Redundancy, Labour Markets and Informal Relations

Abstract

As a result of its ‘slimline’ plan put into effect in May 1980, the British Steel Corporation made nearly 6,000 workers redundant from its Abbey Works in Port Talbot. The relationship between redundancies at the plant, the labour market experiences of those made redundant and the way in which the two are mediated by informal relational structures is examined. It is argued (a) that the labour market chances of those made redundant were structured by the character of the redundancy process which made certain kinds of worker vulnerable to selection for redundancy; and (b) that the operation of the labour market changed as a result of the redundancies in ways which advantaged those among the redundant who were informally linked to certain kinds of opportunities on the demand side of the labour market. Some wider implications of the patterns found are discussed.