Factory modernisation and union identity: new challenges for unions : reflections from Brazilian case studies

Abstract

Using detailed primary data from Brazil, this paper investigates what problems modernisation has created for unions within the white goods industry. Drawing from a detailed analysis of the modernisation strategies of five firms and their effects on work and on workers’ attitudes, the research applies a model of union identity to the experiences of the unions at these sites. As it appears clear that workers are keen for unions to have a new role in relation to recent changes to the workplace, the existence of ‘moderate’, ‘strategic’ and ‘radical/political’ unions at the comprehensively modernised sites permits the analysis to compare the effectiveness of both ‘optimistic’ and ‘pessimistic’ union response hypotheses