This dissertation explores the making of industrial relations in colonial Bombay, India's largest manufacturing centre, between the 1870s and the end of the 1890s. The accent is on the cotton textile industry which sprang up in the second half of the nineteenth century, and came to dominate the city. The thesis is divided into three large sections. First, it considers the ideological, commercial, and political contexts of protective factory legislation for India, which was fashioned into a Factory Act in 1881, and revised in 1891. It examines the relationships of factory law in India with precedents in Britain; with the work of campaigners for social reform and 'improvement' in both metropole and colony; and with the commercial antagonism that emerged in the mid- 1870s between the cotton textile industry of Bombay and of Lancashire, its principal competitor. The second section considers the implications of a regime of protective factory regulation for labour relations in Bombay. It examines in particular the dynamics of factory inspection, which both revealed and released significant tensions within the structure of relations between state, capital and labour. It also explores the debates and controversies around the employment of children in mills, and the ambiguities of their nomination as vulnerable subjects of factory law. The final section of the dissertation expands the question of industrial relations beyond the work of law, and describes the transition towards a more combative, fractious set of relations between employers, state and labourers in the 1890s, indexed by the growing frequency of strikes. This culminates in a detailed exploration of the temporary but significant transformation of industrial relations at the end of the century, when Bombay was struck by the global bubonic plague pandemic. The dissertation thus traces a movement from relations encased by the administration of law to relations marked by confrontational industrial politics.

This thesis considers European Works Councils (EWC) and how these institutions relate to the potential for the development of a European system of industrial relations. 7he research considers the extent to which EWCs provide participation for employees of multinational companies. The extent to which social actors - employees, employers and trade unions - support the development and operation of EWCs is also explored.

No description available.

This is the first documented history of the birth and evolution of the workers' councils system in Yugoslavia and the political conflicts that accompanied it. Straddling fourteen years, from the split with Moscow in 1948 to the re-opening of the national question for the first time after the Second World War in 1962, this thesis demonstrates that the progressive opening to the world market after the nto-Stalin conflict intensified domestic struggles and centrifugal pulls on the federation. Using the archival materials of the ruling Communist Party, government and mass organisations, it explains the stages by which the market came to dominate the party-state's mobilising strategies for society and the shop-floor. In Chapter 1, the introduction of workers' councils is shown to have been a measure to reverse the extraordinary and democratising mobilisation that followed the break with the USSR, by splitting more advanced sections of the working class from those more tied to the countryside. Chapter 2 suggests that the umbilical cord set up from the West to 'keep Tito afloat' allowed the Yugoslav Communists to continue to invest in heavy industry over agriculture in order to escape underdevelopment. This created food shortages and massive resistance to managerial imperatives on the shop-floor. As the country fell deeper in debt, the government intensified market reform under the guise of expanding selfmanagement in order to create an export sector. Chapter 3 sets the stage for open factional conflict in the leadership by noting the gulf between promise and reality in the workplace and on the terrain of complex and uneven domestic development. The main contribution of the thesis is to go beyond history as elite conflict and present it also as a process of class struggle with many mediating instances between the workplace and the state beholden to the world market.

This thesis sets out to explore the much overlooked phenomenon of non-union employee representation (NERs). The work is concerned with both the utility of these structures from a workforce perspective and the managerial motivation underpinning the presence of these bodies. Further to the exploration of the above themes case study research was carried out in three organisations possessing relatively mature non-union representative structures. In terms of managerial goals it is suggested that that the extant literature affords a partial account; commentators characteristically depict a manifestly defensive intent, with goals evinced in terms of trade union exclusion. This study advances knowledge in this area by providing a more discriminating analysis exploring the contingent factors differentially shaping the managerial response to employee representation. Over and above union avoidance, evidence is presented of certain managerial actors pursuing a more proactive set of goals aimed at securing the cooperation of employees via the legitimacy imbued though the process of consultation. The necessity for such a response is tracked to factors relating to demands in and around the nature of the production regime/mode of service delivery. With regard to the theme of employee empowerment the thesis broadly supports the extant literature in demonstrating that the institutions under review represent largely unavailing vehicles for the furtherance of employee interests. A distinct feature, however, is that in contrast to these predominantly descriptive studies the theme of `voice' is ensconced within a theoretically informed analysis, allowing the study to move beyond this somewhat bland conclusion. The shortcomings are tracked to the key areas of power, autonomy and competence - ultimately manifest in a marked legitimacy gap. In the final analysis it is argued that there are inherent tensions unleashed by this mode of intervention precluding beneficial outcomes for both parties. Specifically, topics relating to the irreconcilability of the pursuit of both corporate and workforce goals through a managerially derived format are considered. Similarly, the rationality and coherence of a managerial agenda pursuant of `rival logics' of action, relating to both issues of workplace control and employee empowerment, is afforded critical scrutiny.

No description available.

La Seconde Guerre mondiale a profondément perturbé les sociétés européennes. À son issue, le champ est laissé libre à des dynamiques de recomposition passant par des rapprochements ou, au contraire, par des clivages puissants. Les populations françaises et allemandes ont été affectées au premier chef par ces évolutions. Or, comme les organisations syndicales de travailleurs constituent les principales organisations de masses, elles offrent un angle d’approche particulièrement intéressant pour appréhender le dialogue développé dans un contexte marqué par la partition de l’Allemagne, par la Guerre Froide, et par la construction européenne dont l’interpénétration des économies est un des principaux aspects. Cette thèse considère, à la croisée de la question de la réconciliation et de celle d’une coopération à venir, la mise en place des échanges syndicaux entre la France et les deux Allemagnes, examine la pratique des échanges et éclaire les phénomènes de convergence et de crispation. / The Second World War profoundly disrupted European societies. When the war came to an end, a dynamic of recomposition, based either on reconciliation or on sharp divisions, took hold of the continent. The French and German populations were the first to bear the brunt of these evolutions. Because of their numerous adherents, trade unions constituted the most important mass organizations of their time, and consequently offer a particularly interesting perspective on the Franco-German dialogue, especially against the backdrop of the division of Germany into two states, the Cold War, and the construction of Europe, of which economic interpenetration was a main aspect. This thesis considers, at the crossroads of a process of reconciliation and of future cooperation, the establishment and structuring of trade unions exchanges between France and Germany, examines exchange practices, and highlights adjoining convergence and tension phenomena.

Cette étude retrace l’historique des luttes ouvrières à Billancourt depuis les années 50, dans leur rapport à la politique communiste, alors que domine un modèle militant communiste porté par les ouvriers qualifiés. Elle met en évidence et analyse les facteurs cachés des transformations affectant les différents conflits, et les identités ouvrières qui s’y manifestent. La domination du modèle communiste des années 50, ébranlée par la dynamique des conflits des années 1968, est portée par les ouvriers spécialisés. Cette dynamique est activée par les transformations du travail engagées dans les décennies antérieures. Leur insubordination, leur contestation du travail et du racisme, la force des grèves bouchon, contrarient la politique du PCF. L’initiative de la rupture de 1977, au sein de la gauche, témoigne de l’échec de l’ambition du PCF de rester le parti dirigeant. En 1981, le PCF mise en vain sur la réussite d’une participation gouvernementale non souhaitée. Cette participation déçoit les ouvriers, activant les contradictions de son corps militant. Alors, le monde de l’usine se défait. La centralité ouvrière et le concept de classe ont perdu toute capacité opératoire, cependant que la politique communiste de particularisation catégorielle est impuissante à endiguer une «balkanisation» politique du salariat. Des désaccords violents éclatent dans les sections, et se manifestent dans l’usine par des pratiques divergentes. La campagne radicale pour les «dix de Billancourt», les propositions d’alternatives gestionnaires, échouent. Les liens entre le parti et les ouvriers sont distendus, laissant les immigrés seuls et impuissants face aux suppressions d’emplois. / This thesis retraces the history of the workers’ conflicts at Billancourt starting in the 1950ies in their connection with the communists’ policies, dominant at the time, and carried out by the skilled workers. It highlights and analyses the hidden factors of the transformations that affect the different conflicts and the worker identities that manifest themselves in these conflicts. The domination of the communist model of the 50ies, destabilized by the dynamics of the conflicts of the years around 1968, was the work of the skilled workers. This dynamism was stimulated by the transformation of work engaged upon in the previous decades. Their insubordination, their protests about work and racism, the strength of the blockade strikes, thwart the French communist party policy oriented towards the union from the unskilled workers to the engineer. The initiative of the rupture, in 1977, of the left, attested to the failure of the PCF’s ambition to remain the leading party. In 1981, the PCF counted in vain on a successful, but unwished for, participation in the government. This participation disappointed the workers, activating contradictions within its militant corps. The factory world dislocated. Working class centrality and class concept had lost all operational reality, while the communist policy of categorical particularization was powerless to stem a political "balkanisation" of wage earners. Violent disagreements broke out in the sections, and were seen in the factory by divergent practices. The radical campaign for the "ten of Billancourt", proposals for alternative management, failed. The ties between the party and the workers were weakened, leaving the immigrants alone and helpless in the face of job suppressions.

Cette thèse propose trois essais empiriques consacrés à l'analyse des grèves en France, à partir de données récentes d'établissements et d'entreprises et l'utilisation de méthodes économétriques variées. Très peu d'études quantitatives, d'inspiration économique, ont été menées sur ce sujet en France, contrastant avec une littérature anglo-saxonne particulièrement étendue sur l'analyse économique des grèves. Le déclin de la syndicalisation et de l'action collective des salariés a néanmoins conduit à un déplacement progressif de l'intérêt des chercheurs anglo-saxons, en économie du travail et en relations industrielles (ou industrial relations), vers l'étude des relations de travail individuelles entre salariés et employeurs. L'individualisation des emplois et des relations de travail dans les entreprises est souvent considérée comme orthogonale à l'action collective des salariés. Le déclin des grèves et autres formes collectives de conflit a pu notamment être associé, dans la littérature anglo-saxonne, à une augmentation des manifestations individuelles de conflit et de la dispersion ou inégalité globale des salaires dans les entreprises. Nous proposons, dans cette thèse, une analyse originale des grèves en France, en lien avec ces deux aspects, caractéristiques de l'individualisation des emplois et des relations de travail dans les entreprises. Le premier chapitre s'intéresse à la relation existant entre l'expression collective de conflit, dont les grèves, et des formes individuelles de conflit croissantes dans les établissements français, i.e. les recours aux prud'hommes et l'action disciplinaire. L'analyse conduite révèle une relation de substitution entre l'expression collective de conflit et le recours aux prud'hommes des salariés, tandis que les grèves et autres conflits collectifs tendent parallèlement à s'associer à un recours accru des employeurs à l'action disciplinaire. Le deuxième chapitre considère explicitement cette relation, plus spécifiquement entre les grèves et l'absentéisme des salariés, dans l'estimation et l'analyse de l'effet des grèves sur la productivité du travail des entreprises françaises. L'occurrence de grèves sur la période récente passée tend à s'associer à un gain de productivité du travail dans les entreprises concernées par une faible fréquence de grèves, sous condition que celles-ci soient associées à une expression individuelle de mécontentement des salariés (i.e. absentéisme) plus faible.Le troisième chapitre examine le rôle de la dispersion salariale intra-firme dans les variations de l'activité de grève entre les établissements français. Si une forte dispersion des salaires au sein de la main d'oeuvre s'avère être un frein à la mobilisation collective des salariés dans des grèves, elle apparaît néanmoins être à l'origine d'une activité de grève plus soutenue, en termes de fréquence et de durée des grèves, dans certains établissements. / This thesis consists of three essays on the analysis of labor strikes in France, using recent data on workplaces and firms and applying various econometric methods. Very few quantitative studies, in economics, have been conducted on this issue in France, in contrast with a particularly large Anglo-saxon literature on the economic analysis of strikes. The decline of unionization and collective action of employees led however to a progressive shift in the interest of Anglo-saxon researchers, in labor economics and industrial relations, towards the study of individual labor relations between employees and employers. The individualization of jobs and labor relations is often considered as orthogonal to employee collective action. The decline of strikes and other collective disputes may have been linked, in the Anglo-saxon literature, to an increase in individual expressions of conflict and in the overall wage dispersion or inequality within firms. We propose, in this thesis, an original analysis of strikes in France, in connection with these two facets, linked to the individualization of jobs and labor relations in firms. The first chapter documents the relationship between the collective expression of conflict, including strikes, and growing individual forms of conflict in French workplaces, i.e. Employment Tribunal (or prud'hommes) claims and disciplinary action. It is shown that the collective expression of conflict and Employment Tribunal claims are substitutes in French workplaces, while strikes and other collective disputes increase the employer use of disciplinary action. The second chapter deals explicitly with this relationship, more specifically between strikes and employee absenteeism, in estimating and analyzing the effect of strikes on labor productivity in French firms. Strike occurrence during the recent past period tends to be associated with a surplus in labor productivity in firms affected by a low strike frequency, conditionally to a weaker employee expression of discontent (i.e. absenteeism). The third chapter discusses the role of within-firm wage dispersion in variations of strike activity between French workplaces. If a great wage dispersion among the workforce proves to be an obstacle to employee collective organization in strikes, it seems however to result in a more intense strike activity, in terms of frequency and of duration, in some workplaces.

En 1944, le Conseil national de la Résistance décide de reconstruire un Etat social dans la continuité du Front populaire, avant que le second conflit ne l’interrompe. Les syndicats ouvriers réunifiés dans la CGT (sauf la CFTC) décident de soutenir ce programme. Les syndicats de fonctionnaires de Seine-Maritime s’organisent pour participer à cette reconstruction qu’ils attendaient. Quels sont leurs revendications ? Sur quoi s’appuient-ils pour les mettre en avant ? Quels sont les valeurs qu’ils défendent ? Attendent-ils tout de l’Etat social ? Quelle est leur conception de cet Etat social ? Enfin, quels moyens utilisent-ils pour le défendre et le faire progresser ? Obtenant la reconnaissance de leur liberté syndicale qui comprend le droit de grève, ils acceptent un statut qui se révèle fort protecteur vis-à-vis de l’administration et de sa hiérarchie. Ils obtiennent aussi la gestion de la Sécurité sociale par leurs mutuelles qui les entraînent, en Seine-Maritime, à construire une mutualité départementale unifiée et puissante. Toutefois, la division du monde en deux blocs, un libéral et un communiste, traverse ces syndicats et aboutit à la scission de 1947. Cela n’empêche pas la participation aux grèves de 1953 qui leur permet de sauver leur retraite. S’ils soutiennent le général de Gaulle (1890-1970) dans sa politique de décolonisation et contre les généraux factieux, ils l’affrontent sur sa politique institutionnelle, économique et sociale. La grève de 1968 en est l’aboutissement, par-delà les remises en cause. Mais pour rétablir l’Etat social qu’ils souhaitent, il leur faut soutenir les campagnes électorales de 1974 et 1981 du candidat de la gauche, François Mitterrand (1916-1996), qui l’emporte en 1981, en dépit de leurs divergences et grâce à la volonté unitaire de leurs militants. / In 1944, the National Council of Resistance decides to rebuild a welfare state, in continuation of the Popular Front, that the second World War stops it. The trade unions reunified, in CGT (except CFTC) decide to sustain this program. The trade unions of civil servants from Seine-Maritime organize themselves to take part in this rebuild that they waited for it. What are their demands ? On What do they lean themselves to put them before ? What are their values for which they fight? Do they wait all from the state ? What is their idea of this welfare state ? At least, what means do they use to fight for it and bring it to progress ? Getting the recognition of their freedom union laws, which includes right striking, they agree civil servant status which turn out very protective against their adminstration and its hierarchy. They get too the management of Health Security by their mutual insurances which lead them, in Seine-Maritme, to build a powerful departemental mutual insurance. However, the division of world in two blocks, one liberal and one communist, goes through these trade unions and leads to the break away of 1947 That does not prevent the participation to strikes of 1953 wich they are be able to save their retirement. If they sustain general De Gaulle in his decolonization policy and ag ainst seditious generals, they clash him on his institutional, économic and social policy. The strike of 1968 is the culmination of it, throuhgout adjournements. But in order to restore the welfare state that they hope, they must sustain lefts’ candidate, François Mitterrand, in their electoral compaigns of 1974 and 1981, who wins in this last year, in spite of their differences and thanks to the Will of unity of their activists.