The Negotiation of Change in the Evolution of the Workplace towards a New Production Model at Vauxhall (General Motors) UK

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to draw an assessment of the nature of the changes taking place in Vauxhall Motors, the UK-based automotive assembly operations belonging to General Motors (GM). This has to be set in the context of the debate surrounding the impact of new forms of manufacturing and management initiatives in the automotive sector in general, with a view to delineating the direction and the fulcrum of change. In the following account, emphasis will be placed upon new management initiatives and trade union responses to them. With respect to the former, consideration is given to the implementation of new forms of employee participation — understood as teamwork by the overwhelming majority of employees themselves (Stewart and Garrahan, 1995). Whether or not change is tending towards a new industrial model, as some argue, our judgement will have to be based in large measure upon an understanding of the role of the different actors involved, in our case here the trade unions. Ellesmere Port (EP) is of particular interest as an exemplar of the possible way forward for new management practices because of the role played by the trade unions in mediating, and thus — in some instances — redefining management strategies.

This chapter was written prior to recent changes in working practices agreed between unions and management in Spring, 1998.