The restructuring of an employment system: the experience of north sea oil in the north east of England

Abstract

The concern of this thesis is the impact of incoming oil related activities (in the form of rig fabrication) upon the existing industrial work force in the North East of England. It examines how the interrelationship of two processes (the increasing centralisation of the international oil industry and the historical development of the labour force in the North East) has shaped the precise pattern of labour relations within the fabrication sector in the North East. In particular it notes how a mixture of political indecision in the 1970s and ideological dogma in the 1980s has allowed the international oil industry to dictate the terms of North Sea oil developments. As a consequence, fabrication firms have been forced to marginalise large elements of the work force. It is this process, set in the context of past industrial development that is the principle focus of this thesis.