The Rise and Fall of Autonomous Group Working in the British Coal Mining Industry

Abstract

The group organization of work in the British coal mining industry brought to the workers involved significant levels of autonomy; the ability to define the social relations of work; high levels of control over the labor process; and a strong and lasting commitment - to the group. This autonomy was to survive a series of managerial attacks, in the form of changed payment systems and the introduction of new technologies, and was not finally lost until the imposition of full automation that included surveillance systems that made the labor process transparent.