“Getting By” and “Getting On” in Service Work: Lessons for the Future of Accounting?

Now and then: revolutions in higher learning

“…These changes signal the subsumption of academic labour, and the academy generally (Tinker & Koutsoumadi, 1997Lamont & Lucas, 1999), reducing the autonomy of university labour to mere "moments" of capital (Aronowitz, 1978, p. 127). Increasing requirements that academic staff not act contrary to the perceived commercial interests of the university and its corporate backers-a demand for private sector style "corporate loyalty" (Allport, 2000)-makes the subsumption more explicit and represents deepening integration of the university within the capitalist order.…”

Is low unionisation in the British hospitality industry due to industry characteristics?

“…One in four HI employees is aged 20 and under, double the proportion in the PSS (Lucas, 2004), reflecting the importance of the HI as source of employment for students. They commonly undertake jobs in personal and protective services and routine unskilled occupations, which together account for twothirds of hospitality jobs (Table 1), often on a casual, part-time or temporary basis (Lammont and Lucas, 1999;Lucas, 2004). High job mobility in the HI is reflected by shorter job tenure and high labour turnover (Table 1), which is reflected in high levels of recruitment, quit rates and dismissal rates (Lucas, 2004).…”

“…As a consequence, employees who do not share the same workplace experiences, perhaps because they work shifts (Table 1), may not develop a collective ethos. The perceived benefits of joining unions are low and employees prefer to negotiate for themselves, believing strongly that they have the ability to influence their own working environment (Abbott, 1993;Lucas, 1997Lucas, , 2004Lammont and Lucas, 1999). The notion of service that is associated with many jobs may also instil a sense of submission and there is little collective kudos to be gained from providing excellent service (ILO, 2001).…”

Young workers and the National Minimum Wage

“…Tangible 'technical' skills are acquired from following a body of procedurally-designed rules imbibed during a period of structured training, often during a time-served apprenticeship. The 'soft' and 'tacit' skills required in service work may entail subjective judgements to be made based on practical experience, where the familiarity of these skilful resources makes them largely invisible to the job holder (Polanyi, 1967;Lammont and Lucas, 1999). The small knowledge content and short period of practical experience may not be deemed sufficiently complex to justify formal, structured training, and reinforce segmentation and adverse selection.…”