摘要:

AbstractThe Youth Training Scheme presented British unions with a mix of opportunities and threats. Patterns of interest in and policy towards YTS among the 42 largest unions are studied for 1983–8. Most unions showed interest in YTS but they divided sharply on whether or not to oppose it. Statistical analysis indicates a role for both economic and political factors in determining differences between unions in interest and policy. Opposition proved most intense and widespread among unions that represented the lower‐grade occupations in the public sector. Such unions were heavily affected by trainee‐employee substitution and in addition were relatively well placed to enforce its exclusion. Left‐wing political orientation was also associated with opposition to YTS, but at the level of principle rather than

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00419.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIt is widely believed that recessions are periods of accelerated structural change, with major reorganizations or adjustments being made under intense pressure. These changes are made to ensure the survival of firms, exploit opportunities created by difficulties facing other firms, or take advantage of temporary falls in the opportunity cost of initiating and carrying out changes. This line of argument suggests that we should expect to see firms making major changes in their investments in human capital, and in their industrial relations practices. Our results are only partially consistent with this view. What seems to be clear from the data generated by our surveys is that firms are not reluctant to make changes in their bargaining strategies and industrial relations systems. This should be no surprise. Unlike investments in plant and equipment, these changes do not require much cash, and the opportunity cost of making them is much lower in recessions than in booms. However, the observed changes in union recognition have not occurred primarily in firms that were severely affected by the recession. Increases in pay decentralization and reorganization of work‐force arrangements were no more likely to be initiated by distressed firms than by firms only moderately affected by the recession. It follows, then, that the retreat of UK unionism observed during the 1990–3 recession was, in the main, a continuation of existing secular trends. The mild acceleration in the pace of change revealed by our survey may be cyclical, but the trend is unlikely to be reversed as recovery gathers p

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00420.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper examines whether there is a link between establishment closure and union presence using data from the 1984–90 panel sample of establishments of the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. It considers whether the notion that unions damage long term performance and ultimately force uncompetitive establishments to shut down is a reasonable one.I can find no evidence whatsoever for this hypothesis. There is no evidence that establishment closure and union presence are positively correlated. The relationship is usually negative and sometimes significantly so.These results are important for at least two reasons: (i) it does not seem that unions have detrimental effects that force establishments to close down in the long run; (ii) the idea that union establishments have been dying at a faster rate forms no part of the explanation of the sharp union decline observed in the 1980

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00421.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractFewer than 50% of British employees now have their pay and conditions affected by collective pay‐setting institutions — collective bargaining or wages councils. This paper charts the historical context for the current picture of a decollectivized Britain, constructing a time series on coverage from 1895 to 1990. Extant estimates and sources of coverage data are presented and discussed alongside estimates drawn from a source used only sparingly before now — the number of workers affected by changes in wage rates of national agreements or wage orders. The recent decline in collective bargaining coverage is the most prolonged ever recorded and has been noticeably steeper than the fall in union density, such that the proportion of British workers covered is lower now than in the 1940s. With the abolition of wages councils in 1993, collective pay‐setting machinery now affects the pay and conditions of fewer workers than it did in th

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00422.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper provides evidence from empirical case‐study research into the impact of compulsory competitive tendering on workplace union organization among the baggage‐handling workforce at Manchester Airport. It documents the main processes of development within an historical context, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of workplace unionism during the 1980s, the recent challenge posed by managerial restructuring in the early 1990s, and the wider implications for debates about the ‘state’ of workplace unionism in Britain today.Compared with the union resilience displayed by the baggage handlers during the 1980s, the nature of shop‐stewards' organization appears to have changed drastically to managemenťs advantage during the last few years. However, continuing underlying tensions in worker‐management relations suggest that this situation may not necessarily amount to a fundamental and irreversible transformation in the nature of workplace unionism in the manner in which those who use the vocabulary of the ‘New Industrial Relations

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00423.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis review examines trends in the economy and industrial relations in 1994 and goes on to consider the implications for unions of the continuing restructuring of organizations in the public and private sectors. The background is one of cyclical improvement in economic performance, with low inflation and strong growth feeding through to higher profit margins. Firms are shown to have enjoyed the benefits of the upturn with little pressure from labour for a greater share of the surplus. Unsurprisingly, employers have not generated much demand for further reform of the industrial relations system. Unions, on the other hand, have remained largely on the defensive, from a combination of job insecurity among their members, organizational constraints and political marginalization. Initiatives from the TUC show evidence of the union movement trying to develop a new set of strategies to break out of the spiral of decline.

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00424.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00425.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00426.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:Industrial Relations in the New Europeedited by Anthony Ferner and Richard Hyman.Employee Representation: Alternatives and Future Directionsedited by Bruce Kaufman and MorrisWorking for the Union: British Trade Union Officersby John Kelly and Edmund Heery.Human Rights and Labour Law: Essays for Paul O'Higginsedited by K. D. Ewing, C. A. Gearty and B. A. Hepple.

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00427.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0007-1080    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00428.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY