British Journal of Industrial Relations

Publisher:: Wiley
Publication date:: 2021-02-01

ISBN:: 0007-1080

Issue Number

No. 61-3, September 2023

Latest documents

Workplace gender segregation in standard and non‐standard employment regimes in the US labour market
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace gender segregation in non‐standard employment in the United States. It compares segregation in standard and three non‐standard work arrangements paying special attention to independent contracting – a segment of contingent employment representing novel and consequential developments in work organization. In line with the prediction that inequality is lower in more marketized sectors of the labour market, my analyses based on a representative sample of the contemporary US workforce reveal that workplace gender segregation is lower in non‐standard employment. I further find that the degree of segregation corresponds to the degree of attachment to the employer and that segregation is lower in segments of the economy with higher market competition. Overall, my analyses indicate that a shift towards alternative work arrangements can reduce overall workplace segregation but does not lead to uniform desegregation across occupations, and that institutions of employment and market pressures faced by employers play significant roles in the effect of alternative work arrangements on workplace segregation.
Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains
Research on private regulation of labour issues in global supply chains has focused extensively on whether supplier factories comply with the codes of conduct of global companies. Less is known about how such compliance relates to the preferences and behaviours of workers at export factories. This study analyses a unique dataset of factory audits matched with a survey of worker turnover rates from 622 factories in 28 countries supplying a large global apparel retailer. The results show that violations of the retailer's codes of conduct for suppliers are generally related to turnover, but that workers ‘vote with their feet’ primarily for violations of wages and benefits, relative to violations of other code provisions such as environment protection and safety standards. This ‘means‐ends’ decoupling between factory practices and worker preferences implies that global firms need to incorporate the livelihood logic that underlies workers' turnover decisions while implementing their private regulation programmes.
The Cambridge Handbook of Labour in Competition Law Edited by Sanjukta Paul, Shae McCrystal and Ewan McGaughey, Cambridge University Press, 2022
Conflict or cooperation? Exploring the relationship between cooperative institutions and robotisation
Robotization of production challenges the status‐quo in the economy, some win, while others lose out. Literature has argued that automation causes redistribution, both between capital and labour as within either category. We also know that many economies have chosen to adopt cooperative institutions to negotiate the negative by‐products of such economic changes. What is, however, less clear is how such institutions influence rates of automation themselves. This article contributes to this debate by conducting a panel analysis of sectoral robotization rates and cooperative institutions in 25 OECD countries between 1993 and 2017 using an original institutional indicator. The findings suggest that aside from simply redistributing the costs and benefits of automation throughout the productive sector, cooperative institutions also meaningfully predict higher levels of robot density, showing that more institutionalized economies do not lag behind in terms of automation. What is more, these institutions also seem to co‐determine the rates of robotization occurring during recessions.
Marketization: How Capitalist Exchange Disciplines Workers and Subverts Democracy (Autonomy and Automation) By Ian Greer and Charles Umney. Bloomsbury Academic, November 3, 2022, 192 pages, ISBN: 1913441466, Price $24.95, p/b
Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy Amazon and the Power of Organization by Sarrah Kassem (Author). Bristol University Press, 28 Feb 2023, 222 pp., ISBN: 978–1529226546 (hardback), 978–1529226560 (Epub). £85 hardback, £27.99 Ebook
The collective voice of unions and workplace training in Italy: New insights from mixed methods
Using a three‐phase approach that combines quantitative (pooled OLS, fixed effects and IV) with qualitative (semi‐structured interviews) analyses, we find that in Italy, workplace unions are more likely to enhance training when they sign a firm‐level agreement and when they can get access to external funds for financing. We also identify three channels: what we call a ‘maturation effect’, double‐track communication and watch‐dog function. We argue that these results are consistent with the idea that the impact of workplace unions on training depends on the empowerment of its collective voice within an institutional framework that does not fit either of the standard models provided by collective and liberal market economies.
Two paths towards job instability: Comparing changes in the distribution of job tenure duration in the United Kingdom and Germany, 1984–2014
This study provides novel evidence on trends in job stability in the United Kingdom and Germany, two capitalist economies with distinct sets of institutions and labour market reform trajectories. While we find evidence of an increase in short‐term jobs for men in both countries, we also find important differences in the overall patterns of change in the distribution of job tenure duration. The United Kingdom follows a masked instability pattern with opposite job stability trends for men and women. On the other hand, we find evidence of a polarization of the job tenure distribution among men and women in Germany. These findings are partly consistent with expectations from the dualization literature, emphasizing a growing segmentation of the labour market between insiders and outsiders. More generally, this study highlights the existence of multiple paths towards increased job instability that appear to be rooted in institutional differences.
Coordination versus organization: Diverging logics of firm cooperation in Denmark and Sweden
Employers and their business associations have become increasingly important actors promoting market competition – even in once highly coordinated and regulated European economies. Based on a comparison of the Danish and Swedish telecommunications industries, we ask how differences in business association structures relate to the ways firms cooperate in competitive markets. In Denmark, fragmented, competing business associations encouraged a more unstable logic of coordination, with firms predominately focussed on pursuing particularistic interests in public policy lobbying and exit‐oriented strategies in employment relations. In contrast, the unified business association in Sweden encouraged a logic of organization, with firms predominately seeking collective good provision in public policy lobbying and engaging in mutual gains bargaining. Findings contribute to debates on the role of business associations in fostering firm cooperation and collective regulation.
Where's the ‘Human’ in Human Resource Management Managing Work in the 21st Century By Michael Gold and Chris Smith. Bristol University Press. Sep 6, 2022, 470 pages, ISBN: 978–1529213805, Price GBP 39.99