From Organisational to Institutional Experimentation in the Montreal Aerospace Industry: Understanding the Role of Trade Union Strategic Capabilities

This chapter analyses the roles of unions in the co-construction of regional governance institutions in the Montreal aerospace industry. The chapter examines the dynamic interplay between organisational and institutional experimentation. This examination highlights the necessity for unions to build new resources and capabilities to play a leading role in the processes of experimentation. The authors show that the gradual involvement of the union in the processes of experimentation required the development of new strategic capabilities such as framing, mediating, learning, and articulating. This transformative process was a prerequisite for experimentation. In turn, the trade unions undertook an experimentation within their own organisation, through the development of new ways of thinking and acting. Hence, experimentation can be multi-faceted and may take place in different contexts in interconnected ways.