Best-Practice Taylorism: 'Yankee Speed-Up' in Australian Grocery Distribution

Wright, Chris; Lund, John

doi:10.1177/002218569603800202

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…This use of agency workers across organisational boundaries opens the possibility for silos to develop. Lloyd and James (2008) suggest that these pressures from further down the supply chain have an effect on health and safety in the food manufacturing industry, with Wright and Lund (1996) noting that these workers may attempt to work faster in order to impress managers and secure permanent employment, potentially to their own risk.…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

Hopkins

2015

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Previous quantitative studies have established a link between precarious work and occupational health and safety (OHS). Using an ethnographically informed qualitative approach, this article investigates the workplace experiences of different types of precarious workers, in particular those who are directly-employed temporary workers and those who are engaged through an agency. Drawing on the work of Andrew Hopkins, the article finds cultural practices that lead to worsened OHS experiences for those who are engaged through an agency. These experiences include inadequate safety training, poor quality personal protective equipment and a lack of clarity of supervisory roles.

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Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

Hopkins

2015

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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“…The adverse health effects of reward/economic pressures associated with subcontracting and direct work intensiﬁcation associated with lean production, engineered standards and the like, have increasingly been recognised (see, for example, Wright 1986, 1994, Wright and Lund 1996, 1998 and Landsbergis et al 1999). The same cannot be said for disorganisation – a concept developed by French researchers, building on earlier research in the 1950s and 1960s, linking additional risks of injury to abnormal tasks and work group disintegration (Dwyer 1994: 6–8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fordism in the fast food industry: pervasive management control and occupational health and safety risks for young temporary workers

Mayhew

Quinlan²

2002

Sociology Health & Illness

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A growing body of international research points to an association between precarious employment or contingent work arrangements and a higher incidence of injury, disease and psychological distress as well as inferior knowledge/compliance with occupational health and safety (OHS) standards. Despite this, published research on the OHS problems of young workers in hospitality and other service industries largely ignores the fact that many are engaged on a temporary basis. To address this gap we surveyed 304 young temporary workers employed in Australian outlets of a wellknown multinational fast food chain. Indices assessed included work-related injuries, exposure to occupational violence, and knowledge of OHS practices and legislative rights. In trying to explain the adverse OHS outcomes associated with contingent work, researchers have repeatedly identified three sets of factors; economic and reward pressures, work disorganisation and regulatory failure. Like most other multinational fast food companies, this firm adopted a Fordist production system. Given suggestions that Fordist systems adversely affect worker health and wellbeing, it seemed plausible that the combination of Fordism with reliance on a young casualised workforce would result in markedly inferior OHS outcomes. Contrary to this expectation, workers surveyed had an incidence of injury around the norm for full-time permanent workers, and an excellent knowledge of risk control measures and OHS legislation. On the other hand, they had limited knowledge of their workers' compensation entitlements and faced an elevated risk of low-level occupational violence. Far from exacerbating the situation, the primary reason for the positive injury and knowledge outcomes was the Fordist system that tightly specified tasks and incorporated detailed risk assessment and control procedures. This system was shaped by an overriding concern for the company's bottom line (hence the worker's poor knowledge of worker's compensation -a result more typical of contingent workers) but pervasive controls had benefits for an otherwise vulnerable workforce. Ritzer (2000) and others have portrayed the Fordist regimes of fast food chains as integral to a system where workers are indoctrinated, class relations obfuscated and covert threats to continued employment used to undermine solidarity. Without denying this, these systems may still constitute a less hazardous working environment for temporary workers than more disorganised work settings. Further research is needed to determine whether the study findings can be generalised or are restricted to this chain or its Australian outlets.

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“…One of the problems with 'still time' is that time and motion measurements are calculated on an ideal or general set of circumstances that often are at variance with the reality of conditions on the shop floor. All jobs and worker performance have been measured by external consultants, which Wright and Lund (1996) and Mulholland (2009Mulholland ( , 2011 found to be arbitrary since neither include all elemental aspects of any job nor take account of the actual circumstances in which jobs are performed. In further probing how 'still time' is measured, a shift manager conceded:…”

Section: Workers In Food Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workers in Food Distribution: Global Commodity Chains and Lean Logistics

Mulholland¹,

Stewart²

2013

New Political Economy

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This paper examines warehouse workers' experiences of the labour process and employment relations in an ambient food distribution depot governed by a labour management system described as lean logistics. Lean logistics is seen by the sector as an aid to, and necessary development of, the globalisation of the sector's supply chain (global commodity chain). The focus is on how the restructuring of work as a result of lean logistics and the consequent imposition of a supermarket Taylorist work culture led to the demise of an industrial workplace culture and a dramatic deterioration in pay and working conditions. The latter included an increase in the scope and intensity of management control of labour.

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Best-Practice Taylorism: 'Yankee Speed-Up' in Australian Grocery Distribution

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

Fordism in the fast food industry: pervasive management control and occupational health and safety risks for young temporary workers

Workers in Food Distribution: Global Commodity Chains and Lean Logistics

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