Workplace Industrial Relations and the Global Challenge 9781501733369

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WORKPLACE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS and the

globaTchallenge Edited by

JACQUES BELANGER, P.K. EDWARDS, LARRY HAIVEN

Cornell International Industrial and Labor Relations Report Number 25

HR PRESS Ithaca, New York

Copyright © 1994 by Cornell University All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Workplace industrial relations and the global challenge / Jacques Belanger, P. K. Edwards, and Larry Haiven, editors, p. cm. — (Cornell international industrial and labor relations report: no. 25) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87546-327-4 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-87546-328-2 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Comparative industrial relations. 2. Comparative management. 3. Industrial management—Case studies. 4. Industrial sociology— Case studies. 5. Work environment—Case studies. I. Belanger, Jacques. II. Edwards, P. K. (Paul K.) III. Haiven, Larry. IV. Series: Cornell international industrial and labor relations reports: no. 25. HD6971.W856 1994 331—dc20 94-1668

Copies may be ordered through bookstores or directly from ILR Press School of Industrial and Labor Relations Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-3901 Printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Tables and Figures / v Preface / vii Introduction: The Workplace and Labor Regulation in Comparative Perspective P K. Edwards, Jacques Belanger, and Larry Haiven / 3 1. A Comparison of National Regimes of Labor Regulation and the Problem of the Workplace P. K. Edwards / 23 2. Job Control under Different Labor Relations Regimes: A Comparison of Canada and Great Britain Jacques Belanger / 43 3. Workplace Discipline in International Comparative Perspective Larry Haiven 170 4.

Shopfloor Relations at U.S. and Canadian Plants of an Automotive Parts Supplier, 1936-1988 Stephen Herzen berg I 103

5.

Bargaining Regimes and the Social Reorganization of Production: The Case of General Motors in Austria and Germany Karen Shire I 137 6. New Technology and the Process of Labor Regulation: An International Perspective Anthony E. Smith I 157

7. Conflict and Compliance: The Workplace Politics of a Disk-Drive Factory in Singapore Chung Yuen Kay I 190 Hi

iv

8.

Contents

The New International Division of Labor and Its Impact on Unions A Case Study of High-Tech Mexican Export Production Harley Shaiken / 224 9.

Patterns of Workplace Relations in the Global Corporation: Toward Convergence? Stephen Frenkel / 240

Conclusion: Globalization, National Systems, and the Future of

Workplace Industrial Relations Larry Haiven, P. K. Edwards, and Jacques Belanger I 275 Notes I 285 References I 298 About the Contributors I 319 Index / 323

I

Tables and Figures

Tables 1.1

Burawoy’s Classification of the State Regulation of Labor / 32

4.1

Ratio of Stewards to Hourly Workers at Budd-Detroit and BuddKitchener / 109

4.2

Work Stoppages at Budd-Detroit, 1961-1987 / 114

4.3

Strike Frequency per 100 Workers at Budd, Chrysler, and General Motors / 115

4.4

Work Hours Lost per Manual Worker during Unauthorized Stoppages at Chrysler and Budd-Detroit, 1955-1979 / 116

4.5

Seniority Profile of the Workforces at Budd-Detroit and BuddKitchener / 118

4.6

Grievances per

1,000 Workers at Budd-Detroit, by Aggregate

Groupings of Grievances, 1962-1987 / 120 4.7

Work Stoppages at Budd-Kitchener, 1974-1987 / 125

5.1

Basic Information on General Motors’ Facilities in Germany and Austria, as of 1992 / 144

6.1

Overview of Twelve Workplaces in Britain, Canada, Germany, and Italy Undergoing Technological Change / 164

8.1

Quality Comparison of Subcompacts Produced in the 1989 Model Year / 233

9.1

Key PH Corporation Data, 1979 and 1990 / 246

9.2

Characteristics of PH Work Sites, 1989-1990 / 248

9.3

Workplace Relations among Manual Workers in PH Plants, 1989— 1990 / 250

9.4

Trends in Workplace Relations in PH Plants, 1990 / 258

Figures 4.1

Employment Levels at Budd’s Detroit and Kitchener Plants, 1937— 1987 / 107

4.2

Grievances by Major Type at Budd-Detroit, 1961-1987 / 121 v

Tables and Figures

VI

4.3

Employment in the Auto Industry in the United States and Canada, 1926-1990/ 134

3.1

Model of Social Democratic and Industrial Democratic Trade Union Bargaining Regimes, Applied to Austria and Germany / 140

7.1

Plan of Station 212 at Sagetech / 201

9.1

Relative Positions of Four Pharmaceutical Plants along Six Dimen¬ sions of Workplace Relations / 269

I

n the wake of the restructuring of the world economy and its redivision into distinct trading blocs, comparative industrial relations is once again a subject of great interest. The dialectic of cooperation and conflict between employers and employees (and their trade unions) in different countries is a key to understanding comparative economic per¬ formance and to analyzing economic trends. As more and more corporations operate and subcontract internationally, an appreciation of variations in industrial relations systems becomes more crucial. As trade unions attempt to cope with this phenomenon, they too must become international in their strategic thinking. Scholarly effort has not kept pace with these developments. To be sure, there has been no dearth of edited volumes containing individual reports on selected countries, tied together with very general but untheoretical introductions. These are admittedly useful. Anything that reports on a wide array of countries, especially in times of rapid change, provides muchneeded information. The breadth involved, however, makes empirical work all the more frustrating. Considerably rarer and desperately needed are scholarly projects that attempt any one or a combination of three goals: comparisons, employing the same criteria and methodology, of groups of countries; the application and/or construction of a unifying theoretical framework to explain variations and similarities among countries; and studies that focus on the workplace. This volume attempts to address some of these needs. It began with discussions between faculty and graduate students of the Industrial Rela¬ tions Research Unit at the University of Warwick. Out of these discussions emerged a recognition that a growing number of lonely researchers around the world were engaged in comparative workplace studies but needed to get together to compare methodologies, problems, and theory, and, not vn

Vlll

Preface

least, to give each other encouragement. The next step was a conference at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, in August 1991 entitled “Work¬ place Industrial Relations and Industrial Conflict in International Perspec¬ tive.” The call for papers requested reports on original studies from researchers working in the following areas: Intensive studies. Research that directly compares labor-management relations in specific workplaces in two or more countries and that examines the frontier of control and the nature of the effort bargain. Extensive studies. Research that is more broadly comparative in one of three senses of the word: • Studies comparing workplace relations in two or more countries, at the level of an industry, for example. Such studies would contain a strong emphasis on labor regulation at the point of production and include those assessing the impact of the state and the law on workplace relations in these countries. • Studies comparing patterns of industrial conflict across a large sample of countries that take a broadly political economy approach and at¬ tempt to relate observed patterns to the character of shopfloor relations in the countries examined. • Studies of workplaces in one country which engage theoretically with the literature on conflict in the workplace and/or in an international comparative perspective.

The response to the call was gratifying, and all of those participating agreed that the conference was a great success. Not only were all the papers submitted in advance and thoughtfully critiqued by selected experts and the discussion (and there was plenty of time set aside for that) conducted at a very high level, but there seemed to be an intellectual intimacy, a palpable scholarly excitement, in those three warm August days in Quebec City as participants from ten countries shared their insights. Such an atmosphere is rare in the staid world of academic conferences. No small amount of thanks for this is due to the charm of the city (a description that transcends cliche), the excellence of the facilities, and the genuine warmth of our hosts from the Industrial Relations Department at Laval. After the conference came the unenviable task of selecting papers for inclusion in this volume. None of the papers delivered was unworthy of inclusion per se, so the editors had to establish certain criteria. To provide cohesion, we decided to focus on papers that did the following: concen¬ trated on the workplace, as opposed to broad national-level analysis; provided international comparative analysis (i.e., of comparable workplaces in two or more countries); and used ethnographic methodology. Those papers that addressed most of these objectives and whose work fit into an overall framework were chosen. Next came the task of tracing common themes and asking the authors to rewrite so that the book would be more than a collection of individual

Preface

ix

essays. The editors decided to further this process by framing the individual contributions by three chapters on theory, methodology, and globalization. Although some chapters may be of more interest to some readers than others, we trust you will find that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In addition to those whose work is included herein, we would like to thank all of those who spent their time and energy delivering papers, acting as commentators on those papers, and chairing sessions at the conference: Gilles Laflamme (director of the Laval Industrial Relations Department), Jean-Paul Montminy, Marc Maurice, Jean Boivin, Jeffrey Haydu, Chris Huxley, Jeff Wareham, Bob Russell, Richard Price, Willy Brown, Leon Grunberg, Gilles Breton, Maria Lado, Alicja Kozdroj, Roy Adams, Tony Giles, Gregor Murray, Walther Miiller-Jentsch, and Hans Joachim Sperling. Special thanks go to Celine Saint-Pierre and Stephen Wood, who presented a final session commenting on all the papers. In addition to the above, we would like to thank those who attended the conference simply because they were interested in the topics being dis¬ cussed. Their contribution is no less appreciated. Funding for the conference and for preparation of the manuscript for this volume came from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ministry of Labor of the Government of Quebec, the College of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Saskatchewan, the Department of Industrial Relations at Laval Univer¬ sity, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Laval University, and the Industrial Relations Research Unit at the University of Warwick. We would like to thank Bob Laurie, who helped produce some of the charts, graphs, and graphics. Martin Dumas, Jean-Noel Grenier, and Francine Jacques helped with the index. We very much appreciate the thoughtful comments on the manuscript made by two anonymous review¬ ers. To meticulous copy editor Erica Fox: our respect and gratitude are due. Finally, special thanks to Patty Peltekos and Fran Benson of ILR Press, who offered help and encouragement and who listened to our complaints patiently while guiding us toward the final deadlines. We are not strong believers in dedications, but given the considerable practical obstacles to be overcome and the great amount of time, effort, and intellectual energy required to do comparative workplace studies, we hope this volume will spark the imagination of a new corps of researchers in this very valuable, very rewarding enterprise.

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