Research Fellow
After seven years of working in the university sector in publications and multi-media Jane completed a part-time MA in Labour and Trade Union Studies at the University of North London (now merged into London Metropolitan University). She then went on to complete her doctoral research which was funded by the ESRC and the Trades Union Congress on ‘Organising black and minority ethnic workers; trade union strategies for recruitment and inclusion’. Following this she was awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Queen Mary, University of London.
Trade unions and the development of organising and recruitment strategies, particularly as they relate to under-represented groups in the union movement; gender and industrial relations; the labour market position of migrants and black and minority ethnic groups; new geographies of labour; the politics of intersectionality (‘race’, class, gender, etc).
Jane Holgate
Working Lives Research Institute
31 Jewry St, London EC3N 2EY
j.holgate@londonmet.ac.uk
Tel (w) 020 7320 3029
Tel (h) 020 8802 0373
Tel (m) 07960 798399
Jane has recently been awarded a 3-year ESRC grant to work on a project entitled:
Influences of identity, community and social networks on ethnic minority representation at work.
See here for research news sheet 1.
Working with Dr Meeta Jha and Janroj Keles from WLRI and Professor Anna Pollert at University of West of England, the research will theorise the lack of connection between different social actors (ethnic minority workers and trade unions) by considering whether the notion of intersectionality allows for a deeper understanding of how material structures and cultural meanings are interwoven and worked out in practice. The research will attempt to understand the linkages between, and relative significance of, different forms of social divisions as mediated by ethnicity, class, faith, secularism, gender, age, migration, etc. It will also explore whether barriers to engagement exist for some groups of ethnic minority workers in joining or taking part in trade unions and the reason why some workers choose alternative means of accessing support at work.
Jane also has a Nuffield grant for £11,000 titled ‘Evaluating recent developments in training trade union organisers’ (with Dr Melanie Simms).
Nearly 10 years ago the Trades Union Congress (TUC) launched an innovative training programme in an effort to broaden the focus of UK trade unionism and to represent a wider group of workers. The Organising Academy has since trained over 200 organisers whose job it is to recruit new workers, to develop relationships between unions and employers which have not traditionally had formal union representation in their workplaces, and to try to broaden the appeal of unions to workers who have not traditionally been represented.
Our research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has traced almost all of the organisers who have graduated from the Organising Academy and is evaluating what they have been doing since their training. Surprisingly, around 90% are still actively involved in the trade union movement; with many of the rest involved in other political organisations, and one is even a Member of Parliament. The vast majority use their training in their day-to-day roles and evaluated their experiences as being generally positive. More widely, they talk about companies and workplaces where workers now have collective representation rights – small steps, but valuable ones.
Holgate, J. (2005) ‘Organising migrant workers: a case study of working conditions and unionisation at a sandwich factory in London.’ in Work Employment and Society. Vol.19 (3). pp.463–480.
Holgate, J. and J. Wills. (2007) ‘Organising labour in London’. Turner, L. and Cornfield, D. (eds.) in Seeking Solidarity Labor in the New Urban Battlegrounds. Cornell: Cornell University Press.
Holgate, J. (2007) ‘Producing: changing patters of work’ in I. Douglas, R. Huggett and C. Perkins (eds) Companion Encyclopaedia of Geography. London: Routledge.
Holgate, J. (2004) Book review: Humphrey, J.C. ‘Towards a Politics of the Rainbow: Self-organization in the trade union movement.’ Aldershot: Ashgate. Social Movement Studies. Vol.3. No.1 2004.
Holgate. J. (2005) Book review: James DeFilippis, ‘Unmaking Goliath. Community Control in the Face of Global Capital’. New York: Routledge. Urban Studies. 42: 4.
Holgate, J. (2005). Book review: ‘The Future of Worker Representation’ by Geraldine Healy, Edmund Heery, Philip Taylor and William Brown (eds). London: Palgrave, in Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 58:4.
Holgate, J and Mckay, S (2007) Institutional barriers to recruitment and employment in the audio visual industries. The effect on black and minority ethnic workers. London: Working Lives Research Institute.
Holgate, J. (2006) Making the transition from college to work: experiences of media, film and television students, and recent graduated in London’s audio-visual industries. London: Working Lives Research Institute.
Holgate, J. (2003) ‘Organising black and minority ethnic workers in trade unions: a case study of retail workers in central London.’ in Regulation, Deregulation and Re-Regulation: the scope of employment relations in the 21 st Century. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the International Employment Relations Association, University of Greenwich.
Holgate, J. (2003) ‘On the sandwich chain gang.’ Red Pepper. September. pp.22–23.
Moral dilemmas in organising migrant workers: a strategy for growth or a sign of weak bargaining position? . Paper presented to ‘Transatlantic Dialogue conference’ organised by Cornell University in Brussells, March 2–3 2007. (Invited speaker).
Contextualising community unionism . Paper presented at Contextualising Community Unionism workshop 21 and 22 September 2006, School of Management, University of Bradford.
‘I don’t regret my degree but…’: employment opportunities for new entrants into the audio-visual industries – the influence of ‘race’, class and gender . Presented to the British Universities Industrial Relations Association 56 th Annual Conference. University of Galway, Ireland 28–30 June 2006.
Organising migrant workers in London: working with communities . Paper presented to ‘Transatlantic Dialogue conference’ at Cornell University, May 4–6 2006. (Invited speaker).
Trade union responses to organising migrant workers: the relevance of identity, ‘community’ and social networks. Paper presented to 24 th International Labour Process Conference, Birkbeck University 10–12 April 2006.
Do global unions make sense? Paper presented to ‘Global companies, global unions, global research, global campaigns conference’ organised by Cornell University, New York, February 9–11, 2006.
The influence of ‘race’, identity and community on the organisation of migrant workers . Paper presented to Critical Labour Studies conference, Leeds University. December 14-15 2005.
Invited to present plenary session at the 55 th British Universities Industrial Relations Annual Conference. University of Northumbria, July 2005, on ‘Why “difference” matters: a critical appraisal of industrial relations research’.
Placing Labour in London: trade union strategy and practice . Paper presented to ‘Strategies for urban labour revitalization conference’ at Cornell University, October 1–3 2004. (Invited speaker).
Organising migrant workers: a case study of working conditions and unionisation at a sandwich factory in London . Paper presented to the Work Employment and Society Conference, University of Manchester 1–3 September 2004.
The influence of ‘race’, identity and community in union organising in west London . 54 th British Universities Industrial Relations Annual Conference, University of Nottingham, 1–3 July 2004.
Organising black and minority ethnic workers in trade unions: a case study of retail workers in central London . International Employment Relations Association 11 th Annual Conference, University of Greenwich, London, 8–11 July 2003.
‘I don’t regret my degree but…’: employment opportunities for new entrants into the audio-visual industries – the influence of ‘race’, class and gender . Presented to the University of Hertfordshire Business School research seminar 21 February 2007.
‘Good practice in organising migrant workers.’ Presentation to Wales TUC Organising Conference. Cardiff 6 Febrary 2007.
‘Black and minority ethnic workers in low-paid employment: the effects of poverty on living standards’ Presentation to Oxfam, Oxford 4 October 2006.
Issues facing migrant workers: what effect on union organising.’ Presentation to TGWU Candidate Development Programme, Eastbourne, 16 September 2006.
Seminar held at the TUC: Making the transition from college to work: experiences of media, film and television students, and recent graduated in London’s audio-visual industries.’ 26 April 2006.
Invited speaker at Northern TUC Race Relations Committee, September 2005.
Invited speaker at Unison equalities conference in Newcastle, September 2005.
Invited speaker at TUC Seminar in London on ‘Organising and recruiting black workers’, September 2005.
Invited speaker at TGWU training day for full-time union officers, on ‘Migrant workers and union organising’, Eastbourne, 29 April 2005.
Invited speaker to the Northern Region TUC Annual Meeting on ‘Issues of racism and organising black and minority ethnic workers’, 16 April 2005.
Invited speaker at departmental seminar, Department of Sociology, University of Northumbria on ‘The influence of ‘race’, identity and community in union organising in west London’, 15 April 2005.
Invited speaker to address the TGWU Race Relations Committee on 14 March 2005.
TUC Organising Academy, ‘BME workers in trade unions and the labour market’, June 2004.
Trades Union Congress ‘ Black and minority ethnic workers and trade unions’, TUC 19 May 2004.
TGWU Race Equality Committee, ‘Black workers and trade unions in London and the South East: focus on effectiveness of organising and recruitment strategies’, June 2003.
Presentation to the Trades Union Congress on ‘Black workers and trade unions in London and the South East: focus on effectiveness of organising and recruitment strategies’, Research report, March 2003.
Seminar at Ruskin College on ‘Ethnic minority women in trade unions’, May 2002.
British Trade Unionism Today Seminar. International Centre for Labour Studies, University of Manchester. ‘Organising Black Workers: Trade Union Strategies for Recruitment and Inclusion’, December 2002.
