Miguel Martinez Lucio

The Realities of Regulatory Change: Beyond the Fetish of Deregulation

The article argues that any discussion of regulatory change should be sensitive to the manner in which regulation was originally constructed and developed. Any change can only be understood by a mapping of the complex interrelation of spaces, spheres and actors of regulation. The act of regulatory change requires shifts and re-alignments across a wide range of fronts. This is because regulation involves alliances and linkages across a range of spaces and actors, contingent upon the peculiarities and limits of different states and their respective civil societies. The manner in which regulatory change may be prosecuted also belies any notion of unproblematic transfer of responsibilities between actors.

'Partnership' and new industrial relations in a risk society: an age of shotgun weddings and marriages of convenience?

The article argues that the concept of risk should be at the heart of any discussion on partnership-based approaches to employment relations. It draws attention to two sets of organizational-related risk - distributive risks, related to material and environmental factors and exchanges, and political risks, related to organizational practices and legitimacy. These risks are shown to emerge from both exogenous and endogenous forces, and to have become more problematic because of the macro political and socio-economic context of workplace change. Given this changing context of risk, we argue that ‘new’ partnership relations between labour and management are fundamentally unstable. We contend that the concept of risk has to be approached in a much more explicit, focused and subtle manner than is apparent in the current debate on partnership, if we are to understand the challenges and contradictions underpinning the emergence of new industrial relations systems.

‘Unstable boundaries?’ Evaluating the ‘new regulation’ within employment relations

The ‘emergence’ of the ‘market’ as the basis of economic and political decision-making has become a main focus of debate within the social sciences since the late 1970s. Even while those opposing the growing centrality of neo-classical economics and market-oriented political discourses remain a significant academic constituency, within their ranks there has been a growing realization that regulatory mechanisms, and in particular the role of the state, have nevertheless been the subject of extensive changes. Alternative schools of thought have argued in terms of the way in which such mechanisms have been refashioned. Regulation has become, in the words of Regini and Majone, ‘transferred’ and the ‘boundaries’ between regulator and regulated ‘changed’: the regulatory process has been seen to shift at the macro/national level and at the micro/enterprise level. While supporting the general argument that it is the boundaries of regulation which are to be discussed, not its presence, we shall nevertheless argue that these changes are, if anything, more contentious and that a set of ironies emerges which politicize regulation even further.

The Paradox of Contemporary Labour Process Theory: The Rediscovery of Labour and the Disappearance of Collectivism

Recent commentators on the Labour Process Debate have addressed the relationship between individualism, collectivism and broader changes in management strategies through a focus upon the absence of labour and the demise of collectivism. In this critical response the authors argue that almost invariably, while labour in some guise is rediscovered, this occurs at the expense of collectivism.

Assessing partnership: the prospects for, and challenges of, modernisation

This paper has a dual role. First, it provides an overview of partnership, with particular reference to the present Labour Government and the shaping of its relations with the institutions of capital and business representation. Second, it provides an introduction to the special issue on “‘Assessing partnership: the prospects for, and challenges of, modernisation” and briefly outlines the papers included in it.

New Communication Systems and Trade Union Politics: A Case Study of Spanish Trade Unions and the Role of the Internet

This article shows how engagement with the internet and aspects of the new economy/society require an appreciation of union difference and politics. It shows how union responses vary due to four factors: communication strategies, union identity, forms of internal democracy and a range of organisational and social contingencies. The article will study the phenomena of the internet in the context of one national case study, Spain. It is a country that allows us to view the political dimensions of the internet, and the way they link to communication strategies, due to the manner in which the labour movement has transformed and modernised itself. It is also of interest because methods of communication have been at the heart of the way in which unions have developed and differentiated themselves. This article will argue that a greater sensitivity is required in terms of union history, politics and identity if the impact and use of new forms of communication are to be fully appreciated. It also points to the need to appreciate tensions between different forms of communication.

Assessing the principles of partnership: Workplace trade union representatives' attitudes and experiences

The article examines the attitudes and experiences of senior workplace trade union representatives, from the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, against the TUC’s six principles of partnership. The findings suggest some acceptance of the ideological aspects of partnership, such as the need to move away from adversarial cultures and understand the impact of market imperatives and pressures on the firm. The results reveal little support, however, for improvements in job security, transparency and involvement and the quality of working life (the TUC’s so‐called “acid test” of partnership). Against a backdrop of job insecurity and widespread work intensification, the article argues that the material and organisational basis to partnership appears to be undermining various attitudinal changes within the thinking of trade union representatives regarding their roles and relations at work.

Trade union renewal and the challenges of representation: Strategies towards migrant and ethnic minority workers in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom

This article examines trade union responses to migration in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. We explore how national regulatory structures and industrial relations traditions shape these responses, reflected in different ways of working with the state, employers, union members and the migrant worker community. We identify three main logics that inform trade union action: class, race/ethnicity and social rights; these are used implicitly or explicitly in building representative action. Our analysis shows how trade unions in each country tend to give priority to certain specific logics rather than others. Our findings also show how, in each country, trade union renewal in relation to migration implies engaging with new logics of actions which have not been part of the historical trade union approach. Hence the question of migration brings specific challenges for union identity and strategy. We argue for an approach that goes beyond assumptions of path dependency, and stress the complexity of representation and the challenge of balancing different interests and strategies in the process of social inclusion.

Trade Unions and Networking in the Context of Change: Evaluating the Outcomes of Decentralization in Industrial Relations

This article addresses the fatalistic approach to trade unions in an era of supposedly decentralized production methods and in the context of the new wave of managerial practices in the workplace. An alternative thesis is presented, portraying the responses trade unions are making with regard to these developments in the form of networking. The authors argue that the evolution of these formal and informal networks within the labour movement, and in particular the political orientations of the actors involved in such networks, will ultimately condition managerial initiatives and the eventual outcomes of contemporary developments in the structure of production. The article points to the need to study such points of cooperation in such a way that their organizational dynamics, their political context and their contradictory developments are appreciated.

The networked union? The internet as a challenge to trade union identity and roles

Purpose – The article aims to look at the development of the internet in terms of its implications for the labour movement and its international activities.Design/methodology/approach – The paper brings together conclusions and findings based on the previous work of the two individual authors who have studied the role of the internet from a national and international perspective, using a range of methodologies.Findings – The impact of the internet in terms of facilitating communication and renewal strategies has been highly significant. However, the authors argue that such developments are also mediated by trade union structures and organisational traditions/ideologies at the national level where there is still a considerable degree of variety. It also looks and focuses on some of the challenges of international labour co‐ordination through the use of the internet, noting some of the difficulties faced by trade unionists. The paper therefore brings together insights into the way organisations such as trad...