Susan Sayce

Work restructuring and changing craft identity the Tale of the Disaffected Weavers (or what happens when the rug is pulled from under your feet)

This article explores the changes in worker identity that can occur during manufacturing restructuring – specifically those linked to the declining status of craft work – through an in-depth case study of Weaveco, a UK carpet manufacturer. An analysis of changes in the labour process is followed by employee reactions centred on the demise of the traditional craft identity of male carpet weavers. The voices of the weavers dramatize the tensions involved in reconstructing their masculine identity, and we consider the implications this has for understanding gendered work relations.

Small is Beautiful? The Development of Women's Activism in a Small Union

This article draws together two aspects of union renewal strategy: merger and increasing womens involvement and activism. The article utilises a case study of the National Union of the Lock and Metal Workers (NULMW), a small union that appears to have successfully promoted womens involvement contrary to the usual expectations about manufacturing union contexts. We argue that the reasons why women have done so well within the NULMW relates to the small size and community-based nature of the union, including its alignment with the historical development of the lock workforce. In light of this, we reflect on the potential effects of a recent amalgamation of the NULMW with the TGWU.

Being a female pension trustee

Purpose – While there has been much discussion about pension regulation and decision making in relation to pension trusteeship, there appears to be little research on women and men who take up opportunities to become pension trustees. Thus the focus of this research is to explore what it means to be a female or male pension trustee in “a mans world”.Design/methodology/approach – Ackers influential model for the gendering of organisational processes and its subsequent development to acknowledge the intersection of multiple inequalities such as gender and class is used as a tool to provide a micro‐analysis of mens and womens interpretation of being a pension trustee.Findings – The persistence of homosocial reproduction around managerial competences in pension board activity helps explain mens and womens differing experiences within male‐dominated pension boardrooms.Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses on a small but diverse sample of pension trustees and further research is needed to ...

Pension trusteeship and diversity in the UK: A new boardroom recipe for change or continuity?

Drawing on interviews, this article investigates change and continuity induced by greater diversity among pension trustees in terms of trustees’ involvement in boardroom activities in the UK. Utilizing Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, the authors demonstrate the agency of trustees, and how greater diversity among trustees changes the boardroom decision-making process. However, the authors also reveal forms of continuity by reproduction of educational, corporate and social values within a boardroom context. The findings challenge the assumption that greater diversity may radically transform organizations.

Equality and diversity in employment relations: do we practise what we preach?

Purpose – The pursuit of equality and valuing of diversity are central tenets of much organisational thinking and public policy development. However, in this current age of austerity we are witnessing a number of existing and proposed “fairness initiatives” feeling the sharp blade of a cost‐cutting axe. This paper is a reflexive response that aims to examine a piece of action research in the field of industrial relations. It aims to take the professional UK association, the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA), as a case study and consider how issues of equality and diversity have been viewed by the organisation both in theory and practice. Using a framework which acknowledges the need for multiple levels of analysis (macro, meso and micro) and which argues for an intersectional approach, the paper seeks to detail the measures adopted by BUIRA so as to augment its organisational responsiveness to various equality and diversity concerns. It also provides an insight into how the aut...

Revisiting Industrial Democracy and Pension Trusteeship: the Case of Canada

This article examines the extent to which industrial democracy theory may be applied to the operation of Canadian pension fund boards by analysing the balance of power between employers, employees and unions on joint consultative private and public sector pension boards in Ontario and Quebec. The article focuses on three indicators of industrial democracy: shareholder activism; involvement in fund investment policies (including socially responsible investment); and forms of collective action to invest pension funds in support of union objectives. It concludes that industrial democracy is stronger where it is supported by traditions of tripartism and concertation and by statutory employee rights to representation on private sector funds. Its conclusions also question whether Canada can be classed unequivocally as a ‘liberal market economy’, on the grounds that the economic regulatory regime in Quebec differs substantially from the rest of the country.

Gender change? Locked into industrial relations and Bourdieu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek greater academic discussion of gender and gender change within industrial relations. It attempts to move the theoretical discussion of gender away from universal systems theories of analysis to a more micro multi‐layered approach that can accommodate what is a complex and subtle situation, gendered industrial relations. It commences to theorise why women in certain institutional frameworks progress whilst women in others do not.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative empirical case study approach has been taken to uncover the nuances of womens daily experiences of work relationships including industrial relations in Keylockco, a lock manufacturer.Findings – The findings indicate that Bourdieus theory can be successfully used to analysis gender change within industrial relation and to explore how womens differing access to capital can facilitate their positional progress within hierarchical gender‐stratified industrial relations. While the paper does no...

Celebrating Joan Acker's contribution to theorising gender and organisation

Purpose – The purpose of this editorial is to present a series of articles in this special invited issue that celebrate Joan Ackers theories of gendered organisations.Design/methodology/approach – This editorial presents articles that utilise Joan Ackers notions of gendered organisations, the gender subtext in organisations, the ideal worker, and inequality regimes to help explain gender discrimination in organisation. It is a celebration of Joans theorising in relation to this topic and also includes Joans own thinking about the development of her ideas as theorised by the authors in different organisational and empirical contexts.Findings – The paper reveals that the articles illustrate the value of Ackers original thinking, how the original concepts have evolved to theorise and explain the intersectionality of current discriminatory practices.Originality/value – This paper presents a celebration of Joan Ackers work and an introduction to the special issue.

The recruitment and selection of pension trustees:an integrative approach

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labours goals in pension governance.The role of a labour pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this paper we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection, the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. The political nomination model is often used by trade unions to elect or appoint trustees. In contrast, a professional HRM approach emphasizes open recruitment and selection based on job-related criteria of expertise and continuous learning. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour’s goals in pension governance.

The recruitment and selection of pension trustees: an integrative approach: The recruitment and selection of pension trustees

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labours goals in pension governance.The role of a labour pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this paper we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection, the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. The political nomination model is often used by trade unions to elect or appoint trustees. In contrast, a professional HRM approach emphasizes open recruitment and selection based on job-related criteria of expertise and continuous learning. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour’s goals in pension governance.