Managerial Unionism in the Coal Industry

Managerial ideology and identity in the nationalised British coal industry, 1947–1994

“…That has also all too often been reflected in the historiography; as Tiratsoo (1999) noted there was little interest in the historical study of postwar British production managers, who were characterised as 'Cinderellas at the ball', lacking much formal schooling, cultural capital and labour mobility. This was also true of contemporary assumptions made about colliery managers (McCormick, 1960), their 'simplistic political stereotyping', and the relative neglect of managers within the literature of the British coal industry highlighted by Howell (1987) and Bolton and Ditchburn (2012) amongst others. Zweiniger-Bargielowska noted in 1990 that: 'One of the many myths of industrial relations in the coalmining industry conjures up the image of colliery managers as local tyrants hand-in-glove with, if not identical to, the hated owners' (p. 341).…”

“…Fox detected in contemporary management views the influence of the scientific management and human relations schools, ‘along with diverse fragments of so-called “common-sense” and cultural beliefs’ (p. 367). The importance of Fox’s reflections contrasts with the more instrumental contemporary and later social studies of management within nationalised corporations and indeed British industry, which delved little into managerial identity and ideology (for example, McCormick, 1960; Merkle, 1980; Scott et al, 1963). The recognition of the importance of managers’ ideologies, identities and personalities to the behaviour of top management teams, to corporate governance, and to the nature of capitalism has stimulated further recent research interest in this area (Gupta et al, 2019; Mees-Buss and Welch, 2019; Smith et al, 2019).…”

Why Managers Join Unions: Evidence from Britain

“…Our results decisively support the industrial relations and social action approaches against alternative sociological explanations based on market, work, and status situations. The presence of a union at the managers' level, recognition of the union for negotiations, and employment in the public sector all strongly correlate with managers joining unions (Bain, 1970;Bain et d., 1973;McCormick, 1960McCormick, , 1979.…”

Radical Managerialism: Middle Managers‘ Perceptions of Collective Bargaining*

“…He comments, 'The more strongly management disapproves of trades unions, the less likely workers are to join them in case they jeopardise their career prospect^'.^ However, in recent years there has been a growing recognition of the growth of managerial organi~ation.~ McCormick's study of managerial unionism in the coal industry identified recognition by top management as the prime factor explaining the success of the British Association of Colliery management and the relative failure of competing organisations. 6 Bain also emphasised the importance of recognition in the growth of white-collar unionism generally. recognition of their right to represent members' interest^.^ But historically it was in the public sector that these claims were typically accorded.…”