SCALES OF STRUGGLE - ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING IN THE US MIDWEST

This paper examines economic restructuring in the U.S. Midwest, focusi ng on three locations in west central Illinois: Quad Cities, Peoria an d Canton. We use a modified version of regulation theory, which we ext end by incorporating an explicit theory of scale that acknowledges tha t scale is socially produced and constantly remade, especially during periods of rapid economic change. Historically, west central Illinois has been the location of pitched battles between corporate actors, suc h as Deere and Company, international Harvester, and Caterpillar Corpo ration, and unions such as the Farm Equipment Workers (FEW) and the Un ited Auto Workers (UAW). When the locally Vibrant and radical FEW was subdued, a period of relatively peaceful labor relations ensued as the large corporations and the UAW agreed that the national level sas the appropriate scale at which labor regulation should occur. By the earl y 1980s, the economic prosperity of the region was shattered as the la rge farm-implement firms were forced to restructure in the act of the Farm Crisis and a general climate of intense global competition. Centr al to the restructuring strategy, of John Deere and Caterpillar was th e reconfiguration of the scale of labor relations, as the companies we re able to break the national system of pattern bargaining and to forc e unions to engage in concessionary bargaining at the local level. The economic crisis that struck west-central Illinois has been accompanie d by mass layoffs, increased poverty, and the loss of union influence In the major industries.