Documents Perrett, Robert 5 results

'Since the introduction of the statutory recognition procedure the vast majority of new agreements have been voluntary in nature, yet increasingly employers are using this ambiguous state regulation as a means of avoiding recognition.The legislation allows for the game of voluntarism to be enshrined within the micro level politics and social relationships of work and employment: it crystallizes the culture and history of voluntarism in the regulation itself. It is, in effect, ironic in how it balances change with tradition. It makes the new regulation pliable and difficult to see as a step to a state-led approach.There is a resistant trend to unions generally even if recognition cases may vary in terms of employer orientations.This article focuses on such issues by addressing a broader understanding of regulation through an ethnographic case study analysis.'

"This article investigates the process of moving on from redundancy in the Welsh steel industry among individuals seeking new careers. It identifies a spectrum of career change experience, ranging from those who had actively planned their career change, prior to the redundancies, to those ‘at a career crossroads', for whom there were tensions between future projects, present contingencies and past identities. It suggests that the process of moving on from redundancy can be better understood if we are able to identify, not just structural and cultural enablers and constraints but also the temporal dimensions of agency that facilitate or limit transformative action in the context of critical life events. Where individuals are located on the spectrum of career change experience will depend on the balance of enabling and constraining factors across the four aspects considered, namely temporal dimensions of agency, individuals' biographical experience, structural and cultural contexts."

"The article shows that community initiatives take different forms and are the outcome of a broader interplay of factors between workers' interests, representation, and the strategies of unions and broader coalitions that are mobilized in specific communities. Drawing from three case studies on black and minority ethnic (BME) workers and trade unions in the UK the article looks at how the rhetoric of community unionism has been adopted in an uneven manner by trade unions: the article suggests that: (a) community initiatives are variable, (b) they lack a structure and clear vision, (c) the question of BME engagement is rarely central in many projects, and (d) the ambivalent role of the state is a significant factor in many of these initiatives. This state role is downplayed in much of the literature, thus raising dilemmas in terms of community initiatives."

"The article first argues that there is a range of approaches and models developed in relation to the question of representing ethnic minorities and migrants when it comes to trade union strategies. There is no single model. Instead, there is a variety of approaches and politics, just as there are with a `traditionally established workforce'. Second, this study finds that the understanding of ethnic minority needs varies and the politics of this must be central to any discussion, as one cannot read off assumptions about the issue from formal union strategies, traditional practices and established customs in relation to regulation. In effect, there is a politics of trade union responses and there is diversity in the way the `problem' is read and understood. Third, the article argues that the issue of minority ethnic workers raises questions of trade union identity and purpose. This points to much deeper issues related to the role of regulation and strategies of inclusion — and the extent to which they cohere. It also raises the issue of the configuration of strategies of social inclusion and on occasions how strategies ignore the broader issue of participation of those they seek to represent. To this extent the article is not exclusively about inclusion and exclusion — but about the politics and contradictory dynamics of inclusion."