INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE BRITISH ECONOMY IN THE 1990s: MRS THATCHER'S LEGACY

The authors challenge the view that the UK Conservative governments during the 1980s achieved important advances in industrial performance through the abandonment of corporatist policies that allowed management to regain the initiative and push through changes in work organization. The article takes issue with the idea that collective labour institutions necessarily impair economic efficiency, and it points up important connections between Thatcher's offensive against organized labour and the enduring weaknesses in human capital and technology. The article has three sections: the first examines labour markets and industrial relations; the second analyses government regulation; and the third assesses trends and prospects for the future, with emphasis on employment flexibility and labour productivity. The authors conclude with some comments on future prospects in the context of Britain's fuller integration in Europe.

[1]  N. Crafts.  REVERSING RELATIVE ECONOMIC DECLINE? THE 1980s IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE , 1991 .

[2]  P. Gregg,et al.  Changes in Wage-setting Arrangements and Trade Union Presence in the 1980s , 1991 .

[3]  R. Townshend-Smith.  Refusal of Employment on Grounds of Trade Union Membership or Non-Membership: The Employment Act 1990 , 1991 .

[4]  David Guest,et al.  Personnel Management: The End of Orthodoxy? , 1991 .

[5]  P. Turnbull.  Labour Market Deregulation and Economic Performance: The Case of Britain's Docks , 1991 .

[6]  H. Carty.  The Employment Act 1990: Still Fighting The Industrial Cold War , 1991 .

[7]  B. Hepple.  The Implementation of the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights , 1990 .

[8]  P. Marginson,et al.  Skating on Thin Ice? David Metcalf on Trade Unions and Productivity , 1990 .

[9]  J. Kelly,et al.  An Index Measure of British Trade Union Density , 1990 .

[10]  Catherine Hakim,et al.  Core and Periphery in Employers' Workforce Strategies: Evidence from the 1987 E.L.U.S. Survey , 1990 .

[11]  Tony Elger.  Technical Innovation and Work Reorganisation in British Manufacturing in the 1980s: Continuity, Intensification or Transformation? , 1990 .

[12]  J. Lovering.  A Perfunctory Sort of Post-Fordism: Economic Restructuring and Labour Market Segmentation in Britain in the 1980s , 1990 .

[13]  J. Kelly.  British Trade Unionism 1979-89: Change, Continuity and Contradictions , 1990 .

[14]  John Storey,et al.  Limits to transformation: human resource management in the British context , 1990 .

[15]  Paul M. Smith,et al.  A Change of Heart: Union Exclusion in the Provincial Newspaper Sector , 1990 .

[16]  S. Deakin.  Equality Under a Market Order: The Employment Act 1989 , 1990 .

[17]  S. Wadhwani,et al.  The Economic Effects of Industrial Relations Legislation Since 1979 , 1990, National Institute Economic Review.

[18]  P. Willman.  The logic of ‘market‐share’ trade unionism: is membership decline inevitable? , 1989 .

[19]  T. Claydon.  Union Derecognition in Britain in the 1980s , 1989 .

[20]  P. Nolan.  Walking on water? performance and industrial relations under Thatcher , 1989 .

[21]  D. Metcalf.  Water Notes Dry Up: The Impact of the Donovan Reform Proposals and Thatcherism At Work on Labour Productivity in British Manufacturing Industry , 1989 .

[22]  D. Finegold,et al.  The Failure of Training in Britain: Analysis and Prescription , 1988 .

[23]  S. Evans.  The Use of Injunctions in Industrial Disputes May 1984‐April 1987 , 1987 .

[24]  G. Ray.  Labour Costs in Manufacturing , 1987, National Institute Economic Review.

[25]  J. Muellbauer,et al.  The Assessment: Productivity and Competitiveness in British Manufacturing , 1986 .

[26]  G. Ray.  Labour Costs and International Competitiveness , 1972, National Institute Economic Review.

[27]  K. Ewing.  Economics and Labour Law in Britain: Thatcher's Radical Experiment , 1969 .

[28]  Ewan Mckendrick.  The Rights of Trade Union Members—Part I of the Employment Act 1988 , 1988 .

[29]  K. Ewing.  Trade Union Political Funds: The 1913 Act Revised , 1984 .

[30]  J. Hutton.  Solving the Strike Problem: Part II of the Trade Union Act 1984 , 1984 .