Labor-community alliances in petrochemical regions in the United States and Brazil: What does it take to win?

Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

Volumn 11, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 113-145

  Estabrook, Thomas ^b   Siqueira, Carlos Eduardo ^b   Machado, Eduardo Paes ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION; ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY;

BRAZIL; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0033815245     PISSN: 10455752     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10455750009358935     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. 1This article is based on two studies carried out by the authors in Brazil and the U.S. These studies were developed independently but addressed crucial issues related to socio-environmental impacts of the petrochemical industry. Despite differences in national contexts, technical vocabulary and approach, the authors were able to recognize these differences and construct a common analytical framework. By performing a cross-national and transcultural comparison - taking into account national boundaries and ideologies - we can see some of the dilemmas posed by the use, appropriation and impact of modern technologies in a global economy. The studies are: Thomas Estabrook, "Labor/Community/Environment: The Spatial Politics of Collective Identity in Louisiana" (Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Clark University, 1996); Carlos Siqueira, "Dependent Convergence: The Struggle to Control Petrochemical Hazards in Brazil and the United States" (Unpublished D.Sc. dissertation, University of Massachusetts (Lowell), 1998).
2. 1This article is based on two studies carried out by the authors in Brazil and the U.S. These studies were developed independently but addressed crucial issues related to socio-environmental impacts of the petrochemical industry. Despite differences in national contexts, technical vocabulary and approach, the authors were able to recognize these differences and construct a common analytical framework. By performing a cross-national and transcultural comparison - taking into account national boundaries and ideologies - we can see some of the dilemmas posed by the use, appropriation and impact of modern technologies in a global economy. The studies are: Thomas Estabrook, "Labor/Community/Environment: The Spatial Politics of Collective Identity in Louisiana" (Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Clark University, 1996); Carlos Siqueira, "Dependent Convergence: The Struggle to Control Petrochemical Hazards in Brazil and the United States" (Unpublished D.Sc. dissertation, University of Massachusetts (Lowell), 1998).
3. 3Doreen Massey, Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, (New York: Methuen, 1984); Byron Miller, "Collective Action and Rational Choice: Place, Community, and the Limits to Individual Self-interest," Economic Geography, 68, 1, 1992; Andrew Jonas, "Investigating the Local-Global Paradox: Corporate Strategy, Union Local Autonomy, and Community Action in Chicago," in Andrew Herod, ed., Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998).
4. 3Doreen Massey, Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, (New York: Methuen, 1984); Byron Miller, "Collective Action and Rational Choice: Place, Community, and the Limits to Individual Self-interest," Economic Geography, 68, 1, 1992; Andrew Jonas, "Investigating the Local-Global Paradox: Corporate Strategy, Union Local Autonomy, and Community Action in Chicago," in Andrew Herod, ed., Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998).
5. 3Doreen Massey, Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, (New York: Methuen, 1984); Byron Miller, "Collective Action and Rational Choice: Place, Community, and the Limits to Individual Self-interest," Economic Geography, 68, 1, 1992; Andrew Jonas, "Investigating the Local-Global Paradox: Corporate Strategy, Union Local Autonomy, and Community Action in Chicago," in Andrew Herod, ed., Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998).
6. 4Fred Rose, Coalitions Across the Class Divide (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000).
7. 5Ira Katznelson, City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1981).
8. 6David Harvey, Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1996).
9. 7Laura Pulido, "A Critical Review of the Methodology of Environmental Racism Research," Antipode, 28, 2, 1996.
10. 8Kim Moody, Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the International Economy (London: Verso, 1997); Gregory Mantsios, ed., A New Labor Movement for the New Century (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998).
11. 8Kim Moody, Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the International Economy (London: Verso, 1997); Gregory Mantsios, ed., A New Labor Movement for the New Century (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998).
12. 9See Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971). Gramsci develops the notion of intellectual leadership, specifically in reference to working class counter-hegemonic institutions. Leaders observe and theorize about specific material relations, for example, a crisis for a union in a specific industry, then educate and organize a class or social group, and seek to develop workable political strategies that can best confront the crisis. Because the Italian working class, by the 1920s, had become structurally increasingly complex, one such strategy was the creation of a project involving several social groups such as multi-class alliances.
13. 10Roger Keil, "The Green Work Alliance," CNS, 6, 3, 1995; Jane Jenson, "'Different' but not 'Exceptional': Canada's Permeable Fordism," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 26, 1, 1989.
14. 10Roger Keil, "The Green Work Alliance," CNS, 6, 3, 1995; Jane Jenson, "'Different' but not 'Exceptional': Canada's Permeable Fordism," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 26, 1, 1989.
15. 11In 1999, OCAW merged with the International Paperworkers Union to form PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union.
16. 12Fordism is a concept introduced by Gramsci and further developed by the Regulation School. Fordism refers to a historically specific paired arrangement of a "regime of accumulation" (a dynamic between production and consumption) and a "mode of regulation" (sets of institutions and norms which stabilize capitalist development, particularly when in crisis). Under Fordism mass production is coupled with mass consumption, and stabilized by the state and a variety of civil society institutions and norms. See Gramsci, op. cit.; Michel Aglietta, A Theory of Capitalist Regulation (London: New Left Books 1979); Alain Lipietz, Mirages and Miracles (London: Verso 1987); Bob Jessop, "Regulation theories in retrospect and prospect," Economy and Society, 19, 2, 1990.
17. 12Fordism is a concept introduced by Gramsci and further developed by the Regulation School. Fordism refers to a historically specific paired arrangement of a "regime of accumulation" (a dynamic between production and consumption) and a "mode of regulation" (sets of institutions and norms which stabilize capitalist development, particularly when in crisis). Under Fordism mass production is coupled with mass consumption, and stabilized by the state and a variety of civil society institutions and norms. See Gramsci, op. cit.; Michel Aglietta, A Theory of Capitalist Regulation (London: New Left Books 1979); Alain Lipietz, Mirages and Miracles (London: Verso 1987); Bob Jessop, "Regulation theories in retrospect and prospect," Economy and Society, 19, 2, 1990.
18. 12Fordism is a concept introduced by Gramsci and further developed by the Regulation School. Fordism refers to a historically specific paired arrangement of a "regime of accumulation" (a dynamic between production and consumption) and a "mode of regulation" (sets of institutions and norms which stabilize capitalist development, particularly when in crisis). Under Fordism mass production is coupled with mass consumption, and stabilized by the state and a variety of civil society institutions and norms. See Gramsci, op. cit.; Michel Aglietta, A Theory of Capitalist Regulation (London: New Left Books 1979); Alain Lipietz, Mirages and Miracles (London: Verso 1987); Bob Jessop, "Regulation theories in retrospect and prospect," Economy and Society, 19, 2, 1990.
19. 13Benjamin Goldman, The Truth About Where You Live, (New York: Random House, 1991), p. 221.
20. 14Ibid., p. 221.
21. 15David Moberg, "Putting Out the Fire with Gasoline in the Petrochemical Industry," In These Times, 15, 5, 1990.
22. 17Environmental Defense Fund, http://www.scorecard.org, 2000.
23. 18Mark Schliefstein and James O'Byrne, series on Louisiana's petrochemical industry and the environment, New Orleans Times Picayune, January-March 1991.
24. 19 Ibid.
25. 21George Green, "Labor in the Western Oil Industry," Journal of the West, 25, 2, 1986.
26. 22Richard Kazis and Richard Grossman, Fear at Work: Job Blackmail, Labor, and the Environment (New York: The Pilgrim Press 1982).
27. 23Richard Miller, OCAW, personal communication, 1991.
28. 24James O'Connor "Capitalism, Nature, Socialism: A Theoretical Introduction," CNS,1, 1, 1988.
29. 25Companhia de Tratamento de Efluentes Liquidos (CETREL), A n Environmental Protection Reference, 1997, p. 5.
30. 26The Committee for the Industrial Foment of Camaçari is an association that organically represents the collective interests of the companies in the complex. SINPER is the petrochemical employers' union that annually bargains with Sindiquímica.
31. 27Companhia de Desenvolvimento da Regiao Metropolitana de Salvador (CONDER).
32. 28Siqueira, op. cit.
33. 29Jorge Nóvoa, et al., "Cronologia, Ação e Organização dos Petroquímicos Baianos, 1963-1987, Projeto O Movimento Operário e Sindical Petroquímico da Bahia" (Unpublished manuscript, Centro de Recursos Humanos, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, 1989).
34. 30TQM is a management policy that includes downsizing and contracting out of the workforce, outsourcing of production components, and just-in-time (JIT) inventories, among other elements. TPM is a management model that aims at maximizing the effectiveness of a firm's operational systems by involving all employees in the goal of zero losses, that is, no operational problems with any equipment.
35. 31G. Druck, "Terceirização: Desfordizando a Fábrica" (Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Department of Social Sciences, Unicamp, 1996).
36. 32G. Druck, "Flexibilização, Terceirização e Precarização: A Experiência dos Sindicatos," in Tania Franco, éd., Trabalho, Riscos Industriais e Meio Ambiente: Rumo ao Desenvolvimento Sustentável? (Caderno CRH, Salvador, BA: EDUFBA/CRH/FFCH/UFBA, 1997), p. 144.
37. 33Jessop, op.cit.
38. 35Barbara Epstein, "Rethinking Social Movement Theory," Socialist Review, 20, 1, 1990; William Carroll, "Restructuring Capital, Reorganizing Consent: Gramsci, Political Economy, and Canada," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 27, 3, 1990; Keil, op. cit.
39. 35Barbara Epstein, "Rethinking Social Movement Theory," Socialist Review, 20, 1, 1990; William Carroll, "Restructuring Capital, Reorganizing Consent: Gramsci, Political Economy, and Canada," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 27, 3, 1990; Keil, op. cit.
40. 36John Wooding, Charles Levenstein, and Beth Rosenberg, "The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union: Refining Strategies for Labor," International Journal of Health Services, 27, 1, 1997.
41. 37Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Building Bridges: The Emerging Grassroots Coalition of Labor and Community (New York: Monthly Review, 1990).
42. 38Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Global Village or Global Village: Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up (Boston: South End Press, 1994); Joshua Karliner, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997); Candido Grzybowski, "Civil Society's Responses to Globalization," Third World Network Features, posted on the Internet, October 2, 1996.
43. 38Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Global Village or Global Village: Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up (Boston: South End Press, 1994); Joshua Karliner, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997); Candido Grzybowski, "Civil Society's Responses to Globalization," Third World Network Features, posted on the Internet, October 2, 1996.
44. 38Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Global Village or Global Village: Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up (Boston: South End Press, 1994); Joshua Karliner, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997); Candido Grzybowski, "Civil Society's Responses to Globalization," Third World Network Features, posted on the Internet, October 2, 1996.