ABSTRACT
This chapter explores new directions in labour relations in the US car industry by focusing on innovations in union-management cooperation and ‘teamworking’ at a General Motors (GM) components plant in upstate New York. It is concerned with the nature, origins and plant level implications of what has become known in the US auto industry as the ‘joint process’. The focus of the chapter reflects an interest in the changing nature of management control and trade union responses. Rarely are changes in social behaviour completely new or revolutionary. Elements of labour-management cooperation have existed in the past (Brodie 1985). However, we argue that recent changes involve a qualitative leap in United Automobile Workers (UAW) ideology and practice.
