Ireland has been dubbed Europe?s ?miracle economy? with good reason. In the past 10 years, the GNP has nearly doubled, with annual growth rates reaching seven percent and higher. Unemployment has dropped from 15 percent to four percent. From being a country of emigrants, Ireland has seen its population increase by 12 percent since 1995. Overnight, Ireland has been transformed from a stagnant, agricultural economy to a booming high-tech powerhouse. The only comparable examples of such rapid change are the ?Tiger? economies of Asia. There is no Western equivalent of the tumultuous changes that have taken place here, and thus no culturally similar example to follow, no road map, no guidelines, no historical references. As a result, we were taken by surprise when we started to feel the Tiger?s effects - particularly on our work lives.
In this Q & A, CAW President Buzz Hargrove has a spirited talk with IRC Director Carol Beatty about auto plant closures, the effects of globalization, the role of unions, and whether the Ontario auto industry is doomed.
