The Once and Future Union: The Rise and Fall of the United Rubber Workers, 1935–1995 by Bruce M. Meyer (review)

Bruce M. Meyer. Tbe Once and Future Union:Tbe Rise and Fall of tbe United Rubber Workers, 19351995 . Akroti: University of Akron Press, 2002. 450 pp. ISBN: 18844836852 ( paper), $ 27.95. kron is to rubber and tireS wh.it 1)et,oit is to the American automobile industr>. Or perhaps we should say Akron lice was to rubber and tires whit Deti-(, it 11 Ce was to the Anierican aut(} m() bile industrythe creative atid cc, minatid center,as well as the location of the inajor assellibly lines that put the United States on F\ heels. Iii the process, the autc,niotive industry and its vital such as the tire companies of Akrc, n, suppliers becamea / id re, iiai, 1the niost impot tai »t production industry of the United States. A stud>· of workers in America's rubber industry then should be considered a valuable, even vital, element in our Linderstanding of the saga and struggles of the auto industry, so dynatiiic and oftei sc, turbulent. hideed, Me>er's study should fascinate readers on two levels. The first is its textual thesis, an excellent ind detailed narrative of the huinali draina involved in the creation of the United Rubber Workers Union (URW), ind its sixtyye : ir strtiggle tc, insure rubber workers a reasonable share of the fruits of their labor. On a second level,there is a very powerful subtextual thesis. Meyer's data and nirrative reveal a deep crisis iii the structure of industry ill the United States that, along witl agriculture, did so much to democratize Ainerican prosperityalthozigh , in the perspective ot this reviewer, Meyer did not set out with this secondary g(, al in mind. The democratization of prosperity is the dream ind justificatioii for labor unions,such as the United Rubber Workers. Mever characterizes the l_] RW as a demi, critic union in its inception and throughout its history. with i consistently strong and healthy interplay between litie workers and leadership. Thus he describes the l] RW as often battling on two fronts. On the one side, he finds the utiion in conflict witli the tire and rubber companies. and on the other, he chronicles an ongoing battle fc,r democric>· within the tinion itself. Meyer nirrates these struggles clearly, sometimes dramatically, skillfully weaving persc, nal interviews with almost sezentr of the labor and industr>· particip. ints in URW histc, n ititc, his story. It is doubtful there Will be another work on the URW that utilizes the persotial dimension HE RSE A* D FALI OF T P UNt WORKFRS. 1935-1099 as well as this one does. Iii times of prosperit>', this diiality in fc, cus and experience proved a great. perhaps decisive, strength in URW exterlial struggles. But in the peric, d of auto and rubber industry decline froiii roughlr 1980 onward, it caused faltering inct uncertainty during sonic critical negotiatiotis with tire ind rubber companies, such as Bridgestc, ne/ Firestone. This leads us tc)the second,more subtle, aspect of this work. The subtext this reviewer discerns in Meyer's work shows how globalization his thr() wil not only the econoniy, but r also the overall enterprise of econoltitc democracy into turbulence. 1 This new fc,rm of ecotiomic chaos Schumpeter's classic formulation of A B, / , 4. the i-enew. 71 of capitalisiii as " creS .®4._ - » ative destruction." Unfortunately, the destruction has been far more evidetit thin ciny new industrial FALL 2005 101 BOOK REVIEWS creati o n. Meyer clearly describes the impact of globalizatic , n on the tire and rubber industry. On the positive side,the influence of foreign companies such as Micheliti accelerated the introduction of radial tires to American autoniobiles, making the traditional biasply tires and the factories producing them obsolete . So far we have solne creative destruction. But glc,balization has also brought about a surrender to foreign capital and companies,especially Japanese Bridgest(, ne) and French (Michelin) of all but two of the American companies which introduced and led the rubber tire industry for so long. The result has been that American labor no longer negotiates with American industry for Aincrican jobs and American prosperity. American tire and rubber plants nc, w operate mostly as...