Steve Davies

Contracting out employment services to the third and private sectors: a critique

As part of its welfare reform strategy, the government has made increasing use of the private and third sector in the provision of employment-related services. Ministers claim that this results in better service for users and better value for money for the taxpayer. This article examines these claims for third and private sector superiority in service provision and, using the governments own evaluative reports, challenges this view. The article contends that there is little evidence to support the governments case for the wholesale embrace of contracting out employment services. Based on reviewing experience of previous projects, it argues that given the same flexibilities and financing routinely offered to contractors, in-house provision would match or surpass contractor performance.

Labour standards and capacity in global subcontracting chains: evidence from a construction MNC

This article investigates how fundamental labour rights specified in international framework agreements are implemented and monitored in subcontracting chains. It shows how labours capacity for workplace-based monitoring is influenced by factors such as ownership structures, the societal context, and, most importantly, the institutions and dynamics of local labour control.

Subcontracting and labour standards: reassessing the potential of international framework agreements

Attempts to regulate labour standards in multinational companies face clear difficulties, not least because companies themselves may not have the executive power to enforce terms throughout complex and fragmented subcontracting structures. In the case of international framework agreements (IFAs), this might suggest a fundamental weakness. Taking our example from the South African construction industry, this article presents an IFA in the context of both employer and union strategy. We demonstrate that a two-track approach exists: highly interventionist approach to quality-critical issues compared with labour-related issues. On this basis, we suggest that, far from being over-hyped, IFAs have yet to be taken seriously enough.

Outsourcing, public sector reform and the changed character of the UK state‐voluntary sector relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace the origin and development of the increased use of the voluntary sector in the delivery of public services in the UK and to identify both the threats and opportunities that this policy poses. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses government documents to examine policies and models for change. This is located within a discussion of the literature around the developing role of the voluntary sector in public service provision against the backdrop of wider neo-liberal public sector reform. Findings – New Labour laid the basis for a major expansion in the use of the voluntary sector in public service provision as part of its public service reform programme. It did so with a range of sometimes contradictory justifications. The policy is now being extended by the new coalition government. Research limitations/implications – The process of change outlined in the paper is continuing, so it is not possible to make conclusive statements regarding its impact. Further research will be required to monitor the effects. Practical implications – Alerting the voluntary sector organisations to the potential problems of large-scale involvement in public service provision may assist them in retaining their independence and effectiveness. Originality/value – The paper contributes to a necessary (and overdue) assessment of the impact of the changed role of the voluntary sector in public service provision on the sector itself, the services provided and the surrounding framework of accountability.

Sources of Variation in Trade Union Membership Across the UK: The Case of Wales

This article deals with issues relating to trade union density and the fact that while over the past 30 years, union densities have followed a declining path in all regions, this retreat was not uniform across space. Analysis of the Labour Force Survey reveals that Wales exhibits among the highest levels of union density in the UK. The reasons for this are examined through statistical analysis, historical analysis and interview data. These analyses reveal that there appear to be intrinsic differences in the nature of workplace representation in Wales; one linked to a particular style of trade unionism supported by the authority of a devolved state that continue to contribute to higher levels of membership.

Union Learning Reps in a High Tech Industry.

This article examines moves towards the creation of a Union Learning Rep (ULR) network within Connect, the union for UK communications sector management and professional staff. Focusing on a large communications company (CommCo), the article argues that ULRs need not be limited to campaigning for basic skills training. They also have a role in a high tech industry with well‐developed training programmes and a highly qualified workforce. As ‘learning signposts’ and advocates, ULRs can assist members in navigating the range of learning options presented by the employer, advise members on opportunities available outside the workplace, raise the profile of training and learning on the union’s bargaining agenda, develop new layers of activists and recruit new members.

UK Municipal Waste Management: From a Public Service to a Globalised Industry

The UKs municipal waste management service has been transformed from a service owned and provided by local government into one increasingly provided by large multinational companies. A series of political decisions laid the basis for this, beginning with the programme of deregulation, contracting out and privatisation introduced by the Conservative governments of the 1980s. The process has continued under New Labour with the cumulative result that a new market in municipal waste exists today. Its development has also influenced the shape of the already existing wider waste management market, with the result that this too has seen a process of concentration. Having broken up a vertically integrated sector under municipal ownership, this reformation of the municipal waste market appears to be heading for a vertical reintegration of the sector on the basis of private sector ownership.

Book review: Dan Zuberi, Cleaning Up: How Hospital Outsourcing Is Hurting Workers and Endangering Patients

global system from a value-theoretical perspective but, even if Marx himself did not resolve these problems, he was fully aware of them. Drawing on the work of Guglielmo Carchedi, Pradella briefly outlines some elements required for the international application of the law of value. This involves rejecting the view of those such as Arghiri Emmanuel who take ‘countries as the unit of analysis’ (p. 153) and focus on the sphere of exchange in favour of looking at how capitalist exploitation plays out in conditions of the uneven and combined development of the world system. She argues, for instance, ‘[i]t is the greater relative exploitation of workers in more developed countries that leads to a transfer of value from capitals in less developed countries’ (p. 153). She ends her book with an appeal for ‘a critique of Eurocentrism not confined to the intellectual plane, but grounded in the conditions of class power and global interdependence that exist today’ (p. 174). This erudite work will be indispensable for those wishing to further such a critique.

The public library in the UK's Big Society

Steve Davies is a trade unionist and academic, working on the response of the international trade union movement to globalisation. He takes a particular interest in public sector reform and has written several reports on public libraries for the union UNISON.