Challenge Of Restructuring

In this volume, political scientists, sociologists, lawyers, specialists in labor relations, economists, and unionists from Canada and the United States address the future of labor-management relations in two economies that are undergoing fundamental economic restructuring. The Challenge of Restructuring discusses how labor should respond to "restructuring," a euphemistic term for the economic squeeze on workers for givebacks to avoid plant closings and for the business efforts to abolish union workforces. Author note: Jane Jenson is Professor of Political Science at Carleton University. Rianne Mahon is a Professor in the School of Public Administration at Carleton University.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: North American Labor: Divergent Trajectories Jane Jenson and Rianne Mahon Part I: Two Decades of Restructuring and Political Change 2. Economistic Unionism in Crisis: The Origins, Consequences, and Prospects of Divergence in Labor Movement Characteristics Ian Robinson 3. Don't Worry, Be Happy: The Postwar Decline of Private-Sector Unionism in the United States Joel Rogers 4. Legacies for Canadian Labor of Two Decades of Crisis Jane Jenson and Rianne Mahon 5. Unionism in a Different Context: The Case of Quebec Gerard Hebert Part II: The Political and Legal Context of Trade Union Action 6. Cooperation for What? The Democratic-Labor Alliance in the Reagan-Bush Era Richard Valelly 7. Labor, the New Democratic Party, and the 1988 Federal Election Elaine Bernard 8. An Uneasy Alliance: The Parti Quebecois and the Unions A. Brian Tanquay 9. State Structures and the Processing of Unfair Labor Practice Cases in the United States and Canada Peter G. Bruce Part III: The Challenge of a Changing Labor Force 10. Unionism in the Private Service Sector: A Canada-U.S. Comparison Noah Meltz 11. Union Responses to Workforce Feminization in the United States Ruth Milkman 12. One Union Responds: The Case of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Julie White 13. Recognizing the Working Mother: The Quebec Labor Movement and the Feminization of the Labor Force Celine Saint-Pierre Part IV: Workplace Restructuring: Company Unionism or Industrial Democracy? 14. Recent Innovations in Labor-Management Relations: The Risks and Prospects for Labor in Canada and the United States Don Wells 15. Whither Social Unionism? Labor and Restructuring in the U.S. Auto Industry Stephen Herzenberg 16. Curtains or Encore: Possibilities of Restructuring in the Canadian Auto Industry Charlotte Freeman Part V: The Future: Strategic Continuity or Change? 17. What does the Future Hold for U.S. Unionism? Richard Freeman 18. Capitalist Restructuring and the Canadian Labor Movement Donald Swartz 19. Quebec Labor, Politics, and the Economic Crisis: Defensive Accommodation Faces the Future Carla Lipsig-Mumme About the Contributors