Culture, Capital and Class Conflicts in the Political Economy of Cape Breton

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the unprecedented rapid unionization of fish processing plant workers in the industrial town of Glace Bay, Cape Breton. The explanation for union militancy is tied to historical dynamics in local labour markets and the transposition of working class consciousness from the mining sector to the fish processing sector. Historically forged household and community dynamics and cultural values provide the key to the mobilization of the Cape Breton fish plant workers. While the contradictory and complex nature of local culture allowed for the emergence of resistance, the conditions which inspired such action also nurtured social patterns well accommodated to the region's marginal economic conditions. Thus, the circumstances under which strategies for resistance are forthcoming must hold particular and locally meaningful cultural significance. Paternalistic control of the labour force in local fish plants successfully manipulated local cultural values. Impersonal corporate management strategies violated these codes of conduct and provoked rapid collective response.

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