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Presents several labor research papers of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations in Great Britain. "The Role of Shop Stewards in British Industrial Relations"; "Disputes Procedures in British Industry"; "Industrial Sociology and Industrial Relations"; "Productivity Bargaining and Restrictive Labour Practices"; "Trade Union Structure and Government"; "Overtime Working in Britain."

For what now seem to us to be obvious reasons associated with the difficulties of data collection there has been no published study of the operation in Britain of agreements which provide for the automatic adjustment of wages to changes in the official prices index. The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature on collective bargaining by examining the extent, characteristics and some of the effects of such agreements in post-war Britain. This seems particularly appropriate given the recent increase in interest in indexation associated with the T.U.C.'s advocacy of a variant of the traditional form, namely cost of living 'threshold' agreements. Threshold agreements are a conditional form of indexation, somewhat akin to another variant, the 're-opening clause'. The latter makes provision for further negotiations within the period of an agreement in the event of specified changes in the prices index, but leaves the degree of compensation to be negotiated. However, our concern here is with the traditional type, that is, collective agreements which provide for the automatic adjustment of wages on a pre-arranged sliding scale basis in accordance with changes in the official Index of Retail Prices. Our survey is restricted to multi-employer agreements covering manual workers, i.e., agreements which could claim to be 'industry-wide' in a loose sense. We have not considered salaried employees or single employer agreements. The paper is arranged in the following way. The first section examines the arguments which have been advanced, largely on economic grounds, supporting and criticizing such agreements. Secondly the incidence and coverage of indexation agreements in post-war Britain is established by applying a number of measures, and the reasons for their rapid decline in in the late 1960s are considered. The third main section examines the characteristics of the agreements in a number of industries. The fourth section reports a survey of the opinions of the parties based on their experience with indexation agreements. This is followed by an assessment of their effect on real wages and wage movements in the industries concerned. The final section summarizes the major findings and presents some conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveals that manpower allocation by manipulation of relative wages permitting free occupational choice based on wage inducements was blocked before the war began in Great Britain. The earlier recommendations of the Committee of Imperial Defence to this effect were abandoned in the late 1930s. This abandonment was probably in response to pressure by labor unions. Subsequently, trade union members and their sympathizers in England have attempted to justify their position by arguments expressed in terms of the general welfare. It has been argued that wage inducements under full employment are not so effective an allocation device as under normal conditions.

This paper examines the implications of introducing measured daywork (M.D.W.) for the institutions of collective bargaining. The decision to introduce M.D.W. will have been taken by a single firm for one or more of its plants. M.D.W. will be replacing an existing pay system based substantially on payment by results (P.B.R.), and that the main impetus for change has come from the degeneration of this system. Management is already engaged in some form of collective bargaining, though this may mean no more than that it recognizes the unions organizing the workers concerned and deals with their shop stewards.

This article presents a reassessment of arguments regarding the nature of the strike problem in Great Britain in the Donovan report and a reply to H. A. Turner. Turner's basic position is that three important and influential publications in recent years have exaggerated the seriousness of Britain's strike problem. These publications are the Donovan Report, the Labour Government's White Paper, and the Conservative Party's policy document Fair Deal at Work. Throughout most of his paper he insists on lumping all these three together, because whatever their differences of emphasis they all contain one proposition on which they appear virtually unanimous. Turner further argues that in substance the three documents are at one in their assertions as to the facts, and their conclusions as to the effects which follow from them.

It has been said of personnel managers that they are an introspective lot¹; so too apparently are those who teach industrial relations. Recently a symposium in a learned journal was concerned with the problem 'Are Labour Courses Obsolete?'--a question which seemed to have been posed by the fall-off in the enrolment of students in the United States since the post-war peaks.² The object of this paper is to stimulate further discussion on the nature and content of courses in industrial relations, particularly those now being offered in business schools. It seeks to do this first by reflecting on the scope of industrial relations as a field for study and then by evaluating one approach to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has applied a model of employee-management relations to the British economy and tested its implications with aggregate and industry data since the 1950s. Though the results are generally encouraging, it is necessary to stress the following cautionary notes.
1. Theoretical formulations different from that described in the first section of this paper could specify the relationship estimated in Sections II and III. The advantage of the present approach, however, is that it replaces improvised ad hoc explanations of strike activity with a behavioural model which, unlike rival bargaining models, does yield refutable implications. Amendments and extensions of the model to take account of particular institutional arrangements should improve its performance.
2. The high coefficients of determination, especially in some of the industry regressions, tend to conceal rather than reveal explanatory behaviour. The association of strike activity with the level of demand in the labour market seems established, but the significant trend terms are not themselves explanatory variables and call for interpretation. One possibility is that they are proxies for aging institutional structures increasingly unwilling or unable to accommodate the growing post-war shift in the balance of power between management and labour without the parties having to resort to the strike weapon. Other explanations have been proposed; but many are difficult to quantify in a statistical study of this kind, and the use of other methods of analysis may prove more rewarding. Certainly, in so far as the frequency of strikes is an index of the smooth operation of Britain's system of industrial relations--and surely there are many facets other than strike activity to take into account--there is nothing in the results in this paper to suggest that the mounting criticism of its performance is unwarranted.
Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings reported in this paper suggest that... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a news brief related to research at the University of Warwick SSRC Industrial Relations Research Unit in England, as of July 1, 1972. Topics of ongoing research projects include industrial relations in factories, organizational behavior in labor unions, economic aspects of labor markets, and labor law and legislation in Great Britain.

The article presents statistical information regarding industrial relations in Great Britain as of January-April 1973. The number of unemployed fell in all three months from January to March, falling below 700,000 for the first time since July 1971. On a seasonally adjusted basis, excluding school leavers and those temporarily stopped, unemployment fell by an average of 32000 per month in the three-month period January to March, compared with a monthly fall of 25,300 in the period November to January. Despite problems arising from discrepancies in the three alternative measures of gross domestic product, production as a whole appeared to be increasing at the planned rate of 5 per cent per annum between the second half of 1971 and the early months of 1973, with the rate of expansion of output accelerating towards the end of 1972. The number of working days lost through strike action in 1972 reached a record level of 239 million, the highest figure since 1926. This represents a 76 per cent increase on the 1971 figure of 136 million working days lost. The number of stoppages increased slightly, with 2,470 strikes in 1972 compared to 2,228 in 1971.

This article reports developments on industrial relations in Great Britain from September to December 1971. During this period, unemployment on a seasonally adjusted basis was higher than in the corresponding period of 1970. The principal increases were in the health service, paper and board making, electrical cable making and the motor vehicle retail and repair trades. There were increases in the prices of a wide range of household products, the rents of unfurnished dwellings, foodstuffs and of a number of other goods and services, but the rate of increase appeared to have begun to slow down. In spite of Government action to revive the economy the trend of industrial production remained sluggish.

International direct investment, in contrast to portfolio investment, involves foreign control over subsidiaries operating in the receiving country. While this type of international capital movement has a long history, there are significant changes in the post-war years compared to earlier periods. Increasingly the foreign owned subsidiary is becoming part of an internationally integrated production and distribution complex. The volume of direct investment is growing at roughly twice the rate of international trade, much of this growth being due to investment originating in the United States. The investment is especially important in science based industries. Many observers see these changes taken together as having important implications for industrial relations in host countries, including the United Kingdom, which, after Canada, is the second largest destination for United States direct investment. But what are these implications, and indeed, what has happened up to now? The known facts are few and the sources of information widely scattered. The purpose of this paper is to draw this information together, treating the United Kingdom as a case study.
It is often suggested that the foreign owned subsidiary is more productive and profitable than its domestic counterpart, and that this superior performance is at least partly due to better labor utilization. This implies that the foreign firms behave differently in the labor market, have different personnel policies, and may tend towards a different mode of industrial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the importance of custom and practice in industrial relations in Great Britain. Custom and practice has become a commonplace phrase in workplace industrial relations. This paper attempts to clarify the use of the term and to cast light on the forces that lie behind it. There can be no doubt as to the importance of custom and practice in contemporary British industrial relations. The industry-wide agreements that exist to govern terms of employment and job regulation tend to be too remote and too vague for application by themselves.

The article chronicles industrial relations in the Great Britain between January to April 1969. During the first quarter of 1969 the average total register of unemployed in Great Britain showed a fall compared with the first quarter of 1968. On a seasonally adjusted basis unemployment in the first quarter of 1969 averaged 479 thousand as compared with 510 thousands for the corresponding period of 1968. Since August 1968 unemployment had been on a downward trend and this continued until February. In March the trend was reversed when the fall in wholly unemployed amounted to 17,000 fewer than the estimated normal seasonal fall at that time of the year. In percentage terms the average wholly unemployed in Great Britain showed a 0' 1 fall over the average figure for the last quarter of 1968. The Index of basic weekly rates of wages for manual workers in Great Britain continued to rise in the first quarter of 1969. This rise was smaller than in the last quarter of 1968 when the December figure showed the effects of the new engineering agreement coining into operation in that month. The rise was small in comparison with that of the first quarter of 1968 when the January figure showed a steep increase over the December 1967 figures.

Why does Great Britain have only 25 percent as many strikes as the United States? Possibly, this article suggests, because the government pursues a hands-off policy in regard to labor contracts, and restraint and responsibility characterize negotiations between unions and employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on developments concerning industrial relations in Great Britain. Total number of unemployed as of December 1973; Indices of weekly and hourly wage rates and normal weekly hours; Level changes in industrial production.

This article presents a case study on industrial relations in Great Britain. The study was set against the background of current changes forecast for the steel industry. Early in 1973 the government announced its approval of the British Steel Corp.'s proposals for rationalization. In exchange for an investment and modernization program worth 3,000 million pound between 1973 and 1983, 50,000 jobs will have disappeared between re-nationalization in 1967 and 1983 if the program is fully implemented, amounting to a reduction of 30 per cent of the 1967 labor force. It can be seen, therefore, that by the early 1970s the economic framework of the industry had become less predictable. The company's implications for labor redundancy are likely to be severe in a number of relatively small-scale plants in the area. Economic explanations may be of limited value in assessing the stability of industrial relations systems. The notion of industrial relations is diffuse and is applied in a limited sense to the process of collective bargaining.

This article describes and interprets the role of directors in industrial relations specifically. It will not consider the various macro-theoretical conceptions of the directors' place in industrial society. Writing about directors has already suffered from an excess of deduction and a paucity of data.[3] From the perspective of industrial relations, the purpose is to start the presentation of empirical findings about the management side for which so many have been calling in reviews of the field. This article follows what Margerison called the behavioural, as opposed to the institutional, approach to the subject.[4] From the perspective of sociology, what follows is an expanded description, applied to directors, of Lockwood's concept of 'the work situation'.[5]
After a brief discussion of research methods, the first section deals with the nature and extent of relations between directors and workers; the second with the two basic orientations which directors manifest towards workers and which shape the behaviour of lower management; the third considers the sources of directors' knowledge about industrial relations; the fourth some consequences of their relative ignorance; and the concluding section suggests that this isolation and ignorance form part of a strategy for industrial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the definition of sociology in industrial relations in Great Britain. Industrial relations theorists and practitioners alike generally recognize that there is some need for sociological contributions to industrial relations questions. The term sociological or social are often attached to one common meaning which refers to those objectives or factors affecting behavior of individuals and groups which do not conform to what is supposed to be economic rationality. For many industrial relations writers, few of whom have received any formal sociological training, the term sociology therefore covers the analysis of factors which are seen as lying outside the logic of interest rationality which is at the root of collective bargaining. A more sophisticated interpretation of sociology, however, is reached when it is argued that the practice of industrial relations is at least partially determined by the type of norms accepted by actors in the work situation and the type of social structures which are derived from those norms.

The article presents information about the recent developments in industrial relations in Great Britain as of November 1973. The influx of students and school leavers into the labor market halted the recent persistent decline in the number of unemployed, with a rise of over 9,000 unemployed in July. On a seasonally adjusted basis, however, unemployment continued to decline although more slowly than in previous months. The general tightening of the labor market was reflected in the number of unfilled vacancies which continued to increase during the period under review, though at a slower rate than that of the first quarter. On a seasonally adjusted basis the number of vacancies increased on average by almost 17,000 per month during the period May to July 1973 compared with a monthly increase of 21,500 during the previous three-month period. The index of retail prices continued to rise during the period. During the period under review the rate of expansion of the economy, though still high by historical standards, appeared to be slowing down from its previously high level.

The article assesses the trade union membership in Great Britain. In Britain it is impossible to obtain an accurate division of trade union membership by industry due to the overlapping structure of organization. The general unions have members in a wide variety of trades, whilst many craft unions recruit from several industries. Even the membership of an industrial union is determined by historical influences. Thus in the absence of detailed industrial classifications of members by individual trade unions, any general division is bound to be arbitrary. The existence of general unions which by definition straddle many industries creates a problem of how to allocate their membership to individual trades. It further reports that a figure for trade union membership in various industries was calculated on the basis of Ministry of Labor estimates supplemented by an industrial division of general union membership. Certain industries, however, posed specific problems. The Ministry of Labor excluded carpenters and joiners from "Other Woodworking" and classified them under "Building and Contracting." Similar overlapping occurred in "National and Local Government" from which teachers and transport workers were omitted.

Rural depopulation is a world phenomenon associated with industrialization. A great many factors are involved. The standards of providing a variety of public utility services and extending social organizations in villages with persistently decreasing population are compared with those in villages of increasing population. The attitudes of residents in villages where population has persisted for a long time differ considerably from those of people of the "outside world," and in these villages little interest is taken in local government, education, or the organization of local social activities. Employer-employee relationships are often strained. Many reasons contribute to the initial decision to leave the home in the country. No nation in the world has a higher proportion of paid workers in agriculture than the United Kingdom. This gives workers greater mobility and, since there are fewer owner-occupied holdings, less chance of promotion. Once emigration has begun, it tends to generate its own momentum-fewer people can support fewer services, and fewer services will tend to make the area less attractive. Mechanization would have created unemployment without the substantial rural depopulation, but the rate of loss today is felt to be out of proportion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that social historians have recently shown that the merchant seamen of the ports of north-east England had a history of militant action at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. In the years after 1815 economic depression and an over-supply of labor made it difficult for the seamen to organize and to bargain effectively. With the exception of a small increase in wages, obtained on the Tyne and Wear in 1818 under the threat of strike action, and granted by the Wear ship-owners in the following year, the seamen remained quiescent. It is interesting to note that strike action by the seamen before this time had been on a unilateral basis with no overall co-ordination between the north-east ports. A society was formed by the seamen called the Seamen's Loyal Standard Association, with almost identical rules, but with independent control in each locality. The almost identical nature of the rules of the various branches of the seamen's society also suggests an industrial organization rather than a benefit club.

This article presents information related to the trade-unions of Great Britain. In Great Britain, the heat and consequent stratification of public opinion in regard to all questions which in any way trench upon conflicting social and political prejudices is so great, that facts which come to the inquirer through this medium are affected very much as objects are by the mirage stratification of hot air. The 252 unions which appear upon the books of the Registrar of Trade and Friendly Societies are by no means alike in details of constitution, method and purpose. The functions of the modern trades-union are often described as threefold--aggressive, defensive and benevolent. The first two have primarily to do with all the questions of wages, strikes, lock-outs and all the belligerent activities which attract attention and gain notoriety for the militant side of efforts to secure rights and defend those already obtained. There are the numerous purely local unions, embracing as many artisans in their respective localities and industries as can be persuaded to join an organization and pay regular assessments for mutual protection in wages and hours of labor, for out-of-work benefits, sick pay, burial funds and the like.

The article tracks the history of British trade unions between 1840 and 1880. It was long held that between 1840 and 1880 British trade union leaders were dominated by the dogmas of classical economists. This hypothesis has however been challenged on the grounds that the "Junta" ruled. It claims that union leaders habitually favored the emigration of their members, desiring to accommodate their policies to the teachings of economics regarding the rule of the "law" of supply and demand in the labor market. A fairly extensive reading of labour literature of the years 1840 to 1880 reveals the relatively very small number of fifty to sixty unions, including little ones and members of wider federations, which either had a system of emigration benefits at some time, or took up the idea on occasion. From the 1840s to the 1870s the efficacy of emigration of the "surplus" labour in improving welfare was a firmly held doctrine amongst economists. According to Mill in 1848 emigration profited old and wealthy countries; it promoted industries in those areas best suited to them; most of all it benefited the remaining competitors in the labour market.

The article focuses on the National Industrial Relations Court in Great Britain that came into existence on December 1, 1971, with Commencement Order No. 3 under the Industrial Relations Act of that year. The Court began its life with a backlog of work in the form of 48 appeals from industrial tribunals concerning the Redundancy Payments Act-appeals which were then still waiting for a hearing in the High Court in London, England or in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland. It proceeded to dispose of the bulk of these with sittings in the new Industrial Court premises in London and Edinburgh. It also began to hear redundancy appeals lodged directly from December 1 onwards, so that it was with the Redundancy Payments Act rather than the Industrial Relations Act that the Court was primarily concerned in this period. Of the 34 new cases received in the 3 months December to February, no fewer than 31 were redundancy appeals. So far as the image of the court presented to the public was concerned, it must have seemed as if the policy of "non-co-operation" with the act was working.

This article is a preliminary survey of an area that has received surprisingly little attention. Most industrial relations theory from the Webbs onwards has been primarily concerned with trade unions. The firm, on the other hand, has remained an empty box in the theoretical literature. There are a number of possible explanations of the relative neglect of the employer-manager side of the industrial relations system. Firstly, the majority of students of industrial relations have been sympathetic towards, and have preferred to study, trade unions. Secondly, trade unions have been less secretive and more ready to welcome academic study than business organizations. Finally, to be realistic a theory of the firm in industrial relations will have to be integrated into a more general theory of the firm, but, as will be shown later, there are a large number of conflicting general theories. Lester has suggested that 'It seems even more difficult to construct a separate theory of management's industrial relations activities than it is to fashion a theory of management as a whole. A systematic theory of the industrial relations activities of business management has still to be developed'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several development on industrial relations in Great Britain as of September to December 1972. Changes in the unemployment rate; Increase in wages; Rise in industrial production.

Examines the character of labor relations of multinational corporations operating in Great Britain. Prominence of multinational corporations in lagging regions; Difference in working methods; Degree of autonomy enjoyed by foreign-owned firms.

The article presents a chronicle of the industrial relations scene in Great Britain from January 1972 to April 1972. In January 1972 total registered unemployed in the country exceeded one million. For Great Britain alone, the February figure was inflated as a result of lay-offs in industry due to the power shortage caused by the miners' strike. In the early part of 1972 the number of unfilled vacancies showed a sharp rise relative to the last months of 1971. During 1971 the Index of Retail Prices rose by 12 points compared with 11.5 for 1970. The second half of 1971 saw a marked fall in the rate of increase of the Index, and this trend continued into early 1972. 1971 saw a significant drop in the number of strikes but a large rise in the number of working days lost relative to 1970. Comparing the two years there was little change in the number of workers involved. The Government's main aim in economic policy continued to be a reduction in the rate of inflation and an increase in the rate of economic growth.

The article focuses on labor laws and labor relations in Great Britain. A revolutionary change is being attempted in British labor law by the Industrial Relations Act 1971 (IRA). By placing a new court, the National Industrial Relations Court as the keystone of its structure IRA insists that courts and judges should be involved in conflicts. This insistence may be seen as a reflection of the legislature responding to the middle-class demand for more law and order in industrial life. The unifying theme of the IRA is the weakening of the power of trade unions at shop-floor level, especially of unregistered organizations of workers. Indeed, they are little trusted and any member is allowed to sue them for wrongs done in breach of the Act. The victory in the Act of a philosophy of extreme individualism, which inhibits collective organization are surely not accidents. Individuals must be protected by the law against unfair treatment by employers or unions. But the duty of a labor law system is first to the individuals in the collective majority; and only second to individuals who wish to opt out of collective labor relations.

This article presents a research on the developments of industrial relations in Great Britain. The author explores the statistical background of British labor market, wages and earnings, retail prices, industrial production and industrial disputes. Government policies and activities such as the general election, government economic policy, prices and incomes policy, National Board for Prices and Incomes, Commission on Industrial Relations, future structure of youth employment service and functions of the central training council were examined by the author.

THE aim of this article is to examine the state of industrial relations theory. This involves, firstly, tracing the developments from Marx's exposition of the evolution of trade unions to the present-day theories of industrial relations. Secondly, an assessment of three contemporary approaches will be given. Finally, the article will suggest modifications to the theory which the writers consider provides the best scope for the future development of the subject. The theoretical refinements are offered as a first step in the direction of a more rigorous methodology for industrial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a predictive study of the development in teacher militancy in Great Britain. The author aims to outline the locus of discontent and the formation of militant attitudes amongst teachers prior to the industrial action. As mentioned by the author, professional people have recognized the need for associations to protect their interests, but rarely have they adopted the tactics of public protests and ceasing work as methods of enforcing their demands for improved rewards and conditions.

This article examines the proposals for an unfair dismissals law through the Industrial Relations Bill in Great Britain. The author discussed the rights of dismissed employees to appeal to the Industrial Court against alleged unjust dismissal and ability of complainants to seek for damages over and above the entitlements under the contract of employment. In the Industrial Relations Bill, monetary compensation in excess of pay in lieu of notice will be a remedy for unfair dismissal according to the author.

The article examines the labor market in professional football in Great Britain. The peculiarities of the labor market in professional football warrant more than passing attention, and in particular the retain and transfer system is without parallel in the history of British industrial relations. The employment of the professional footballer began in the late nineteenth century when the sport first developed as a spectator sport, and the paid player was recognized and legalized by the Football Association as early as 1885. This analysis is limited to the case of the English Football League, which comprises ninety-two clubs divided into four divisions and employs a total professional playing force approaching 2,500. An examination of the economic implications of the wages and conditions of employment of the professional footballer is particularly opportune in view of the recent publication of the Chester Report on the game, which discussed the matter at some length and included recommendations for the revision of contractual relations between the player and his club. The basis of the employment of the professional footballer in the Football League is the retain and transfer system and it would be helpful at this stage to outline the system as it has operated both past and present.

The article focuses on the reforms of collective bargaining in Great Britain. It also informs about the report issued by Donovan Commission. The article discusses that there can hardly be need to recapitulate at length the Donovan analysis. In terms which have become familiar, it rests upon the argument that Britain has two systems of industrial relations, the formal and the informal, which are in conflict. The assumptions of the formal system still exert, however, a potent influence over men's minds, and prevent the informal system from developing into an effective and orderly method of regulation. The informal system therefore remains fragmented, uncodified, often dependent on work-group custom and practice, and generally incapable of serving as the necessary replacement to the formal structure of industry-wide agreements which, in many cases, no longer effectively regulate employment relations. It is further argued that the situation prevailing over most of the economy of labor scarcity and long order books has made employers more vulnerable to trade union pressure and thereby enhanced union bargaining power.

Presents several developments on industrial relations in Great Britain as of August to December 1967. Effects of devaluation on unemployment trends; Information that the Electricity Council had offered a 3 per cent rise, further increases to be allowed once the rise in productivity had been assessed; Changes in the incomes policy; Relaxation in hire purchase controls of consumer goods; Formation of a formal national joint council for engineering with an independent chairman to deal with these national negotiations and possibly to help conciliate in disputes.

Focuses on the influence of deflationary measures on the climate of industrial relations in Great Britain. Decline in unemployment; Increase of the retail prices; Disputes in the motor industry.

Discusses the 1968 report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Association regarding industrial relations in Great Britain. Role of trade-unions and employers' associations in promotion of interests of members; Use of arbitration in interpretation of agreements; Argument against State intervention.

Studies labor-management relations in Great Britain. Characteristics of industrial relations in the country; Legal framework influencing industrial relations in the nation; Patterns of collective bargaining in the country.

Presents an excerpt from the report of Great Britain's Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Association about industrial relations reform. Collective bargaining; Creation of legislations about industrial relations; Arbitration.

Examines productivity bargaining in Great Britain during the 1960s. Productivity and income policy of the government; Highlights of some collective bargaining agreements.