We Sell Our Time No More

Stewart, Paul M.; Richardson, Mike; Danford, Andy; Murphy, Ken; Richardson, Tony; Wass, Vicki; Cooper, J.; Lewis, Tony; Lindsay, Gary; Whitley, Mick; Fetherston, John; Craig, Steve; Doyle, Pat; Myles, Terry

doi:10.2307/j.ctt183pc1b

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Lean production emphasizes waste minimization and work flow maximization to increase productivity. Like the high-powered productivity incentives we study, lean production systems have been criticized for their association with intensified workloads and deteriorated working conditions (e.g., Landsbergis et al 1999, Parker 2003, Stewart et al 2009). Yet, recent studies show either mixed relationships (e.g., Jackson andMullarkey 2000, Hasle 2009) or positive relationships (e.g., Locke andRomis 2007, 2010;Distelhorst et al 2016) between lean production and working conditions.…”

Section: Contribution To the Literature On Labor Practices In Global mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

Bird¹,

Short

Toffel³

2019

Organization Science

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In response to media exposés and activist group pressure to eliminate exploitive working conditions, multinational companies have pushed their suppliers to adopt labor codes of conduct and improve their labor practices to meet the standards set forth in these codes. Yet little is known about the extent to which suppliers are improving their labor practices to conform to codes of conduct, especially in organizations in which legitimacy structures like codes compete with productivity-driving incentive structures. We theorize that the presence of particular internal structures will affect the extent to which suppliers' labor practices will become more tightly aligned-or coupled-with their formal commitments to adhere to labor codes. Specifically, we theorize high-powered productivity incentives to be associated with less coupling, and being certified to management system standards and having workers' unions to be associated with more coupling. We also argue that these efficiency and managerial structures will moderate each other's relationship to coupling, and that certification and unions will each increase the other's positive association with coupling. Using social audit data on 3,276 suppliers in 55 countries, we find evidence that supports our hypotheses. Our focus on the internal structural composition of suppliers extends the decoupling literature by theorizing and demonstrating conditions under which suppliers' core organizational functions are likely to be buffered from change by legitimacy structures. Furthermore, our findings suggest important strategic considerations for managers selecting supplier factories and provide key insights for the design of transnational sustainability governance regimes.

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Section: Contribution To the Literature On Labor Practices In Global mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

Bird¹,

Short

Toffel³

2019

Organization Science

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“…With the internationalisation of manufacturing during the 1980s and 1990s, HR managers of large automotive companies started convincing union representatives that a mutually benefiting solution was possible if labour would constrain or give up their demands and accept the implementation of “lean-production” techniques, calendar flexibility or dual-wage-scales (Stewart et al , 2008; Las Heras, 2018b). Similar to corporatism, micro-corporatism can be grasped as the recursive production of consent in between capital and labour at the workplace/factory/company scale in order to maintain corporate profitability high and, as a corollary, employment afloat (Zagelmeyer, 2001; Moody, 1997).…”

Section: From “Managers Of Discontent” To “Managers Of Precariousness”mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The contradictions of trying to incorporate the workforce under a micro-corporatist logic emerged in NZF when dominant unions, especially CCOO, found it impossible to legitimise the 1994 collective agreement in the eyes of critical shop floor workers who were going to directly suffer from greater stress and work intensity (e.g. Stewart et al , 2008). The latter, who had previously been represented by CCOO during the 1970s and 1980s, conceived that they could better defend their class interests by organising a new union branch.…”

Section: From the Democratic Transition Until The Mid-1990s: Qualitative Shift In Collective Bargaining In Nzfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unions as “managers of precariousness”

Heras

2018

Employee Relations

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue that: in a context of global labour market competition and in the absence of new strategic repertoires, class trade unions are progressively becoming “managers of precariousness”. Thus, the paper challenges the compromise logic as the unique solution to corporate threats to relocation, since it undermines trade union power resources, mainly discursively and organisationally, and hinders trade union capacity to transform the balance of forces to their favour later, when the hegemonic discourse can more easily be challenged in periods of crisis. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws upon the doctoral fieldwork the author undertook in the city and province of Barcelona during Spring–Summer 2015. More than 30 semi-structured interviews to various union delegates and regional metal officials have been accompanied by an exhaustive review of primary and secondary documentation. In so doing, this paper gives a rich and nuanced account on the different “world-views” and strategies that union delegates pursue when bargaining against transnational corporations. Findings This paper shows how the conservative position that Spanish trade unions adopted to the 2008 financial crisis in the automotive industry is path-dependent to dynamics established during the 1990s when lean production techniques were implemented in exchange for higher salaries. It draws upon the collective bargaining history of the Nissan–Zona–Franca assembly factory in the outskirts of Barcelona to, crucially, explain how signing micro-corporatist pacts and portraying them as the unique solution to corporate threats to relocation undermines trade union power resources, and has two important drawbacks: that micro-corporatist pacts only postpone the recurring threat to relocation to the future by eroding, not improving, the conditions of the workforce, accepting corporate discourse erodes the solidarity among workers, and it also allows yellow unions to displace class unions. Originality/value This paper enriches and updates the literature on micro-corporatism, collective bargaining in transnational corporations, and the erosion of trade union power resources which dates back to the 1990s and early 2000s. Whilst the negative aspects that competitiveness pacts have on workers’ salaries and conditions have been widely reported, this paper provides a rich and updated explanation of how such pacts have negative repercussions on the discursive and organisational power resources that unions have at the workplace level. In that sense, the originality of this paper rests on engaging into a substantiated historical analysis on how trade unions change throughout time as a result, at least partially, of their own strategic choices. Moreover, this paper clearly shows that concessionary positions towards collective bargaining are self-undermining.

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“…There is a large body of literature which demonstrates that employee empowerment has a positive effect on job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Fernandez and Moldogaziev, 2013;Kim and Fernandez, 2015;Ogbonnaya and Valizade, 2015), and improves job performance Moldogaziev, 2011 and. Despite these benefits, however, a number of studies in the automobile industry have also pointed out a big gap between management rhetoric and reality regarding employee empowerment (Vidal 2007a;2007b;Stewart et al, 2009;Jones et al, 2013). Having reviewed the relevant literature, Jones et al (2013) concluded that employee involvement and voice in various automobile plants were effectively silenced if they were in conflict with cost reduction and production enhancement, despite claims of employee empowerment by management.…”

Section: The Tension Between Employee Empowerment and Production Enhamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has also been suggested that there is a tension between management's focus on employee participation and on production enhancement. Research in the automobile industry has revealed that management often prioritises production and merely pays lip service to employee empowerment (Jones et al, 2013;Stewart et al, 2009;Vidal, 2007aVidal, , 2007b). An intriguing question arising, therefore, is how this tension is played out and managed in the context of OHS management in the shipping industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is dominant? Occupational Health and Safety management in Chinese shipping

Chen

Tang

Walters

2016

Journal of Industrial Relations

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This paper investigates the implementation of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code in the Chinese chemical shipping industry. In particular, it examines the tension between management focus on speedy production and seafarers' participation in safety related decision making and analyses how this tension is managed. It shows that while on paper companies have policies stating safety commitment in compliance with the ISM Code, in practice shore management tends to prioritise efficient production. When Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and ship's sailing schedules are in conflict, managers implicitly request shipmasters to prioritise the 'core interest' of the company. Although the ISM Code endows shipmasters with overriding authorities in relation to shipboard safety management, they tend to read between the lines and tacitly follow managers' intentions. The study suggests that if the ISM implementation makes a difference, it is the practice that managers become more subtle in giving orders to exert their dominance. The study further reveals that the management's practice is not only irresponsive to seafarers' safety concerns but also makes rather limited contributions to promote OHS Management.

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We Sell Our Time No More

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

Unions as “managers of precariousness”

Who is dominant? Occupational Health and Safety management in Chinese shipping

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