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Cambridge Journal of Economics 24:751-769 (2000)
Copyright © 2000 Cambridge Political Economy Society

Article

Between a rock and a hard place: US industrial unions, shop-floor participation and the lean, mean global economy

R Forrant

University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Regional Economic and Social Development, MA, USA
E-mail: rforrant@external.umass.edu

Abstract

Utilising historical and contemporary studies of metalworking plants, a review of current trends in labour-management relations, and observations from 15 years as a machinist and local union officer, the author describes the efforts of US workers and their local unions to play a positive role in shop-floor production matters in the post-Second World War period, only to be rebuffed by corporations intent on gaining hegemony on the factory floor. This history is juxtaposed to contemporary efforts by managers to kindle interest among workers in participating in various shop-floor continuous improvement schemes, in the context of the implicit and explicit threats to employment security that global production flexibility provides to corporations.

Key Words: globalisation • metalworking • production flexibility • shop-floor participation


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