Time, tea breaks and the frontier of control in UK workplaces

Article

Upchurch, M. 2020. Time, tea breaks and the frontier of control in UK workplaces. Historical Studies in Industrial Relations. 41 (1), pp. 37-64. https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2020.41.2
TypeArticle
TitleTime, tea breaks and the frontier of control in UK workplaces
AuthorsUpchurch, M.
Abstract

One of the by-products of the intensification and re-organization of work over the last four decades has been a squeeze and sometimes elimination of paid rest breaks for lunch, tea (or coffee), and individual ‘comfort’ breaks. This paper explores the history of such breaks, covering whims, fads and changes in management ideologies and practices as they apply to time discipline, as well as patterns of resistance seen through the lens of the ‘frontier of control’. More recent developments have seen a partial return to the ‘paid break’, running against the dominant trend of cutbacks in such breaks or conversion from paid to unpaid breaks.

Research GroupEmployment Relations group
PublisherLiverpool University Press
JournalHistorical Studies in Industrial Relations
ISSN1362-1572
Electronic2049-4459
Publication dates
Print01 Sep 2020
Publication process dates
Deposited11 May 2020
Accepted05 May 2020
Output statusPublished
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

© 2021 Liverpool University Press
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Liverpool University Press in Historical Studies in Industrial Relations on 01 Sep 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2020.41.2

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2020.41.2
LanguageEnglish
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