Review of Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics by Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage (University of British Columbia Press, 2024)
In the fall of 2023, something unusual happened in the world of labor negotiations: unions representing the Big Three autoworkers in both the United States and Canada negotiated their contracts at the same time. Aside from a contract reopener as part of the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing auto industry bailout, it was the first time since 1999 that this had happened.
Most Jacobin readers likely remember how those negotiations unfolded in the United States. A reenergized United Auto Workers (UAW), led by a militant new president, Shawn Fain, who was backed by a rank-and-file reform movement and elected in the wake of a massive corruption scandal, organized an electrifying “stand-up strike” that grabbed international headlines and won the best contracts US autoworkers had seen in decades.
To less fanfare, negotiations were also taking place north of the border. In Canada, the autoworkers union, known as Unifor, also led by a new president, Lana Payne, who also took office after a corruption scandal led to her predecessor’s resignation, negotiated what by many measures were some of the best Big Three contracts in years.
But, unlike in the United States, the Canadian contracts did not generate nearly the same media attention. They were not viewed as a potential turning point for the labor movement. While a side-by-side comparison of the substantive gains in the two sets of contracts could leave room for debate as to who came out ahead, it was clear which contracts generated the most surprise and excitement: the stand-up strike…
Auteur: Barry Eidlin
