The New Politics Of British Trade Unionism

The curbing of trade union power is often seen as one of the major achievements of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. David Marsh's book provides a broad-ranging introduction to British trade unionism in the 1990s and an assessment of the last decade's major changes in legislation, policing and attitudes. He concludes that while the political role of unions has been reduced, much less has changed at shopfloor level; moveover what has changed has owed more to economic recession than government action.

First published in 1999 , this book discusses trade unionism in Britain from 1964 to 1979. Detailing political change in British politics from union strikes to Thatcherism in the late 1970s and the implications that had on trade unions and industrial politics.

Trade Unions in a Neoliberal World is the first book to provide readers with an authoritative and comprehensive assessment of the impact of New Labour governments on employment relations and trade unions. This innovative text locates changes in industrial politics since the 1990s in the development of globalization and the worldwide emergence of neoliberalism. The advent of Tony Blair’s government in 1997 promised a new dawn for employment relations. In this rigorous but readable volume, a team of experienced and respected contributors explain in detail how the story has unfolded. This book looks at all aspects of New Labour’s policies in relation to employment relations and trade unionism. The first half of Trade Unions in a Neoliberal World presents an overview of industrial politics, the evolution of New Labour and an anatomy of contemporary trade unionism. It discusses relations between the Labour Party and the unions and the response of trade unionists to political and economic change. The second part contains chapters on legislation, partnership, organizing, training, strikes and perspectives on Europe.

Historical study of trade unionism in the UK with particular reference to labour movements in the early stages of industrialization - covers interest groups, government policy, labour legislation, labour relations and includes legal aspects, political aspects, social implications, economic implications, etc. Bibliography pp. 271 to 278 and statistical tables pp. 267 to 270.

This new edition takes account of changes since the first edition. There are three new chapters looking at the growing importance of Europe and the Community to British trade Unionism, at the political role of unions during the Thatcher years, and at aspects of Labour Party-union relationship.

Once the heartland of British labour history, trade unionism has been marginalised in much recent scholarship. In a critical survey from the earliest times to the nineteenth century, this book argues for its reinstatement. Trade unionism is shown to be both intrinsically important and to provide a window onto the broader historical landscape; the evolution of trade union principles and practices is traced from the seventeenth century to mid-Victorian times. Underpinning this survey is an explanation of labour organisation that reaches back to the fourteenth century. Throughout, the emphasis is on trade union mentality and ideology, rather than on institutional history. There is a critical focus on the politics of gender, on the demarcation of skill and on the role of the state in labour issues. New insight is provided on the long-debated question of trade unions’ contribution to social and political unrest from the era of the French Revolution through to Chartism.

Monograph examining trade union power since 1968 in the UK - discusses labour relations and wages conflicts, strikes, development of social contracts, government attempts to reduce union power and influence on economic policy decision making, implications of EC membership, etc. References.

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.