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Between Keeping Your Head Down and Trying to Get Noticed: Agency Workers in French Car Assembly Plants

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  • Christina Purcell
  • Paul Brook
  • Rosemary Lucas

Abstract

Numerical flexibility is commonly promoted as a driver of employment growth. However, contingent work is frequently associated with “bad jobs”, particularly for those in low skilled occupations. Agency work is a common and growing form of contingent work and is often promoted as a tool for facilitating the labour market integration of young workers. In France, young agency workers make up a significant part of the labour force within car assembly plants. Studies have shown that these workers have harsher working conditions than permanent co-workers and are subject to a “despotic” factory regime. However, the triangular relationship, which frames the agency contract, may give rise to a more complex outcome in which the aspiration for stable employment mediates the coercion of labour market vulnerability.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Purcell & Paul Brook & Rosemary Lucas, 2011. "Between Keeping Your Head Down and Trying to Get Noticed: Agency Workers in French Car Assembly Plants," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 22(2), pages 169-187.
    • Handle: RePEc:nms:mamere:1861-9908_mrev_2011_2_purcell
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    File URL: https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0935-9915-2011-2-169
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rutvica Andrijasevic & Devi Sacchetto, 2017. "‘Disappearing workers’: Foxconn in Europe and the changing role of temporary work agencies," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(1), pages 54-70, February.
    2. Dudo von Eckardstein & Stefan Konlechner, 2011. "Employer Behavior Human Resource Management Research and Teaching in Germany and Austria," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 22(4), pages 312-324.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agency work; factory regimes; auto sector; agency autoworkers; hegemonic despotism; unions; labour process; Burawoy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J47 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Coercive Labor Markets
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

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