Managing Labour Relations through the Recession

Abstract

Recent trends in industrial relations do not include a systematic attack on union organisation, according to evidence gathered during a survey of British manufacturing plants (base size: 250 full‐time employees) from the food, drink and tobacco, chemical, electrical engineering, textiles, paper printing and publishing sectors. Industrial relations remain important to senior managers as well as personnel managers. The apparent rise in a consultative approach suggests a move away from industrial relations in the traditional sense of bargaining with unions. Though labour relations remain important, this is in the wider sense of managing labour and securing workers' compliance with managerial aims. (First part of a two‐part article.)

Citation

Edwards, P.K. (1985), "Managing Labour Relations through the Recession", Employee Relations, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 3-7. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055047