Contested Resources: Unions, Employers, and the Adoption of New Work Practices in US and UK Telecommunications

Matias Ramirez, Frederick Guy and David Beale

British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2007, vol. 45, issue 3, pages 495-517

Abstract: The pattern of adoption of high-performance work practices has been explained in terms of strategic contingency and in terms of union presence. We compare the post-deregulation/privatization changes in work practice at AT&T, Bell Atlantic and British Telecom. On the basis of these cases, we argue that the choice of new work practices should be understood as a consequence not only of the company's resources or changes in its environment, nor of a simple union presence, but also as a consequence of the practices' effects on union power, the nature of the union's engagement, and the union's strategic choices. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2007.

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