The Commercialisation of Employment Relations: The Case of the Water Industry

Abstract

This paper draws upon research into restructuring and changing employment relations in the public utilities. It describes how one water authority, ‘Albion Water’, is extending and developing its use of non-standard labour and it provides a case study of one particular group of direct employees. By commercialising its relationship with these employees, Albion has exacted greater internal flexibility from them and at the same time undermined their job security. These developments are of some theoretical significance. They suggest that the link between job content and employment relations is not as direct as is sometimes implied. They also show that the analytical distinction, drawn by the ‘flexible firm’ model, between management’s desire for internal flexibility and its desire for numerical flexibility does not always help to explain management practice. © 1990, BSA Publications Limited. All rights reserved.