Changes in Trade Union–Government Relations 1974–2002

Politics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Marsh ◽  
Heather Savigny
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

Even if the role of unions is less than it was, they are still an important aspect of civil society in a democracy like the UK, so that changes in the relationship between the TUC and the government are an important aspect of changing patterns of governance in the UK. Here, we analyse this relationship during the period between 1974 and 2002 based upon the reports of the General Council of the TUC to each TUC Annual Conference. The analysis shows that the contacts between the TUC and government have fluctuated significantly over this period. They did decline in the Thatcher years although, interestingly, contacts were greater under Thatcher than under Major. The election of a New Labour government in 1997 was accompanied by an initial increase in contacts, but contacts declined subsequently. These fluctuations clearly reflect policy changes so, for example, contacts decreased when incomes policies became a thing of the past. However, they also reflected changes of personnel in government; so the replacement of Pym by Tebbit in 1982 was quickly followed by a fall in contacts. As far as New Labour is concerned, their historical links with the trade unions still mean that contacts are greater now than they were under the Conservatives. However, the initial surge in contacts probably reflected a broader pattern, with New Labour delivering on a promise of greater consultation made in opposition.

There’s Something Wrong

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
David Beaumont
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Position Statement ◽  
Good Work ◽  
Occupational Physicians ◽  
Accident Compensation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Royal Australasian College

The role of the occupational physician, and relationships with employers and insurers. New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Commission and its role as a state insurer. The need for system change in order not only to prevent health and disability but to improve people’s health. Case example showing the role of the health and safety manager and the effect of the sick note on return to work. The views of the chair of Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on the relationship between GP and patient. The conflict of interest between GPs and occupational physicians. Author’s research to elucidate the problem, working with the Trades Union Congress and the Department for Work and Pensions, resulting in a consensus statement and editorial in The BMJ. Author’s work on the Policy and Advocacy Committee of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Launch of position statement, ‘Realising the Health Benefits of Work’, in 2010. Work with Helen Kelly, President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, and the concept of ‘good work’. Dame Carol Black and the Black Review, Working for a Healthier Tomorrow. The constraint of short appointment times for GPs in the UK: RCGP’s aim to increase appointment times from the current 10 minutes to 15 minutes by 2030.

Trade Unions and Politics in New Zealand

1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Deeks
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

A number of recent events in New Zealand have focused public attention on the role of the trade unions in the political arena and on the relationship between the trade unions and the government.

The broken link – do trade unions represent the interests of the unemployed?: Evidence from the UK, Germany and Denmark within the framework of the European Employment Strategy

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Albrechtsen
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Unemployed People ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
The Relationship

According to the traditional view, the interests of the unemployed and the employed are supposed to follow a unifying logic, due to the threat of high unemployment to job security, wages and working conditions. However, due to labour markets becoming increasingly segmented and knowledge-based, it may be questioned to what extent the traditional link between the employed and the unemployed still holds, leading to a possible division of the labour force into a core group of those with basically secure jobs, and several peripheral groups subject to job insecurity and social exclusion. In this context, it seems relevant to analyse the relationship between the interests of the employed and unemployed, including the role of trade unions as having their own organisational interest. For this purpose, this paper includes an examination of new statistical evidence on the behaviour of employed and unemployed people with regard to trade union membership.

scholarly journals Inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners: the role of collective bargaining and trade unions

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Maarten Keune
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Wage Inequality ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Union Density ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Union Bargaining Power ◽  
Wage Earners ◽  
The Relationship

In the context of rising inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners in Europe, this state-of-the-art article reviews the literature concerning the relationship between collective bargaining and inequality. It focuses on two main questions: (i) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and inequality between capital and labour? and (ii) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and wage inequality among wage-earners? Both questions are discussed in general terms and for single- and multi-employer bargaining systems. It is argued that collective bargaining coverage and union density are negatively related to both types of inequality. These relationships are however qualified by four additional factors: who unions represent, the weight of union objectives other than wages, the statutory minimum wage, and extensions of collective agreements by governments.

TIME SERIES MODELLING OF EPIDEMICS: LEADING INDICATORS, CONTROL GROUPS AND POLICY ASSESSMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 257 ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Andrew Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Leading Indicators ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Balanced Growth ◽  
Time Series Modelling ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

This article shows how new time series models can be used to track the progress of an epidemic, forecast key variables and evaluate the effects of policies. The univariate framework of Harvey and Kattuman (2020, Harvard Data Science Review, Special Issue 1—COVID-19, https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/ozgjx0yn) is extended to model the relationship between two or more series and the role of common trends is discussed. Data on daily deaths from COVID-19 in Italy and the UK provides an example of leading indicators when there is a balanced growth. When growth is not balanced, the model can be extended by including a non-stationary component in one of the series. The viability of this model is investigated by examining the relationship between new cases and deaths in the Florida second wave of summer 2020. The balanced growth framework is then used as the basis for policy evaluation by showing how some variables can serve as control groups for a target variable. This approach is used to investigate the consequences of Sweden’s soft lockdown coronavirus policy in the spring of 2020.

The constitutional influence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the UK apex court: institutional proximity and jurisprudential divergence?

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-302
Author(s):  
Roger Masterman
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Uk Supreme Court ◽  
Proportionality Test ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

It is often claimed that the constitutional role of the UK’s apex court is enriched as a result of the experiences of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as interpreter of constitutions within its overseas jurisdiction. This paper considers the relationship between the House of Lords/UK Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee and its effect on the importation of external influences into the UK’s legal system(s), further seeking to assess how far the jurisprudence of the Judicial Committee has influenced constitutional decision-making in the UK apex court. While ad hoc citation of Privy Council authorities in House of Lords/Supreme Court decisions is relatively commonplace, a post-1998 enthusiasm for reliance on Judicial Committee authority – relating to (i) a ‘generous and purposive’ approach to constitutional interpretation and (ii) supporting the developing domestic test for proportionality – quickly faded. Both areas are illustrative of a diminishing reliance on Judicial Committee authority, but reveal divergent approaches to constitutional borrowing as the UK apex court has incrementally mapped the contours of an autochthonous constitutionalism while simultaneously recognising the trans-jurisdictional qualities of the proportionality test.

Trade Unions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Modern Britain ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Moments

In assessing the relationship between trade unions and British politics, this chapter has two focuses. First, it examines the role of trade unions as significant intermediate associations within the political system. They have been significant as the means for the development of citizenship and involvement in society, as well as a restraint upon the power of the state. Their power has also raised questions about the relationship between the role of associations and the freedom of the individual. Second, the chapter considers critical moments when the trade unions challenged the authority of governments, especially in the periods 1918–26 and 1979–85. Both of these lines of inquiry underline the importance of conservatism in the achievement of stability in modern Britain.

The special measures school and the ‘c’ word: A case study of the role of conformity, compliance chimera, and the power of community and context in a special measures secondary school in northern England

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113
Author(s):  
Diann Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Economically Deprived ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Methods Of Reconstruction

This article explores the relationship between capital and education through the experiences of a British secondary school following a grading by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills that placed the school into special measures, considering the underlying assumptions and inequalities highlighted and obfuscated by the special measures label. The formulaic and ritualistic manner in which operational and ideological methods of reconstruction were presented as the logical (and only) pathway towards improvement is examined in an effort to disentangle the purpose of the ‘means-to-an-end’ approach within prevailing hegemonic structures, requiring a revisit to contemporary positioning of Gramscian concepts of ideology through the work of Gandin. The decontextualisation of schools from their socio-economic environments is probed in order to expose the paradoxes and fluidity of resistant discourse. The ambiguities between a Catholic ethos, neo-liberal restructuring and the socio-economic context of the school and the greater demands to acquiesce to externally prescribed notions of normativity are considered as a process that conversely created apertures, newly formed sublayers and corrugations where transformation could take root. Unforeseen epiphanies and structures of dissent are identified and will enrich the narrative of existence and survival in a special measures school in an economically deprived northern town in the UK.

Approaching the 21st Century: Perspectives on Korean Industrial Relations

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seoghun Woo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Major Factors

This paper argues that the future direction for the development of Korean industrial relations will evolve through direct interaction between employers and trade unions (either conflictual or cooperative). The government is likely to play a less interventionist role in industrial relations, compared with the past, and to adopt the role of mediator between unions and employers. Characteristics of Korean industrial relations during the pre- 1987 period is firstly examined; four major factors are used to explain the industrial relations practice during this time. Changes after 1987 are also considered. Special consideration is given to interaction between the environment and the three major industrial relations participants, and the interactions between them. Both macro and micro aspects of industrial relations are examined. The special Presidential Address (26/04/1996), known as New Conception of Industrial Relations, is also analysed in terms of its implications for future industrial relations issues in Korea.

Placing sustainable development at the heart of government in the UK: the role of law in the evolution of sustainable development as the central organising principle of government

Legal Studies ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Statutory Duty ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Clear Statement ◽  
Close Investigation

The government has made a commitment to ensure that sustainable development is placed at the heart of decision-making. The UK's strategy has primarily involved the development of voluntary measures to achieve sustainable development in policy-making. These measures are monitored by a Sustainable Development Commission and, most importantly, a parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee. However, a number of public bodies also have a statutory duty in respect of sustainable development. These duties do not create enforceable legal obligations, but may have significant value as a clear statement of policy on the achievement of sustainable development – providing political leadership at the highest level. It is essential to this aim that the government provides a clear message regarding the objective of sustainable development. However, close investigation of these duties reveals not only a partial legal framework, but a number of inconsistencies in the government's approach to the achievement of sustainable development.

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