Huw Beynon

• Cardiff University

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE AUTOMOBILE SECTOR IN BRAZIL - A NEW WAY OF PRODUCING CARS?

In Brazil it is still appropriate to talk in terms of a workers’ movement. Alone in the states of Southern America, the trade unions in Brazil still have a capacity to organize workers and to exert a powerful influence upon work-place activities. The main trade union federation is linked to a new political party—the Workers’ Party (PT—Partido dos T...

Strikes are complicated phenomena, and the miners’ strike that began in 1984 is no exception. Its complexity defies simple generalisations. It has changed the lives of many people and its consequences are still being experienced after 30 years. It is, however, possible to evaluate. In doing so it is useful to remember the words of Warner and Low (1...

Margaret Thatcher's death in 2013 was followed by extensive tributes to her achievements, often describing her role in ‘saving Britain’. Other more sceptical voices pointed to the destructive aspects of her politics. This article explores these issues through an examination of the major confrontation with the coal miners and their trade union the N...

This paper draws on the biography of S am W atson, a miners' leader in the N orth E ast of E ngland, to examine the ways in which power relations operated within the B ritish labour movement in the forties and fifties. At that time the M arshall P lan and the concern by the US government to control the spread of communism in E urope provided a crit...

This article deals with issues relating to trade union density and the fact that while over the past 30 years, union densities have followed a declining path in all regions, this retreat was not uniform across space. Analysis of the Labour Force Survey reveals that Wales exhibits among the highest levels of union density in the UK. The reasons for...

This paper traces the interrelationship between changes in the British trade union and labour movement and the development of sociology in Britain since the war. It considers the ways in which both have been affected by economic and political changes and how different patterns of engagement have emerged in times of crisis.

Abstract The Durham Miners Gala has taken place annually for over a hundred years. In its heyday it was an immensely popular occasion. In the post-war period it became an established part of the British Labour calendar, being attended regularly by Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and foreign ambassadors. The Gala can be understood as a ceremony w...

This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 19 children and nine of their parents or carers in the South Wales valleys to discuss the effect on the social identities of minority ethnic children of living in virtually all-white communities. There is discussion of minority ethnic identities, local identities and Welshness, and the paper concludes...

This article explores the erosion of the standard working-time model associated with the UK's voluntarist system of industrial relations, and argues that its renegotiation is likely to be a critical factor in shaping the employment relationship of the future. As numerous studies over the last two decades have revealed, organizations have increasing...

This paper aims to contribute to the relatively small body of literature on the minority ethnic experience in almost entirely white communities, by reporting the findings of qualitative research into the experiences of minority ethnic children living in the South Wales valleys. Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with children and their parents/...

Deregulation and decentralization have placed organizations in the driving seat of employment change. Drawing on seven case studies of large organizations, this book examines how organizations as the architects of the employment system are restructuring their employment practices. Rich data on the experience of work collected from all seven organiz...

The research upon which this book is based draws on case studies of seven large organizations in Britain. Between 1997 and 1999 researchers examined changes in work and employment in a bank, a pharmaceutical company, a newspaper company, a large city council, a food retailer, an NHS Trust, and a telecommunications firm. This chapter introduces thes...

Drawing on detailed case studies of four large service sector organizations this paper finds little evidence of training provision that links skills development with incremental career progression. Past policies of ‘delayering’ have opened up a ‘gap’ in the job ladder and this has both increased the organizational costs of formal training and reduc...

Temporary jobs account for an increasing proportion of new engagements in the UK labour market, with temporary work agencies or 'labour market intermediaries' occupying a central role in the regulation of entry into some organisations. Such evolving arrangements have been found to have their contradictions, even for the host organisation. This arti...

This paper explores changes in employment policies and practices that are typically associated with the classical ‘model’of the internal labour market.Drawing on documentary information and interviews with managers in four large organisations in the UK,the evidence suggests that many of the ‘traditional’ pillars of the internal labour market have b...

This paper draws upon on-going research into the changes taking place in the Brazilian vehicle assembly industry with particular reference to the state of Rio de Janeiro. It focuses upon a case study of Vollswagen's bus and truck assembly plant at Resende. The plant opened in 1996 on a green-field site and was presented as a major development in ve...

This paper draws upon on-going research into the changes taking place in the Brazilian vehicle assembly industry with particular reference to the state of Rio de Janeiro. It focuses upon a case study of Volkswagen's bus and truck assembly plant at Resende. The plant opened in 1996 on a green-field site and was presented as a major development in ve...

Abstract The renegotiation of working time is a critical factor shaping the future employment relationship. New working time arrangements are changing the wage-effort bargain, blurring the boundary ,between ,work ,and ,non ,work ,time ,and ,increasing the commodification,of labour. Drawing,on case studies of six large organisations in the UK, this...

This paper aims to discover how, with the decline and ending of the deep coal mining industry in many parts of the UK its legacy is being re-evaluated by those involved in various aspects of economic and social regeneration. It opens by exploring the way coal mine workers and their communities have been seen within popular and academic accounts, an...

Os estudos sobre protesto e conflito no Reino Unido são dominados há décadas pelas pesquisas sobre o local de trabalho e as atividades sindicais. Nos anos 80 e 90, o declínio dos antigos setores industriais combinou-se com a crescente insegurança econômica e com a legislação governamental, causando um enfraquecimento das organizações de trabalhador...

This data set contains 7 Working Papers from the Coalfields Research Programme, conducted in the 1990s at the universities of Cardiff and Durham.

Both within social theory and social history debate ranges around the usefulness of ideas of "class". This article reflects on this debate. It considers the history of the concept and the ways it has been used in analysing different historical periods. It argues that there is a need to refine its usage and to modify crude distinctions made between...

The “localities debate,” stimulated by the Economic and Social Research Council's “Changing Urban and Regional Systems” initiative, was conducted in the pages of Antipode and Society and Space at a length that showed scant regard for emerging environmental sensitivities. Much of it involved politically contentious claims and increasingly exhausted...

Part 1 The context - coal and steel 1970-85 expansion and contraction - two sides of state planning international markets a privatizing tendency Part 2 The closure of Horden colliery the colliery and its reserves closure Part 3 Themes, issues, problems rationalization, privatization and the market halting economic decline

Focusing on the general picture, as well as the specific changes in the Northeast, the authors consider the ramifications of an expanding opencast sector in British coal mining. They draw attention to the intersecting politics of employment and environment and suggest that a basis for opposition campaigns may be constructed.

Books reviewed in this article: Alison L. Booth (ed.) - The Economics of Labor Unions Wilhelm Eberwein, Jochen Tholen and Joachim Schuster - The Europeanisation of Industrial Relations: National and European Processes in Germany, UK, Italy and France Emer O'Hagan - Employee Relations in the Periphery of Europe: The Unfolding Story of the European S...

In May 1981, the British TUC organised a People’s March for Jobs. The march commenced in Liverpool on 1 May, and for the rest of that month unemployed men and women walked south to London. During that time, another 60000 workers had joined the dole queue as a result of plant closures and the continuing massive run down of manufacturing production i...

This article examines the operation of three nationalised industries—coal, steel and water—in the North East of England. It looks at the links between them and assesses the impact of their policies on the economy and the environment of the local communities. In addition, it explores the relationship between the private and public sectors by examini...

Identifies the dramatically changing social and economic context of Middlesbrough/Teeside before outlining the main aims of the authors' intended research in this area, and the key role in it of investigating four major employers. -T.Hoare

Working for Fiord describes what it was like to work in a car factory in the UK in the 1970s very often told in the words of the workers themselves. It also reveals the processes by which large scale industries sought to overcome industrial conflict and the ways in which this was affected by the political and economic aspirations of the shop floor...