Reshaping the North American Automobile Industry: Restructuring, Corporatism and Union Democracy in Mexico

This work examines the responses of unions and workers to regional integration and restructuring in the automobile industry in North and Central America. The focus is on the automobile industry in Mexico, which, because of its size and importance, is viewed as a strategic sector of the Mexican economy and was the focal point of talks between the US, Canada and Mexico during negotiations on NAFTA. Focusing on the period from 1980, John P. Tuman examines the changes implemented by firms to promote export production, he explores reasons for the variation in labour responses to restructuring, and he discusses the prospects for cross-border organizing and cooperation among automobile workers in Canada, the US and Mexico.

John P. Tuman is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.