Centre for Employment Studies Research

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Anna Pollert

ESRC Project: ‘The Unorganised Worker: Routes to Support, Views on Representation’, The Survey of Unrepresented Workers. Feb 2003 – Oct 2006

This project explored the experience of problems at work and sources of support and advice of non-unionised workers in Britain. It explored‘concerns’ at work – what these were, how they were perceived, whether any action was taken or not - and wider issues of individual employment rights and their enforcement. Non-unionised workers’ use of union help-lines, statutory bodies such as Acas and the Employment Tribunal system, various support and advice agencies, such as Citizens Advice Bureau and law centres, and wider social networks were examined. The research involved both a telephone survey of 500 workers and qualitative interviews of a smaller number accessed through the survey respondents, the Citizens Advice Bureaux and other informal channels. Wider attitudes towards individual and collective representation and broader social engagement were also explored.

• Working Paper 1: Technical and Methodology Summary (with IFF).
• Working Paper 2: Review of Theoretical and Methodological Issues
• Working Paper 3: Mapping the Problems
• Working Paper 4: Examining the Problems of Unrepresented Workers in Britain
• Working Paper 5: What Do Unrepresented Workers do about Problems at Work?
• Working Paper 6: Problems at Work and Routes to Resolution with the Citizens Advice Bureau
• Working Paper 7: Collectivism and Views on Trade Unions among Unrepresented Workers with Problems at Work
• Working Paper 11: Vulnerable Workers and Problems at Work: Who experiences problems at work, what problems do they experience, what do they do about them and what happens as a result? (with Andy Charlwood)

• Working Paper 13: Varieties of collectivism among Britain’s low-paid unorganised workers with problems at work

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Steve Fleetwood

Working Paper 8: Where Do Organisations End and Labour Markets Begin? - The division of labour between labour economists and organisation theorists results in there being little or no (epistemic) connection between the disciplines of labour economics and organization theory, and little or no recognition of the (ontic) connection between the phenomena of labour markets and organizations. This paper transcends disciplinary boundaries to develop connections between organizations, especially business organisations, and labour markets.

Working Paper 9: Institutions and Social Structures: Some Clarifications - The objective of this paper is to continue the important task of clarifying two terms that are central to a great deal of social science, but often mired in confusion, namely, ‘institutions’ and ‘social structures’. The opening part of the paper uses recent insights in contemporary sociological and (Institutional) economic theory to explore the similarities between social structures and institutions, especially in the relation between them as a couple, and human agents.

Working Paper 12: A Trans-disciplinary (Proto) Model of Labour Markets - Building upon trans-disciplinary insights from the ‘socio-economics of labour markets’ tradition and drawing upon critical realist meta-theory, this paper outlines a trans-disciplinary (proto ) model of labour markets as an alternative to the orthodox model.

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Graham Taylor & Andy Mathers

Working Paper 10: Organising Unions, Organising Communities? Trades Union Councils & Community Union Politics in England and Wales - The division of labour between labour economists and organisation theorists results in there being little or no (epistemic) connection between the disciplines of labour economics and organization theory, and little or no recognition of the (ontic) connection between the phenomena of labour markets and organizations. This paper transcends disciplinary boundaries to develop connections between organizations, especially business organisations, and labour markets.

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Higher Education European Social Fund and Acas funded Research project: ‘The Experience of Ethnic Minority Workers in the Hotel and Catering Industry: Routes to Support and Advice on Workplace Problems’

Working Paper 1: The Experience of Ethnic Minority Workers in the Hotel and Catering Industry: Routes to Support and Advice on Workplace Problems: A Review of the Issues (Tessa Wright and Anna Pollert).

ESRU Working Papers:

A list of archived ESRU Working Papers is available.

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