This article performs a narrative analysis of a newsletter published over a period of 2 years by locked-out workers during an industrial conflict. The analysis of a unique archive of worker documents points to the significance of battle metaphors and their shifting deployment over time. Early in the lockout, Staley workers rhetorically constructed themselves as warriors fighting a heroic battle. However, later in the struggle as defeat approached, the role descriptions in the newsletter emphasized the workers’ victim, refugee, and martyr status. The analysis of workers’ narratives is situated in this study in the context of narrative studies, critical organizational communication studies, and social movement studies.
Alvesson, M. (1982). The limits and shortcomings of humanistic organization theory. Acta Sociologica, 25, 117-131.
2.
Alvesson, M. (2000). Varieties of discourse: On the study of organizations through discourse analysis. Human Relations, 53, 1125-1149.
3.
Aune, J. (1994). Rhetoric and Marxism. Boulder, CO: Westview.
4.
Barker, J. R., & Cheney, G. (1994). The concept and the practices of discipline in contemporary organizational life. Communication Monographs, 62, 19-43.
5.
Boje, D. (2001). Narrative methods for organizational and communication research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6.
Bowers, J. W., Ochs, D., & Jensen, R. L. (1993). Rhetoric of agitation and control. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
7.
Bradsher, K. (1998, July 13). High-level talks collapse in General Motors strike. The New York Times [late ed.], p. A10.
8.
Brecher, J. (1997). Strike!Boston: South End.
9.
Burawoy, M. (1982). Manufacturing consent. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
10.
Burke, K. (1969). Rhetoric of motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
11.
Call in the troops: It’s war! (1994, June). News From the War Zone, 1(3), 3.
12.
Cheney, G. (1995). Democracy in the workplace: Theory and practice from the perspective of communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 23, 167-200.
13.
Cheney, G. (1999). Values at work: Employee participation meets market pressure at Mondragon. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
14.
Cheney, G., Straub, J., Speirs, L., Stohl, C., DeGooyer, D., Whalen, S., et al. (1998). Democracy, participation, and communication at work: A multi-disciplinary review. In M. E. Roloff, (Ed.), Communication yearbook (Vol. 21, pp. 35-91). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
15.
Chiapello, E. & Fairclough, N. (2002). Understanding the new management ideology. Discourse and Society, 13, 185-208.
16.
Cloud, D. L. (1994). The materiality of discourse as oxymoron: A challenge to critical rhetoric. Western Journal of Communication, 58, 141-163.
17.
Cloud, D. L. (1998). Control and consolation in American culture and politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
Cloud, D. L. (1999). The null persona: Race and the rhetoric of silence in the uprising of ‘34. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 2, 177-209.
19.
Cloud, D. L. (2001a). The affirmative masquerade. American Communication Journal, 4(3). Retrieved April 5, 2001, from http://acjournal.org/holdings/vol4/iss3/special/cloud.htm
20.
Cloud, D. L. (2001b). Laboring under the sign of the new. Management Communication Quarterly, 15, 268-278.
21.
Cloud, D. L. (2002). Rhetoric and economics: How rhetoricians can get a little class. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 88, 342-358.
22.
Conrad, C. (2004). Organizational discourse analysis: Avoiding the determinism-voluntarism trap. Organization, 11, 427-439.
23.
Conrad, C., & Poole, M. S. (Eds.). (1997). Communication in the age of the disposable worker [Special issue]. Communication Research, 24.
24.
Cooper, M. (1996a, April 8). Harley-riding, picket-walking socialism haunts Decatur. The Nation, 263, 21.
25.
Cooper, M. (1996b, August 12). The boys and girls of union summer. The Nation, 263, 18-20.
26.
Coopman, S. J., & Meidlinger, K. B. (2000). Power, hierarchy, and change: The stories of a Catholic parish staff. Management Communication Quarterly, 13, 567-625.
27.
Cooren, F. (2004). Textual agency: How texts do things in organizational settings. Organization, 11, 373-393.
28.
Corporate greed and wimpy labor leaders team up to defeat Staley workers. (1996, January). News From the War Zone, 3(1), 1.
29.
Craypo, C., & Nissen, B. (1993). Grand designs: The impact of corporate strategies on workers, unions, and communities. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
30.
Crisis in Decatur. (1994). New York: Corporate Campaign.
31.
Czarniawska, B. (1998). Narrative approach to organization studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
Deetz, S. (2003). Reclaiming the legacy of the linguistic turn. Organization, 10, 421-429.
33.
Evanoff, T. (1998, July 29). Terms of settlement between General Motors, union leave future uncertain. Detroit Free Press, p. 6A.
34.
Fairclough, N. (1993). Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: The universities. Discourse and Society, 4, 133-168.
35.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. New York: Addison-Wesley.
36.
Fields, A. B. (2003). Rethinking human rights for the new millennium. New York: Macmillan.
37.
Frank, T., & Mulcahey, D. (1995, November 6). Hunger striking in the corn belt. The Nation, 261, 540-542.
38.
Full year trading outlook “encouraging.” (1994, May 4). Extel Examiner. Retrieved November 17, 1998, from LexisNexis database.
39.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks (Q. Hoare & G. N. Smith, Trans.). Newark, NJ: New International Publishers. (Original work published 1936)
40.
Green, H. (1990). On strike at Hormel. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
41.
Hage, D., & Klauda, P. (1989). No retreat, no surrender: Labor’s war at Hormel. New York: William Morrow.
42.
Hawking, C. J. (1994, April). The battle of Decatur escalates. News From the War Zone, 1(2), 1, 4.
43.
Jarosinski, E. (1994, February). Labor war zone in Illinois. The Progressive, 58, 30-33.
44.
Labor takes its lumps. (1996, March). The Progressive, 60, 8.
45.
Lane, D. (1994, August). A June 25th [anniversary rally] photo essay. News From the War Zone, 1(4), 3.
46.
Leonard, D. (1989). New tactics responsible for union victory. Labor Today, 28, 6-7.
47.
Lukács, G. (1971). History and class consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
48.
MacMillan, J. J. (1990). Symbolic emancipation in the organization: A caseof shifting power. Communication Yearbook, 13, 203-214.
49.
Marx, K. (1978a). Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. In R. Tucker (Ed.), The Marx-Engels reader (pp. 66-125). New York: Norton.
50.
Marx, K. (1978b). The German ideology. In R. Tucker (Ed.), The Marx-Engels reader (pp. 16-202). New York: Norton.
51.
McCall, J., & Stauffer, B. (1994). Christmas carols from the war zone [cassette]. Washington, DC: Labor Heritage Foundation.
52.
Messengers of struggle. (1994, December). News From the War Zone, 1(5), 1.
53.
Moody, K. (1997). Workers in a lean world: Unions in the international economy. London: Verso.
54.
Mumby, D. K. (1987). The political function of narrative in organizations. Communication Monographs, 54, 113-127.
55.
Mumby, D. K. (1989). Ideology and the social construction of meaning. Communication Quarterly, 37, 291-304.
56.
Mumby, D. K. (1997). The problem of hegemony: Rereading Gramsci for organizational studies. Western Journal of Communication, 61, 343-375.
57.
Mumby, D. K., & Stohl, C. (1991). Power and discourse in organization studies: Absence and the dialectic of control. Discourse and Society, 2, 313-332.
Oram, R. (1994, November 24). US unit lifts Tate & Lyle to record. Financial Times, p. 6B.
60.
Papa, M. J., Auwal, M. A., & Singhal, A. (1997). Organizing for social change within concertive control systems: Member identification, empowerment, and the masking of discipline. Communication Monographs, 64, 219-249.
61.
Paperworkers for reform. (1996). Reform now!Paperworkers for Reform Newsletter, 1(2), 2.
62.
Parker, M. (1999). Capitalism, subjectivity and ethics: Debating labor process analysis. Organization Studies, 20, 25-45.
63.
Parker, M., & Slaughter, J. (1994). Working smart: A Union guide to participation programs and reengineering. Detroit, MI: Labor Notes.
64.
Patterson, L. (1995, January 19). Lessons from the war zone. Socialist Worker, pp. 6-7.
65.
Putnam, L., & Cooren, F. (2004). Alternative perspectives on the role of text and agency in constituting organizations. Organization, 11, 323-333.
66.
Rachleff, P. (1993). Hard-pressed in the heartland: The Hormel strike and the future of the labor movement. Boston: South End.
67.
Reed, M. (1993). Organizations and modernity: Continuity and discontinuity in organization theory. In J. Hassard & M. Parker (Eds.), Postmodernism and organizations (pp. 163-182). London: Sage.
68.
Reed, M. (1996). Organizational theorizing: A historically contested terrain. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, & W. R. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 31-56). London: Sage.
69.
Reed, M. (1998). Organizational analysis as discourse analysis: A critique. In D. Grant, T. Keenoy, & C. Oswick (Eds.), Discourse and organization (pp. 193-213). London: Sage.
70.
Reed, M. (2000). The limits of discourse analysis on organization analysis. Organization, 7, 524-530.
71.
Road warriors: Burning rubber. (1995a, May). News From the War Zone, 2(2), 7.
72.
Road warriors: Burning rubber. (1995b, July). News From the War Zone, 2(4), 8.
73.
Rothschild, J., & Ollialainen, M. (1999). Obscuring but not reducing managerial control: Does TQM measure up to democracy standards?Economic and Industrial Democracy, 20, 583-623.
74.
Sacco, M. (1994, August). Police violence mars Staley lockout anniversary march. News From the War Zone, 1(4), 1.
75.
Simons, H. W. (1972). Persuasion in social conflicts: A critique of prevailing conceptions and a framework for future research. Speech Monographs, 39, 227-247.
76.
Simons, H. W., Mechling, E. W., & Schrier, H. (1984). The functions of human communication in mobilizing for action from the bottom up: The rhetoric of social movements. In C. C. Arnold & J. W. Bowers (Eds.), Handbook of Rhetorical and Communication Theory (pp. 792-867). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
77.
Smith, F. L., & Keyton, J. (2001). Organizational storytelling: Metaphors for relational power and identity struggles. Management Communication Quarterly, 15, 149-182.
78.
S.O.S.: Save our solidarity. (1995, August-September). News From the War Zone, 2(5), 3.
79.
Stevenson, T. (1993, January 28). Tate shuts the door on US workers. The Independent, p. 29.
80.
A Struggle We Should Not Forget. (1996). News From the War Zone, 3(1), 5.
81.
Sustar, L. (1997, Summer). A new labor movement?International Socialist Review, 19-26.
82.
Tate and Lyle plant locks out workers. (1993, June 29). Financial Times, p. 3.
83.
Tate and Lyle sees return to normal at Staley. (1997, December 7). Extel Examiner.
84.
Taylor, J. R.,& Robichaud, D. (2004). Finding the organization in the communication: Discourse as action and sensemaking. Organization, 11, 395-413.
85.
Taylor, R. (1994, January 27). In search of some sweetener. Financial Times, p.28.
86.
Thomson, P. (1993). Postmodernism: Fatal distraction. In J. Hassard & M. Parker (Eds.), Postmodernism and organizations (pp. 183-203). London: Sage.
87.
Uchitelle, L. (1993a, June 29). 800 workers locked out by Staley. The New York Times, p. D6.
88.
Uchitelle, L. (1993b, June 13). Labor draws the line in Decatur. The New York Times, sec. 3, p. 1.
89.
Union rejects concessionary pact. (1995, July). News From the War Zone, 2(4), 1.
90.
Watts, D., & Lamb, G. (1995, July). Open letter to supporters of locked out Staley workers. News From the War Zone, 2(4), 4.
91.
Weick, K. E. (2000). Making sense of the organization. New York: Blackwell.
92.
Weissman, R. (1996, January-February). A bitter defeat at A.E. Staley. Multinational Monitor, 39-40.
93.
Who was the enemy... the real Staley story. (1996, January). News From the War Zone, 3(1), 2.
