TQM,Trade Unions and Cooperation: Case Studies in Quebec Manufacturing Plants

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation of total quality management (TQM) programmes in four unionized plants where trade unions and managers join forces during the implementation process. This joint regulation between local union representatives and managers is supported at the institutional level where the state, private corporations and trade union confederations have paved the way for cooperative practices at the firm level. The economic and social situation of the firm strongly contributes to shaping the involvement of trade unions and labour in this joint regulation. The patterns of transformation resulting from the relations between management and labour are not universal, but are rather an outcome of negotiation between actors on TQM normative needs and the specifics of the social reality of the plant. The settlements between trade union officials and plant managers are experimental and are reached on a local level.

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