North American auto unions in crisis : lean production as contested terrain / edited by William C. Green, Ernest J. Yanarella. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Green, William C., 1941-

Yanarella, Ernest J.

Series:

SUNY series in the sociology of work

SUNY series in the sociology of work North American auto unions in crisis

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.

CAW-Canada.

Automobile industry workers--Labor unions--United States.

Automobile industry workers.

Automobile industry workers--Labor unions--Canada.

Automobile industry and trade--United States--Management.

Automobile industry and trade.

Automobile industry and trade--Canada--Management.

Automobile industry and trade--Management--United States.

Automobile industry and trade--Management--Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 246 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this edited volume, U.S. and Canadian political scientists, sociologists, and labor educators contribute to the debate of the crisis of the Fordist regime of mass production and its implications for organized labor. They present the first comparative cross-national study of the labor relations in Japanese North American automobile transplant. Japanese joint ventures with the Big Three automakers, and Japanese-style General Motors auto plants. They specifically focus on the challenges the Japanese lean production model has posed to North American auto labor's organizing, collective bargaining, and shop floor representation experiences and how the United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers have responded to these challenges.

The authors point to the pressing need for the North American labor movement, whose legal rights are rooted in a mass production regime, to rethink its interests and goals if it is successfully confront the formidable obstacles presented by a changing international and hemispheric political economy increasing dominated by Japanese lean production practices.

Contents:

Introduction: Building other people's cars: organized labor and the crisis of Fordism / Ernest J. Yanarella and William C. Green

Part I: The crisis of Fordism

Theoretical, legal, and strategic challenges for organized labor

Lean production, labor control, and post-Fordism in the Japanese automobile industry / Carl H.A. Dassbach

The UAW and CAW under the shadow of post-Fordism: a tale of two unions / Ernest J. Yanarella

Part II: The crisis of Fordism on the shop floor: four case studies

The myth of egalitarianism: worker response to post-Fordism at Subaru-Isuzu / Laurie Graham

UAW, lean production, and labor-management relations at AutoAlliance / Steve Babson

CAW, worker commitment, and labor-management relations under lean production at CAMI / James Rinehart, David Robertson, Christopher Huxley, and the CAW research team at CAMI

Worker training at Toyota and Saturn: hegemony begins in the training center classroom / Ernest J. Yanarella

Part III: Beyond the crisis of Fordism: the role of organized labor

The transformation of the NLRA paradigm: the future of labor-management relations in post-Fordist auto plants / William C. Green

New dimensions for labor in a post-Fordist world / Donald M. Wells.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-235) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

1-4384-0474-3

0-585-04290-X