Professor wins prestigious Fulbright award

Will study work reorganization in the auto industry

Chris Huxley, a professor in both Sociology and the Comparative Development Studies Program, will receive a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research examining work reorganization in the auto industry and a comparative study of worker and union response in Canada and the US.

The fellowship -- valued at $10,000 US -- will free him from teaching duties from January-June, 1999 to conduct the research. Huxley has been invited to be a visiting scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where he will be associated with the Labor Studies Center and the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues, both part of the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs.

Huxley reports that work reorganization in the auto industry in North America has included technological change, the introduction of Japanese production management techniques, and outsourcing. He plans to review previous studies and consult with academic specialists, as well as interview managers, union representatives and workers at selected US plants. He hopes that eventually the project will contribute to debates on differences in industrial relations in the two countries.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity and challenge this award offers. My host institution, Wayne State University, has two important centres for teaching, research, and resources support, as well as a major research library -- the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs -- each focusing on the auto industry."

"Some time ago, Trent faculty David Kettler, James Struthers and I did some comparative research -- it was partly funded by the Frost Centre -- on Canadian and US trade union growth and decline. Since then I've participated in a union-academic study of CAMI Automotive, a GM-Suzuki joint venture car plant near Ingersoll, Ontario. This award now allows me to do comparative work on the auto industry, specifically looking at the US side, while being based at a US university. The Labor Studies Center at Wayne State has hosted and participated in conferences on worker and union responses to changes in the auto industry in the US, Canada and Mexico."

Huxley, who has a PhD from the University of Toronto, is co-author (with James Rinehart and David Robertson) of Just Another Car Factory? Lean Production and Its Discontents, published in 1997.

"Given the dramatic labour upheaval earlier this year between GM and its union employees, and the massive impact this had on the entire North American economy, this research by Prof. Huxley will be extremely valuable," says Dean Paul Healy. "It's timely research which industry, unions and academics will find important. Prof. Huxley's selection for the Fulbright, a prestigious international award, is further indication of the value others place on labour-industry studies and the high regard in which Prof. Huxley is held."

The Fulbright Program began in the US in 1946 and was extended to Canada in 1990 as an opportunity for Canadian and American scholars to lecture, research and study in the host country. The Canada-US Fulbright Program is also intended to enhance the study of the two countries and encourage and broaden research efforts in subjects pertaining to the relationship between the countries.

Huxley is Trent's third faculty member to receive a Fulbright. Previous winners in 1995 were English literature professor Michael Peterman and historian Olga Andriewsky.