The maritime car carrier industry has been entirely neglected by social scientists. This book examines globalization changes in cost structure and dynamics; in ownership, freight, labour and other markets; in technological innovation and ship design; and in relation to car manufacturers, ship management companies and crewing agents.

'This important new study focuses on the maritime car carriers which ship more than 8 million vehicles a year between the world's major markets. It makes a major contribution our understanding of the auto industry outside the assembly factory and does so by combining pioneering analysis of a globalized business with classical labour process research. The book provides a graphic account of a fatigued and cosmopolitan workforce and demonstrates the continued relevance of union organisation in a way which challenges all our facile assumptions about the forces of globalisation. Theo Nichols and Erol Kahveci show how a tradition of politically engaged sociological research can be refocused and revitalized.' - Karel Williams, Professor of Accounting and Political Economy, and Co-director ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change, University of Manchester, UK

Autorentext
EROL KAHVECI is a Senior Research Associate at Seafarers International Research Centre, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK. His research focuses on globalization, comparative political economy, condition of labour in mining, shipping and child labour. His books include Work and Occupation in Modern Turkey (with Theo Nichols and Nadir Sugur) and The Global Seafarer (with Tony Alderton and others).

THEO NICHOLS is Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK. He has written widely in the general field of Economic Sociology, including ownership and control, management and management ideology, class consciousness, productivity and industrial injuries. His two most recent books, Global Management and Local Labour (with Nadir Sugur) and Labour in a Global World (with Surhan Cam) were published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2004 and 2005.

Inhalt
List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes List of Photographs Acknowledgements Glossary Introduction: Beyond the Assembly Line PART ONE: THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF A GLOBALISED INDUSTRY Globalisation and De-Regulation of the Maritime Industry: A General Review The Maritime Car Carrier Industry PART TWO: THE WORLD OF CAR CARRIER WORKER The World(s) of Car Carrier Crews Work and Working Conditions 1: The Division of Labour, Contracts, Hours and Wages Work and Working Conditions 2: Consultation, Compliance and Labour Control Work/Life Balance, Fatigue and Isolation from Family and Friends Trade Unionism Conclusion Appendix 1: Flagging Out and World Tonnage 1939-2003 Appendix 2: Distribution of Rank by Company Appendix 3: Turnaround Times and Voyage Cycles - Three Cases Appendix 4: Social and Welfare Facilities for Seafarers in Foreign Parts References Index