Recent labor contract negotiations have shifted some of their traditional focus from wages to job security. Employers insist that their labor -based flexihilities are still needed to meet foreign competition and other economic turbulences.
Labor unions feel that their members are bearing an unfair share of such flexibility needs.
The paper addresses a more limited topic by concentrating on locational flexibilities and other characteristics of multi-locational employers on the one hand a nd on local arid regional, social and employment repercussions on the other. Examples are drawn largely from the U.S. car manufacturing industry.