Yo trabajo duro: Consent and resistance among Hispanic workers in the Ontario automobile parts industry

Southwestern Ontario was chosen as the research area and thirteen Hispanic workers from four non-unionized automotive manufacturing companies were interviewed. The analysis is based on the data collected through open-ended semi-structured interviews and, in some cases, life histories. This study examines how Hispanic workers forge the hard worker identity, and how they consent and resist to management demands. The findings indicate that this identity is created, transformed and used by these workers and any immigrant worker who says: "yo trabajo duro" (I work hard) in order to secure their jobs. The hard worker identity represents an effective channel through which capitalists exploit vulnerable populations, and management successfully promotes labour segmentation, which in turn, weakens the possibility of having a strongly organized labour force. Furthermore, workers practice multiple strategies of resistance and consent with no division between them and in ways that do not put their jobs at risk.