Stephen Mustchin
Biographic Data
| ID | 341495 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Mustchin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Mustchin |
| SIGNATURE | MUSTCHIN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9514-4984 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
‘Buying’ or ‘making’ decent work? Varieties of insourcing public services
Bringing outsourced public services back in-house and thus ‘making’ instead of ‘buying’ decent work now features in policy debates and is a common policy priority of labour movements and unions with public sector membership. Theoretically at least, bringing workers (back) under the rules and standards governing direct public sector employment is a particularly effective and simple way of raising pay levels, improving work schedules and facilitati…
Measuring the 2022–2023 strike wave in Britain: Ballots, participation and methodological implications
This paper analyses new forms of strike data published as a result of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act. An unintended consequence of the Act is that we now have quantifiable data at the micro level, which has previously been unavailable, that helps us understand the various mechanisms at play in individual strikes. We analyse two disputes from the 2022‐2023 strike wave in detail (in NHS England and on the UK's rail system), and provide th…
Rebuilding Tripartism and Labor Standards From Below? Legitimation Politics and Risks Around Local Employment Standards
Establishing voluntary labor standards depends on securing the voluntary engagement of multiple actors with potentially diverging interests. This paper examines the legitimation politics and processes surrounding attempts to develop local labor standards through an empirical study of local employment charters in England. These forms of soft regulation, promoted by local state actors, ask employers to commit to flexible ‘good’ work principles. We …
Examining the recent strike wave in the UK: The problem with official statistics
In the UK, there has been a significant increase in strike activity since the summer of 2022. Due to these increased levels of strike activity, it is logical for academics and policy makers to turn to the official data on labour disputes to help us understand what has been happening. Strikes remain of core sociological interest, yet are under researched in this journal. This research note briefly examines the recent strike wave in the UK drawing …
Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market
This article contributes to our understanding of the complex role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in tackling precariousness through advice, advocacy and activism. It draws on qualitative data gathered primarily from two local CSOs in the north of England that help clients navigate a highly flexible labour market and an increasingly punitive welfare system. The findings reveal that in marginalised communities, CSOs compensate for retreating…
City regions and decent work: Politics, pluralism and policy making in Greater Manchester
Despite a growing body of literature examining the politics of city-regionalism, the question of how local actors engage with, and challenge each other in the subnational regulatory space requires greater attention if we are to develop a more comprehensive understanding of supposedly pluralist approaches to policy making. This paper critically evaluates policy innovations in Greater Manchester (GM) that seek to steer the behaviour of economic act…
Job Destruction and Closures in Deindustrializing Britain: The Uses and Decline of Workplace Occupations in the 1980s
This article considers the uses and decline of workplace occupations in the 1980s. Developing the contribution by Alan Tuckman on the rise of occupations in the 1970s, attention is given to the structural factors that can explain the reasons why workers’ uses of the tactics have declined since the period. Focusing on the wider context and two contrasting cases (the 1980 Gardner and 1984 Cammell Laird occupations), this article advances six key re…
The evolving nature of labour inspection, enforcement of employment rights and the regulatory reach of the state in Britain
The role of the state in directly regulating employment through enforcement mechanisms is increasingly significant and politically contentious in a context of weakened unions and the increasingly fragmented and precarious nature of the labour market. This article focuses on qualitative research on labour market regulatory actors in Britain, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, as well as referenci…
The role of the TUC in significant industrial disputes: An historical critical overview
Historically the British Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) role in a significant number of major industrial disputes has been subject to both accusations of ‘betrayals’ and ‘sell-outs’ as well as more sympathetic accounts which emphasise the constraints faced by the TUC both in terms of their institutional role and their relationship with constituent unions. Drawing on evidence concerning the role of the TUC in significant disputes including the 1926…
Dismissal of strikers and industrial disputes: The 1985–1987 strike and mass sackings at Silentnight
The 1985–1987 dispute at Silentnight bed factories in the north of England was an exceptionally long and bitter strike, lasting for 20 months from June 1985 until February 1987. A total of 346 workers were sacked for taking part in the strike, which gained a high profile with remarkable levels of support and solidarity action, largely due to its emblematic status as an extreme example of punitive treatment of workers taking industrial action in t…
Creating sustainable employment opportunities for the unemployed
This article addresses challenges associated with creating sustainable employment opportunities for the unemployed and encouraging employer engagement in skills development and utilisation more generally. Survey and case study analysis of an initiative introduced by New Labour in the National Health Service England (NHS) provides evidence of employer reluctance to engage with a policy which addresses social exclusion and unemployment. Reasons are…
Unions, learning, migrant workers and union revitalization in Britain
This article focuses on strategies adopted by British trade unions to promote education to their members and their impact on attempts to organize among migrant workers. The relationship between this activity and broader debates around union revitalization is analysed, particularly in terms of how union involvement in learning intersects with broader organizing and community focused union activity. A diverse range of approaches to education provis…
Unions, learning, migrant workers and union revitalization in Britain
This article focuses on strategies adopted by British trade unions to promote education to their members and their impact on attempts to organize among migrant workers. The relationship between this activity and broader debates around union revitalization is analysed, particularly in terms of how union involvement in learning intersects with broader organizing and community focused union activity. A diverse range of approaches to education provis…
Examining the recent strike wave in the UK: The problem with official statistics
In the UK, there has been a significant increase in strike activity since the summer of 2022. Due to these increased levels of strike activity, it is logical for academics and policy makers to turn to the official data on labour disputes to help us understand what has been happening. Strikes remain of core sociological interest, yet are under researched in this journal. This research note briefly examines the recent strike wave in the UK drawing …
City regions and decent work: Politics, pluralism and policy making in Greater Manchester
Despite a growing body of literature examining the politics of city-regionalism, the question of how local actors engage with, and challenge each other in the subnational regulatory space requires greater attention if we are to develop a more comprehensive understanding of supposedly pluralist approaches to policy making. This paper critically evaluates policy innovations in Greater Manchester (GM) that seek to steer the behaviour of economic act…
The role of the TUC in significant industrial disputes: An historical critical overview
Historically the British Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) role in a significant number of major industrial disputes has been subject to both accusations of ‘betrayals’ and ‘sell-outs’ as well as more sympathetic accounts which emphasise the constraints faced by the TUC both in terms of their institutional role and their relationship with constituent unions. Drawing on evidence concerning the role of the TUC in significant disputes including the 1926…
Unions, learning, migrant workers and union revitalization in Britain
This article focuses on strategies adopted by British trade unions to promote education to their members and their impact on attempts to organize among migrant workers. The relationship between this activity and broader debates around union revitalization is analysed, particularly in terms of how union involvement in learning intersects with broader organizing and community focused union activity. A diverse range of approaches to education provis…
Creating sustainable employment opportunities for the unemployed
This article addresses challenges associated with creating sustainable employment opportunities for the unemployed and encouraging employer engagement in skills development and utilisation more generally. Survey and case study analysis of an initiative introduced by New Labour in the National Health Service England (NHS) provides evidence of employer reluctance to engage with a policy which addresses social exclusion and unemployment. Reasons are…
Dismissal of strikers and industrial disputes: The 1985–1987 strike and mass sackings at Silentnight
The 1985–1987 dispute at Silentnight bed factories in the north of England was an exceptionally long and bitter strike, lasting for 20 months from June 1985 until February 1987. A total of 346 workers were sacked for taking part in the strike, which gained a high profile with remarkable levels of support and solidarity action, largely due to its emblematic status as an extreme example of punitive treatment of workers taking industrial action in t…
The role of the TUC in significant industrial disputes: An historical critical overview
Historically the British Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) role in a significant number of major industrial disputes has been subject to both accusations of ‘betrayals’ and ‘sell-outs’ as well as more sympathetic accounts which emphasise the constraints faced by the TUC both in terms of their institutional role and their relationship with constituent unions. Drawing on evidence concerning the role of the TUC in significant disputes including the 1926…
The evolving nature of labour inspection, enforcement of employment rights and the regulatory reach of the state in Britain
The role of the state in directly regulating employment through enforcement mechanisms is increasingly significant and politically contentious in a context of weakened unions and the increasingly fragmented and precarious nature of the labour market. This article focuses on qualitative research on labour market regulatory actors in Britain, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, as well as referenci…
Job Destruction and Closures in Deindustrializing Britain: The Uses and Decline of Workplace Occupations in the 1980s
This article considers the uses and decline of workplace occupations in the 1980s. Developing the contribution by Alan Tuckman on the rise of occupations in the 1970s, attention is given to the structural factors that can explain the reasons why workers’ uses of the tactics have declined since the period. Focusing on the wider context and two contrasting cases (the 1980 Gardner and 1984 Cammell Laird occupations), this article advances six key re…
City regions and decent work: Politics, pluralism and policy making in Greater Manchester
Despite a growing body of literature examining the politics of city-regionalism, the question of how local actors engage with, and challenge each other in the subnational regulatory space requires greater attention if we are to develop a more comprehensive understanding of supposedly pluralist approaches to policy making. This paper critically evaluates policy innovations in Greater Manchester (GM) that seek to steer the behaviour of economic act…
Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market
This article contributes to our understanding of the complex role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in tackling precariousness through advice, advocacy and activism. It draws on qualitative data gathered primarily from two local CSOs in the north of England that help clients navigate a highly flexible labour market and an increasingly punitive welfare system. The findings reveal that in marginalised communities, CSOs compensate for retreating…
Examining the recent strike wave in the UK: The problem with official statistics
In the UK, there has been a significant increase in strike activity since the summer of 2022. Due to these increased levels of strike activity, it is logical for academics and policy makers to turn to the official data on labour disputes to help us understand what has been happening. Strikes remain of core sociological interest, yet are under researched in this journal. This research note briefly examines the recent strike wave in the UK drawing …
‘Buying’ or ‘making’ decent work? Varieties of insourcing public services
Bringing outsourced public services back in-house and thus ‘making’ instead of ‘buying’ decent work now features in policy debates and is a common policy priority of labour movements and unions with public sector membership. Theoretically at least, bringing workers (back) under the rules and standards governing direct public sector employment is a particularly effective and simple way of raising pay levels, improving work schedules and facilitati…
Measuring the 2022–2023 strike wave in Britain: Ballots, participation and methodological implications
This paper analyses new forms of strike data published as a result of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act. An unintended consequence of the Act is that we now have quantifiable data at the micro level, which has previously been unavailable, that helps us understand the various mechanisms at play in individual strikes. We analyse two disputes from the 2022‐2023 strike wave in detail (in NHS England and on the UK's rail system), and provide th…
Rebuilding Tripartism and Labor Standards From Below? Legitimation Politics and Risks Around Local Employment Standards
Establishing voluntary labor standards depends on securing the voluntary engagement of multiple actors with potentially diverging interests. This paper examines the legitimation politics and processes surrounding attempts to develop local labor standards through an empirical study of local employment charters in England. These forms of soft regulation, promoted by local state actors, ask employers to commit to flexible ‘good’ work principles. We …
Political science (11 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Economics (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (5 works) · Political and Economic history of UK and US (5 works) · Business (4 works)