Can sectionalism be good for solidarity? Some evidence from the maritime construction industry on Tyneside

McBride, Jo

doi:10.1177/0143831x10377807

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…As stressed below, the ideological and social divisions are more explicit when comparing the collective identity developed in the plants run by the same company (HH) in Aspropyrgos and Volos/Velestino (hereby Volos). In line with McBride's argument on the positive effect that sectionalism may have on collective identity and solidarity among the workforce (McBride, 2011), the present analysis of the HH strike shows that the above dynamic and complex sets of intra-and inter-organisational relations did not postpone the social identification processes.…”

Section: Union Militancy and Mobilisation Resourcessupporting

confidence: 84%

Union militancy during economic hardship

Bithymitris

2016

Employee Relations

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Purpose – This paper examines the preconditions of the strike at the Greek steel company Hellenic Halyvourgia (HH) which started on 1 November 2011 and ended on 28 July 2012. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of current labour disputes in the context of economic crisis focusing on previous developments of mobilisation theory and social movement literature. The overall aim is to highlight the linkages between trade unions and society when a broader sense of injustice comes to the fore. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methods were employed in order to contextualise the strike events and examine the preconditions of the occurrence and the volume of the strike. Semistructured interviews, field notes, interviews taken by the media, documentaries, chronicles and articles, constructed the main body of empirical material. Findings – The HH case indicates that certain collective identities and leadership qualities account for high mobilisation potential with spillover effects which are in turn conditioned upon the situation of the strikers’ allies. Although there was an agency to transform the sense of injustice into collective action, the framing processes employed by the union did not have the kind of impact that would render state and management’s responses ineffective, as the strike message did not eventually penetrate other industries or even the rest factories of the HH. Originality/value – The present paper goes beyond the general description of the social turmoil during the Greek crisis by showing the critical bonds that were established through framing and identity-building processes among the strikers and the anti-austerity protesters in Greece and abroad.

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Section: Union Militancy and Mobilisation Resourcessupporting

confidence: 84%

Union militancy during economic hardship

Bithymitris

2016

Employee Relations

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“…Concomitantly, and not unexpectedly, this awareness does not then extend in such an acute manner to class relations outside the industry in which they work, and to class relations per se. In these regards, there is a similarity with the skilled manual workforce in the offshore oil and gas industry in Britain (see Mackie, 2004), amongst rail workers (especially train drivers -see Darlington, 2009;Strangleman, 2004), and in shipbuilding (McBride, 2004(McBride, , 2006(McBride, , 2011, where implicit notions of community and occupation are more persuasive and collective social bonding more pervasive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The engineering construction strikes in Britain, 2009

Gall

2012

Capital & Class

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The militant, unofficial grassroots-led engineering construction strikes of 2009 dominated the news in Britain for many months, attaining international prominence because of their alleged xenophobia. To mainstream commentators, they appeared to be a throwback to a distant past, and inexplicable given that only a very few groups of workers are now seen as having the capability to undertake such action. Indeed, conventional explanations relied on using the alleged xenophobia as the motivating and organising rationale. This article examines the strikes, explaining their genesis, dynamics and achievements as well as their limitations. A key finding concerns how an industry class consciousness played a critical role in facilitating the workers' ability to mount militant and successful collective action.

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“…Historically, such views provide the basis of a 'craft consciousness' acting as a counterculture to employers (see Cook, 1996, p. 16). The skill and independence associated with a trade can find expression in occupational identities specifying demarcations around job boundaries: historically 'restrictive' in Britain (McBride, 2011). Job boundaries can be the source of intertrade rivalries, with some trades looking to preserve their work from incursion by others.…”

Section: Lean and Skilled Tradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skilled maintenance trades under lean manufacturing: Evidence from the car industry

Roberts

Cullinane

2022

New Technol Work Employ

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This article explores how skilled maintenance trades have fared under lean automotive manufacturing, a cohort of workers relatively neglected in the literature. Historically, such trades possessed a distinct 'craft consciousness' derived from apprenticed-acquired skill, autonomy in job execution, strict job boundaries and relative occupational status and prestige. The article assesses how lean has impacted this craft tradition over time, drawing on a case study of one UK car plant to assess its trajectory across three decades. Four different skilled cohorts-electrical, mechanical, control engineers and die maintenance fitters-are examined to gauge respective trends in skill, autonomy, demarcation and status. While the study finds variation in experiences across different trades, the general trend points to a deterioration in work conditions on all four benchmarks of assessment. The article concludes by inferring implications for the future trajectory of skilled trades considering recent accounts provided in Industry 4.0 narratives.

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Can sectionalism be good for solidarity? Some evidence from the maritime construction industry on Tyneside

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Union militancy during economic hardship

Union militancy during economic hardship

The engineering construction strikes in Britain, 2009

Skilled maintenance trades under lean manufacturing: Evidence from the car industry

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