Bob Carter

The 1951–55 conservative government and the racialization of black immigration

‘The problem of colonial immigration has not yet aroused public anxiety, although there was some concern, mainly due to the housing difficulties in a few localities where most of the immigrants were concentrated. On the other hand, if immigration from the colonies, and, for that matter, from India and Pakistan, were allowed to continue unchecked, there was a real danger that over the years there would be a significant change in the racial character of the English people’.

'Stressed out of my box': employee experience of lean working and occupational ill-health in clerical work in the UK public sector

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions – notably stress – and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be ‘safe’. This study’s locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, in the context of efficiency savings programmes. The key initiative was lean working, which involved redesigned workflow, task fragmentation, standardization and individual targets. Utilizing a holistic model of white-collar OHS and in-depth quantitative and qualitative data, the evidence of widespread self-reported ill-health symptoms is compelling. Statistical tests of association demonstrate that the transformed work organization that accompanied lean working contributed most to employees’, particularly women’s, ill-health complaints.

Lean and mean in the civil service: the case of processing in HMRC

The public sector has been importing private sector methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies and cost savings. However, the consequences of these changes on the working lives of civil servants are under-researched. This article uses detailed fieldwork to investigate the impact of Lean on labour processes in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). We argue that Lean has a detrimental effect on employees, their working lives, and the service that is provided to the public. The consequences of Lean on public sector work are highly problematic, which is of serious concern given its progressive impact on other civil service departments in the UK.

Trade union organizing and renewal A response to de Turberville

The decline of British unions has barely been arrested (Hicks and Palmer, 2004) in conditions that the TUC recognize as the most favourable for a generation (TUC, 1999). Neither the seemingly more favourable political climate of a Labour government, nor sustained economic growth, has made a notable impact on union growth and density, raising questions about the adequacy of present union strategies and the need for alternative orientations. In this context, increasing attention has been paid to the potential salvation offered by what has become known as the organizing model of trade unionism (Gall, 2003; Heery et al., 2000a). Heery and his colleagues, the most prominent of British writers on contemporary trade unionism, have attempted an evaluation of the effectiveness of organizing in promoting union growth and renewal when compared to servicing models and partnership agreements with employers (Heery et al., 2003). Their conclusion is that the organizing model is successful only in certain contexts. Having noted that ‘all three approaches – servicing, partnership and organizing – are present and being applied by considerable proportions of UK unions’ (2003: 63), they state that ‘there are several ways to restore membership, not a single approach as suggested by advocates of the organizing model’ (2003: 75). It has been argued elsewhere that Heery et al.’s position is pragmatic rather than critical, refraining from any rigorous evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches (Carter, 2004). The appearance of de Turberville’s (2004) critique of the organizing model promises, therefore, a significant advance. There are three underpinnings to his criticisms: the lack of conceptual coherence of the organizing model; organizing is used to buttress existing hierarchies of power within unions; and, echoing Heery et al. (2003), the heterogeneity of union memberships, and the different contexts in which they work, rule out any possibility of one approach being sufficient. Unfortunately, the lack of theoretical coherence in his work, its selective historiography and its failure

Immigration policy and the racialization of migrant labour: The construction of national identities in the USA and Britain

Abstract This article is a comparative study of the racialization of migrant labour. Taking the USA 1900–1925 and Britain 1948–1962 as case‐studies, we examine the role of the state in constructing migration in ‘race’ terms and shaping the conditions under which certain categories of migrant workers participate in the labour market. We focus on debates over immigration and citizenship policy because these are key moments in the ‘race making’ process and the construction of national identities. Through an investigation of government discourses surrounding restrictive legislation in both countries, we argue firstly, that notions of ‘race’, nation and national identity are political constructs that require constant policing and refurbishment. Secondly, we contend that the state plays a key role in the racialization of populations through immigration and nationality controls. Thirdly, the racialized nature of immigration regulation both structures the way in which migrants are situated within the labour marke...

'Bringing out the best in people': teacher training and the 'real' teacher

This paper explores the ways in which student teachers position themselves as teachers in primary classrooms. It focuses upon one discourse in primary teaching, which we have called the ‘real teacher’ discourse, and argues that it is mainly in terms of this that students come to understand ‘being a teacher’.

Unions in a changing climate: MSF and Unison experiences in the new public sector

Through an examination of national policies, case study and survey material, this article looks at the question of the possibility of union renewal through an examination of the various and varying responses of two unions, MSF and Unison, to the changing work and employment practices in the NHS.

Teachers, workforce remodelling and the challenge to labour process analysis

Early attempts to examine the labour process of teaching concentrated on the processes of de-skilling and proletarianization and were largely ignored. Subsequent attempts to amend the approach have had similarly limited impact. This article examines the restructuring of teachers’ work during the last Labour government under the auspices of ‘workforce remodelling’, a policy intended ostensibly to reduce workload pressures on teachers. Rather than this outcome, the result was the further division of labour and increased intensity and control of teachers’ work through the extension of managerial hierarchies within schools. These developments, it is argued, are best captured and explained by an analysis informed by labour process theory. The account is based on the results of two years’ funded research involving extensive interviews with education officials and trade union officers at national and local authority level, and head teachers and other staff in 12 schools located in three contrasting local authorities.

A Growing Divide: Marxist Class Analysis and the Labour Process

In an extensive survey, Carter examines the changing emphasis within Marxist class and labour process theory, arguing that the explicit and implicit movements towards an orthodox Marxist two class model fails to identify the significance of workplace changes, rendering Marxism formal and abstract. Conversely, a reintegration of class and labour process theory, within a framework which acknowledges the role and functions of the new middle class, promises to revitalise analysis and provide perspectives for understanding the fluid relations of class.

State restructuring and union renewal: the case of the National Union of Teachers.

All sections of state employment have undergone radical restructuring since the 1980s, giving rise to a debate about the actual and necessary responses of public sector unions. Much of this debate has concerned the possibility of union renewal prompted by the tendency of New Public Management to decentralize employment relations. This article combines an examination of secondary works with a case study to evaluate the extent to which the largest of the teachers’ unions, the National Union of Teachers, has been subject to this process. It concludes that while many of the conditions for renewal appear to be in place, there is no crisis of unionism and evidence points to a traditional pattern of relations between local associations of the union and LEAs being resilient.