Continuity or Change?

Drawing on data generated from interviews with employers, managers and workers the article examines the reasons for the limited impact of the recently introduced National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the UK hospitality industry. Managerial control over the terms of the wage-work bargain, together with the significant influence of product and labour market pressures, has allowed the NMW to be introduced with little disruption. Contrary to expectations of a regulatory or labour market `shock', the introduction of the NMW appears to have reinforced, rather than challenged, existing employment relations arrangements in hospitality.