Time, tea breaks and the frontier of control in UK workplaces

One of the by-products of the intensification and re-organization of work over the last four decades has been a squeeze and sometimes elimination of paid rest breaks for lunch, tea (or coffee), and individual ‘comfort’ breaks. This paper explores the history of such breaks, covering whims, fads and changes in management ideologies and practices as they apply to time discipline, as well as patterns of resistance seen through the lens of the ‘frontier of control’. More recent developments have seen a partial return to the ‘paid break’, running against the dominant trend of cutbacks in such breaks or conversion from paid to unpaid breaks

Robots and AI at work: the prospects for singularity

This paper seeks to address emerging debates and controversies on the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on the world of work. Longer term discussions of technological ‘singularity’ are considered alongside the socio-technical and economic constraints on the application of robotics and AI. Evidence of robot ‘take-up’ is gathered from reports of the International Federation of Robotics and from case vignettes reported elsewhere. In assessing the contemporary relationship between singularity, robotics and AI the article reflects briefly on the two ‘tests’ of artificial ‘intelligence’ proposed by the pioneer computer scientist Alan Turing, and comments on the efficacy of his ‘tests’ in contemporary applications. The paper continues by examining aspects of public policy and concludes that technological singularity is far from imminent

Creating a sustainable work environment in British Airways: implications of the 2010 cabin crew dispute.

The author was asked by the union Unite to prepare a short report recording the employee relations strategy of BA and to assess the implications of this strategy for the current dispute with cabin crew. In order to undertake this task it was felt by the author that some initial discussion on work sustainability within large successful corporations was necessary to set the context for BA�s strategic choice with regard to industrial relations within the company. This is followed by a short review of extant academic literature on BA�s and other airlines industrial relations approaches, particularly with respect to the full service carrier (FCC), low cost carrier (LCC) debate. The current approach of BA management towards the cabin crew dispute was then recorded, and an analysis proffered of the likely outcomes of this approach in terms of its effects on employee commitment, customer service, safety and profitability

The Labour Party and post-neoliberalism

In recent months the UK Labour Party has been reviewing its policy approach and putting some flesh on the bones of what a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn and current shadow chancellor John McDonnell might hope to achieve. Central to their approach has been a renewed interest on the perils of market failure and what can be done about it. An alternative vision has emerged that focuses on prospects for a more cooperative and democratic economy constructed around a limited programme of (re)nationalisation and a National Investment Bank. In the process, two major reports have been produced as discussion documents. The first, Alternative Models of Ownership (herein referred to as AMO) discusses market failures and proposes a new type of economy based on co-ops, and a high-tech networked society encapsulating what McDonnell has referred to as “socialism with an iPad”.1 The second report, Financing Investment (FI), examines the nature of the UK economy, with an array of policy proposals designed to boost the economy through investment in order to encourage productivity growth.2 Both reports are contextualised by academic contributions to the debate and discourse in which concepts such as “post-neoliberalism” or “alternative economic models” have emerged as political projects coveted by sections of the left. These theoretical contributions construct an alternative vision of society based on cooperative sharing, benevolent capital and state-facilitated investment as a successor to the neoliberal phase of capitalism. The purpose of this article is to explore this brand of socialist ideal and to offer a critique in the classical Marxist, revolutionary tradition

The internet, social media and the workplace

This article examines the use of social media and the internet by employers and workers' collective organisations in the workplace

Persistent economic divergence and institutional dysfunction in post-communist economies: an alternative synthesis

This paper seeks to explain the continuing lack of economic convergence and the persistence of market dysfunctionality, or wild capitalism, in post Communist transformation. An overview of key statistics on economic convergence and market failure are presented. The paper then analyses the causes of malaise through the lens of institutionalist and radical perspectives. In doing so key data is assembled and presented from documents of the international financial institutions and other agencies monitoring crime and corruption. The paper concludes that rather than encourage convergence and tame dysfunctionality, neoliberalism and its offspring of labour market reform has created the conditions for continuing economic divergence and for wild capitalism to survive and thrive

State, labour and market in post-revolution Serbia

Workers played a key role in the October 2000 revolution in Serbia that overthrew Miloševió and his Socialist Party regime. Since then, the trade union movement has begun to consolidate itself into three separate union federations, each with its own distinct orientation. Serbia’s economic problems have persisted, leading to heavy dependence on privatisation, foreign direct investment and loans and grants from international financial institutions. This environment has both constrained and shaped the strategies of the unions. This labour experience is difficult to compare with those of advanced western democracies, and is still conditioned by legacies from the past

[Book Review:] Workers and labour in a globalised capitalism, edited by Maurizio Atzeni. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013, 264 pp., ISBN: 9780230303171, £28.99, paperback

Review of Workers and Labour in a Globalised Capitalism, edited by Maurizo Atzeni. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013, 264pp., ISBN: 9780230303171, Price £28.99, paperback

The crisis of labour relations in Germany

The article traces the historical development and peculiarities of(West) German capitalism and the place of consensus within the ideological superstructure. New state and employer offensives against labour are recorded and analysed and the resultant crisis of labour relations is discussed. The author argues that employers are, as yet, unwilling to launch a full frontal attack on co-determination