“We Simply Have to Do that Stuff for our Survival”: Labour, Firm Innovation and Cluster Governance in the Canadian Automotive Parts Industry

Abstract

Based on a case study of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union in southern Ontario we argue for a critical reconstruction of both the labour geography and industrial cluster literature. The former stresses the active role of labour in the formation of economic landscapes, but has yet to explore labour's agency in production and how labour institutions shape technological change, firm innovation and industrial policy and strategy. Conversely, much of the industrial cluster and regional innovation systems literature is silent on the role of unions and industrial relations institutions in fostering innovation. We conclude with two main points. First, while some contend that positive union roles in innovation can only stem from partnerships with management and team working, we argue that innovation is more likely to emerge and worker interests are better protected when traditional collective bargaining structures and progressive employment legislation play a central role. Second, positive workplace and cluster level cooperation in the Canadian automotive parts industry are jeopardized by the broader and ongoing macro‐economic restructuring of OEM global production networks due to over‐capacity and intense cost‐cutting pressures reverberating down the supply chain.

Reconciling Perspectives on Clusters: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda

“…Strong unions may transfer valuable knowledge and assist other firms in gaining insight into the financial, technological, and strategic prowess of their peers (Rutherford and Holmes 2007). Strong unions may transfer valuable knowledge and assist other firms in gaining insight into the financial, technological, and strategic prowess of their peers (Rutherford and Holmes 2007).…”

The local in the global: regions, employment systems and multinationals

“…(this issue) reflect. These literatures are widely used in labour‐focussed geographical research (Selwyn, ; Cumbers et al , ; Rutherford and Holmes, ). They have also had some reflections in the field of industrial relations (Lakhani et al , ; Helfen and Fichter, ), although more typically in the literature on the global South than in mainstream discussion of the coordination of firms in the global North.…”

Building Innovation Excellence of World Class: The Cluster as an Instrument of Spatial Governance in the European Union

“…Their article widens the analytical sphere of innovation literature in social sciences and economic geography usually centered on the perspectives of high‐tech industries, elite knowledge workers and the whereabouts of the ‘creative class’ (Florida, ; see also Peck, ). Instead, Rutherford and Holmes (: 195) argue that the perspective of labor institutions provides important insights into the understanding of innovation processes in the cluster context, proposing that organized labour has a critical function in constructing the innovation process, especially in the case of incremental innovation in more established industries. This is because institutionalized structures provide a circuit of tacit knowledge that is more effective than official channels between companies' managerial levels ( ibid .…”