Abstract (may include machine translation)
The article contributes to research into European trade unions. It builds on modern approaches to conceptualize a 'Europe in the making' and analyses German trade union politics at Ford between 1967 and 1989 based on these approaches. Since 1967, Europe has emerged as a space of experiences for trade union working at the Ford motor company, just as the corporate structures and strategies were Europeanized by setting up the holding company »Ford of Europe«. However, this process was accompanied by the 'nationalisation' of patterns of perception and procedure. On the one hand, Europe was seen as an area of competition where German factories had to compete against other European Ford companies. On the other hand, Europeanization seemed to threaten German traditions of industrial relations. The article observes the parallel process of Europeanization and 'nationalisation' and its changes between the late 1960s and the late 1980s. Its final part gives a brief outlook on the 1990s and discusses some further questions which the study has raised regarding the trade union research and, more generally, regarding European contemporary history.
Translated title of the contribution | Europeanization and 'nationalization'. German trade union policy at Ford (1967-1989) |
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Original language | German |
Pages (from-to) | 283-302 |
Journal | Archiv fur Sozialgeschichte |
Volume | 49 |
State | Published - 2009 |