The limits and prospects of union power: Addressing mass redundancy in the steel industry

Abstract

Worker and union responses to mass redundancy announcements are complex. This article explores a mass redundancy announcement with the purpose of shedding light on the way collective responses are shaped at such times. The article focuses on steelworker redundancies in South Wales (United Kingdom) in 2001 and 2002, which occurred at the Corus plc steelworks at Ebbw Vale in Blaenau Gwent and Llanwern, Newport, and argues that management handles such announcements in strategic ways to neutralize collective responses. Further, the article contends that the way trade unions organize and operate can result in union members being demobilized, thereby restricting alternative courses of action. Central to the analysis are understandings of the ways information, in the form of rumour and through more formal channels, flows between management, union and the membership/workforce.