Spaces of hope? Fatalism, trade unionism and the uneven geography of capital in whitegoods manufacturing

Spaces of hope? Fatalism, trade unionism and the uneven geography of capital in whitegoods manufacturing Rob Lambert and Michael Gillan University of Western Australia By engaging with the ‘politics of scale’ labour geography challenges the fatalism and consequent passivity that pervades much of the labour movement. Similarly, new forms of labour internationalism and union organisation offer the potential to open up new space for confronting corporate power and intervening effectively in restructuring processes. This paper examines these theoretical and organisational innovations by means of a study of restructuring and patterns of investment in the global whitegoods industry, with particular reference to trade union responses to restructuring in Australia.