The recently “refashioned” relationships between unions, employers and governments have resulted in significant changes to the landscape of labour and politics in Canada, according to Professor Larry Savage in Brock University’s Department of Labour Studies.

In Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics, Savage and co-author Stephanie Ross, of McMaster University, trace a movement from “transformational activism to transactional politics” in the evolving political strategies of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Unifor.

Savage says although the authors focus on Unifor, formed after the CAW merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union in 2013, the book’s “themes have implications for all unions and social movements looking to build collective power both in the workplace and at the ballot box.”

The book’s release this fall is especially timely, he says, with several North American elections on the horizon and multiple parties simultaneously claiming to be “the true champion of workers’ rights.”

“Given the shifting political and economic terrain, unions can’t afford to ignore parties and elections, or they risk losing at the ballot box what they secure at the bargaining table,” he says. “Moreover, because so much of what impacts workers’ lives – like housing affordability and climate justice – can’t be secured at the bargaining table, unions need to be politically active to influence government policy.”

The book dives into how challenges faced by unions, such as deindustrialization or anti-labour restructuring, necessitate more adaptive political strategies.

“Post-World War II autoworkers played a leading role in the fight for a more just and equitable society for all working-class people through collective action and a partisan electoral alliance with the New Democratic Party (NDP),” says Savage. “However, as the political and economic terrain shifted in ways that undermined union power, that class-based political strategy eventually gave way to a more independent and transactional brand of politics.”

Savage adds the Niagara region was “an important site of struggle” largely because of the strong tradition of political action at Unifor Local 199, which represents workers at General Motors in St. Catharines.

“Many Local 199 activists have run in federal and provincial elections as NDP candidates, including both Wayne Gates in Niagara Falls and Malcolm Allen in Welland who have gone on to serve as elected members,” he says. “The enduring party-union link in Niagara meant that many of the political shifts made by the national union in the past 40 years were resisted by Local 199. It’s an interesting dynamic, albeit one that has declined in importance over time.”

On Friday, Oct. 11, Savage and Ross will appear in conversation with writer and podcaster Luke Savage at a free public book launch in St. Catharines. All are welcome to attend.

What: Book discussion for Shifting Gears: Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics
Who: Co-authors Professor Larry Savage of Brock University and Associate Professor Stephanie Ross of McMaster University
Where: Niagara Artists Centre, 354 St. Paul St. in St. Catharines
When: Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.