Between Adverserial Relations and Incorporation: Directions and Dilemmas in the U.S. Auto Industry

This paper explores new directions in labour relations in the U.S. car industry by focussing on new developments in “Jointness” and “Teamworking” at a General Motors components plant in up state New York. Given the increasing emphasis on plant agreements in the U.K., the potential undermining of national bargaining in the U.S., and certain common material and ideological factors influencing Capital in both countries, the U.S. experience will hold important lessons for industrial relations in the U.K.