Time as a Way of Reconciling Conflict and Cooperation in the Employment Relationship: A View with Special Application to New Employment Forms

Explanations of the coexistence of conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship are often vague and-or misleading. Authors have frequently failed to distinguish between institutional bases for cooperation and the ideological orientations of employers and employees. Previous theorizing has typically presented cross-sectional views where the employment relationship is presented outside of its temporal context. Here it is argued that the extent and nature of conflict and cooperation between employers and their workforce should be understood through appreciating that interest alignment changes as an employment relationship moves from a short to a long term. In practice, the institutional basis for conflict mostly exists in the short and long term and cooperation in the long term exclusively. Using survey data obtained from fast food workers, the theoretical and strategic consequences of this view are explored in relation to new employment forms which have a modified concept of a long term.