Table Of ContentUNIONS AND THE CITY
UNIONS AND
THE CITY
Negotiating Urban Change
Edited by Ian Thomas MacDonald
ILR PRESS
AN IMPRINT OF
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON
Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts
thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from
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512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2017 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: MacDonald, Ian Thomas, 1980- editor. | Container of (work):
MacDonald, Ian Thomas, 1980- Labor strategy and the politics of elite division.
Title: Unions and the city : negotiating urban change / edited by Ian Thomas
MacDonald.
Description: Ithaca : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016037421 (print) | LCCN 2016045168 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501706547 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501706820 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781501712685 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501712692 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Labor unions— New York (State)— New York. | Labor unions—
Ontario— Toronto. | Labor movement— New York (State)— New York. |
Labor movement— Ontario— Toronto. | Community development, Urban—
New York (State)— New York. | Community development, Urban—O ntario—
Toronto. | Sociology, Urban— New York (State)— New York. | Sociology,
Urban— Ontario— Toronto.
Classification: LCC HD6519.N5 U55 2017 (print) | LCC HD6519.N5 (ebook) |
DDC 331.8809713/541— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016037421
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Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowl edgments ix
List of Acronyms xi
Introduction. The Urbanization of Union Strategy and Strugg le
Ian Thomas MacDonald 1
Part 1. LABOR AND THE HOSPITABLE CITY
Ian Thomas MacDonald 27
1. Labor Strategy and the Politics of Elite Division
in Midtown Manhattan
Ian Thomas MacDonald 31
2. Or ga nized Labor and Casino Politics in Toronto
Steven Tufts 53
Part 2. LABOR AND THE CREATIVE CITY
Maria Figueroa, Lois S. Gray, and Thorben Wieditz 75
3. New York Film Production Unions Enter the Pol iti cal
Arena in Search of Tax Subsidies
Maria Figueroa and Lois S. Gray 79
4. Film Unions’ Strug gle to Defend Studio Space in Toronto
Thorben Wieditz 102
Part 3. LABOR AND THE SUSTAINABLE CITY
James Nugent 121
5. Building a Green New York: Construction Unions
and Community Alliances
Maria Figueroa 125
6. Struggling for Good Green Jobs in Toronto’s
Deindustrializing Suburbs
James Nugent 146
vi CONTENTS
Part 4. LABOR AND THE CARING CITY
Simon Black 167
7. Creating a City for Workers: Union Strategies
on Child Care in New York City
Susanna F. Schaller, K. C. Wagner, and Mildred E. Warner 171
8. In Defense of “Gold- Plated” Child Care:
Union Strug gles to Preserve Quality Care and Quality
Care Work in Toronto
Simon Black 189
Conclusion
Ian Thomas MacDonald 208
Notes 221
References 227
List of Contributors 243
Index 245
Figures
Figure 1.1. Union density across hotel formats in New York, 1985–2013 37
Figure 2.1. Proposed OLG central Ontario locations 61
Figure 2.2. Local 75 casino campaign leaflet 67
Figure 3.1. New York State employment in film and TV production
(number of jobs) 92
Figure 3.2. Racial and ethnic composition of the film and TV production
workforce, by selected occupation, New York State, 2000 and 2010 97
Figure 3.3. Gender composition of the film and TV production workforce,
by selected occupation, New York State, 2000 and 2010 98
Figure 4.1. Toronto’s existing and proposed film studio space 106
vii
Acknowl edgments
Unions and the City is the result of a collaborative research proje ct, and like all
collaborations, ours has called on the generosity, assistance, and goodwill of many
people. I would like to thank my coauthors for placing their confidence in the
proj ect, as well as for their openness in working as a team. I would like to thank
Lois Gray in part ic ul ar for encouraging the proje ct when it was just a notion, and
for seeing it through to a successful finale. A book such as this— presenting the
work of academics and labor researchers that is grounded in the experiences of
local labor activists and leaders— could not have been written without the insti-
tutional support of a place like the Cornell Worker Institute in New York City.
Neither would the proj ect have been pos si ble without the financial support of the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the guidance of
Luc Lebrun. Additional funding was provided by the Centre de recherche inter-
universitaire sur la mondialisation et le travail (CRIMT) at the Université de
Montréal. The proj ect was housed at the CITY Institute at York University, To-
ronto, where Roger Keil, Sara Macdonald, and Adam Charnaw graciously over-
saw its administration. On behalf of my co-a uthors I would like to thank the
labor activists and leaders in Toronto and New York who agreed to participate in
our research.
For my understanding of local labor and New York City politics, I owe a large
debt to my students at the Murphy Institute, the Brooklyn College Center for
Worker Education, and the City College Center for Worker Education. Our sem-
inar discussions have found their way into this volume uncited. Previous versions
of the chapters were presented at the meetings of the Labor and Employment
Research Association (LERA), the Canadian Association for Work and Labour
Studies (CAWLS), the United Association for Labor Education (UALE), CRIMT,
and the American Association of Geographers (AAG). The manuscript was sub-
stantially improved by the suggestions of the anonymous reviewers as well as the
sound and supportive advice of Frances Benson and Gregor Murray. I would like to
thank the copyeditors, Guillaume Plourde, Lee Kuhnle, and my parents, Les and
Gwen, for their assistance in preparing the manuscript, and my partner, Lou, for
love and encouragement throughout.
ix
