This study tests the hypothesis that recent changes in political direction in Britain and France would have changed the previous patterns of workplace relations in comparable automobile plants in the two countries. It finds that there have indeed been changes in the workplace balance of power and, as predicted, in productivity. Changes in the accident rate, however, are more difficult to interpret.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Berman, D.M. 1978. Death on the Job. New York: Monthly Review Press.
2.
Bluestone, B. and Harrison, B. 1982. The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry. New York: Basic Books.
3.
Bowles, S. and Gordon, D.M. and Weisskopf, T.E. 1983. Beyond the Waste Land: A Democratic Alternative to Economic Decline. New York: Anchor/Doubleday.
4.
Brainard, W.C. and Perry, G.L., Editors' Summary. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, No. 2. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institute.
5.
Buiter, W.H. and Miller, M.H. 1983. `Changing the rules: economic consequences of the Thatcher regime.' Pp. 305-379 in W. Brainard and G. Perry (eds.), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. No. 2. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institute.
6.
Burawoy, M.1983. `Between the labor process and the state: the changing face of factory regimes under advanced capitalism.'American Sociological Review48(5):587-605.
7.
Castles, S. 1984. Here for Good: Western Europe's New Ethnic Minorities. London: Pluto Press.
8.
Central Policy Review Staff. 1975. The Future of the British Car Industry. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
9.
Cordeiro, A. 1983. `Les Travailleurs Immigrés.'Supplément aux Cahiers Français No. 209, Janvier-Février.
10.
Counter Information Services. 1984. Assault on the Unions. London.
11.
Dupeyroux, J. 1982. `Conflict Talbot: recommendations du médiateur.'Paris: Unpublished manuscript.
12.
Edwards, R. 1979. Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books.
13.
Eisner, R.1983. `Which way for France?'Challenge. July-August: 34-41.
14.
1983b`Health and safety law reform.'109:8-9.
15.
Eva, D. and Oswald, R. 1981. Health and Safety at Work. London: Pan Books.
16.
Flanagan, R.J., Soskice, D.W. and Ulman, L. 1983. Unionism, Economic Stabilization, and Incomes Policies: European Experience. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution.
17.
Frobel, F., Heinrichs, J. and Kreye, O. 1981. The New International Division of Labour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Gallie, D. 1978. In Search of the New Working Class: Automation and Social Integration within the Capitalist Enterprise. Cambridge University Press.
19.
Gallie, D.1979. `Social Radicalism in the French and British Working Classes: Some Points of Comparison.'British Journal of Sociology30 (4):500-524.
20.
Glyn, A. and Sutcliffe, B. 1972. Capitalism in Crisis. New York: Pantheon Books.
21.
Great Britain Central Statistics Office. 1983. `Social Trends'13:5.
22.
Great Britain Department of Employment. 1983a. Employment Gazette. 91(9).
23.
Great Britain Department of Employment. 1983b. Employment Gazette91(7).
24.
Great Britain Department of Employment. 1985. Employment Gazette93(8).
25.
Grunberg, L. 1981. Failed Multinational Ventures. The Political Economy of International Divestments. Lexington: D.C. Heath.
26.
Grunberg, L.1983. `The effects of the social relations of production on productivity and workers' safety: an ignored set of relationships.'International Journal of Health Services. 13(4):621-634.
27.
Grunberg, L. Forthcoming. `Safety, Productivity and the Social Relations in Production: An Empirical Study of Worker Cooperatives.'International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.
28.
Harmel, C. 1983. La C.G.T. A La Conquête Du Pouvoir: L'Exemple De Poissy. Paris: Bibliotheque d'Histoire Sociale.
29.
Health and Safety Executive. 1985. Health and Safety Statistics. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
30.
Hibbs, D.A.1976. `Industrial Conflict in Advanced Industrial Societies.'The American Political Science Review. 70(4): 1033-1058.
31.
Humphrey, J. 1982. Capitalist Control and Workers' Struggle in the Brazilian Auto Industry. Princeton: University Press.
32.
Hyman, R. 1975. Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction. London: MacMillan Press.
33.
Hyman, R. and Elger, T.1981. `Job Controls, the Employers' Offensive and Alternative Strategies.'Capital and Class. 15(4):115-149.
34.
Incomes Data Services Ltd.1984. International Report. June, No. 218 and August, No. 222.
35.
Incomes Data Services Ltd.1985International Report. April, No. 238.
36.
Industrial Relations Review and Report. 1985. Draft Accident Notification Regulations Agreed. HSIB 117, 10 September IRRR, No. 351.
37.
International Labour Office. 1982 and 1984. Yearbook of Labour Statistics. Geneva, Switzerland.
38.
Isaak, R.A. 1980. European Politics: Political Economy and Policy Making in Western Democracies. New York: St. Martin's Press.
39.
Jones, D. J. and Prais, S.J.1978. `Plant Size and Productivity in the Motor Industry: Some International Comparisons.'Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. 40(2):131-152.
40.
Kaufman, B.E.1982. `The Determinants of Strikes in the United States, 1900-1977.'Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 35(4):473-490.
41.
Kennedy, T. 1980. European Labor Relations. Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books.
42.
Kesselman, M.1982. `Prospects for Democratic Socialism in Advanced Capitalism: Class Struggle and Compromise in Sweden and France.'Politics and Society. 11(4):397-438.
43.
Kesselman, M. (ed.) 1984. The French Workers' Movement. London: Allen and Unwin.
44.
Korpi, W. 1982. `The Historical Compromise and its Dissolution.' Pp. 124-141 in B. Ryden and V. Bergstrom (eds.), Sweden: Choices for Economic and Social Policy in the 1980s. London: Allen and Unwin.
45.
Korpi, W. 1983. The Democratic Class Struggle. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
46.
Korpi, W. and Shalev, M.1979. `Strikes, Industrial Relations and Class Conflict in Capitalist Societies.'British Journal of Sociology. 30(2):164-187.
47.
Kronebusch, K. 1984. Data on Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Office of Technology Assessment.
48.
Kronlund, J.1979. `Organizing for Safety.'New Scientist, June 14:899-901.
49.
Lacouture, J. 1982. Leon Blum. New York: Holmes and Meier.
50.
Lauber, V. 1983. The Politics of Economic Policy: France 1974-1982. New York: Praeger.
51.
Lee, G. and Wrench, J.1980. `Accident-Prone Immigrants: An Assumption Challenged.'Sociology14(4): 551-566.
52.
Leger, J.P. 1985. Toward Safer Underground Gold Mining. Department of Sociology, University of Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, S. Africa: Mimeo.
53.
Leibenstein, H. 1980. Beyond Economic Man: A New Foundation for Microeconomics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
54.
Lernoux, P. 1982. Cry of the People. New York: Penguin.
55.
Linhart, R. 1981. The Assembly Line. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
56.
Malsch, T., Dohse, K. and Jurgens, U. 1984. `Industrial Robots in the Automobile Industry: A Leap Towards “Automated Fordism”.' Unpublished paper.
57.
Mandel, E. 1978. The Second Slump: A Marxist Analysis of Recession in the Seventies. London: NLB.
58.
Marx, K. 1967. Capital. New York: International Publishers.
59.
Massey, D. and Meegan, R. 1982. The Anatomy of Job Loss. New York: Methuen.
60.
McRae, H.1983. `The Plight of Peugeot Shows We Can Succeed.'Manchester Guardian, July 14.
61.
Naples, M.I. 1983. `An Analysis of Defensive Strikes in Postwar US Mining and Manufacturing.' Unpublished manuscript, Department of Economics, Rutgers University.
62.
Navarro, V.1983. `The Determinants of Social Policy. A Case Study: Regulating Health and Safety at the Workplace in Sweden.'International Journal of Health Services13(4): 517-561.
63.
Nelson, R.R.1981. `Research on Productivity Growth and Productivity Differences: Dead Ends and New Departures.'Journal of Economic Literature. 19(3):1029-1064.
64.
Nichols, T. 1975. `The Sociology of Accidents and the Social Production of Industrial Injury' in G. Eslandet al., (eds.), People and Work. Edinburgh: Holmes McDougall.
65.
Noble, D.F. 1984. Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Technology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
66.
Oi, W.Y.1974. `On the Economics of Industrial Safety.'Law and Contemporary Problems. 38(4):669-699.
67.
Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development. 1984. `Social Expenditure: Erosion or Evolution?'The OECD Observer126(1):3-6.
68.
Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development. 1985. Economic Surveys: United Kingdom.
69.
Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development. 1985 Economic Surveys: France.
70.
Perl, P.1985. `Foreign Competition Blamed for 1st Ford Strike in 8 Years.'Washington Post, 13 September, 1985.
71.
Petit, P.1983. `The French Dilemma.'New Socialist. July-August: 32-33.
72.
Piven, F. and Cloward, R. 1982. The New Class War. New York: Pantheon.
73.
Pratten, C.F. 1976. Labour Productivity Differentials Within International Companies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
74.
Price, R. 1982. `Rethinking Labour History: The Importance of Work.' Pp. 179-214 in J. Cronin and J. Schneer (eds.), Social Conflict and the Political Order in Modern Britain. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
75.
Rollin, H. 1977. Militant Chez Simca-Chrysler. Paris: Editions sociales.
76.
Ross, G. 1982. `French Trade Unions Face the 1980s: The CGT and CFDT in the Strategic Conflicts and Economic Crisis of Contemporary France' in M. Zeitlin (ed.) Political Power and Social Theory. Vol. 3. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.
77.
Sass, R. and Crook, G.1981. `Accident Proneness: Science or Non-science?'International Journal of Health Services11(2):175-190.
78.
Shorter, E. and Tilly, C. 1974. Strikes in France: 1830-1968. London: Cambridge University Press.
79.
Singer, D.1984. `Auto workers and “sniffing planes”.'The Nation. February 25:217-221.
80.
Talbot Motor Company. 1982. `The Report of the Ryton Paint Shop Joint Working Party.' Unpublished Manuscript.
81.
Terry, M.1983. `Shop Stewards through Expansion and Recession.'Industrial Relations Journal. 14(3):49-58.
82.
Thompson, P. 1983. The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process. London: Macmillan.
83.
Tilly, C. 1978. From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
84.
The Economist. 1983. `Ford's Last Stand.'April 2.
85.
Trehel, J. 1982. Un Homme de Poissy. Paris: Messidor/Editions sociales.
86.
Viscusi, K.1979. `The Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Regulations.'The Bell Journal of Economics. 10(1): 117-140.
87.
Wokutch, R.E. 1985. Cooperation and Conflict in Occupational Safety and Health: A Multination Study in the Automotive Industry. Unpublished.