摘要:

ABSTRACTIncreased intensity of work has been frequently cited as part of the explanation for the productivity gains in British manufacturing industry during the 1980s. One of the main sources for this claim has been the PUL (Percentage Utilization of Labour) index, a measure of throughput at the point of production. Analysis of the underlying rationale for this measure leads to the conclusion that it is not a sound basis on which to assess workers' effort. This article examines the concept of effort in some detail and considers the validity of psychological and psychophysiological measures. Whichever measure is used, the evidence provides little support for the contention that workers' effort has been a significant factor in productivity increases.

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb00997.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThe paper analyses the financial status of British trade unions from 1950 to 1988. It documents the long‐term financial decline in union real net worth, despite the maintenance of solvency, which has followed from the shortfall of subscription income over total expenditure. Unions were financially quite stable until the mid‐1960s, when financial decline became serious; despite membership growth from 1967 to 1979, wealth declined and solvency was low. Paradoxically, the period of membership decline since 1980 has seen a partial recovery in financial performance. The factors underlying decline and recovery are analysed and the prospects for the future exami

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb00998.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTStrikes in manufacturing are known to be highly concentrated in a small number of plants. This study extends the analysis of strike concentration to coal mining and is the first study of strike concentration with significant temporal scope. The authors show that strikes were also highly concentrated in coal mining; that the prevalence of recorded strike activity was far from complete; that there was a rapid turnover in the population of highly strikeprone collieries and places; and that persistent strike activity was rare. These results afford a new perspective on strike concentration, the research implications of which are drawn out in the final section.

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb00999.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Public policy towards youth employment and training in Britain during the past decade has been dominated by two themes: the quest to reduce youth relative pay, as part of a wider deregulation of the labour market, in order to increase access to jobs and training: and the neglect of apprenticeship in favour of the Youth Training Scheme. This paper analyses these policies in an institutional framework informed by the results of a recent research project on youth activity in industry in major EC economies (Marsden and Ryan 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991).The policy debate in Britain has tended to focus upon the effectiveness of lower youth pay at improving youth access to jobs and training (Wells 1983; Jones 1985; Junankar and Neale 1987). We accept the efficacy of lower youth pay but question its institutional viability. Youth employment and training policies must be well grounded in labour market institutions in order to achieve success. We argue that neglect of the institutional context accounts for the lopsided and partial success resulting from current policies in Britain, and that the revitalization of apprenticeship, either as such or in the equivalent form of a strongly upgraded public training scheme, has a great deal to offer.We begin with an outline of the relevant institutions. We trace their implications for outcomes in the youth market, contrast the divergent institutional directions taken by West Germany and the UK, and finally assess contemporary British policy towards youth activity in general and apprenticeship in particular.

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01000.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTUsing two British microeconomic data sets, this paper reports the following. (1) Union firms experienced faster productivity growth during 1980–4, but there was no difference in performance in 1975–9, or 1985–6. So unions do not necessarily reduce productivity growth. It is also unlikely that the above pattern can be explained by changes in union legislation. (2) Unionism appears to have no significant effect on in vestment, once one allows for the effects of differential productivity growth. (3) Wages in union and non‐union firms are equally responsive to changes in the capital–labour ratio. (4) Contrary to what is often alleged, unionism per se does not reduce employment growth. Instead, the negative correlation observed in 1980–4 probably arises from a significant reform of working practices in unionized firms du

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01001.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01002.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTIndividual level data is used to consider the effects of the union mark‐up on earnings in Northern Ireland and in particular to find out if a differential exists between bargaining groups as well as across covered and not covered workers. The results show that company (and to a lesser extent, UK industry‐wide) agreements have a much lower mark‐up than might be deduced by simply analysing mean wage levels across groups. This suggests that most of the differential is actually the result of a productivity advantage attached to (these) covered workers and not because of union power p

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01003.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:New Technology in Context: The Selection, Introduction and Use of Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tools, by Bernard Burnes.Managerial Strategy for New Technology, by Wendy Currie.New Technologies and Work: Capitalist and Socialist Perspectives, by Arthur Francis and Peter Grootings.Labour Market Flexibility: Trends in Enterprises.Precarious Jobs in Labour Market Regulation: The Growth of Atypical Employment in Western Europe, edited by G. Rodgers and J. Rogers.Flexible Working Time and Family Life: A Review of Changes, by S. McRae.The European Community: The Social Dimension, by P. Teague.The Decline of Organized Labor in the United States, by Michael Goldfield.The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State and American Labor Activism, 1860–1925, by David Montgomery.Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront, by Howard Kimeldorf.A Secretary and a Cook: Challenging WomenS Wages in the Courts of the United States and Great Britain, by Steven L. Willborn.Coal, Crisis and Conflict: The 1984‐5 Miners' Strike in Yorkshire by J. Winterton and R. Winterton.After Redundancy: the Experience of Economic insecurity, by John Westergaard, Iain Noble and Alan Walker.Change in Industrial Relations: The Organization and Environment by P. B. Beaumont.Manufacturing Change: Industrial Relations and Restructuring, edited by Stephanie Tailby and Colin Whitston.The British Trade Union Directory, by Wolodymyr Maksyrniw, Jack Eaton and Colin Gill.International Labour Statistics: A Handbook Guide and Recent Trends, edited by R. Bean.The Keys to Excellence: the Deming Philosophy, by Nancy R. Mann.Organizational Ecoiogy, by Michael T. Hannan and John Freeman.Sweden: Social Democracy in Practice, by Henry Milner.Reforming the Revolution: China in Transition, edited by Robert Benewick and Paul Wingrove.Industrial Sociology: Work in the French Tradition, edited by Michael R

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01004.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1990.tb01005.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY