Editorial : union strategies and worker engagement with new forms of work and employment

For the UK government, management and some trade union organisations, the idea behind the concept of the high-performance workplace(HPW)is that it can deliver comparative advantage because it enables firms to deliver increased performance on the basis of socially consensual management practices. There are two aspects to the broad picture of what is meant by socially consensual management practices

Best value and workplace partnership in local government

Purpose – This paper explores employee experiences concerning job security/insecurity, workload, job satisfaction and employee involvement in the aftermath of Best Value reviews in a local authority. Design/methodology/approach – Using a mix of quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques employees’ experiences of Best Value reviews in a local authority are compared and contrasted with council staff employed elsewhere in the authority to establish the extent to which workplace partnership principles have taken hold under a Best Value regime. Findings – Little evidence of positive outcomes was found from partnership at work under a Best Value regime. The constraints imposed by central government, under which managers in the public sector operate, contributed significantly to partnership at work remaining little more than a hollow shell. Originality/value – This paper provides a recent in-depth case study of the experience of workplace partnership, which was developed not discrete from but as part of the Best Value modernisation programme in a local authority

Lean as ideology and practice : a comparative study of the impact of Lean production on working life in automotive manufacturing in the United Kingdom and Poland

This article reports on research conducted at General Motors UK and Poland, BMW-UK and VW-Motor Poland. The development of a range of managerial practices at the workplace, often described as lean production techniques, is discussed. The focus is on the impact of the latter on employees’ quality of work-life. While advocates of lean, so-called leanistas, argue that the ‘right’ management cadre will allow the positive effects of lean to prevail, evidence confirming this assumption remains limited. In contrast to ‘lean ideology’, findings here highlight the deleterious effects of systems so defined on the quality of life at work and to workers’ health beyond employment

Un parapluie percé ? Restructurations d’entreprise, licenciements et efficacité de l’application au Royaume-Uni de la Directive européenne sur l’information et la consultation des travailleurs

This article concerns the manner in which the European Union Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Directive has been implemented in the UK in the harsh corporate conditions of restructuring, redundancy and site closure. Drawing on interview and documentary evidence from six case companies (Peugeot-Citroën, General Motors, Prudential, Aviva, Marconi, Rolls-Royce), the article exposes major fault lines in the effectiveness of the UK’s ICE Regulations to provide even limited protection for employees who were presented with redundancy as a fait accompli. Contrary to management claims, ICE arrangements have not provided additional levels of representation either to complement unions or to fill the “representation gap” left by declining coverage. The failure to consult raises broader questions on the wider political and legislative environment in the UK

La reestructuración organizativa y la fragmentación del colectivismo en la industria aeroespacial en el Reino Unido: las perspectivas de una renovación sindical

La industria aerospacial constituye un ejemplo importante de reestructuración rápida y radical de la organización que aún tiene que ser estudiada adecuadamente. Este trabajo analiza esta reestructuración e investiga sus efectos en los principales sindicatos del sector y los distintas tipos de respuesta por parte de las secciones sindicales. El trabajo cuestiona las tipologías actuales de estrategia e identidad sindical y el análisis prescriptivo de la respuesta sindical adecuada a la reestructuración organizativa. Argumentamos que toda evaluación de la complejidad de la acti-vidad sindical y de las relaciones en el centro de trabajo debe tener en cuenta el legado que son las formas tradicionales de sindicalismo en el centro de trabajo y debe examinar hasta qué punto éstas pueden adaptarse para enfrentarse a las estrategias de la dirección en el «nuevo centro de trabajo flexible»

Teamworking and labour regulation in the autocomponents industry

This paper examines how particular structural pressures external to the firm can combine with the internal micro-dynamics of workplace relations and conflict to create a mode of labour regulation which corresponds to a 'Japanese style' teamworking rather than alternative, more autonomous models. It draws on both quantitative and qualitative case study research data of the introduction of job reforms at a brownfield autocomponents factory in South Wales. The paper investigates three key facets of the reform process. First, how the external factors of industrial restructuring and the forging of new customer-supplier relations between firms shape managerial priorities and organisational outcomes. Second, how the microdynamics of workplace relations, in particular, the different interests and actions of managerial, white collar and shopfloor employees, have a direct bearing on the final composition of teamworking. Third, in response to the lack of attention given to the views of those who are most affected by job reforms, the paper provides a systematic analysis of the disempowering impact of teamworking on shopfloor workers' labour processes

La reestructuración organizativa y la fragmentación del colectivismo en la industria aeroespacial en el Reino Unido: las perspectivas de una renovación sindical.

The aerospace industr y constitutes an important example of rapid and radical rebuilding of the organisation, something that has yet to be studied adequately. This paper analyses this restr ucturing and researches its effects on the major unions in the industr y as well as their different types of response. The paper questions current strategy and union identity typologies as well as unions' prescriptive analysis of what their proper response to organisational restr ucturing is. It argues that any evaluation of the complexity of union activity and workplace relations must bear in mind the legacy of traditional for ms of workplace unionism and the extent to which they can be adapted to face the «new flexible workplace» management strategies.La industria aerospacial constituye un ejemplo importante de reestructuración rápida y radical de la organización --que aún tiene que ser estudiada adecuadamente. Este trabajo analiza esta reestructuración e investiga sus efectos en los principales sindicatos del sector y los distintas tipos de respuesta por parte de las secciones sindicales. El trabajo cuestiona las tipologías actuales de estrategia e identidad sindical y el análisis prescriptivo de la respuesta sindical adecuada a la reestructuración organizativa. Argumentamos que toda evaluación de la complejidad de la actividad sindical y de las relaciones en el centro de trabajo debe tener en cuenta el legado que son las formas tradicionales de sindicalismo en el centro de trabajo y debe examinar hasta qué punto éstas pueden adaptarse para enfrentarse a las estrategias de la dirección en el «nuevo centro de trabajo flexible»