Union recognition and employment change in Scottish electronics

MacInnes, John; Sproull, Alan

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.1989.tb00049.x

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…These findings are broadly similar to those of MacInnes and Sproull's research on the Scottish electronics industry which argued that the electronics industry was not a bastion of non-unionism and that recognition had little to do with ownership but was conditioned by size and age of the plants (MacInnes and Sproull, 1989). Thus the smaller and newer plants tended not to recognize unions.…”

Section: The Literaturesupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Despite the importance of these questions, there is a relative lacuna of research activity in this area, with notable exceptions such as Hamill (1983Hamill ( , 1984 and Buckley and Enderwick (1985). Elsewhere the subject is treated as part of a wider examination of the impact of inward investment (Sawers, 1986), it focuses on specific issues (MacInnes and Sproull, 1989;Sproull and MacInnes, 1987) or it tends to concentrate on one source of ownership, such as Japanese or American (Grant, 1994;Morris et al, 1993, Oliver andWilkinson, 1992). The research of this last group, while being extremely useful and interesting, is potentially misleading in that it may overemphasize the extent of change, and the role of the firms in the change process, by a lack of comparison.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multinational corporations and employee relations

Innes

Morris

1995

Employee Relations

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The article is divided into three further sections. The next section offers an insight into the extent of economic change in the Welsh economy in the recent past and the role of multinational capital in restructuring. The third section reviews the literature on multinational corporations and employee relations. The final section provides the results of a survey on this issue. Wales: old industrialized region to tertiarized, feminized economyAll industrialized regions undergo a process of economic and industrial change. Wales is no different, with a long period of decline of its old staple industries, and coal mining in particular, dating back to the First World War (Francis and Smith, 1980;Humphrys, 1972;Morgan, 1983; Morris (forthcoming); Morris and Hill, 1992). The decline of old industries continued in the post-Second World War phase, accompanied by the growth of newer engineering based industries -motor vehicles, electrical engineering, white goods manufacture -and the chemicals industry. In part, this was precipitated by the state through, in particular, an active regional policy.The most dramatic phase of industrial restructuring has, however, occurred in the last decade or so, and particularly since 1979. This restructuring of the Welsh economy has been characterized by a number of features. First, the further decline of the older industries, coal and metal manufacturing (especially steel); indeed the former has all but ceased to exist with only three pits remaining. The "decline" of the steel industry is more complex, for while there has been employment loss, accompanied by plant closure and capacity cuts, the industry still has a major presence in the area, with two of British Steel's three integrated UK sites. Nevertheless, the industry now employs only 15,000 in Wales, compared with 75,000 in the early 1970s.The second major feature of change has been a widespread industrial restructuring of the Welsh economy, comprising a shift within manufacturing and a shift towards service sector employment. Within manufacturing the shift has broadly been one from heavy industry, notably metal manufacture, to lighter industries, with electronics now being the major employer. The service sector, meanwhile, increased employment from 457,200 in 1972 (50 per cent of the workforce) to 653,600 in 1991 (68 per cent).Feminization, the next major feature of change, has been closely allied to this general tertiarization of the economy, although the growth of women workers cannot be ascribed to service industry growth alone. Women workers now account for 49 per cent of the Welsh workforce in a region where, unlike Lancashire and Yorkshire, traditionally they were economically inactive due to the dominance of coal and metal manufacture. Women have also been employed heavily in other of the new industries which have been established in Wales, particularly in the electronics industry.The growth of this sector in Wales is part of a wider internationalization of capital, particularly in the manufacturing industries. While foreign ...

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Section: The Literaturesupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multinational corporations and employee relations

Innes

Morris

1995

Employee Relations

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“…In 1970, when union membership was at its height of 13.2 million, some 46 per cent of the employed population remained unorganized; since then this figure has substantially increased as union membership fell to 10.04 million by 1990. Many sectors noted for the concentration of union membership have contracted, and employers within the expanding private services sector and at new 'greenfield' manufacturing sites have resisted unionization (MacInnes and Sproul 1989;McCloughlin and Gourlay 1990).' Recognition strikes are almost unknown (ACAS 1989:22-3).…”

Section: Employers and Union Exclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Union Exclusion and the Decollectivization of Industrial Relations in Contemporary Britain

Smith¹,

Morton²

1993

Brit J Industrial Rel

119

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A major focus of the Conservative government's employment policy since 1979 has been the reduction of union power within the labour market, the employment relationship and as representatives of a separate ‘labour interest’ in society ' union exclusion. The principal impact of the legislative changes is to deny workers access to resources of collective power, thereby commensurately increasing employers' discretion to determine the terms of the employment relationship. When forming new subsidiaries and establishments, or purchasing non‐union subsidiaries, employers have been able to resist unionization and recognition except on their own terms, but comparatively few have terminated existing union recognition agreements, preferring to marginalize the role of unions through the adoption of partial exclusion policies ' joint consultation, direct communication, performance‐related pay, and the fragmentation of common employment and bargaining.

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“…Despite this demographic messiness electronics or microelectronics are at the heart of this industry. A range of labour process aspects have been addressed in studies of hardware and/or electronics firms (see for example Causer and Jones, 1996;Dickson, MacLachlan, Prior and Swales, 1988;Findlay, 1992;1993;Lowe and Oliver, 1991;MacInnes and Sproull, 1989;Shadur, 1997;Sproull and MacInnes 1987) or firms in the nebulous 'high technology' industry (see for example Beaumont, 1986;Beaumont and Harris, 1988;McLoughlin and Gourlay, 1995). Despite these being interesting they do not address the main game.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%