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Co‐operation or Control? Capital Restructuring and Labour Relations on the Docks
Author(s) -
Turnbull Peter,
Weston Syd
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1993.tb00383.x
Subject(s) - restructuring , labour economics , productivity , context (archaeology) , port (circuit theory) , capital (architecture) , economics , control (management) , offset (computer science) , rest (music) , market economy , business , economic growth , engineering , finance , management , medicine , cardiology , archaeology , computer science , electrical engineering , biology , programming language , history , paleontology
The abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme in July 1989 resulted in a massive restructuring of Britain's ports which in many respects has mirror‐imaged that of the rest of the economy over the previous decade. In this context, the growth of small firms in the port transport industry since 1989, and in particular the emergence of workers' co‐operatives, can only be explained as a process through which capital has sought to regain or strengthen control over the labour process and offset the (highly variable) costs of fluctuating labour demand. The result has been increased productivity and control for the port authorities that own Britain's ports.