the greater cornmunity. First. the level ruid scope of labour-management cooperation has increased drarnatically - in stark contrat with the adversarial relations which predominated in the 1970s and 1980s (Chapter 4). Second. while the restructured businesses are profitmaking entities. they are committed to preserving and. where possible. expanding employment in the region. Finally. the enhanced role of local unions has led to an increased cornmitment to utilize local suppliers and invest in local concems before considering purchasing and investing in other regions.
Perhaps the most telling transformation in employrnent relations in the Soo is articulated in the new Algoma Steel's mission statement: The parties are comrnitted to a successhl Algoma Steel Inc. founded upon the principles of tolerance and respect between a strong. independent union and a strong. independent management and a recognition of the value of every employee. As equal partners. Algorna and the United Steelworkers of America make as their top priority the creation of an organization that is dedicated to the economic security and empowerment ofemployees and to continuing improvements in productivity and quality. (Algoma Steel Inc. 1994)
The above statement illustrates the new tenor of industrial relations emerging in Sault Ste. Marie
- not just at Algoma Steel. but also at St. Marys Paper and Lajambe Forest Products. In its ideal form. it is marked by **toleranceand respect" between two *-equalpartners" - management and union. In addition. with the focus on '-economic security and empowennent" for its workforce. the new Algoma asserts that it views employment protection and enrichment at least as irnportantly as profit maximization.
Rhetork aside. there have been some important structural changes at Algoma Steel.
Figure 5.1 illustrates how the creation of joint labour-management cornmittees provided the mechanism for the union's involvement as an equal partner with management. The imponance of these changes rests in the fact that union representatives have voice and vote at al1 levels of decision-making, From the Board of Directors on dom to the shop floor.
Dan Lewis. President of the Sault Ste, Marie and District Labour Council and member of
USWA Local 225 1. staies that this transition has not always been easy for either union or management: Figure 5.1
The Structure of Algoma Steel's Labour-Management Partnership
EMPOWERlNG MOOEL OF WORKER PARTlClPATlON
b 3 UNION UNiON/MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT STEERINO p STEERING COMMITTEE COMMITTEE b I I UNION MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR COOROINATOA 1 & I IA-T. COOROINATOR
J v 1 UNION MANAGEMENT TRAINING - TRAINING - I TRAlNfNQ COMMITTEE - COMMITTEE COMMITTEE J B
k b UNION MANAGEMENT TECH. CHANGE TECH. CHANGE & - TECH. CHANGE - WORKPLACE REDESIGN REOESICN COMMITTEE COMMITTEE 1
1 I UNION MANAGEMENT SOLVIN0 PAOBLEM PROBLEM SOLVINCI PROBLEM SOLVING & di m COST SAVINGS COST SAVINGS COMMITTEE COMMlTTEE b I I
1 LINE WOAKERS 1 SUPERVISORS 1 The only way that Algoma survived is that labour said. Wey. we're going to have equal Say in that place. It's not going to be from the top down anyrnore. We have to have an equal say." So everything has gone jointly and if you want to sit back and let management do like they have in the past that's your prerogative. If you want to go ahead and rnake sure that your job is there down the road. you've got to be pro-active. The management at Algoma Steel. even though the collective agreement says that the employees have equal say now. they resist it. You know they Say. "No -ou don?!" It takes a long time to get them to think in that way and there are some people out there that are still dinosaurs that may not ever change. (Lewis 1 994)
Nevertheless. the changes in industrial relations brought about by the Algoma restructuring have contributed. in general. to a more cooperative relationship between labour and management.
Perhaps the most comprehensive changes brought about by the USWA at Algoma are evident in the new system of training. Initiated in 1992. the Joint Training Cornmittee was cornprised of six members each from management and union. The goal of this body was to create a training system which would encourage continuous training and skills development of al1 employees at the new Algoma. Whereas. previously. the Company management would decide who would receive training and when. the new training system allows more flexibility and choice
(MacKay and Day 1995). The 1995 Algoma training catalogue contains over 50 courses offered intemally - including courses on team-building. employee ownership and human rights
(Algoma Stee1 Inc. 1 995 .)
In addition. Algoma is committed to reducing as much as possible the nurnber of layoffs by placing workers in training who would othenvise be sent home. As the USWA's Denis
Desjardin explains:
Next year at Algoma. we're going to implement an income security program. When things start to slow down, we're not going to lay people ORwe're going to train them .... We are spending about $7 million this year just on training for restructuring. Over and above that. over a three-yea. penod we're spending $6 million to train our electrical people. Besides that we're spending monies on the job. training people to do the next job that they are going to promote to. So. 1 believe there's about $12 million dollars a year being spent on training alone. That's probably conservative. That's not counting the times we bnng people in here to talk about ... sending people to conferences. It's about 1000 times better than it was before. Training was a non-issue. other than training for the next job you were going to promote to. and even that was substandard. You were rushed through it and you were expected to do as well as the best guy on the job. Al1 people aren't created equal. Some people take longer to get through some things than others. (Desjardin 1994)
In its first two years of existence. over 4.500 Algoma employees took advantage of the new training system (MacKay and Day 1995).
Similar changes. albeit on a smaller scale. are begi~ingto take place at St. Marys Paper and Lajambe Forest Products. Brad Jourdin. President of Communications. Energy and
Paperworkers Union (CEPU) Local 67 - the largest local at St. Mary Paper - describes the ways in which trust between the union and management is being fostered at the paper mill:
A fnend of mine died of a heart attack recently. The burial was on a Tuesday and the Company said that anyone who wanted could go. Most of us went for a couple of hours and came back - he never docked us the time that we rnissed. Before they never would have let al1 of us go and they never would have paid us. When they wanted a new Human Resources Manager. they let the presidents of each local interview him. The management team did it. we did it separately. Then we got together at the end and compared notes and we had some input into picking our new Human Resources Manager, which would never have happened before. (Jourdin 1995)
Mr. Jourdin is optimistic about the future of the rnill. although he acknowledged that '-...the fact that we are now an owner [of the mill] hasn't hit home yet." Things have also changed at Lajarnbe. although Joe DaCosta President of IWA 1000. admits that the lack of an employee ownership stake in the Company has limited the extent of changes. stating. "We do have a better Say than before. but not as much as we would like." Of course. the recent acquisition of Lajarnbe by E.B. Eddy means that the future direction of industrial relations is as yet unclear. Nevertheless. Mr. DaCosta believes that worker empowerment is essential to the future survival of the plant:
No doubt the entrepreneur is the one who invests to create jobs. but in our view. the jobs are somewhat meaningless without the partnership of the workforce. The union represents that workforce to make the operation as a whole function better and become competitive. Our role is to bring people together as a unit and make things go. And nobody knows the operations better than the workers themselves. It's not the manager sitting in the office with bdliant ideas which fine tues the operation. It's the worken on the floor and if they're given the opportunity to help out - to make decisions - they do that fine tuning. (DaCosta 1995)
Although the fact that labour-management relations are being transfonned within the workplace is interesting in and of itself. perhaps more interesting is the fact that the labour movement of Sault Ste. Marie is working to disseminate this mode1 of worker empowerment throughout the wider regional rconomy and beyond. The USWA is in the vanguard of this crusade. In 1995. they organized a conference in the Soo. entitled "The Changing Workplace: A
New Frontier". to showcase the changes taking place within Algoma Steel. The conference was sponsored jointly by the Company. the union and the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development
Corporation (EDC) and attracted over 200 participants - representatives of companies and unions from al1 over North America. At the conference. four models of joint workplace restnicturing were discussed and debated. inciuding Algoma Steel. GM's Satum plant in Tennessee. Magma Copper in Arizona and Ford Electronics in Markham. ontario." In addition to the presentation from the four showcased company-union partnerships. participants attended workshops developed by Algoma Steel and the USWA designed to disseminate practical techniques for the adoption of worker empowerment programs - on topics such as "Pursuing
Self-Direction" and "Workplace Adjustment: The Industrial Adjustment Model". The conference culminated in the announcement by the US WA of the creation of the St. Marys by the
Rapids Centre for Workplace Restnictwing - a joint venture between the USWA and Sault
College designed to transfer the knowledge and experience developed by employees in worker empowerment prograrns.
Union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie believe that changes inside the workplace are contributing to a more positive outlook on the part of the cornmunity as a whole. As Dan Lewis
(District Labour Council) States:
If you look at Algoma Steel again. every three years there was a potential strike. or there was a strike. and it certainly made the positive outlook turn negative in a lot of the eyes of the Sooites. Today. with the restmctunng of Algoma Steel. a contract was put in place for five years rather than three with the possibility of that being extended if we get into early negotiations. That's going to make people think positively. more so than they have in the past.
Brad Jourdin (CEPU) adds:
You have to consider the whole city. It's been a big impact for everybody. not just one isolated area. Everyone is realizing this and they're trying to help each other .... Ordinarily. everyone gets involved with their own problems and concentrates on their own things. whereas now maybe you need to get involved with different
'9 It is interesting to note that in the case of Ford Electronics - whose workers are represented both by the CAW and the International Association of Machinists (IAM) - it is oniy the latter union which has chosen to get involved in employee participation programs. groups in the cornmunity in different areas - you can't help it. If you cm get out to the city - go to the Charnber of Commerce. the mayor. other groups - you cm go out and get some help and some input and some feedback.
Thus. in Sault Ste. Marie. the transfomative power of local unions within the workplace has begun to influence relationships beyond the workplace. contributing to greater community stability and an ongoing international dialogue on worker empowennent.
Workplace restnicturing of the type so prevalent in the Soo is occumng in St. Catharines, but not nearly to the same scope and certainly not to the same level of recognition by the local labour movement. W.S. Tyler - a mire cloth manufacturer which employed about 150 workers in 1994 (Scott 's 1995) - began a new initiative to prornote worker participation in order to increase efficiency and reduce cost. The new agreement called for the creation of a joint Union-
Management Cornmittee between Tyler and USWA Local 6399." It also allowed for the creation of a new job classification designated as a "Rovei' to increase labour flexibility. though the union received commitments from the company that "The Rover classification is not intended to replace permanent vacancies or prevent recall." (Drafi 1995) Admittedly. such changes are a far cry from the sw-eeping transformations at Algoma Steel: nevertheless they indicate an effort on the part of at least one company and one union in St. Catharines to begin expenmentation in employee participation programs. Yet. Brian Greenaway (a USWA representative) expresses frustration when asked if these types of changes are discussed at the district labour council:
30 It is interesting, of course, that it is a Steelworker local that has become involved in this type of workplace restructuring. This is due in part to the emphasis placed on participatory management by the international union. Here we might have some evidence that the policies of the parent union are important in detemining local outcornes. We can't bnng these issues up at the labour council. It's not that they won9 let us. it's just that they won't listen. They're in a totally different place. No one has expressed any interest in promoting this kind of labour-management cooperation (Greenaway 1995).
Part of the reason that ardent support for worker participation programs is largely absent from labour council discussions is the history of mistnist and suspicion of management identified in Chapter 4. This is especially the case of the CAW. whose locals - which consistently manufactured high-quality products like the highly-regarded GM engine blocks or the quality award-wiming Hayes-Dana chassis - continually found thernselves fighting management attempts to institute concessions. As Tim Lambert. President of CAW Local 676 at Hayes-Dana explains:
You see. when management says. "Hey. we want to cooperate with the union." what they're really saying is. "we want to speed-up the Pace of work and get rid of job security." In our expenence. joint ventures with management are a losing proposition. 1 won't say we'll never do it. but we're always wary when they bring those kind of things to the table (Lambert 1995).
Still. Brian Greenaway has a different interpretation of why the CAW locals do not want to discuss employee participation programs:
1 think that the autoworkers haven't gotten invoived is employee participation because they haven't needed to. They've been pretty successful at bargaining - especially with GM and pattern bargaining. 1 think now it might be starting to change. but really they've been fortunate in that things have never gotten very bad (Greenaway 1995).
In any event. it is clear that intemal workplace restructuring has not been given the same emphasis by the labour movernent in St. Catharines as it has in Sault Ste. Marie. 5.2 Local Unions and Forma1 Ecooomic Developrnent Activities
For the purposes of this study. formal economic development will be defined as those activities which are initiated and fùnded by the govemment at various levels. These include the activities of econornic developrnent corporations or departments. provincial development programs and govement-sponsored forums desiped to enlist community involvement. While it is often common for unions to have representation in such organizations in Europe. in North
America govemments have been historically much more hesitant to include unions in any kind of meaningful way. The institutionalization of decentralized collective bargaining in Canada has led to a situation where there is a wide degree of variability from place to place in both the character of labourmanagement relations and the influences which unions have been able to exert on local governments. Not surprisingly. with labour regulation a provincial matter in
Canada most unions have much more contact with provincial govemment representatives and agencies than with any other level of govemment. Still. it is worth examining the ways in which unions have succeeded (or at least attempted) to influence formal economic development activity at the local level.
Economic developrnent in St. Catharines is formally a responsibility of the regional govemment." The Niagara Region Development Corporation (NRDC) was established in 1982 by the Niagara Regional Council as a non-profit organization with over two-thirds of the funding
3 1 The St. Catharines city govemment does have a Business Development Department which works closely with the Niagara Region Developrnent Corporation on site location and provision of services (Teichroeb 1994). In addition. St. Catharines has had various task forces set up in recent years to attract investment to the city. These bodies do not have representation from unions. coming fiom the regional govemment. Of the nineteen members of the Board of Directors. four are members of the Regional Council while the remaining fifieen are members of the local business community (including a few representatives from local educational institutions such as
Brock University and Niagara College.) Seats on the board are not assigned to specific constituencies. rather board members are recruited through intemal norninating and search committees. At one point. a representative hmlabour was appointed to the board. but he resigned soon after. A representative from the NRDC stated that the inclusion of a labour representative was an attempt to rnake the board '-politically-correct." The same NRDC representative blames the failed attempt to include labour on the unions themselves:
When you try to get a labour representative it's very difticult for labour to agree on who is going to represent them - especially across the region. There are some major unions in the region - [CAW] Local 199 is the biggest - and you have four different labour councils. There is no consensus among them as to who would represent them. (Teichroeb. 1994)
Furthemore. it is clear that business in the region is the top prionty of the NRDC. Indeed. the complete mission statement of the NRDC reads as follows: -'To contribute to the cornpetitiveness of Industry and Business in the Niagara Region." (Niagara Region Development Corporation.
Nat surprisingly. labour representatives in St. Catharines have been critical of the role of the NiZDC. Gabe McNally. President of the St. Catharines and District Labour Council and
Vice-President of CA W Local 199 states:
In my opinion there is more concem about what the [regional] govenunent can do for the business sector than what it can do for the people being affected by this whole corporate restructuring and recession. (McNally. 1 994) Mr. McNally recalled that he was asked to participate in a New Economy Tusk Force sponsored by the NRDC. He declined involvement with the cornmittee when he learned that one of its goals was to cal1 for the restmctunng of the Workers' Compensation Board to make it more dificult for workers to collect benefits.
Rather than concentrating on a more broad-based approach to developing the local economy by including representatives from labour and community groups. the NRDC remains narrowly focussed on aiding the local business community. This fact has led many union members to question the legitirnacy of the regional govemment altogether. In one meeting which
1 attended. Pmand Doma, two members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). suggested that the first thing needed to address the economic problems of St. Catharines was the abolition of the regional govenunent - which they viewed as merely a mechanism for feeding tax dollars to business. More generally. it seems that there is very little interaction between unions and the local govemment. Even CAW Local 199. representing over 12.000 workers. reports no meaningfid involvement with the local or regional govenunent involving econornic development and the sarne goes for the other 14 local labour organizations surveyed.
In contrast. the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) of Sault Ste. Marie appears to be a much broader-based organization with a wider focus. Its mission statement is as follows:
Sault Ste. Marie is a community that provides for its citizens by: - Preserving and promoting a supenor quality of life - Creative and diversified economic development which relies on. but does not exploit a unique natural environment and cultural heri tage - Social prograrns that meet the needs of our citizens This is a community which is proud of itself and the accomplishments of its citizens. It is a community that can act as a mode1 for others. as it demonstrates its ability to corne together in cornmon cause in the face of advenity and build a strong future. (Economic Development Corporation. 1993.5)
In addition to its broad focus. the EDC encourages community involvement through its cornmittee structure. With 15 standing comrnittees. the EDC has recruited over 150 volunteers from the community. Labour unions have representation on many of the cornmittees and Bob
Richards. Chair of USWA 225 1 at Algoma Steel. has a seat on the Board of Directors. Jake
Pastore. an economic development oficer for the EDC. states that the contribution of unions goes beyond their service on the EDC's comrnittees. He daims that the EDC has had many fruitfùl discussions with unions and credits the USWA specifically with creating a more energetic environment for economic development.
Before the Steelworkers took over Algoma Steel. we couldn't talk about economic development in this towm. The Company didn't want it. It didn't want any competition in the local labour market. Now. with the Steelworkers. it is like a breath of fresh air. They have already made many positive contributions to the EDC. (Pastore 1994)
There is evidence that a more inclusive attitude on the part of the Sault Ste. Marie EDC has led to greater interaction between unions and the local governrnent. Of the local unions surveyed. 8 out of 18 report some kind of meaningful involvement with the EDC or other local govemment agency.
Despite the encouraging situation. many unions in Sault Ste. Marie still believe that the local govemment needs to go funher in including labour in the economic development process.
Denis Desjardin. 3 representative fiom the USWA International. states that while a labour seat on the Board of Directors of the EDC is a good start. union participation is limited due to a lack of representation on the Steenng Cornmittee.
Many of the decisions about issues pertaining to how the EDC is to operate were made by an exclusive group. locally. who denied labour the oppominity for input at that level. They were welcorning us to sit on the Board. but not as part of the Steenng Cornmittee... it's kind of 1ike. "after we make the important decisions. we'll let you be involved." (Desjardin. 1994)
Indeed. it seems that until the very recent past. unions have been continually overlooked in the discussion of economic development. In 1989. the Sault Ste. Marie Social Planning Council sponsored the '-S.O.O."" Agenda - a forum designed to formulate an economic contingency plan for Sault Ste. Marie in the event of a recession. Of over 100 participants. only two were tiom labour - both from US WA Local 225 1. (S.0.0. Agenda. 1990)
In 199 1. the city launched the R.A.P.I.D.s." process to formulate a Strategic
Implementation Plan for Sault Ste. Marie. Again. although unions were invited to participate. it appeared to be in a very superficial rnanner and labour. for the most part. declined involvement.
This fact was acknowledged in the final report of the Strategic Irnplementation Plan:
In discussion with us. organized labour representatives made it clear that they were not able to participate as fùlly as they would have liked in the R.A.P.I.D.S. process ... Organized labour is an integrai part of the Sault. and the development of new solutions for the community must move bepnd the confrontational practices of the past to create a positive environment which includes and re flects the legitirnate interests of labour. (Struiegic* lrnplerneniation Plun. 1992. 1 7- 1 8)
- - '' "Seeking Out Opportunities" - a play on the city's nickname.
33 "Research. Action. Promote. Infrastructure. Delegate. Suppon" - a play on one of the city's tourist attractions. 113
In any event. it is clear that the restnicturing of Algoma Steel. and the new reality that the USWA had become majority owners of the iargest employer in the city went a long way towards breaking down the barriers to labour's participation in forma1 local economic development in
Sault Ste. Marie.
Not surprisingly. the different experiences of unions with local govemments in the two communities have led to a difference in the level of support for the local govemment. In the survey of local union activists in both St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie (Chapter 4). the level of support for the statement "1 feel that our local govemment understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs". was twice as high in Sault Ste. Marie as it was in St.
Catharines (though it is important to point out that. in both cases. the average response was to disagree with the statement. See Figure 4.2.) It is interesting to note that while many union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie are still cntical of what they see as the low level of union involvement in the EDC. rnost of those interviewed felt that the EDC is going in the righr direction in ternis of its activities - a stark contrast from the views of union representatives in St. Catharines.
5.3 Informal Economic Development
Aside from the more formal ways in which labour has participated in economic development, unions have also attempted to influence the future economic direction of their cornmunities through a varie& of "informal" means. including building coalitions and developing innovative programs to help arneliorate the ravages of restnicturing. In this case. 1 use the term "informal" to indicate any activity which is neither created nor predominantly fimded by govemment. Historically, unions have always addressed the needs of their members 114
which empioyers or govenunents have seemed uninterested in fulfilling. Many unions believe
that their responsibility to their members lies not only in protecting their rights at the workplace.
but also in representing and fighting for their interests in society at large. As a result. issues
pertaining to local economic development ofien form part of a union's concems for the welfare of
its members.
One area where unions have enjoyed a substantial amount of success is in the training and
placement of unemployed workers. The district labour councils in both St. Catharines and Sauit
Ste. Marie have provided major support (both financial and organizational) to the unemployed
workers' help centres located in eac h cornmunity . Furthemore. both the CA W in St. Catharines
and the USWA in Sault Ste. Marie have developed intensive training programs with local
technical colieges in order to help their members upgrade their skills. In addition. the US WA
was instrumental in setting up the Canadian Steel Trade and Emplopent Congress (CSTEC) -
a partnership between labour. govemment and business started in Sault Ste. Marie - to help displaced steelworkers get access to education and training. CSTEC is a good example of the
positive benefits of labour-industry cooperation. Of over 1.000 displaced workers assisted by
CSTEC in the past ten years. 86% were successfully re-employed. (CSTEC 1995. 3)
Another practice in which unions have traditionally excelled is rnobilizing the community against an unjust corporate decision or unresponsive govemment. (See Brecher and Costello.
1990.) This cm be true especially when the issue involves the economic survival of the
cornmunity. Yet. an examination of St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie reveals a marked difference in the extent to which labour has been able to gamer active community support. After
General Motors announced the foundry closure in St. Catharines in February of 1992. Sandy O'Dell (a member of CAW Local 199) spearheaded the "Save the Foundry Cornmittee*'which was designed to put pressure on the various levels of government to convince GM to keep the facility open. Although this goal ultimately failed. within a year the cornmittee had transformed into the "Fighting for a Working Future Coalition" - a broad-based organization compnsed of unions. government oficials. cornmunity organizations and business leaders from al1 over the
Niagara peninsula. In Jany1993 the coalition adopted a plan for action.
Our aim is to convince corporations. along with the Federal and Provincial governments to live up to their responsi bilities and take immediate. positive actions to reverse the current trend of joblessness in the NiagaraMamilton Industrial Base. (Working Futures Coalition. 1993, 1 1)
Among other things. the WFC identified the need for a Full Employment Program which included such recommendations as an extension of Unernployrnent Insurance benefits for an additional 26 weeks. a reduction of the GST by 2 percentage points and. ultimately. the adoption of a shorter work week without a reduction in pay. The coalition was supported financially by donations - the most by far coming from CAW locals around the province.
Similarly. labour has participated - through Labour Council President Gabe McNally - in Visions ~Viugaru.a coalition of local community leaders created to promote regional development. Bob Kuhns. a local businessman. spearheaded the creation of the group to address what he identified as a lack of leadership in the community:
What we have here in St. Catharines - and the Niagara region generally - is a lack of true leadership. We have many talented individuals with a number of good skills, but very few are willing to step up and foster some kind of vision for the region. That's why we've made the identification and cultivation of leadership Our number one goal. (Kuhns 1995) Interestingly (and purposefùlly). there are no politicians or government representatives in Visions
Niagara. although there are several business. community and education leaders. When asked what strengths unions bring to the group. Kuhns replied:
The most important thing I've noticed about labour people is their cornmitment to education and skills development. They seem to have a good handle on what is needed to upgrade the skills level in the region. That. and their ability to mobilize their memben are their greatest strengths. (Kuhns 1995)
So far. Visions Niagaru has concentrated on the promotion and development of tourism. aei- hospitality (vineyards and orchards) and transportation in the region. In addition to the above two groups. there were at least four other communityllabourlbusiness coalitions formed in the
Niagara region by 1994. In fact. the nurnber of coalitions wishing to include labour had gram so high that Gabe McNally. president of the labour council. was compelled to wnte a letter urging al1 the groups to corne together under one umbrella organization.
In contrast. Sault Ste. Marie is marked by a dearth of linkages between unions and community groups. Of al1 the union leaders interviewed only one. Sharon Graham (OPEIU). reported any real involvement with community groups - and most of that was under the auspices of the EDC.
1 got drawn into a lot of this cornmunity development stuff because it was like killing two birds with one Stone - I was a token women and a token labour person. What they didn't count on was that 1 was somebody who would push - and 1 had a lot of labour experience. Still. there's only so much one person can do. 1 think the Labour Council really needs to put some more effort into reaching out to the greater community here in Sault Ste. Marie. (Graham 1994) Many of the union activists I spoke to believed that the lack of stronger cornmunity relations was partially the result of labour's bad reputation in Sault Ste. Marie.
We've had a lot of difficulty with the cornmunity accepting the role that the Steelworken played in saving Algoma. The local newspaper is very anti-union. 1 at one time wrote a letter to the editor. highlighting the fact that their editorials gave no credit whatsoever to the steelworkers and the union for the job they did. 1 was labeled as one of those reactionists that takes exception to anything the paper prints. That was only the first letter to the editor that 1 had w-ritten in al1 the years of reading that ragsheet. (Desjardin. 1994)
Of necessity. USWA Local 225 1 has had to be inwardly-focussed due to the Algoma restructunng. Therefore. much more emphasis has been placed on the restructuring of work relations within the workplace than on any kind of broad challenge to the corporate agenda.
Nevertheless. most of the labour leaders interviewed expressed the view that strengthening linkages with community groups was an important future goal.
5.4 Emerging Models of Union Acîivity
1 will now address the extent to which the strategies and actions of local unions in Sault
Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are generalizable to other communities. The identification of local union strategies is similar to the identification of corporate strategies. In both cases. we are trying to understand how important economic actors make sense of the world and anticipate their behaviour. 1 have termed these strategies and actions as models not because 1 regard them as blueprints for other comrnunities to follow. but because 1 believe that they represent two rather distinct ways of confionting challenges posed to older industrial communities. In fact. it is hou& further cornparisons of industrial communities in similar circurnstances to St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie that the relative importance of the models presented below will become more evident. For now. this study has identified enough substantial differences in the ways that
unions have interpreted and responded to contemporary challenges to indicate that at least two distinct models of emerging local union strategy exist.
Before launching into a description of these models it is important to point out that they are not mutually exciusive. Indeed. although different union activities predominated in the two communities. unions in both cities still participated in a wide range of actions. Workplaces such as W.S. Tyler indicate that Algoma-style restructuring is possible in St. Catharines. while some unions in the Soo have maintained strong links with some charity organizations. Nevertheless. the fact that a wide range of union activity can be found in both communities does not invalidate the conclusion that unions in Sault Ste. Marie have concentrated to a far greater extent on reshaping the community through workplace restructuring. In contrat. unions in St. Catharines have bren involved with community groups to much larger extent than those in Sault Ste. Marie.
Thus. the models outlined below can be loosely distinguished as one based on workplace restructuring and one based on community activism.
5-41 Sault Ste. Marie - Redrfning the Wor@Zace
To a large rxtent. local unions in Sault Ste. Marie have responded to the post-Fordist crisis by concentrating on restructuring the workplace. On the surface. it rnight appear that
unions in the Soo have retreated to a traditional area of union activity and reinforced the notion that unions are not interested in or capable of transforming their communities. Such a view is mistaken. Although the US WA, CEPU and IWA have been preoccupied with issues such as plant modemization and work reorganization. there is a component to the process which has 119 profound implications for the community as a whole and even beyond. Rather than workplace restructuring as an end in itself. the unions in Sault Ste. Marie. especially the US WA. view it as a means to economic renewal and the democratic control of work.
Despite the monumental task of restmcturing Algoma Steel. the USWA has had time to submit several comprehensive proposals to the EDC. develop an institute for workplace restructuring with Sault College. and host an international conference on "The Changing
Workplace*' with over 200 participants. In addition. in 1993. the USWA commissioned a snidy on the potential for the development of flexible manufacturing networks in northem Ontario
(Gertler and Rutherford 1994). The point is that the USWA recognizes that its ownership of
Algoma Steel has given it the opportunity (indeed. the responsibility) to play an important role in the local economy. The recognition that the Soo has been too dependent on Algoma as well as its continuing cornmitment to thousands of unemployed steelworkers. has meant that the USWA has actively sought ways to encourage the diversification of the local economy - a stark contrat to the rote played by Algoma under its previous ownership. In advocating workplace restructuring. the steelworkers are hoping that greater union involvement with management wili help make the community's leading employers become better corporate citizens and mitigate the detrimental effects of globalization.
Implicit in the strategy of the USWA. and other unions in the Soo (e.g.. CEPU. IWA). is the belief that economic renewal is possible from within. It is important to note that. at least since 1991 (USWA 199 1 ). the USWA international has oficially accepted the reality of globalization and the need for workplace restructuring as fact - hardly surprising considering the attrition the union mernbership sustained in the 1980s in Canada and (especially) the United States. Hence the union has focused its efforts on how best to preserve jobs and maintain the economic viability of employers. Here we have an implicit acceptance of competitiveness as an important goal - something the CAW has viewed as anathema? The USWA's senior staff. nevertheless. is aware of the fine line it is walking and has argued that rneaningful union involvement with management - if reproduced in many places - cm result in a reduction of the harmfûl side effects of cornpetition. In any event. the USWA has demonstrated that a firm cari make a profit without placing profits above the needs of workers and the community.
Thus. the model presented by local unions in Sault Ste. Marie is one which seeks to redefine the workplace as an arena in which unions should have greater input and through which unions can provide greater stability to the community. When faced with a series of disinterested owners and poor managers. the unions determined that the best way to preserve their jobs and the economic viability of the community was to become actively involved in corporate decision- making. Part of this decision was a recognition that unions have to accept (for the time being) the presence of globalization and a federal government enarnoured of the neo-consenrative agenda. Therefore. unions in Sault Ste. Marie have opted for the restructuring of capital-labour relations instead of actively pursuing Fundamental changes in govemance.
Due to the sornewhat unique situation of Algoma Steel. it is unclear just how generalizable the Soo model is. Nevertheless. the conviction with which the USWA is spreading the 'gospel' of workplace restructuring indicates that they. at least. feel that it is a potential model for other communities. It is possible to identiG certain factors which would make the adoption
34 It should be noted that the USWA has adopted a definition of competitiveness in which firms would "compete on ternis which make it possible to maintain and improve incornes." (See Marshall 199 1.) 12 1 of the Soo mode1 more likely. First. the fact that Sault Ste. Marie was dominated by single-plant. domestically-owned firms means that. in every case. workplace restructuring and worker ownership could be assured some degree of consideration. Fixms are often opposed to selling abandoned plants to workee (indeed. Dofasco only agreed to do so afier strong-am tactics from the Rae govemment), but domestically-owned plants are more susceptible to public pressure.
The second major factor alluded to above is the presence of local. regional and provincial governrnents and govemment institutions (e.g.. the Soo EDC) which firmly believe in a union's right to participate in decision-making. both within the firm and within the comrnunity. There is no question that the Rae government played an important role in giving the unions the credibility and the support to accomplish their goals. Communities in jurisdictions hostile to union involvement might be unwilling to lend such support or to challenge a firm's decision to close a plant.
Finally. workplace restructuring as a tool for community economic development is reinforced in areas where dominant unions are not ideologically opposed to it. Indeed. the
US WA has ernbraced workplace restmcturing as an entrie to greater input into corporate decision-making. based on the corporatist models of Sweden and Germany. As stated earlier. this implies an acceptance of the goals of the corporation. which is problematic for some unions.
The presence of dominant unions whose national policy has embraced the process of workplace reorganization - and which have direct experience with it - increases the likelihood that SUC~ activity will be considered as a viable option. Indeed. al1 of the above factors applied in the successful restnictunng of Spruce Falls Power and Paper in Kapuskasing. ontario."
2 St. Catharines - Comrnuniiy Activism
The recent activity of labour in St. Catharines. particularly the CAW and the district labour council. can be characterized as a form of cornmunity activisrn. In short. unions have taken advantage of well-developed links. or formed new ones. with community groups to try to mobilize the community into concerted action. While attempts at mobilization often stem fiom specific incidents (Le.. the announcement of the foundry closing or the implementation of free trade). it can also be said that union strategy has been to see beyond the immediate and local circurnstances and push for legislative changes. Thus. a cal1 for a general strike to protrst Free trade snowballs into a rnarch on Ottawa to demand its revocation as we1l as the reversal of cuts to unemployment insurance. As well. the CAW's plant-closing committee mushrooms into the
Working Futures Coalition (WFC). which adopts a platform calling for. among other things. a shorter work wee k. Finally. through such labour-sponsored organizations as the Unemployed
Workers Help Centre. unions have pushed to give unemployed workers a community voice and a level of organization which enables them to participate in coalition-bui lding. In these ways. union activity seems to be aimed at the broader transformation of society rather than the transformation of the workplace.
3 5 In 1991. workers and community members orchestrated a buy-out of the paper miil which employed 1.200 worken in the production of newsprint. Again. the provincial governent was instrumental in achieving the deal through its agreement to purchase the associated power plants which allowed Kimberly-Clark to cover its costs. Ontario Hydro agreed to give the mil1 ten years of free electricity. (See Farnsworth 1995.) 123
In the St. Catharines model, labour does not assign responsibility for economic instability hlly on the shoulders of corporate capital. but equally (or perhaps more so) on government for its failure to protect the rights of Canadian workers. This helps to explain why so much coalition activity is aimed not at big business. but at al1 levels of government. When General Motors announced the intended closure of the foundry. the CAW and Labour Council had to push the local govemment to demand the involvement of the provincial and federal governrnents.
Similarly, the work of the WFC was geared towards forcing the provincial and federal governrnents to acknowledge the economic instability of the Niagara region. In fact. at one meeting of the WFC on March 5. 1994 many representatives of unions and community groups expressed their anger with al1 levels of governrnent and wondered why govemment representatives should be included at al1 in the coalition discussions.
By examining the activities of unions in St. Catharines. it is clear that ihrre is a higher level of interaction with community groups and perhaps. indirectly. with local businesses than with the local or regional governments. In fact. while Gabe McNally refused to sit on a cornmittee sponsored by the NRDC to investigate worker's compensation. he is a member of the
Visions Niagara Steering Cornmittee. which includes several business leaders. but no govemrnent representatives. This demonstrates that unions in St. Catharines have joined with local community groups and business leaders to discuss solutions to problems which they perceive as being caused by the govemment.
In the end, unions in St. Catharines are behaving in a rnanner which is consistent with their view that the local community must pull together to confront challenges which are the result of factors external to the community. Among private sector unions particularly. the belief exists 124 that St. Catharines' economic woes are the result first and forernost of free trade. then of the federai govement and international competition. On the whole. union leaders are quite dissatisfied with the local and regional govemments. As a result. the St. Catharines mode1 is characterized by the belief that community activism is a viable means through which to pressure a11 levels of govemment either to repeal or pass legislation which would be in the best interest of the working people of the community.
It is unclear to what extent the St. Catharines model is generalizable to other communities. It is possible. nevertheless. to consider some factors which might contribute to the decision to follow a strategy based on community activism. First it seems that non-local or foreign ownership of industry is an important component to this model. The ability of large. multi-locational firms to shifi production to other locations and pit workplaces against one another can do a lot to fuel a community's ire. In the case of St. Catharines. the high level of foreign ownership was certainly important. but it is not necessary that dominant firms be foreign- owned. (For example. the St. Catharines model could be adopted by a US. community dominated by these same U.S.-owned firms.) When a community is threatened with economic min due to decisions made by '-outsidersqw.it is that much easier to mobilize residents - including local business leaders.
Second. the unions of St. Catharines believed that they had little choice but to apply pressure to govermnents through cornmunity activism. given the lack of avenues through which local unions had access to local decision-making. In other words. had the govemment provided more leadership and been more inclusive. community activism (particularly aimed at the local government) might have seemed less urgent. Therefore. the St. Catharines model might prove a viable option for unions in communities where the locai govemment seems indecisive or reluctant to involve unions in decision-making. most likely a large percentage of communities in
North America.
Finally. the practice of cornmunity activism is reinforced in areas where the ideology of dominant unions is such that any true solution to economic uncertainty rests in reigning-in the power of corporate capital through fundamentai changes in governance. In St. Catharines. locally-dominant unions such as the CAW and CUPE believed that the city's problems could only be solved by a new federal govemment and radical economic reform. Such beliefs are prevalent arnong Canada's "nationalist" unions. The activities of such unions. then. reflect these beliefs and provide the local labour movement with a discernable shifi in emphasis from restructuring capital-labour relations to restructuring society. Thus. in communities dominated by unions with similar ideologies. the St. Catharines mode1 rnight appear attractive as it focuses on attacking the perceived root causes of economic instability rather than treating the symptoms.
Nevertheless. given the current rnacro reguiatoiy regime and an increasingly unsupportive and even hostile governments. it appears that this mode1 will not produce the tangible results evident in the Soo.
5.5 Conclusions
It is clear fiom the above discussions that while both Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines have been subjected to similar crises -job loss. high unemployment and industrial restructunng
- the labour movements in each city have responded in distinct ways with each fashioning a different strategy. In Sault Ste. Marie, local labour unions have al1 but ignored community 126 mobilization in favour of concentrating on workplace restructuring and. to a lesser extent formal econornic developrnent activities. In contrast. local unions in St. Catharines - which have been largely shut out of the formal economic development arena and which. based on ideology and experience. have largely rejected the type of workplace restructuring ascendent in the Soo - have concentrated on establishing and strengthening links with cornrnunity groups to challenge the status quo. In the next chapter a framework for analysing the underlying causes which have contributed to these distinct models of local union strategy will be developed and discussed- Chapter 6 Explaining Local Difierences Observed: A Regulation Approach
6.0 Introduction
This chapter attempts to identib the forces producing the differences in local union
activity and its impact on local economic trajectories evident in the preceding two chapten. At
issue is whether variations in local union activity are merely coincidental or are the result of
identifiable and significant differences among such factors as the union populations in each city.
local material conditions. the local history of manufacturing and class dynamics. While it is
impossible to point to one single factor which accounts for the observed differences. a range of
such factors exists which. taken together. suggests that unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines will act differently when confronted with similar challenges. The chapter is designed
explicitly to apply the analytical Framework of regulation theory to the research conducted on
Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. In so doing. this chapter explores both the contributions and
limitations of regulation theory as a usefùl theoretical tool for analyzing variations in local
responses to the crisis of Fordism.
The preceding consideration of the structure and process of local union decision-making
(Chapter 2) leads to the assertion that geographical and historical specificities play an important
part in the observed local differences in union activity. This chapter makes explicit links
betwren these geographic and historic speci ficities and the local modes of social regulation
(MSRs) introduced in Chapter 2. These links demonstrate how the use of reyulation theory's
conceptual framework might help to explain the ongoing development of divergent local MSRs. Sections 6.2 and 6.3 examine various aspects of two of the major isstitutional forms which comprise the local MSR - the wage labour nexus and the lubour-state accord. Afier a discussion of how differences in the local MSRs have led to different views of the globalized cnsis of post-
Fordism. 1 conclude that regulation theory has something to contribute to our understanding the role that local unions play - and will continue to play - in their communities and how that role has evolved over time..
6.1 Spatial and Temporal Specificities as Institutional Forms
As discussed in Chapter 2. a mode of social regulation (MSR) consists of a series of institutionalized compromises (or institutional forms) which are both forged and ultimately destroyed through crisis. By definition. these institutional foms are both place and time specific: they Vary geographically and historicall y. As stated be fore. although most regulation work has exarnined the national or global level. institutional forms will also have their own particular local manifestations. Thus. differences in union activity (through the marner specified above) cm be partially explained by examining differences in local modes of social regulation. Furthemore. speci fic local institutional compromises have the potential to affect MS Rs at greater spatial scales, much the way that the restructunng at Algoma has served as a mode1 for other such worker-centered approaches in other communities in Canada and the US3' and has influenced the debate on industrial policy at the provincial and national leveis. The distinct nature of local modes of social regulation, therefore. is an important (though hitherto neglected) object of study.
This study will focus on two sets of institutional compromises which appear to have the most
36 Of course. Algoma's strategy itself draws from earlier experiments with worker buy- outs in the U.S. 129 direct bearing on the differences evident in union activity and impact in Sault Ste. Marie and St.
Catharines. These are institutional foms which link labour with capital and with the state.
The first major forrn examined is the wage iabozrr nexus: the range of compromises through which labour and capital are brought together to engage in production. The wage labour nexus is influenced by such factors as the organizational structure of labour and capital: the process through which wages and work conditions are determined. agreed upon. and chan@: and the structure of the labour market. The second major form examined is loosely called the fabour-stme accord '-This form encornpasses the various relationships between workers and the state. Obviously. labour can enter into institutionaiized compromises with governments at various levels. although even interaction between local unions and higher levels of govemment
(e.g..provincial) can be experienced differently from one place to another." In exarnining this form. 1 will focus on differences in both the local and provincial governrnents' records on worker inclusion. empowerment and protection as well as local union support for particular govemment policies and progms. Together. these two institutional foms help structure an analysis of the role of local labour unions as advocates for the rights of their members. both as workers and citizens. Specifically. exarnining these two forms provides a clear picture of the ability of local unions to influence local economic conditions and to participate in local govemance - two key avenues through which labour unions have the potential to enter actively in the production of space at the local level.
" This terni is a denvation of BoyeF s ( 1990) capital-state accord.
38 For example. the Ontario provincial govemment has many specialized programs for Northem Ontario such as the Ministry of Northem Development and Mines and the Northem Ontario Development Corporation which do not exist in other areas of Ontario. 6.2 Examining the Wage Labour Nexus
Following on the above discussion. it is important to document and analyze the differences that are evident in the way capital and labour have been brought together to engage in production in the two cornrnunities. The recent expenence of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines reveals four important differences in this regard. Fint. the nature of capital in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines is differentiated with respect to the extent of foreign ownership. Second. there are important differences in the dominant industries in each comrnunity. Third. the labour movements of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are dominated by unions which differ markedly in structure and ideology. Finally. the expenence of the dominant unions in dealing with management has had a clear effect on the focus of union activity. specifically in regard to issues of workplace restructuring.
6.2.1 Variations in the Lewi of Foreign Uwnership of'Production
The marked variation in Ievels of employment accounted for by foreign-owned firms was presented in Chapter 3. Over the past 30 years. St. Catharines has had a consistentlp high proportion of manufacturing employment in foreign-owned establishments. compared to a negligible proportion in Sault Ste. Marie (Figures 3.6 and 3.7) St. Catharines' location just across the U.S. border and close to major Canadian population centres suggests that sorne of the foreign investment in the region has been motivated by an attempt to get around tariffs which existed pnor to fiee trade. Evidence in support of this case is provided by the fact that severai of the berican-owned fimis have headquarters in the Buffalo area or in other nearby states such as
Ohio or Michigan. With the signing of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA. residents of St. Catharines (and the Niagara Peninsula in general) have becorne concemed that 131 these fims might close plants in the area in order to concentrate ernployment in the United States
(with some justification as the fate of the axle plant illustrated in Chapter 4). Thus free trade agreements have heightened the level of insecurity among workers in the region. who recognize that decisions to maintain or slash jobs are uitimately made outside of the country.
A word must also be said about the nature of the foreign-owned firms in St. Catharines.
In many instances. they are large. multi-locational corporations. The historical sources available suggest that these employers have ofien attempted to use their multi-locational structure to exact concessions from worken in bargaining. General Motors and the Dana Corporation (parent of
Hayes-Dana) have been notewonhy in their use of this tactic (Chapter 4). For exarnple. in 1983 the management at Hayes-Dana pointed to concessions given by the United Auto Workers at their plants in the United States and announced that if its employees in St. Catharines did not give similar concessions in bargaining it would move its production to U.S. plants. (Sadlier
1983) More recently. in an attempt to "whipsaw" St. Catharines worken. GM held out the prospect of further plant closures in the area if operations were not made more cornpetitive wi th those in the U.S. through more flexible work practices. (Bogacz 1992. A 1 )
Despite its position as a border community. the penetration of foreign fimis into Sault
Ste. Marie remains fairly Iow. There are sip. however. that foreign investment is on the rise, including the recent acquisition of the Algoma Central Corporation by Wisconsin Railroad and the local government's attempts to court firms such as Georgia-Pacific to open production facilities in the region. Nevertheless. control over the Sault Ste. Marie economy rests to a much greater extent within the Soo (or at least within Ontario) than abroad. This is particularly relevant when one considen the amount of influence the provincial governrnent was able to muster over Dofasco as opposed to General Motors. It also might help to explain why workers in
Sault Ste. Marie are not quite as vehement in their opposition to fiee trade as those in St.
Catharines.
6.12 Variations in Indusr~Strtrcture
The history and geography of Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines are also influenced by the structure of their dominant industries. As iliustrated in Chapter 3 (Figures 3.3 and 3.4). employment in St. Catharines is concentrated in the motor vehicle parts industry. This accounted for roughly 57% of manufacturing employment in 1994. In Sault Ste. Marie. primary metals and fabricated rnetal products manufacturing accounted for 7 1% of manufacturing ernployment. In
Canada the auto parts sector and the metal products sector have somewhat different structures which might affect the activities of local unions.
The Canadian auto parts sector is to a very large extent foreign-~w-ned.'~There is no
Canadian brand of car. Auto production is dominated by the -'Big 3" Arnencan automakers
(GM. Ford and Chrysler) and to a Iesser extent by recent Japanese transplants (Toyota Honda and Suzuki). As a result. many of the major auto parts suppliers in Canada are firms who also supply the automakers in their home countnes. Granted. there are sorne successful Canadian- owned parts producers (Magna International and A.G. Simpson are cases in point). but by and large the industry remains dominated by foreign capital. This fact helps to explain why the economy of St. Catharines is so dependent on foreign-owned firms (although levels of foreign ownership are also higher in the paper products and rnetal fabrication industries in St. Catharines
39 The federal government reported that in 1990. only 33 out of 102 of the most important auto parts fims in Canada were Canadian-owned. (Industry, Science and Technology Canada 199 1 ) than in Sault Ste. Marie.) In contrast. the Canadian steel industry is dominated by large. domestically-owned fimis. Firms like Stelco. Dofasco and Algoma have always controlled a large portion of the Canadian market for steel.
The structure of the dominant industries has interesting implications for labour relations.
As stated earlier. multi-locational firms are able to use the threat of moving production more easily than single-facility producers.40 Thus. workers in cornrnunities dominated by large. rndti- plant automobile and parts production are much more likely to encounter threats of plant closure during periods of bargaining than those in steel towns (though of course it happens there. too.) In addition. bargaining with the Big 3 automaken is coordinated at the national level by the
Canadian autoworkers' union. This rneans that if workers in St. Catharines are to go out on strike. they will most likely be joined by workers in Oshawa and elsewhere. On the other hand. steel plants tend to stand alone. While pattern bargaining exists. if Algoma workers are on strike. workers at Stelco will not necessarily join them (Dofasco is not unionized.) It is also important to note that the US.- Canada Auto Pact. signed in 1965. required a minimum level of motor vehicle production in Canada. The Auto Pact. rather than constituting free trade. was a managed trade agreement. Under its provisions. automotive products could enter the United States duty free provided they included at least 50% North Arnerican content. On the other hand, in order for auto products to enter Canada duty free. producers had to produce in Canada an amount equal
40 It is also important to point out that the immense capital costs of building an integrated steel mil1 means that Canadian steel manufacturers have opted for in situ restructuring rather than locational shift. Neverthetess. the advent of mini-mills has reduced the barriers to entry substantially and, in the process. altered the geography of steel production in North America. (See Corman, et al. 1993) With firms such as Dofasco investing in their own mini-mil1 facilities in the United States (Berry 1993). this greatly enhances the threat of potentially mobile capital in this industry. 134 to at least 75% of their Canadian sales. Also. producers were required to maintain a minimum level of production equal to the 1964 mode1 year. Finally. producers had to commit themselves to increasing Canadian value added by at least 60% of their growth in Canadian sales plus Cf260 million by 1968 (Womacott 1987). From a Canadian perspective. the Auto Pact is generally regarded as a successful managed trade agreement. In exchange for the reduction of tariffs,
Canada was provided with access to the large U.S. market and a larger share of North Amencan production than it could otherwise support. Looking at employment figures (Figure 6.1), we can see thai Canadian employment in the automotive sector has expenenced both absolute and relative growth since the signing of the pact. Thus. while Canadian autoworkers appear vulnerable io the decisions of rnulti-locational. multinational corporations. they might have enjoyed a somewhat stronger bargaining position due to pattern bargaining and managed vade
Figure 6.1
Canada's Share of North American Auto Production Employment (Assembly & Parts) 1 950-1 985 22%
20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
Sarms SIsasbcr CaMda. US CaBrnu of Manuiaciursn. Mm~Lshm Rmsrr 135 agreements. This might also help to explain the confidence placed by St. Catharines autoworkers in traditional industrial relations (Chapter 4).
One final observation concems the industries' influence on other industrial development in the area. Automobiles are rnuch more cornplicated products than sheet steel. plate steel. structural steel or steel tubing. Cornmunities dominated by the auto industry. then. are more likely to have firms engaged in a wide range of activities. including electronics. metal fabrication. plastics and machining. This heips to explain why St. Catharines appears to have a more diversified economy than Sault Ste. Marie. Electronics firms. such as Ferranti-Packard. are classified as such by their SIC codes. even though they produce primarily for the auto industry.
Conversely. steel plants - especially large. integrated producers Iike Algorna - do not normally require the proximity of many other types of supplier finns although they may stimulate the local development of downstrearn steel-using manufacturers.
6-2.3 Furialions in Dominant Union Structure un J Ideology
Just as the structure of dominant industries has the potential to influence the historical and geographical experience of a community. so does the structure of dominant unions. As discussed earlier. national (or international) unions exert a great dral of influence over their locals. Attitudes and structures present in the parent union are routinely reflected at the local level. Indeed. most unions require that local procedures and by-laws be consistent with those set by the parent union. Similarly. union locals are expecied to support any policy resolutions adopted at the national (or international) level. A union local which adopts a policy position contrary to that of its parent union risks alienating the union leadership and. thus. the support of the national executive. While debate and discussion of issues is encouraged at conventions and 136 other union events. one of the strengths of union solidarity lies in the union being able to speak with one voice to govemment. the public and employers. As a result. the options open to union locals at any given time are subject. in part. to the established policy and structure of the parent union. Given the importance of the CAW in St. Catharines and the USWA in Sault Ste. Marie. a discussion of their differing structures and ideologies (as reflected in policy decisions) is necessary. The most important differences between the CAW and the USWA stem from the fact that the former is a national union and the latter is an international union. headquartered in the
United States.
Pnor to 1985. the CAW was part of the United Auto Workers (UAW) which is an international union headquartered in Detroit. Michigan. The separation of the CAW from the
UAW was the culmination of a decade-long push among several Canadian branches of international unions to break away fiom their parent organizations. In 1974. for exampie. the
Canadian Papenvorkers Union (CPU) broke with the United Papemaken International Union
(UPIU) when a majority of the Canadian workers in the UPIU thought they would be better represented by a Canadian union. In fact. by the mid- 1980s. the percentage of organized
Canadian worken in national unions was more than double the 1960 figure. (See Figure 6.3.)
in the two national political econornies.
In the case of the autoworkers. the split came in 1985 with the formation of the Canadian
Auto Workers (CAW). Sam Gindin (1989) has argued that the break up was the result of different strategic goals and the unwillingness of the UAW to stand firm in the face of increased corporate assault. The decision of the Canadian section of the United Auto Workers to form its own Canadian union was rooted in the different responses of unionists in Canada and the United States to an increasing belligerence on the part of the corporations... after decades of dependency in a context of intense economic uncertainty. the self-confidence emerged within the Canadian section to force this conflict to the point of a break with the American 'parent'. (p. 63)
This explanation, however, does not consider the divergent matenal conditions which unions in the two countries encountered in the 1980s. The differing strategies and unequal levels of
"militancy" on the parts of the U.S. and Canadian workers were grounded in structurai differences.
Figure 6.2
Percentage of Organized Canadian Workers in Canadian Unions, 1945-1988 138
The decline of international unionism in Canada and the seerning decrease in Amencan union militancy should not be viewed in a vacuum. increased international competition and shrinking world markets emphasized the inefficiencies of the North Amencan production system.
Foreign cornpetitors began to churn out higher quality products with greater product variation al1 at a lower cost. Fordist mass production techniques seemed no longer competitive and many
North American industrial firms began a long penod of restructuring. Unions in the United
States increasingly became the scapegoats for America's economic woes. (See, for example.
Clark 1986,1989.) The Reagan Administration's dissolution of the air trafic controller's union
(PATCO) in 1982 (Harrison and Bluestone 1988) was tantamount to declaring open season on
US. workers and their unions. Faced with the prospects of deciining profits and increased global competition, many U.S. corporations used the threat of mass layoffs and plant closure to extract wage concessions from unionized workers. Unions, businesses argued, hampered the firm's ability to act with the flexibility needed in this new era of global competition. The steel and auto industries were particularly hard hit and many USWA and UAW locals capitulated to management demands for concessions. It seemed ironic that the very organizations which were supposed to have caused the devastation of the U.S. economy could now be so powerless to prevent the steady erosion of their hard-won rights and benefits.
This assault on labour, however, was not directed evenly across the border. For one thing, the Mulroney government in Canada (though unabashedl y pro-business) did not at tack unions with the same vehemence as the Reagan Administration in the United States. In addition,
Canada did not experience the same loss of manufacturing jobs as the United States during the
1970s and 1980s. Figure 6.3 shows industrial employment indices for both countries. Using Figure 6.3
l ndustrial Employment Indices for Canada and the U.S., 1968-1988 l968=lOO
UV - l9k8 1970 1h2 19?4 1d76 1978 19'801982 19'84 19'86 19'88
Source: Statistia Canada, + Canada A United States
1968 as the base year, the graph clearly dernonstrates a greater retrenchment in the United States.
Furthemore, an examination of unionization rates in both nations shows that while unions in
Canada remained relatively strong, membership in the United States declined dramatically. (See
Figure 6.4). The point of the above discussion is to illustrate that, in the 1 !?80s, Canadian workers generally did not experience the cnsis of Fordism to the same degree as Amencan workers. Figure 6.4
Union rnembership as a Percentage of Non-agricultural Production Workers in l Canada and the U.S.
1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988
Sain*~.caMdaYervbUO*yidsQlUsnCau &suna of me ~~edSœaw Canada +United States
The divergent responses of the national econornies to the crisis of Fordism must be kept in mind when exarnining the decisions of Canadian locals to disaffiliate frorn international unions. The ability and desire of some Canadian workers to disaffiliate from the intemationals did not stem simply from a greater miiitancy or cornmitment to social reform. but also from the perception of an economic advantage. One of the original justifications for international iinionism in Canada was to raise Canadian Lvage standards to those of American workers. AS the
Fordist crisis developed. the situation became reversed and Canadian worksrs enjoyed COS^ and quaiity advantages and a higher standard of living than their Amencan counterparts. As a resuit. some Canadian workers began to brlieve thnt intemationalism no longer sened the economic interests of the Canadian worker. Even Bob White ( 1987). founder of the CAW and current president of the Canadian Labour Congress. acknowledged this fact.
Nationalist feelings were stirred in the late 1970s by the worldwide recession. which rocked the North Arnericûn auto industry and shook the union. The Canadian dollar was devalued sharply against the Amencan dollar. This factor. together with such economic differences as govemment support for health care and other social services in Canada. meant that Canadians were working cheaper than Amencans and could develop different strategies at the bargaining tables. Since it was no longer possible for a pattern achieved in agreements in the States to fit Canadian workers. we began to bargain differently and get better results than the Americans could. (p. 15)
In breaking away from the UAW, the CAW set itself on a course to resist giving concessions in bargaining. Given the experience of the UAW since 1984, it could be argued that the CAW made the correct choice for its members. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that the Auto
Pact of 1965 required the Big 3 automakers to maintain a minimum level of production in
Canada. Thus, it is hard to Say whether the hard line adopted by the CAW would have been as effective in the absence of the Auto Pact.
By no means were dl organized Canadian workers ready to reject intemationalism. In fact throughout this period of intense union restmcturing. Canadian steelworkers remained committed to the United Steelworkers of America. With its international headquarters in
Pittsburgh, Pemsylvania, die USWA has a district structure which allows Canadian steelworkers a hi& degree of autonomy (District 6 represents steelworkers in Ontario.) In 1973. Lynn
Williams, then director of District 6, wrote:
Very simply, the Steelworkers of Canada are members of an international union to get the kind of power necessary- to protect our members and advance their hopes and needs. As an international union we can do a better job in bargaining - and politically and socially. Steelworkers aren't fooled by propaganda that would make them think they have nothing in common with Amencan workers. Our need is unity with workers. penod. North Arnerican. South Arnerican. Asian and European. That's our goal: unity with workers. not with corporations. no matter where the corporation lives. (p. 6)
Due to the seventy of job losses in steel in the United States. the proportion of Canadian steelworkers within the USWA has increased. In addition. many Canadian union activists in the
USWA have advanced to important positions within the international. including Lym Williams. who became international president. and Leo Gerard. who became international secretary/treasurer. This high level of participation. and the clout that cornes with it. may help explain why Canadian steelworkers have chosen to remain in the international union.
The refusa1 of Canadian steelworkers to endorse a national union has been a bone of contention with the CAW since its formation in 1985. The CAW believes that Canadian metalworkers would be much better off in a national union. As a result. the CA W has begun to organize workers in what has traditionally been considered USWA "turf' - leading to growing animosity between the two unions (Papp 1993). In addition. the recently announced proposed merger between the USWA. the UAW and the International Association of Machinists (IAM) prornpted BuHargrove. president of the CA W. to cal1 for the formation of a Canadian metalworkers union - a fact which angered many in the USWA. (Van Alphen 1995a) Indeed. my interview with a Steelworkers representative in St. Catharines indicated that some in the USWA believe it is ''just a matter of tirne'' before the CAW joins the new "superunion". while. in the same week. a representative from the CAW infomed me that Canadian metalworken joining the
CAW was "inevitable". 143
For the CAW. the separation from the international union has led to another important consequence: links between the CAW and Canada's public sector unions are particularly strong.
This is evidenced by the vocal support the CAW gave to public sector workers in Ontario during the "Social Contract" negotiations in 1993. Because the CAW viewed the Rae government as coercing public sector worken into giving concessions. the union withdrew its support for the
NDP during the 1955 provincial election. In contrast. the USWA was generally supportive of the Social Contract process. viewing wage freezes and the reduction of hours as preferable to massive layoffs. (The Social Contract %il1 be discussed in greater detail below.) More generally. the CAW has been quick to criticize the provincial and federal governments for cuts to social services which they view as integral to the Canadian way of life (and as a source of the Canadian auto industq's cornpetitive advantage). Such close links between the CAW and public sector unions such as CUPE'" stems from the fact that they are al1 cornmitted to maintaining a distinctive Canadian society. especially in regard to the growing influence of the United States on
Canada's economy and culture.
6.2.4 Varidons in Dorninanf Union ,4pprouches ro WorkpZace Resfruazwing
Aside fiom the issue of international unionism. perhaps the greatest difference between the CAW and USWA in recent years has been in their approach to issues of workplace restmcturing. With the advent of "lean.' production. "multiskilling". and participatory management in the 1980s. corporations began to look for ways to use their workers more flexibly. Collective agreements created in the Fordist era often had very rigid and finely
4 1 One interview subject even suggested the two unions were rumoured to be discussing a possible merger. 144 differentiûteci job classifications and work niles which hindered the implementation of such new
production strategies as worker teams and quality circles. " In many cases. firms tried to
implement such changes in a top-down manner and often met with strong resistance on the part of their unionized workforces. In order to avoid such problems. many corporations have begun to seek the cooperation of unions in introducing workplace restmcturing (See O'Grady 1994).
From the union side. such partnerships have the potential to provide a mechanism through which
unions can have a voice in production decisions. In addition. firms promise that such work
reorganization will lead to higher productivity. a higher quality product and a better quality of
work life. The issue of whether to enter into partnership with management to implement
workplace restructuring has become a thomy one for many unions.
The CAW has. for the most part. been very critical of management attempts to involve
them in the restmcturing process. The CAW views the team concept and multiskilling merely as
new attempts by management to achieve a higher level of worker exploitation. In 1989. the
CAW drafted a 'Statement on the Reorganization of Work" in which they rejected partnership
with management and argued that advances for workers can only be achieved through collective
bargaining:
We support efforts to involve and empower workers. to increase worker dignity, to produce quality products with pride. to make jobs more rewarding and the workplace more democratic. These objectives will be achieved through our ou- agenda for change. our own demands around training, technology. improving jobs. improving the work environment. guaranteeing health and safety.
' O'Grady (1 994) asserts that Ontario's industrial relations system impedes the easy adoption of new work practices and argues that. among Ontario firms. '.the restmcturing pattern which is likely to predominate will entail signiticant social costs." strengthening mobility rights. strengthening afhnative action. strengthening the union. (quoted in Robertson 1993.50.)
Thus. the CAW decided that the union should not cooperate with management and that al1 advances in workers' lives would corne about at the bargaining table?
Of coune. one cannot blarne the CAW for being wary of management initiatives.
Although on the surface management often promises greater job security. the goal of lean production is. afier all. to do more with less and. especially. to reduce the arnount of labour time required to produce an automobile. (See Womack. et al. 1990.) Figure 6.5 shows a graphic from a General Motors of Canada training manual on kaken. the Japanese version of lean production that the automaker wished to adopt. This manual was shown to CAW workers at CAMI. a joint venture between GM and Suzulii in Ingersoll. Ontario. A CAW report on the team concept at
CAiMI was highly critical and claimed that the practice had little support arnong the worken.
(Robertson 1993) Closer to home. workers at Hayes-Dana in St. Catharines were told in 1982 that the Ford Motor Co. had canceled a contract with the firm on the same day the plant received
Ford's highest quality award for suppliers. (SI. Cuthurines Siundurd July 21. 1982) Hence. the
CAW had good reason to be skeptical that cooperation with management on workplace restnicturing would lead to greater job security.
'" Yates ( 1993) details how the bargaining strategy of the CAW returned to its Fordist roots afier the union split fiom the UAW. She argues that the CAW has returned the focus of bargaining to wages and benefits and has avoided the inclusion of any of the tenets of lean production in its collective agreement (unlike the UAW as. Say. the case with GM's Saturn.) O'Grady (1 994) notes that such agreements based on Fordist principles are particularly inappropnate in supporting "flexible" workplace reorganization and related innovation. Figure 6.5
Source: Reprrnced ln Robertson 1993
The USWA. on the other hand. has come to embrace jointly negotiated workplace restructuring as a model for what ~heyrefer to as si~.sruimdilr.pro.sper@i Its 199 1 policy statement made clear that union locals should seek pannership with managrnent where appropriate:
Workers and their unions must be active participants in ail consultations conceming work reorganization and labour- management cooperation initiatives.... The union must ensure that employees participate in discussions and decision-making on issues of training and multiskilling prograrns. formation of work groups. productivity and reducing production costs. product quality. healîh and safety. workplace environment. introduction of new technology. and human resource practices that incorporate emplo~nentequity objectives. (USWA 199 1.26)
The policy statement makes several references to the corporutist mode1 of Gennany and Sweden. where unions have a major role in workplace decision-making and the implementation of new technology (and sometimes even corporate strategy). Algoma has proved the perfect testing ground for this type of joint restnicturing. and the fact that the USWA and Algoma Steel have recently hosted a conference on workplace restructuing in Sault Ste. Marie shows that they are serious about spreading the message. (As noted earlier. the US WA has also entered into a participatory management agreement with W.S. Tyler in St. Catharines.) Other unions. including the Communications. Energy and Papeworkers Union (CEPU). IWA-Canada and the [AM have also endorsed participatory management.
CAW cnticism of the Algoma restnicturing has been harsh. As Buu Hargrove. current president of the CAW. states:
We have a clear disagreement [with the USWA] that they're going in the wrong direction. There's no way workers can get any power in the system. 1 know the system. You get a token seat on the board. you get to pick the colour of the toilet paper .... You can't share in decision making. We tried it. We had a guy on the board at Chrysler in the 80s and it didn't do anything for us. (Steed 1994. E5)
Denis Desjardin. a USWA representative at Algoma was adamant in his response:
My comeback is that you better look at the recent happenings at Algoma where the two shop-floor [appointrnents to the ] Board of Directors were able to convince the rest of the directors that the bonws that top management were being paid were ridiculous and that the Skills Enhancement Program. totaling $2 million for 100 select management was ndiculous and got them to rescind it. We have obviously more power than just deciding what colour toilet tissue you're going to get. They [the CA W] are afraid because it is an unknown area They are afraid of being criticized by their own members. These are al1 my opinions. They are afraid of losing what they have: they don't know what the alternative is. (Desjardin 1994)
It seems that the CAW is really afraid of adopting the goals of management as its own. In
a policy statement issued in 199 1. the CAW clxified its position on workpiace restnicturing.
At the center of the management agenda is the ideology of "competitiveness". Even without the rest of the management package. we have already lost if "competi tiveness" is the agreed starting point. in subsequent discussions or negotiations based on cornpetitiveness. the bottom line will always revert to "what's good for the corporation?" So it is critical that we reject competitiveness as the dominant cntenon guiding our actions. (Repnnted in CAW 1993. 15) Nevertheless. management pressure on autoworkers to participate in workplace restnicturing
prompted the union to moderate its position slightly and. in 1993. the CAW issued guidelines for
worker participation:
Participation must be based on advancing the interests of workers and strengthening the union as an organization. In any process of change. this requires: > A clear union agenda developed with and communicated to the membership; B The resources to support effective participation: B An educational program with the membership. and: B An evaluation of the merits of involvement. (CAW 1993.12)
While the CAW remaiiis wary of worker participation programs. it does, on occasion. find them a usehl bargaining chip. In October of 1995 the CAW threatened to opt out of cooperative
programs unless their employers wrote to the Harris government to voice their opposition to proposed labour law changes that undemined the power of workers and iheir unions. (Van
Alphen 1 995b. C 1)
6.2.5- The Persistent Question of Scaie
The above discussion of the influence of parent unions in local union decision-making raises the question of how -'locai-' union strategy is. In other words. are these particular locals behaving any different fiom al1 other locals of the same union. regardless of location? Are local differences in collective labour stratew merely the result of the particular "union mix" in a given locality? The question of scale is central to this type of research. but it is also very dificult to nail down (Swyngedouw 1997). If this study were a cornparison of two steel communities (or two motor vehicle communities) perhaps these questions could be more precisely addressed.
Despite this complexity. the most important part of the problem. 1 am convinced. is the recognition that local unions can (and do) act independently of parent unions and thus contribute to a truly local union strategy in economic restnicturing. The precise proporiions - how much is from the local union and how much is from the parent union - are secondas so long as one acknowledges the previous point. Consider the act of collective bargaining. arguably the area of local union activity where the policies and activities of the parent union are most obvious.
Nevertheless. within each local collective agreement there are always a number of clauses negotiated between the union local and the employer to address local circumstances. Can we not imagine. then. that local unions act with sornewhat greater variety in areas. like restructuring policy, where rnost parent unions have only issued general guidelines? As with the other institutionalized relationships discussed in this study. the structure and actions of parent unions should be viewed as influencing. but not detemining. factors in the formation of local union 150 strategy. The precise degree to which parent unions have influenced local outcornes is left to future studies.
6.3 The Labour-State Accord
In the course of the research conducted on Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. it became clear that unions in each city had developed somewhat distinct relationships with local and provincial governments. The nature of these relationships is important because the extent to which labour is afforded access to government decision-making may be a significant determinant of the ability of unions to shape the reproduction of the local mode of social regulation and. hence. influence the trajectory of local economic change. Where unions I strong ties with local and provincial governments they should have a more discemible impact on the resultant policies. prograrns and institutions which formalize the local MSR. Conversely. where unions have weak or highly circumscribed ties to government. labour is likely to exert îàr less influence on the shape of public policies and the institutions of the state. This research shows that, in recent years. local unions in Sault Ste. Marie have enjoyed rnuch more frequent and substantive involvement with local govemment officia:s and agencies than unions in St.
Catharines. In addition. while unions in both cities had sirnilar levels of interaction with the provincial govemment. the NDP-s introduction of the Social Contract produced fairly distinct reactions within the two cornrnunities which influenced the nature of union-provincial relations for the remaindei of the Rae govemment's existence. 1s 1
6.3.1 LodGovernment
As chapters 4 and 5 clearly demonstrate. local unions in Sault Ste. Marie have enjoyed a much higher level of involvement with the local governrnent than have unions in St. Catharines.
In question 18 of the postal swey (Chapter 4). local unions were asked to identiQ any govemment agencies with which they had worked over the past year or so. The question explicitly divided the levels of govemment into local. provincial and federal. The survey results show that. of 22 respondents fiom Sault Ste. Marie. 10 respondents (45%) reported that they had worked with local govemment institutions within the previous year. In St. Catharines. only 3 respondents (1 2.5%) indicated such involvement. In addition. as Table 6.3 illustrates. respondents in Sault Ste. Marie reported interaction with a greater variety of local govemment agencies. (It is interesting to note that in St. Catharines ail of the agencies identified were of the regional government.) The higher level of interaction in Sault Ste. Marie is attributable in part to the inclusiveness of the Sault EDC and its cornmittees. (See Chapter 5.) Thus. in terms of interaction with local government through formal channels. the local unions in St. Catharines appear to have been relatively shut out. Nevertheless. unions in St. Catharines have used other mechanisms through which to influence local govemment policy.
The unions of St. Catharines are not the only ones who have complained about the exclusivity of the local and regional government. As detailed in Chapter 5. Robert Kuhns. a St.
Catharines businessman, started Visions Niagara as a way to provide leadership and mobilize the community in a way the government seemed incapable of doing. In addition. the memben of the
Working Futures Coalition (govemment representatives excepted). had nothing but cnticism for the -'out of touch" local and regional governments. The plethora of coalition groups which has 152 developed in the Niagara region is partially due to a regional government which has failed to provide avenues for stakeholder participation in govemance. As a result. unions in St.
Catharines have attempted to influence the decision-making process through more informai methods. such as coalition activities. demonstrations and petitions. In Sault Ste. Marie. the local government has played an important coordinating role. which has had the side effect of lessening the importance of independent union-cornmunity relations. Conversely. relations between unions. community groups and business have remained strong in St. Catharines. due to the local govemment's failure to actively involve stakeholders.
Table 6.1
Local Government Agencies Identified by Local Unions
St. Catharines
Niagara District Health Council(l)* Niagara Region Development Council(1) Niagara Regionai Police (1)
Sault Sb. Marie
Board of Education (7) City of SauH Ste. Marie (5) Gommunity Services Board (2) Economic Development Corporation (5) District Health Council(3) Social Planning Council(7)
'(x) = Number of respondents who listed interaction with agency 6.3.2 Provincial Government
In contrast to the distinct levels of union-local governrnent interaction previously identified. the level of union-provincial government interaction appears to be very similar. In both cornmunities it appears that unions have much more interaction with provincial govemment representatives and agencies than they do with those of the local government. Almost al1 of the local unions surveyed in both cornmunities identified some interaction with the provincial govenunent - most ofien through the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education and the local govemment 's failure to active1y involve stakeholders. (See Table 6.4.) Furthemore. the
Ontario Training and Adjustment Board (OTAB) guaranteed the involvement of unions in the creation of its Local Training and Adjustrnent Boards (LTAB)? The survey results indicate that local unions held the provincial govemment in higher regard than any other level ofgovernrnent
(Figure 6.2). Undoubtedly. the policies of the NDP provincial government to encourage the participation of unions in issues of testructuring helped ensure a high level of union-govenunent interaction.
Although the New Democratic Party has historically enjoyed the support of the local union leadership in both Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines. it is uncertain wheiher that support spread to the rank and file. Elecrion retums show that support for the NDP in Si. Catharines has
4-4 The 0TABLTA.B framework was created by the provincial government in 1993 to coordinate training and adjustment activities formerly divided arnong several ministries and agencies. The OTAB Board of Directors consisted of an equal number of representatives fiom business and labour. and the local boards were expected to mirror this structure. with the possibility of including other relevant community groups. Table 6.2
-- Provincial Government AgenciesIOffices Identified by Local Unions
Aaenc~IOnice St Catharines Sault Stie. Marie
Member of Pmvincia/ Parlr'ament Ministy of Community Development Ministty of the Environment Minisby of Healo, Ministry of Labour Occupationai Health & Safeîy Workers Compensation Board Ministry of Naturel Resources Ministry of Ski/ls Development OTAB
'(x) = Nurnber of respondents who listed interaction agencyloffice been at or bciow the provincial average since 1975. On the other hand. voters in Sault Ste. Marie have tended to exhibit a higher than average level of support for the party. (See Figure 6.6.)
While it is important not to read too much into the discrepancy in voter support. it does indicate the presence of somewhat different political leanings arnong the residents of the two cornmunities. The varying levels of support for the NDP indicated in Figure 6.6 notwithstanding. by the eiection of 1995 many unions in St. Catharines had abandoned the Rae government and refused to carnpaign for the re-election of the NDP. while the labour movement in Sault Ste.
Marie remained solidly behind Bob Rae. To explain this divergence. it is necessary to consider the intervention of the NDP govemment in the crises of the early 1990s and the fallout fiom the highly contmversial Social Contract legislation. Figure 6h4'
Percentage of Voters Who Supported the NDP in Ontario Provincial Elections, 1971-1 995
A St. Catharines r Sault Ste. Marie +Ontario Source Pmwnce of
First and foremost. it is clear that the provincial govemment had much greater success in dealing with the crisis in Sault Ste. M&e than they did in St. Catharines. As detailed in Chapters
1 and 4. when Algoma was threatened with closure, the Rae govemment was quick to enter the negotiating process and used the full weight of its offices to convince Dofasco and the banks to
45 Figures for St. Catharines include both the ridings of St. Catharines and St. Catharines- Brock for the elections of 1987, 1990 and 1995. provide the necessary breathing space for a deal to be worked out. Sault Labour Council president. Dan Lewis. insisted:
Bob Rae had to corne to Sault Ste. Marie and get the talks going again and try to work things out and he was successtùl in doing that. Many people won? look at giving him the credit for it. but at the time the deadline was coming and reality was there. It could have closed. And even with Algoma Steel. if you talk to a lot of the mernbers in Algoma Steel. regardless of which local union they are with. they didn't see that as a reality that those doors could have been closed. We certainly have to give the provincial govemment a pat on the shoulder for that. (Lewis 1994)
The provincial government also had a hand in the successful restructuring of St. Marys Paper and
Lajambe Forest Products. In addition. in 1994 the governrnent announced its cornmitment to provide Funds to repair the Soo Locks which would enhance commerce and tourism in the area.
In contrat. the provincial governrnent was less successtùl in rescuing the General Motors foundry in St. Catharines (Chapter 4). Although Bob Rae did make a persona1 plea to the
Company. it had very little eiTect. In addition. Rae's pleas to the comrnunity to accept that the fight to Save the foundry was lost. prornpted shock and resentment among many. CAW
President. Biul Hargrove. stated:
The premier's statement ...does a major disservice to a lot of concemed people who are fighting like hell to defend their jobs. Instead of throwing cold water on people who are trying to keep this important facility open. the premier would better serve his constituents by reminding GM of the important contribution Ontario plants make to the overall success of GM. The provincial govemment should put together a financial assistance package for General Motors that would allow for increased capacity in the plant and get nd of the excuse that the plant is too small. (Hargrove 1992, B5) Eventually. the government did just that and the company ~fusedthe offer. It is doubtfd whether the government could have penuaded the corporation to remain in St. Catharines. but the hesitant reaction from the NDP. as well as the caustic. if well-intentioned. comrnents of Bob
Rae only served to deepen workers' feelings of helplessness and insecurity.
The second important event which led the labour movement in St. Catharines to part company with the NDP govemment was the Social Contract. In 1993. the Rae government. confronting a skyrocketing provincial deficit. proposed a series of discussions with public sector unions in order to discuss cost savings. including wage concessions. which could norrnally be discussed only in contract negotiations. The Rae government maintained that wage concessions were necessary and would prevent massive layoffs in the public sector. In the end. most of the public sector unions lefi the bargaining table when they realized that the govemment's mind was already made up. As a result the government legisiated the cost savings in their controversial
Bill 18. Through a combination of unpaid days of leave (dubbed "Rae Days"). wage freezes and overtime reductions. the NDP hoped to reduce the cost of public services by $6 billion. In addition. existing collective agreements were declared to be in effect until March 3 1. 1996 - thereby suspending collective bargaining for three years.
Not surprisingly. the public sector unions were critical of the Rae govemment. Private sector unions. on the other hand. were split. The CAW. angered over the governrnent's infringement on the rights of collective bargaining. along with CUPE. urged the Ontario
Federation of Labour to denounce the Rae govemment. After the passage of Bill 48. the OFL issued the following statement: Our relationship with Ontario's NDP govemment. tomorrow and future tomorrows will never be the same. The social contract legislation. which the OFL opposed from its start. will have a long. lasting impact on the relationship between this govemment and the labour movernent. This legislation allows the governrnent and employers to destroy what union members have taken years to build. The govemment says it must speak for al1 the people. But Bill 48 speaks only for the powerful. (OFL 1993.3 1 )
On the other hand. some unions, such as the USWA? believed that the Social Contract was an unfortunate. but necessary step to preserve jobs. In any event. the Social Contract precipitated a crisis within the Ontario labour movement, Some unions, such as CUPE at their 1993 biannual convention. offcially withdrew their support from the Ontario NDP. Others. though angered. stressed the importance of maintaining a labour presence in the Party.
Although opinion varied more by unions than by location. a clearly different perception of the Social Contract becarne evident in St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie. Gabe McNally.
President of the St. Catharines Labour Council. declared that
It's hard to believe that so many unionists (iccluding 4 of 5 Niagara MPP'S)'" in the govemment voted as they did. Labour is already reassessing its relationship with the provincial NDP. The CAW has decided to significantly reduce its financial cornmitment as well as its volunteer hours to the provincial NDP. In the wake of Bill 48. a desperate and poorly conceived law. one can expect long-term and dificult decisions and actions by Labour. (McNally 1993.9)
" Representatives from CEPU and IWA also indicated their support for the Social Contract.
47 Peter Kormos, the member from Welland-Thorold (just south of St. Catharines) was one of only three New Democrat MPPs to vote against Bill 48. for which he was quickly disciplined by the NDP caucus. Interestingly. Kormos was the only Niagara region NDP MPP to be re-elected in 1995. On the other hand. Dan Lewis. President of the Sault Ste. Marie Labour Council. expressed his support for the government's action.
What 1 see there is that maybe the provincial govement wasn't looked upon as being the good guys when they had to bnng in the Social Contract, but we in the private sector had to give concessions many. many tirnes pnor to the Social Contract coming up. To allow them to have input into the Social Contract I thought was very good of the provincial govemment. because if it would have been a different govemment it wouldn't have happened. The govemment would have said. "Ok. this is the way it's going to be. so be it." So 1 do give credit to the provincial govement in that respect. Like even the Rae Days. to have that as an option rather than the bottom ten people are going to lose their jobs. Well let's not layoff anybody. let's not have anybody lose their jobs and everybody take a little bit of a hit in the wallet. 1 wish I would have had that option myself when 1 went through layoffs in my job. (Lewis 1994)
In Sault Ste. Marie. every private sector union representative 1 spoke with expressed a similar opinion. (Ken Charlesly. a CUPE staff representative. commented dryly that "It's hard to be a public sector union rep in this town." Charlesly 1994) Such attitudes are not surprising given the dominant position of the Steelworkers and the extent to which many of the private sector unions relied on the NDP govemment to help them preserve their jobs.
In the end. the NDP govemment paid a hi& political price for the social contract as many union activists refused to support the party during the election of 1995. The party was reduced hm72 to 17 seats in the Ontario legislature. In the Niagara region. al1 but one of the NDP
MPPs (Peter Kormos. Welland-Thorold) were defeated. The St. Catharines Labour Council voted to refuse support for the NDP before the election. Steve Leavitt. a CUPE representative to the Labour Council. was happy with the decision. but noted that the vote was very close. He added that the split boiled down to those unions which were international suppo~ingthe 160 govemment. and those which were national opposing the govemment (Leavitt 1995). In contrast. the NDP MPPs from both Sault Ste. Marie (Tony Martin) and Algoma District (Bud Wildman) won re-election handily. with the full support of the labour movement?
The reaction to the Social Contact illustrates that unions in Sault Ste. Marie valued their close ties with the NDP govement more than the perceived infnngement of collective bargaining rights. The loyalty to the NDP government was strengthened by its role in orchestrating the successful restructuring of the Soo's major industries. In fact. the spirit and ideology behind workplace restructuring in Sault Ste. Marie (i.e.. greater flexibility. labour- management cooperation) might have contributed to the private sector unions' acceptance of the appropnateness for the Social Contract. On the other hand. the labour movement in St.
Catharines. led by the CAW. could not forgive the govemment for its violation of the sanctity of the collective agreement. The perceived betrayal of labour by the NDP govemment. cornbined with the general level of dissatisfaction with government in St. Catharines. produced a resentment arnong unions that not even the election of a right-wing. neoconservative provincial govermnent could transcend.
6.4 Institutional Forms and the Perception of the Current Crisis
The preceding two sections illustrate that the institutionalization of capital-labour relations and government-labour relations has developed somewhat differently in Sault Ste.
On the other hand. the NDP also did poorly in Hamilton. a big steel town. This suggests that support for the NDP in Sault Ste. Marie might have more to do with regional differences and. especially. the positive role of the Rae govemment in the restructuring of the Soo's major industries. 161
Marie and St. Catharines, The distinct nature of the institutional forrns in the two communities are summaiized in Table 6.3. In Sault Ste. Marie. the structure of the steel industry, and the structure and ideology of the dominant US WA. has led to a situation where capital's mobility is somewhat constrained by high barriers to entry and labour is concemed with issues of workplace restructuring. In addition. the creation of a more inclusive Economic Development Corporation has offered union leaders in the Soo formal and consistent avenues through which to influence local economic development strategy. In contrast. the structure of the motor vehicle industry and the structure and ideology of the dominant CAW has led to a situation where St. Catharines appears to be vulnerable to the globalization process. As foreign-owned firms threatened closure or relocation of production. union leaders in St. Catharines have concentrated on fighting the neo-conservative agenda of trade liberaiization and erosion of the social safety net. The absence of local and regional govemment avenues for labour participation has led to a high degree of
union-community interaction in St. Catharines and the formation of coalition groups to press for
fundamental changes in Canadian and Ontario pol icy.
In retuming to the responses given by labour leaders in both the interviews and the survey. it is clear that variations in local institutional foms (which. in part. constitute the local mode of social regulation) have created a situation where union leaders in two communities - each within a cornmon national and provincial regulatory framework - possess decidedly different perceptions as to the causes of economic instability and the appropriate course of action.
(Surnmarized in Table 6.4.) In consideration of the above. the responses indicated on the survey are better understood. The belief that Algoma's near failure was due to poor management decisions (and not so much to international competition) and the relatively high level of domestic Ttiblc 6.3
Summary of Local Differences in Institutional Forms
Institut:ional Porms St. Catharines Sault Stc. Marie Nature of Employrnent is dominated (65%) by foreign- Employment is dominated (98%) by Corporute Capifal owned firnis. domestically-owned firms. - Structure of Dominant Dominated by automotive parts (57% of Dominated by metal fabrication (7 1% of Indtrstr ies employment). Characterized by rnulti- employment). Characterized by single-plant Wage locational firms. Encourages place firms. Corporations closely tied to - cornpetition. communi ty. Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is a national United Steelworkers of Arnerica (USWA) is Labour SIructure of Dominant union. Strongly believes in Canadian labour an international union. Strongly comrnitted Unions movement independent from U .S. unions. to internationalisrn. Weak ties with public Nexus - Close ties with public sector unions. sector unions. US WA committed to sustah~rihleprosperiiy Dominant CAW skeptical of joint workplace through joint restructuring of workplace Union restructuring programs. Critical of with management. Philosopliy is spread Ctrfttrre management attenlpts to involve workers in througli conferences and proposed ceiiter for teams, TQM, JIT, etc. workplace restructuring Econoiiiic developinent responsibility of Local regional governinent. Unions are mostly Saiilt Economic Development Corporation is Labour- Government excluded from aiiy form of forrnal inclusive of unions. Most labour leaders participation. Most labour leaders have hold positive opinion of local government. negative opinion of local governinent. State ,. Traditionally lower tlian average support for Tradit ional ly higlier than average support foi New Democratic Party (NDP). New Deniocrat ic Party. Accord Labour riioveiiient opposed to NDPs Social Labour riioveriient niostly in favoiir of Social Coiitract legislation. Contract. Ttiblc 6.4
Dynamics of the Development of Union Strategy in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines
- - City Local Specificities Perception of Crisis Strategy - 1) "lsolated" industrial coniniunity 1) Some historical cooperation between labour and management Historical experience with worker ownership of Crisis is perceived to be the result Community stability is achieved production (Northem Breweries) of poorly managed organizations as through workplace restructuring. History of bad management decisions leading to risk well as adversarial relations Local and provincial governments Sault Ste. of plant ctosure between labour and management. instrumental in restructuring. Labour movement dominated by international union Union must be partncr in successful Labour uses its enhanced role on Marie (USWA) industrial enterprise. EDC to help disseminate their mode1 ldeology of dominant union favours participatory of employee participation to other management Root cnuses are largely irtternal to localities. Links with community Dominant industry not really "footloose" the community . groups remain underdeveloped. Employment concentrated in domestically-owned firrns Local govemment becomes more inclusive of labour Location within larger urban agglomeration History of antagonism between labour and Initial response is to challenge plant management, marked by frequent attenipts at Crisis is perceived to be the result closure through demonstration and "whipsawing" by management of trade liberalization and the larger government lobbying. Local and History marked by bargaining success - due in part corporate agenda dominated by to structure of auto industry (prevention of provincial goveminents are foreign-owned firms. Relations at ineffectual at preventing closure. S t. Hayes-Dana closure) the workplace are viewed as largely Proli feration of cornmunity Catharines Labour movement dominated by national union irrelevant. (CAW coalitions follows, geared towards challenging government policy. ldeology of dominant union opposes participatory Root causes are largely external to management Labour is shut out of fonnal the corniiiunity , Employment concentrated in foreign-owned. economic development. multilocational firnis LocalIRegional goverrinient rio1 inclusive of labour ownenhip of industry in Sault Ste. Marie. have led union leaders (and. 1 would argue. the community as a whole) to view the Soo's problems to a large extent as infernal - Le.. capable of being solved within the workplace or the community itself.
The historical and geopphical specificities which have led to the prevailing attitude in the Soo that its problems are interna1 have been detailed in Chapter 4 and surnmarized above.
Sault Ste. Marie has lived through several examples of crises resulting from management ineptitude or disinterest. In every case. unions have insisted that with better management. the seemingly unprofitable concem could be made profitable. Starring in 1977 with the worker buyout of Northern Breweries. through the St. Marys paper restmcturing of the 1980s and into the current penod of the Algoma restructuring. union leaders have appeared to be consistently
\ correct. The belief that the community can solve its own problems has been strengthened by the recently restructured EDC as a much more socially inclusive organization. The new mission statement and promotional materials emphasize the Soo's self-reliance. The message from the
EDC to the local community is reminiscent of the self-help movement - think positively. believe in yourself and you can do anything.
While the Soo's residents have put their faith in an "intemal fix" - and indeed they have a lot to be proud of in recent years - there is evidence that this avenue of thought and action has caused union leaders to downplay extemal factors. A good example is the fact that. as a result of the restnicturing. 3,000 jobs had to be eliminated at Algoma Steel. While Denis Desjardin referred to this euphemistically as "right-sizing". it is in fact dom-sizing and is a process mirrored in corporation after corporation world-wide. Although Algoma considers itself an
"employment-maximizing" company. it is still affected by global competition. In addition. the 165 focus of union leaders on issues of workplace restmcturing has led to very weak links between unions and local comrnunity groups. Many union leaders in Sault Ste. Marie have been content with interacting with the community through the local governrnent. As a result. though unions have contributed rnuch to the Soo. their actions often go unnoticrd by the community at large.
This fact leads to concems about the labour movement's ability to mobilize the community around such extemal threats as free trade and cuts to unemployment insurance. worker's compensation and other social prograrns.
in contrat. there are two significant factors which have caused the labour movement in
St. Catharines to perceive economic problems as being caused by factors externul to the cornmunity. First and foremost. the high level of foreign ownership of industry in St. Catliarïnes has led to a tangible fear of trade liberalization and international cornpetition (both from other firms and from other production units within a single firm.) The federal government's consistent support of free trade has eamed it the reputation as being one of the major causes of economic instability in St. Catharines. Second. the (national) structure and (nationalist) ideology of the
CAW have created a situation where union leaders are predisposed to believe that their cornmunity is a pawn in a game being played by multinational capital. St. Catharines will only fare better. it is argued, in the wake of fundamental changes in Canadian society (e-g.. the abrogation of free trade. a shorter work week.)
The view that an "extemal fix" is necessary to solve St. Catharines' problems is strengthened by two additional factors. First. the national CAW has been critical of labour participation in workplace restmcturing. Thus. the prevailing attitude (though by no means the only one) arnong St. Catharines union leaders is that the reorganization of work is ineffectual as a 166 response to the current economic crisis (and may have even contributed to it in the first place).
Furthemore. helping tirms realize greater profits is no guarantee that the firm will remain in the city (GM's foundry was, after all. generally regarded as its rnost profitable.) Second. unions in
St. Catharines have been virtually denied any input into formal local decision-making. The
NRDC is an exclusive body whose dominant memben do not value union involvement. Thus. the perception that extemal factors are at the root of St. Catharines' problems. and the restricted courses of action open to union leaden. have meant that the labour movement in St. Catharines has focused on building links with community groups and actively challenging the neo- conservative agenda.
Again. the focus on certain avenues for action has led union leaders in St. Catharines to forgo others. Although autoworkers have had much success in calling attention to their plight and mobilizing the comrnunity into action. little tangible benefit has resulted. The foundry has closed. the avle plant is slated for closure and free trade is still in ascendence. With the persistent belief that the solutions to St. Catharines' problems lie outside the community. union leaders have perhaps given up too soon on insisting on more active participation in formal local economic developrnent activities. Of course. overcoming govemment resistance and lethargy is no easy task. but the CAW's demonstrated ability to garner community support could produce results. Meanwhile. the local unions are proud of the work they have done in assisting unemployed worken and creating links with a myriad of community groups and even iocal businesses. In the absence of a strong local governrnent (and even a strong local identity) the local unions have taken the lead in attempting to bnng the St. Catharines community together. 167
To summarize. the labour movements in each cornrnunity have chosen specific avenues for action. and forgone others. from arnong potential alternatives. I have argued that these decisions were based upon differing perceptions of the local economic crises which plagued these communities as well as the avenues for action open to local unions. The diffenng perceptions of the crises. in tum. were based upon fundamental differences in the institutional forms which comprise the local MSR as well as ideological differences arnong the unions involved. Speci ficall y. institutionalized compromises between capital and labour and between government and labour have resulted in union leaders pursuing a strategy focussed on workplace restnictuing and indirect community involvement in Sault Ste. Marie. while those in St.
Catharines have been pursuing a strategy focussed on cornmunity activism and high-profile challenges to the neo-conservative agenda of the federal govemment.
6.5 Conclusions
In the end. what this chapter has demonstrated is that the specificities of local modes of social regulation have contributed to two rather distinct local union responses to the post-Fordist cnsis. It is important to reiterate that this does not mean that each community's fate is determined solely within its borders. As shown above. the unique character of each local MSR has been influenced by factors both intemal and extemal to the community. What is clear is that certain extemal processes (such as trade liberalization and mobile capital) can be experienced by comrnunities and institutionalized into the local MSR in distinct ways. In addition. the differences created as a result of the distinct ways that local unions interacted with the provincial govemment illustrates the importance of exarnining the interaction of MSRs across spatial scales. 168
If anything. this chapter makes the case for more cornparisons of this nature to further "flesh-out" the development and fùnctioning of local MSRs.
While the experiences of unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines might serve as exarnples for other communities (or might be representative of other comrnunities) this study was not intended to identifi 'good' or 'bad' exarnples of union activity. To a certain extent. the local unions in these two communities have followed the strategies which were open to them - though in a manner consistent with their ideologies and experiences. Though it might seem that the restructunng in Sault Ste. Marie has produced more tangible results and is. thus. more
"successful". it must be remembered that worker ownership of a major local employer is currently a statistically rare occurrence. experienced by only a handhl of communities across
North America. In addition, the extensive links which unions have established throughout the community in St. Catharines can be viewed as successful in the sense that local unions have broadened their ability to engage in concened action with other stakeholders in the community in the future.
This study does demonstrate that local unions desire to have input into their communities' futures and have acted in ways intended to benefit the community as a whole and not just their members. Where labour has been included in a meaningful way in local decision-making, the evidence indicates that its contributions are positive and significant. Local unions have stepped beyond the workplace and have presented themselves as important players in reshaping the local economy. To the extent that local unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines have attempted to secure more certain futures for their communities. they are to be commended. More 169 importantly. they have eamed the nght to be studied as active participants in the production of space. Chapter 7 Epilogue and Conclusions
7.0 Introduction
This chapter is designed to accomplish three goals. In the first section. there is a bief discussion of the implications of this study for future research into issues of class. While this research did not focus on documenting and anaiysing class identity. it does raise several interesting questions which challenge traditional conceptions of class. Second. this chapter will address the impact of the recent change of govemment in Ontario on the local union strategies detailed in the previous chapters. Most of the research for this dissertation -$as conducted while the NDP government was still in power. The ascendence of a Tory govemment has certainly had implications for union activity. and might even cast doubt on the future spread of the Soo model.
Finally. the last section will surnmarize the major findings of this study and discuss their implications for the study of econornic geography and the development of public policy.
7.1 Implication of the Study for Class Analysis
Class is a very difficult concept to measure and to study. Traditional class analysis asserts that class identity cmbe determined by how closely the actions or opinions of an individual coincide with his or her objective class interests. But just what are these 'objective class interests'? Are they immutable or is it possible for them to change over time? These are the questions which come to the foreground in the consideration of the emerging strategies of local unions in St. Catharines and Sault Ste. Marie. The research presented in the previous 271 chapters has at least two important implications for the study of class. First is the extent to which the local unions in the two communities have consciously articulated their activities as an extension of class struggle. Second is the question of whether these emerging strategies represent support for or a departure frorn the interests of the working-class.
7.1. I The 'Vat tire of CIass Consciousness
Class consciousness is integal to the question of labour's role in locai economic restmcturing.
As Hudson and Sadler (1986) assert. workers in communities which have experienced massive job loss might eventually come to believe that the current economic system is unable to offer thern the security they desire. Instead of choosing acquiescence. the local working-class may seek ways to have greater control over their economic future. Labour's active role in local economic restructuring and increasing class consciousness and identification. then. become mutually reinforcing processes. Needless to Say. there are many difficulties in attempting to identie class consciousness at the local level - not the least of which is the fact that no one can quite agree on a definition of class consciousness. To help get a grasp on this tricky concept. 1 will begin with a brief critical analysis of the work of sociologist Erik Olin Wright. Afier considering the theoretical definition of class consciousness. 1 will tum to problems of recognition and measurement in order to arrive at some workable means of studying local class consciousness.
Wright ( 1985) articulates two subtly distinct usages of the term class consciousness. The first, which Wright attributes primariiy to Georg Lukacs. is the definition of class consciousness as the "...counterfactual or imputed characteristics of classes us collective enfilies." (p. 242, emphasis added) In other words, even though individuals might not be aware of the class content of their actions. class consciousness is ~causallyefficacious" on the level of the class as a whole.
Thus class consciousness does not exist at the individual's level of awareness. but onIy at that of the collectivity. In contrast. Wright prefen a definition whereby class consciousness is considered --...a concrete attribute of human individuals as members of classes." In this view. class consciousness is part of the "mental life" of every person.
Consciousness is thus counterposed to gunconsciousness' - the discursively inaccessible aspects of mental life. The elements of consciousness - beliefs. ideas. observations. information. theories. preferences - may not continually be in people's awareness. but they are accessible to that awareness. (p. 144)
Wright goes on to argue that individuals do have identifiable objective interests as a result of their class location. --To the extent that the conscious preferences of people lead them to make choices which reduce that capacity or block its expansion. then. 1 would Say. they are acting against their 'truc' or 'objective' class interests... The measures of class consciousness which we will use. therefore. are designed to discover. in a general way. the extent to which individuals have attitudes that are consistent with working class or capitalist class interests." (pp. 249-2503
Thus. Wright believes that it is first necessary for the researcher to identiQ the objective interests of a particular class position and then to quiz its occupants as to how closely they share those interests.
While Wright's work is valuable from a theoretical standpoint. his methodolow appears to be somewhat flawed. Part of the problem is that Wright identifies twelve distinct class positions to which he assigns a consciousness "rank" based on individuais' answers to survey questions. This Framework is overly cornplex. Wright fdls victim to the trap of confusing class location with an individual's place in the division of labour. As Sayer and Walker ( 1992) argue: The 'discovery' by critics that not everyone has a class position in the Marxian 'class structure' does not obviate the usefulness of class theory in uncovenng important charactenstics of capitalist societies... Class is to be sought in the way production relations are orchestrated and dominated by particular configurations of power. institutions. leadership and ideology. To be called capitalist those relations must pivot on pnvate property in a commercial setting. but one looks in vain for apure fom of capitalist class structure behind the refractory circumstances in which classes actually fom - for an essence that is ai once abstraction and concrete circurnstance. (p. 24. authon' emphasis.)
In short. there is nothing to be gained by creating a taxonomy of class locations which includes absolutely everybody. Certainly. when dealing with cornrnunities dominated by organized labour and large corporations. WC cmspeak in general ternis of workers and capitalists - even when recognizing that unions. for instance. might have investments in mutual hnds (or have even set up their own labour-sponsored investment funds) which own. in small part. capitalist enterprises.
The point is that where both ownership and control over the means of production (and. 1 would argue. reproduction) are concentrated in the sarne social group. there one tinds the capitalist class. Within this frarnework. then. 1 argue that the level of workingclass consciousness is indicated by the extent to which workers are aware that their position in society is a result of their inability either to own or control the means of production. and the extent to which they are able to articulate that awareness. Neveriheless. even this theoretical view is complicated by situations where workers are the owners of production facilities. as we saw in Chapters 4 and 5. in discussing the case of Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie.
One should also note that Wright's methodology seems to contradict his own theoretical argument. If class consciousness "may not continually be in people's awareness.' as Wright argues. then how can an attitudinal swey - taken at one given point in time - reveal that individuai's capacity to comprehend his or her place in society as an outcome of class location?
Fantasia (1988) argues that contemporary capitalism is desiped to "manufacture consent" (after
Burawoy 1979). so that a mere survey of workers' attitudes and political ideology will not necessarily reflect her or his capacity for solidaristic action." In this way. Fantasia harkens back to Thompson's ( 1963) consideration of the shedexperience of collective action in the formation of the English working class. Even if unsuccessfül. the results of such experiences cm be the strengthening of an individual's self-identification as a member of a "class-for-itself." at least for
...although workers may not be poised to make revolution. they may in certain activities express a consciousness that. though short of the will or capability to make revolution. represents a transformative associational bonding that can shape class relations in si@iificant ways. The point is that the analyses of class consciousness should be based on actions. organizational capabilities. institutional arrangements. and the values that arise within them. rather than on attitudes abstracted from the context of social action. (Fantasia 1988. 1 1 )
Thus exarnining the instances where workers have formed "cultures of solidarity" to confront a particular managerial assault can give scholars some insight into the condition of class consciousness.
Such investigations have long been conducted by labour historians. Scholars like Gutman
(1976). Montgomery (1 979) and Palmer (1 986) have al1 recognized the importance of studying specific labour struggles in order to gain an understanding of the character of class struggle and class consciousness. The implications of the theoretical assertions of scholars like Fantasia then,
57 Although Fantasia is a sociologist. support for this view can also be found in Hudson and Sadler (1986) and Harvey (1989a). imply the need for scholars to examine and document the response of workers to specific local crises. Given the level of local specificity implicit in this kind of analysis. it is necessary to address issues surrounding the intersection of place and class.
7.1.2 The Local In~ersectionof Phce and Cluss
One of the most valuable contributions on the part of geography has been the realization and articulation of how place complicates class identity and For the most part. what has corne out of the discussion thus Far is the recognition that different regions have experienced the recent restructuring of capital in quite different ways. As a result it has become necessary to look more closely at individual localities in order to try to determine why this is so. and how they are responding. One approach which has been taken specifically by geographers is evident in the advent of locality studies (Cox and Mair 1988. 1 99 1 : Massey 199 1 ). Locality studies enable geographers to examine how class formation and identity have developed (or failed to) within a given region based on that region's specific and unique histocy. culture and experience in the spatial division of labour. Cox and Mair. for example. argue that the rise of -'locality as agent" necessarily weakens class identification as solidarity is shified from one's class to the locality.
Thus. through the efforts of local governments and business coalitions. -'cultures of solidarity" have the potential to cut across class lines and divert attention frorn the pursuit of objective class interests. Massey. however. is more hesitant:
Individuals' identities are not aligned with either place or class; they are probably constructed out of both as well as a whole
48 Thompson talked about this in his consideration of the various regions of England, but Massey ( 1984). Cooke ( 1985). Hudson and Sadler ( 1986). Walker ( 1985) and Warde ( 1985) have al1 approached it from a geographic perspective. In general. the debate has focused on how successive rounds of capital accumulation leave their marks upon the class relations of a region. complex of other things. most especially race and gender. The balance between these constituents. and the particular characteristics drawn upon in any one encounter or in any one penod. may of course vary. ( 1991.276. author's emphasis.)
Thus the proponents of locality studies argue that analysis on a local scale can provide valuable insight into the ways in which class identity is changing - even thou& the causes of these changes might be taking place on the national or even global scale.
The question of whether labour's involvement in local economic development is a betrayal of class solidarity is central to rny research. A particularly key question concems whether the actions of the unions 1 have observed in my study (see Chapterr J and 5) are in defence of class. in defence of place or. somehow. both. Gough ( 1986) examined the role of workers in local economic planning in Britain. He finds that when labour is involved in local boosterism. it is ofien in a way which is destructive to class solidarity.
Labour is thus invited to see itself in a particular way. Firstly. its interests coincide with those of capital... Labour furthers i ts own interests by remaining passive. or by allying with local capital to lobby the local or national state for more resources to be put at the disposa1 of local capital ....Secondly. workers in the locality are invited to see their own interests as directly opposed to those of workers outside it; jobs are to be got by effective cornpetition with enterprises in other locations. (pp. 173-74)
Nevertheless, Gough aliows for the creation of local economic development policies that can create jobs without forcing workers to betray their class. He argues that such policies must be created with the consultation of labour and must allow labour to pursue its own initiatives.
Hudson and Sadler ( 1986) are more pessimistic. They believe that local cross-class alliances (in this case. to prevent plant closure) only serve to entrench labour's acceptance of the legitimacy of capitalist hegemony over the econorny. They seem to suggest that class solidarity what he sees as a decline in unions' comrnitment to the class stniggle squarely on the shoulders of the union leadership.
Having assumed the progressive evolution of the welfare state was irreversible. this labour leadership carved up the class stmggle into its economic (trade union) and socio-political (electoral) halves. Content with winning their memberships (which. admittedly. grew increasingly apathetic over the course of the post-war yean) modest economic gains. these labour leaders cultivated a hierarchical practice of authority within the trade union movement. They depended less on combativeness and collectivity and more and more on the institutions and legalistic core of industrial policy in the era of free collective bargaining. But those times are now ended. And as the house of cards that labour's bureaucracy ensconced itself within came turnbling down in the troubles of the 1980's. trade union oficials often found thernselves trying to deal from the old deck cnimbling at their feet. (pp. 199-200)
I am not necessarily convinced by Palmer's argument. If. as both Walker ( 1985) and Hudson and
Sadler (1986) assert. local class relations are created by the interaction of structure and agency
(after Giddens 1984). then attempts to ascnbe outcomes solely as the result of leaders' actions are unfair. We must achowledge that the actions open to unions are circumscribed not only by the quality of their own leaders. but also by the economic and societal structures which exist at any given time. What is clear is that more research on the local roie of unions is needed to increase our understanding of this complex interaction.
7.1.3 Evidence fiom the Current Sfudy
One of the questions going into this study was whether, in the face of plant closure and job loss. there would be evidence of an increased discourse of class on the part of local labour leaders. On the whole, such a discourse was not in evidence. Does this mean that union leaders 178 in these comrnunities are not class conscious? While it is impossible to Say with cenainty that the strategies and actions of local unions in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Catharines were a direct result of their recognition of themselves as participants in a continuing class struggfe. there is evidence to sugest that the opinions held and the decisions made by local union leaders were at least somewhat influenced by class identity. Many of the interviewees spoke in terms of an "us against them" - and not merely in terms of the union v. the corporation. Almost every labour leader with whom 1 spoke felt that one of the main causes of economic insecunty in their communities (and in society in general) was the "corporate agenda." - which might be considered another name for the capitalist class. Most saw themselves and their unions as being direct1y targeted by the corporate agenda:
Union people don't have time to be proactive. We have to be reactive. Every time we think we've figured out the corporate agenda they're always one step ahead. (James 1 994)
Thus. one implication of this study is to recognize that the discourse of traditional class struggle might be disguised inside a more readily available discourse of challenging the corporate agenda.
Of greater interest to me is the question of whether the actions or strategies of the local unions studied might be considered to work against their objective class interests. After ail.
Steelworkers owning a steel plant (i.e.. means of production) and unions in St. Catharines entering into coalitions with local business groups calls into question the extent to which the needs of wage-earners might be subordinated to the needs of profit-taken. Yet. the evidence suggests that these strategies have been punued in support of class interests and not in opposition to them. Although on the surface is might seem as if coalition activity with business groups is a betrayal of class, the CAW is quite aware of the extent to which they can rely on this interaction: We were wary at first when we asked business to join us. We knew that we nsked having our agenda hijacked or at least stymied. It's getting to the point now actually where we'll soon have to rnake a decision about whether to continue with the business reps. Our goals and their goais are just too different. (O' Del1 1994)
In the case of Algoma Denis Desjardin sees it this way:
We work at the plant and we carry lunch pails. People see us and they think we have a lunch-pail mentality. But we care about this cornmunity and we know what we're doing is right because it will preserve the comrnunity and provide a decent living for working people. (Desjardin 1994)
T~US.a departure fiom traditional union activity does not necessarily entail a departue frorn the pursuit of working-class interests. This opens up the possibility that class objectives (and the means of achieving them) are not immutable: that they change over tirne. Therefore. the ways in which class interests might be changing in the contemporary period would be an interesting avenue for fiiture research.
7.2 Ontario Workers and the Harris Government
The victory of Mike Harris and the Tories in 1995 has had three major impacts on the issues discussed in this study. First and foremost. Ontario's labour regulatory regime has changed dramatically. Soon after corning to office. the Tory government reversed the changes made by the NDP which had outlawed the use of replacement workers dunng strikes, provided a mechanism for automatic certification, and made it easier for unions to get a certification vote.
In addition to reversing these advances. the Harris government went on to change labour laws so that an employer could present a "final offer" to the union membership for ratification without r 80 the approval of the union. Thus. within a year Ontario went from one of the most progressive industrial relations systems to one of the most regressive in North Arnerica. Perhaps the peatest loss to unions. however. was the fact that they were once again shut-out of the provincial government.
Afier Harris was elected the OFL sent him a letter conptulating him on his victory and informing him that we would like to meet with him to discuss the issues conceming labour in Ontario. He never did respond to that letter and 1 don't think he ever will. (Leavitt 1995)
Given that some of the local union involvement identified in this study was the direct result of the NDP govenunent (e-g.. the requirement of labour representation in OTAB/LTAB). the fact
the new government is so unabashedly anti-union does not bode well for such interaction in the future.
The second major impact cornes from the Harris govement's announced policy on aid to failing businesses. The Tories. throughout the campaign. indicated that they were strongly opposed to bailing-out fims on the verge of bankmptcy. This study has identified the NDP government as crucial in orchestmting the buyouts of Algoma Steel and St. Marys Paper. In both cases. provincial leadership was key in convincing the fimis to listen to the union's offer and convincing the banks to allow the worker buyouts to proceed. Given the Harris govemment's attitude towards this type of industrial policy. it is unlikely that it would ever use its influence to help a unionized workforce become owners of a plant. Thus. the spread of the
Soo mode1 -especially its worker ownenhip component - seems unlikely under the current government. The third major impact of the new Ontario govemment is one that is positive for the
Ontario labour movement, With the defeat of the NDP and the election of the Tories. Ontario's
unions are begiming to restore the solidarity which was so badly damaged when their party was
in power. Disagreements over NDP policy (especially the Social Contract) divided unions alone
several lines - public sector v. pnvate sector. national v. international. etc. With the election of
Mike Harris. ail unions seem to have found something to agree upon - challenging the Tory agenda of huge cutbacks. regulatory rollbacks. and privatization. The most obvious achievement of this renewed solidarity is the inception of the "Days of Action" - rotating one-day general strikes designed to shut down the chosen city and demonstrate labour's anger over the Harris agenda. Nevertheless. although irnpressive. these events have failed to dissuade the Tories from their budget-cutting path. It seems as if the whole Ontario labour movement has been forced to adopt the St. Catharines mode1 to some extent as it now has no other voice in provincial affain than demonstration and protest.
7.3 Findings
7.3.1 Unions and the Production of Spacr
Fint and foremost. this study illustrates that the impact of unions on the local economy goes beyond that due to the results of collective bargaining. Local unions in Sault Ste. Marie
and in St. Catharines have actively engaged in the production of space, albeit with a strong
degree of local variation. This is most evident in the Soo. where the prevalence of participatory
management and worker ownership have made a distinct comrnunity even more unique. Unions
in Sault Ste. Marie - especially the USWA - have not just helped to Save its major employers, 182 they have also contributed to the ongoing debate about the future directions of the Soo economy.
The fact that the Steelworkers wish to develop an institute to disseminate the employee participation mode1 illustrates that they are cognizant of their contribution to the new-found economic stability of the community and believe that other unions in other comrnunities can leam From their experiences. Meanwhile. in St. Catharines. the actions of local union leaders have contributed to a comrnunity marked by a hi& level of interaction between unions. community groups and local business. Through their activities in coalitions with community groups and local business organizations. unions in Sr. Catharines are attempting to assert more control over the future direction of economic development. Under the leadership of CAW Local
199. unions have created a climate where stakeholders cm honestly debate such wwradical" concepts as a three-day work week and organizing unemployed workers. While these coalitions may not have been able to reverse the decisions of multinational firms. they have contnbuted to an environment where stakeholders. ofien at odds in most places. cm sit together and discuss issues of concern to the community as a whole. Given the institutionalized inequaliiy between the power of corporations and the power of workers. I do not wish to overstate the magnitude of labour's impact on the community. Nevertheless. as more and more geographers begin to study unions and other cornmunity groups. I believe that further research will show that unions. through their actions and ideologies. do actively engage in the production of space. Thus. the most important finding of this study is that examining unions solely in their capacity as bargaining agents captures only part of the story of their economic impact on their communities. 7.3.2 The Dynamics of Economic Change at the Local Lrvel
This research has important implications for the study of local economic change.
Recognizing the dialectical nature of the globalization process. this dissertation has approached local economic outcomes as both influencing and being influenced by events and processes at greater spatial scales. The strategies and actions of local labour unions have been influenced by the unique histonc development of institutionalized compromises in St. Catharines and Sault Ste.
Marie and have also contributed to new models of unionism which have implications in other places and at the regional. national and global level. Regulation theory has been helpful in identifying and conceptualizing these factors. The application of an analytic fmework based upon the work of regulation theonsts to local economic dynamics is attractive for several reasons. First and foremost. regulation theory recognizes the existence of local variation in the ways in which global phenornena are experienced. thus recognizing the crucial importance of geographic analysis in documenting the changing nature of capital accumulation. Second. reylation theory provides a well-articulated framework through which to compare one community with another. Using regulation theory. researchers can focus on particular institutional forms and compare them across space with some degree of consistency. Finally. regulation theory acknowledges the important interaction between structure and agency in determining economic outcomes. As a result. the actions of traditionally-overlooked groups. such as local unions, can become of central importance in understanding local economic change.
The development and refinement of any new body of theory is, of course, fraught with obstacles and challenges which must be overcome. Although regulation theory appears as an attractive theoretical framework to many geographers, more work is needed to ensure that 184 researchers are working from a comrnon point of reference with regard to its applicability and implications. This is clearly tme for the snidy of local modes of social regulation - an area of study which the original regulationists a11 but ignored. One potential dificulty in the use of regulation theory which this study has identified is the relative importance of institutionalized compromises at different spatial scales. When are local factors more important than those at the provincial or national level? It is only through further research and case studies that scholars will be able to detemine if regulation theory is an ultimately satisfying framework for investigating local economic change. As the institutionalized compromises evident in more and more localities are documented and analysed. geographers will begin to have enough evidence on which to base such a determination. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that such future study is a wonhy scholarly pursuit.
7 3.3 Implicutionsfi>r Public Poliqv
This study has some important lessons for the development of public policy. Fint and foremost. the recognition that unions have an important economic impact on their communities beyond their role as bargaining agents suggests that. where possible. unions should be encouraged to participate in the development and implementation of econornic developrnent policy. This is important not only fiom a standpoint of social justice (although this. of course. is an important factor). but also from an economic standpoint. The actions of unions in Sault Ste.
Marie have demonstrated that there are tangible. positive benefits that can result fiom labour's inclusion in forma1 economic development. In addition. the inclusive nature of the Soo EDC has enabled the participation of many cornrnunity stakeholden. not just unions. It appears. therefore. that the EDC might serve as a mode1 for local development agencies - which would benefit 185 from the participation of the broader community and an expanded focus to consider issues of community health as well as economic development.
Second. and more controveeial. is the recognition of the extent to which the economic stability of Ontario communities is undermined by the domination of foreign-owned firms. This. of course. is particularly evident in the case of St. Catharines. It is dificult for a community to work towards stable econornic development when its major employers consistently direaten to leave town for non-union pastures. This problem has only been exacerbated by the ascendency of trade liberalization characterized by the passage of NAFTA. Free trade does nor seem to be a successful industrial policy for Ontario's industrial communities. The evidence presented in this study suggests that Ontario workers might be better serveci by limiting the rnobility of capital. not by encouraging it.
Finally. this study illustrates that worker ownership of production is a viable option in times of industrial restructuring. The worker buyouts orchestrated in Sault Ste. Marie have not only brought tangible econornic benefits to the community in terms of successful restnicturing. they have also contributed to a renewed sense of optirnism and energy in confronting the SOO'S future. The evidence presented here suggests that the curent Ontario goverment's refusal to consider corporate bail-outs is somewhat shortsighted. Although worker buyouts might require a large cash cornmitment in the short-tem. they have the potential to Save money in the long-tem by avoiding adjustment costs. welfare payments and aid to devastated communities. This study has contributed to the debates within economic geography in a number of ways. First. the identification of the importance of unions in local economic restructuring has challenged the recent trend within economic geography to focus on firm behaviour and actions as the sole determinants of local economic outcomes. This study's focus on the identification and analysis of local union strategy complements the exhaustive work done over the past decade on the formation and impacts of corporate strategy. In proposing two emerging models of local union activity. this study serves as a starting point for a larger research project on the ways in which unions will contribute to the economic trajectories of their communities in the near future-
Second, by examining the contrïbuting factors to the development of unique local modes of social regulation. this study adds to our understanding of economic change at the local level. In addition. this line of inquiry has provided more information with which to consider the utility of regulation theory in analysing the divergent trajectories of industrial localities within similar macro regulatory heworks. Finally. this study has indicated that traditional class analysis may not be adequate to explain the class content of contemporary union strategies. Appendix A Survey of Local Union Leadership
Your Narne:
Position:
Local Union:
Address of Local:
Phone: Fax:
Employer(s):
1 ) Please indicate below the number of workers which your local represents.
For the foilowing 12 questions, pieuse indicote how strongîy you agree or dhgree with each statement by rnarking the appropriate box
2) 1 think that our local economy is currently in good shape.
Stmngly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral SornewhatDisagree nStronglyDisagree
3) I believe that workers in our community are secure in their jobs and are not concemed with the prospect of sudden job loss.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutra1 rn SomewhatDisagree nStm&Disagree
4) In my opinion. local labour organizations are well-represented among the groups which are working towards the restructuring of the local economy.
[7 Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree 13 Neuval Sornewhat Disagree SUaighlDsagRe
5) 1 feel that our local government understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutra1 Somewhat Disagree a SUaighl Dis- 6) 1 feel that the Ontario provincial government understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree O ShaigSDisagx
7) 1 feel that the federal govemrnent understands the needs of workers and is responsive to those needs.
[7 Stmngly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutra1 Somewhat Disagree O ShaigSDisagree
8) Most of the cornmuniry groups with which 1 have corne into contact are supportive of local labour organizations.
[7 Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree O Neutral SomewhatDisagree nStmglyDisagree
9) Our national union has provided our local union with the leadership and education needed so that we can actively participate in the local restmcturing process.
0 Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutnl a Sornewhat Disagree fl strmglym
10) Our local media portrays unions in a positive light.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutra1 [7 Somewhat Disagree 0 Stmgfyhüqp
1 1) In my opinion. our local business community has shown a willingness to work closely with labour to address fùture local econornic concems.
Stmngjy Agree U Somewhat Agree 0 Neutra1 Sornewhat Disagree SPcngSDicagRe
12) Unions should consider giving concessions to employers in bargainhg in order to guarantee job security.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral [7 Somewhat Disagree hngfy Diragree
13) If a company decides to close a production facility. workers should seek to buy the plant fiom the company and run it themselves.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree a Neutra1 O Somewhat Disagree O Sûmgfy Dkagree For the following 3 questions, please rank yourfirst 5 responses @ou may rank fewer ifyou wisii), assigning a vuiue of one (I) to the rnost important. Pleare feel free to insert your own responses under "other': ranking them accordingij.
1 5) The five most important factors contnbuting to the economic instability of our community are (rdfrom 1 to 5): - Lack of skilled workers - Ineffective local governent - International competition - Provincial government policies - Poor management - Federal govenunent pol icies - FTA/NAFTA - Other: - Poor quality products - Adversarial relations between - Other: labour and management
16) The following five things are most important to the future success of our local economy (rank fiom 1 to 5):
- More appropriate skills training - Elect a new Ioccrl government - Shorter work week - Elect a new provincial govermnent - Worker ownership of key industries - Elec t a newfiderul government - Repeal of FTANAFTA - Other: - Organizing the unemployed - A more cooperative relationship - Other: between labour and management
17) Given the limited time that union activists have available. 1 feel that my energies (and those of my local union) would best be spent on the following five areas (rank from 1 to 5):
- Working with local government. - Carnpaigning to get pro-labour businesses and community groups to candidates elected to the local develop better training prograrns goverment
- Educating our membership Carnpaigning for the New Democratic Party at the provincial and - Bargaining with our employer to federal levels get iabour representation on the board of directors or to otherwise increase - Working with other local unions our participation in decision-making. and community groups to find ways of stimulating job growth - Lobbying the provincial govemment - Other: - Working with the Economic Development Council
- Other: - Other: The follo wing question concerns your Zocal 'S interaction with government agencies at the local. provincial and federal leveis.
18) Please indicate any government agencies pur local bas worked with over the pst year or so for each level of govemment and provide a brief description of the nature of the local's involvement with that agency.
Local: (e.g.. regional development offices. social/community services.)
Provincial: (e-g..Ministry of Labour. Ministry of Northem Development. Minist~of Skills Development. Ontario Training and Adjustment Board)
Federal: (e-g..FEDNOR. Employment and Immigration Canada)
Piemefeel free to me the space behw and the back of thls page to provide additional comrnentî relating to any of the materiai mentioned above. Cover Letter
April 10, 1995
Dear Local Union Officer.
Attached is a shon survey which will take only a few minutes of your time to complete. I am currently conducting researcb on the role of labour in local economic development in Sauit Ste. Marie and 1 hope to speak with many of you in the near future. By completing the survey, you will be aiding a project which is designed to show that unions are an important part of the local economy. 1 have spoken with Dan Lewis and have agreed to share the results of this survey with the SauIt Ste. Marie and District Labour Council.
The survey has basically three sections. In the first. you are asked to indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with a given statement. Next, you are asked to rank the top five most important items in answering the given question. Finaily, you are asked to provide brief information about your local's interaction with govemment agencies.
While completing the survey, please be advised that it is printed on both sides of each page. When you are finished, kindly enclose the survey in the stamped envelope provided and drop it in the post. If you feel that someone else in your organization is better suited to answer the questions, feel free to pas it on to them. I wish to assure you thaf individuai's responses will be kept stnWctfyconfsdenricil. Only the statistical results will be published; names of respondents and local unions will be withheld.
Thank you for your time and effort in helping me with my research. If you have any questions regarding the survey or my research do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely yours, Appendix B List of Interviewees
1. Sault Ste. Marie
Charlesly. Ken. Canadian Union of Public Employees. Area Representative.
DaCosta, Joe. IWA - Canada. Local 1000. President.
Desjardin. Denis. United Steelworkers of America. District 6.
Gilpin. Anne Marie. Northern Ontano Development Corporation. Consultant.
Graham. Sharon. Off~ceand Professional Employees International Union.
Jourdin. Brad. Commtinication, Energy and Papenvorkers Union. Local 67
Lewis. Dan. Sault Ste. Marie and District Labour Council. President.
Momsut. Steve. Sault Community Information and Career Centre Inc.
Pastore. Jake. Sault Ste. Marie Economic Develo pment Corporation.
Vosper. Bob. United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. Local 508.
II. St. Catharines:
James. Len. Canadian Auto Workers. Local 199. (General Motors)
lodoin. Rich. 1WA Canada. (Kimberly-Clark)
Kuhns. Robert. Visions Niagara.
Lambert. Tim. Canadian Auto Workers. Local 676. (Hayes-Dana)
Leavitt. Steve. Canadian Union of Public Employees. Local 1287. (Niagara Region)
McNally. Gabe. St. Catharines and District Labour CounciYCAW Local 199.
O'Dell. Sandy. Working Futures CoalitionICAW Local 199.
Small, Tom. Service Employees International Union. Local 204. (Muiti-unit)
Tate. Jim. Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Regional Office.
Teichroeb. Alan. Niagara Region Development Corporation.
192 Appendix C Sampte Interview Schedule
Questions for Union Interviewees St. Catharines
1) Tell me about your past involvement with the union and your current position?
- How many members does your local represent in St. Catharines?
2) What is your opinion of the current state of the St. Catharines economy?
- (What are the causes of the problems you identify?)
3) Do you believe unions have a role to play in local economic development?
- (If yes) In what way?
4) Are you satisfied with the efforts of the local/regional government to promote job growth in the St. Catharines region?
5) Does the local/regional government encourage the participation of unions in decisions regarding economic development?
6) Do you have any interaction with the Niagara Region Development Corporation?
- Any other government development agencies?
7) Do you think the St. Catharines comrnunity is generally supportive of unions?
- How about the local media? 8) Does your union have any ties with local community groups?
- joint projects? - coalition activities?
9) Do you think that the local business community has been willing to engage in discussion with unions regarding local economic development?
- Chamber of commerce?
10) In your opinion, what does the St. Catharines economy need to do in order to aid development?
- diversification?
11) At this time, what do you consider as the most effective ways in which unions can help to achieve these goals?
12) Have you been given adequate support from your (inter)national union to address the local issues with which you've been confronted?
13) Has/have your local(s) been involved in workplace restructuring?
- participatory management?
- TQM?
- ESOPs?
- union representation on joint committees? 14) 1s training an issue for your members?
- skills development?
- adjustment for laid off workers?
15) Are current training programs adequate?
16) How important is the provincial government?
- OTAB/LTAB?
- Labour Law?
- Social Contract?
- Harris government?
17) What about Free Trade?
18) Are you optimistic about the future of the St. Catharines economy? SOURCES CITED
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