Peace Advocates and Trade Unions: Defence Restructuring’s Unlikely Alliance

Abstract

Restructuring various aspects of the weapons acquisition process, the funding of R&D, trade union activism and large-scale base closure initiatives combined with a myriad of local and regional policy initiatives have certainly affected the manner in which the defence industries of nations have adapted to the realities of arms manufacturing in the nineties. Certainly, it is clear that government leaders have been cognisant of the huge job losses within their national defence industries brought about as a direct result of cutbacks in defence acquisition and changing business strategies of defence related firms.