Working Lives Research Institute
The Migrant Workers Participation Project Evaluation Report, by Dr Sian Moore and Max Watson, was published by UNISON on 16th December 2009. Introducing the report, Dave Prentis, General Secretary, said: “UNISON has a proud history of using its collective strength to protect vulnerable workers. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because of the problems they have enforcing their rights at work. For some time now many regions and branches have provided targeted support for migrant workers in the public sector. However, we need to get more migrant workers active in UNISON if we are really going to tackle the problems they face.” Read more about this project, and download the full report here.Research team (Dr. Jane Holgate, Janroj Keles and Dr. Leena Kumarappan from WLRI, London Metropolitan University and Professor Anna Pollert at University of West of England) of ESRC funded research project on ‘Influences of identity, community and social networks on ethnic minority representation at work’ (EMRAW) organised a focus group with Kurdish individuals (with different age, gender, education and occupation background) to understand the way they feel, interpret, and make sense of their experiences in London through using images of Kurdish people taken by a professional photographer Jim Hodson and Hackney based Kurdish RenkArt.
Visual materials are increasingly used to explore meanings in social and cultural life particularly in anthropology, ethnography and sociology. Methodologically, the use of photography, film and video can replace or be used in addition to other research methods; ‘read’ in a similar way to text. We began our research project into aspects of employment, identity, community and belonging among three minority ethnic groups (Kurdish people in Hackney, Indian people in Ealing and Caribbean people in Lambeth) in
The focus group was organised with the help of Kurdish Studies and Students organisation at SOAS. Our announcement about looking for the Kurdish participations has been published widely in different Kurdish print and digital media, indicating a widespread interest in taking part.
The discussion and interpretation of the social and cultural meanings of photographs of Kurdish everyday life in London show us that the Kurdish individuals have different understanding of the notion of being Kurds, living and working in Diaspora (in the UK). These differences are not only related to gender, age, education, income and class background but also related to length of migration and socio-political differences between Kurds from Northern Kurdistan (Turkish Kurdistan) and from South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan).
The results of this research visual will be presented at BSA annual 2010 at
In an attempt to understand the influence of sense of identity and social networks on how workers access support for problems at work, workers from three London boroughs: Kurdish workers in Hackney, South Asian workers in Ealing and Caribbean workers in Lambeth, were interviewed and asked to talk about their ethnicity and identity, and asked why they chose to describe themselves in that way. People generally spoke at length; and we got a range of very interesting responses. Here is a snapshot of some of the responses (the ethnicity in parenthesis is as workers chose to identify themselves):
Because I have been brought up here so I feel that I am British, but at home in my community, I feel I am Kurdish. So I always put that I am both Kurdish and British. Ronahi (20-30, female, British Kurd)
I think as black as I am, I’m invisible. On a good day I might be African Caribbean, because I’m going to take claim of everything that I am because that’s who I am. On a bad day I’m black British. - Caroline (50-59, female, Black British)
I think the main issue is that probably what a white man will say about me, a white British man, what would he describe me as. He would call me an Indian. If my son grows up - 19 years old - how would he describe him as? He isn’t going to say he is British, what is he going to say? Indian. Why? Because of his colour. - Baljeet (30-39, male, Indian Asian)
See the Ethnic Minority Representation at Work website for more on this project.
A culmination of two years research in to the similarities and differences of the disputes at Grunwick and Gate Gourmet was a day workshop and exhibition at the Women’s library. The project was led by researchers from Leeds and Oxford Universities and on Saturday 28 the workshop heard from a range of speakers on the subject. Linda McDowell, Ruth Pearson and Sundari Anitha gave interesting talks about the interviews they had conducted with women strikers from both disputes. In the afternoon the discussion broadened out to discuss implications of these disputes for the organising of women workers today. Dr Jane Holgate, from WLRI, shared a platform with Rahila Gupta from Southall Black Sisters to discuss ‘The Gate Gourmet dispute: on going lessons for organising South Asian women workers in the UK'. The exhibition at the Women’s library will be on display until the end of 2009* – for further details, see The Women's Library website. *UPDATE (Jan 2010): The Striking Women exhibition has been extended to the end of March.
The Sixth CLS symposium was organised by staff from WLRI, Manchester University and SOAS and was held on the 21 and 22nd of November at SOAS. CLS was set up to bring together researchers and activists to discuss key features of work and employment from a radical and labour-focused perspective. It attempts to provide a link between the activities of trade unionists and university, and other researchers, which allows a broader and critical debate to emerge. CLS is different from other conferences in that we insist that presentations should include both a practitioner and academic presenting together. This year there were sessions on lean production in the civil service and the car industry, the growth in living wages campaigns across university campuses and a session on migration and the politics of research. Dr Jane Holgate from WLRI did a joint presentation with Wilf Sullivan, race equality officer from the TUC, titled ‘Adapt or decline: a trade union future for black workers’. See the Critical Labour Studies website for more info.
Acas has published two complementary reports on the employment of migrant labour and the impact on HR policy and practice, based on new research by leading academics in the field.
Employer use of migrant labour-motivations, experiences and HR responses focuses on the construction and hospitality sectors. It investigates the procedural and employment relations challenges surrounding the employment of migrant labour, with a particular focus on the impact on HR arrangements. A smaller complementary study by Harris and Tuckman focuses on three organisations in the East Midlands.
Sonia McKay’s study highlights two opposing models of employment. On the one hand, evidence that employers are taking on more responsibility for the migrant workers they employ, and on the other a distancing of the employment relationship where subcontracting and agency workers are involved.
Both reports are available at www.acas.org.uk/researchpapers
You may be aware that the University and Colleges Union (UCU) has, from 1 September 2009 instigated an academic boycott (greylisting) of London Metropolitan University as a result of its dispute over the implementation of compulsory redundancies at the University. The academic community (both in and outside the UK) have been asked to support greylisting in any way possible, including: by not attending meetings organised here, by not speaking at or organising academic or other conferences at London Met, by not applying for any advertised jobs at London Met, by not giving lectures at London Met, by not accepting positions as visiting professors or researchers at London Met, by not writing for any academic journal which is edited at or produced by London Met, and by not taking up new contracts as external examiners for taught courses.
The Working Lives Research Institute has a strong commitment to its trade union work and does a considerable amount of research either directly for trade unions or in co-operation with trade unions. Additionally most of the students taking trade union studies courses degrees at the Centre for Trade Union Studies are funded by trade unions. UCU has made it clear that this is an academic boycott is not aimed at students and that London Met staff are expected to work as normal and to their contracts. Student recruitment and teaching are not, therefore, affected.
WLRI staff would like to thank you for your support at this difficult time.
The latest issue of Working Lives News is out now! Once again, we’ve plenty of exciting news to share: Two new Leverhulme Awards have been granted to WLRI researchers recently: one about union recognition agreements, and the other on lives of construction workers between 1950-70. We also report here on fatalities in the construction industry, a workshop on demographic change, and the final publication of the WORKS project. Unfortunately the lecturer’s union, UCU, has ‘grey-listed’ London Met, and both our great seminar series have had to be postponed. Sadly for us, we say good bye to Professor Mary Davis this month, but we also welcome Leroi Henry to our vibrant research community. Finally we announce some exciting new features of our website and a competition for labour photographers.
Read the full newsletter here. Please forward this newsletter to your work colleagues, fellow students and interested contacts, and encourage them to subscribe to WLRI news themselves by going here.
We encourage your feedback and comments on this service, so feel free to email us
After four years of intensive work, the WORKS project - Work Organisation Restructuring in the Knowledge-Based Society - has almost finished. Starting in June 2005, the WORKS consortium, involving partners from seventeen different institutes across fourteen EU member states, including WLRI for the UK, carried out an ambitious programme of theoretical and empirical work to better understand value chain restructuring and changes in work. Read the last newsletter on the WORKS project page here.
NOTE, from Ursula Huws: 'Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation' is not affected by the boycott because it receives no support, financial or otherwise, from the University.
UPDATE: Due to greylisting, both seminar series have now been postponed.
The trade union seminar series re-launches this term. High profile, well respected trade union leaders and academics will be speaking at the popular Working Lives trade union events from October until the end of the year.
Topics covered this term will include: Public service workers campaigning for social justice, Trade unions and political representation, and After the Crunch: Pensions under threat, and include high profile, leading trade union activists and academics.
Nick Clark said:
“We start the 2009 season with a very strong programme of speakers. These seminars will offer an unrivalled opportunity for trade unionists to examine their own activities in a more theoretical framework and for the academic community to test their analyses against the harsh realities of trade union practice.”
Click here for full programme.
WLRI has been awarded another esteemed Leverhulme award. Sian Moore successfully applied for a Research Fellowship to assess the impact of the Employment Relations Act 1999 on union recognition between 2000 and 2008. Dr Moore had worked on the Leverhulme Future of Unions programme, assessing the first three years of the new law, and this project continues and expands on that research. It will explore the extent to which amendments to 1999 Act and the concept of ‘unfair labour practices’ have constrained undue employer influence during recognition claims and will go on to examine the impact of a number of other factors, including widespread fragmentation due to outsourcing, sub-contracting and the use of migrant labour. The new project will also build on recent work by Sonia McKay and Sian Moore on the impact of statutory recognition on collective bargaining (2004 and 2005) and aims to provide an analysis of the long-term application and impact of recognition law in 21st century Britain. Contact Sian Moore for more on this project.
Christine Wall, WLRI Senior Research Fellow, has been awarded a prestigious Leverhulme bid in collaboration with Prof Linda Clark at Westminster Business School, to document the life stories of post-war building workers. This unique project focuses on important examples of post-war, modernist architecture that were regarded as integral to social welfare and how these projects impacted on the builders: their work and family lives, their wage relations, housing and living conditions, union organisations, training and apprenticeships and their working environment; as well as industrial techniques and design concepts. Combining oral histories with documentary analysis in case studies is a distinct approach, providing important evidence for future research and - before it is too late - capturing the memories of those who have experienced and subsequently reflected upon their work in the post-war building industry. Contact Christine Wall at her staff page here for more details.
As well as exploring historical working lives of workers in the building industry, WLRI has also recently been involved in an inquiry into contemporary working lives – and fatalities – in construction. The inquiry into underlying causes of fatal accidents was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in December 2008. As we reported in January, the inquiry was chaired by Rita Donaghy CBE FRSA and Dr (now Professor) Sonia McKay, of WLRI, was appointed as an Academic Peer Reviewer. The inquiry arose from concern over the number of construction deaths, to examine what more could be done to tackle the underlying causes. Her full report and recommendations, titled, ‘One Death is Too Many’, were published on 8 July 2009 and can be downloaded from here.
The ESF-CIA project, which explores demographic change and innovative practices in tackling workforce ageing, recently held a workshop hosted by WLRI in June. Representatives of all project partners, the European Commission and stakeholders from the East of England met on 11 & 12 June 2009 at the Women’s Library in London’s East End. While the second day was reserved for internal discussion to coordinate the next project activities, the first conference day was used to discuss approaches to promote active aging. Examples were presented, among others, by British Telecom and Apton, a transport company, from Belgium. Read the full ESF-CIA project page, including the newsletter as a pdf download here.
The Working Lives Research Institute has a close working relationship with The Women’s Library and we’re proud to announce a new foyer exhibition there called ‘Striking Women’: Voices of South Asian women workers from Grunwick and Gate Gourmet.’ The exhibit will run from 8 October, 2009, marking 30 years of South Asian women’s political involvement in workplace struggles in the UK, focusing on the strike at Grunwick between 1976 and 1978 and the dispute at Gate Gourmet that erupted in 2005.
In relation to the UCU 'Grey-listing' issue, Professor Ruth Pearson said:
"After finalising the exhibition (which had already been contracted, designed and paid for) we learned that the UCU are greylisting London Metropolitan University in protest against the irresponsible way in which University management have dealt with financial shortfalls and redundancies. We fully support the actions of our colleagues at LMU and withdraw any further cooperation until this issue is resolved. We are aware of the irony of presenting an exhibition on 'Striking women' at a time when the livelihood of our fellow university workers is being threatened and will seek every opportunity to use the exhibition to highlight the dispute at LMU."
Download the full press release here. 
Striking Women Press Release.pdf
(Photo: (C) TUC Library Collections, www.unionhistory.info)