Industrial Relations in Britain under New Labour, 1997-2010: a post mortem

William Brown

Cambridge Working Papers in Economics from Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge

Abstract: A revival of trade unions was widely expected when Blair’s New Labour government took over from the Conservatives in Britain in 1997. This did not occur. Collective bargaining continued to retreat. The paper discusses the implications of the changing economic context for the government’s legal innovations, notably statutory trade union recognition and a minimum wage. It describes the consequences for industrial relations. It concludes that New Labour’s legacy may lie in its nurturing of the institutions of social partnership and the use of conciliation.

Keywords: British Industrial Relations; New Labour; trade unions; collective bargaining; partnership; Low Pay Commission; Acas; labour legislation; industrial conciliation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J50 J52 J58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-02-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cam:camdae:1121

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