Trade unions and the state : the construction of industrial relations institutions in britain, 1890-2000 /

The collapse of Britain's powerful labor movement in the last quarter century has been one of the most significant and astonishing stories in recent political history. How were the governments of Margaret Thatcher and her successors able to tame the unions? In analyzing how an entirely new indu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Howell, Chris
Corporate Authors: De Gruyter.
Published: Princeton University Press,
Publisher Address: Princeton, N.J. :
Publication Dates: [2005]
©2005
Literature type: eBook
Language: English
Edition: Course Book.
Subjects:
Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400826612
http://www.degruyter.com/doc/cover/9781400826612.jpg
Summary: The collapse of Britain's powerful labor movement in the last quarter century has been one of the most significant and astonishing stories in recent political history. How were the governments of Margaret Thatcher and her successors able to tame the unions? In analyzing how an entirely new industrial relations system was constructed after 1979, Howell offers a revisionist history of British trade unionism in the twentieth century. Most scholars regard Britain's industrial relations institutions as the product of a largely laissez faire system of labor relations, punctuated by occasional government interference. Howell, on the other hand, argues that the British state was the prime architect of three distinct systems of industrial relations established in the course of the twentieth century. The book contends that governments used a combination of administrative and judicial action, legislation, and a narrative of crisis to construct new forms of labor relations. Understanding the demise of the unions requires a reinterpretation of how these earlier systems were constructed, and the role of the British government in that process. Meticulously researched, Trade Unions and the State not only sheds new light on one of Thatcher's most significant achievements but also tells us a great deal about the role of the state in industrial relations.
Carrier Form: 1 online resource (256 pages) : illustrations
ISBN: 9781400826612
Index Number: HD6664
CLC: D415.619
Contents: Frontmatter --
Contents --
Acknowledgments --
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Puzzle of British Industrial Relations --
Chapter 2. Constructing Industrial Relations Institutions --
Chapter 3. The Construction of the Collective Laissez-Faire System, 1890 1940 --
Chapter 4. Donovan, Dissension, and the Decentralization of Industrial Relations, 1940 1979 --
Chapter 5. The Decollectivization of Industrial Relations, 1979 1997 --
Chapter 6. The Third Way and Beyond: The Future of British Industrial Relations --
Notes --
References --
Index.