A whole array of management‐led initiatives over the past ten years has resulted in a significant shift in the basis of the employment relationship. In summary, this may be described as a move from “collectivism” to “individualism”. Highlights and describes the main elements of this...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a broad practitioner’s overview of recent trade union history in the UK, and to investigate organised labour’s prospects in the decades ahead. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a review of relevant literature and trade...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on previous research and propose a framework for evaluating interest‐based bargaining (IBB) around three criteria: efficient, amicable and wise, where mutual gains are not self‐evident. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews both...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an insight into how trade union activities in the Czech Republic have developed in the 15 years since the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 and discusses some of the important political, economic and cultural factors which have influenced that development....

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a Norwegian perspective of how trade unions in the former Soviet block countries have dealt with the challenges of the post‐communist period and how the European trade union movement has attempted to assist them as they have adjusted to representing and...

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the theory that trade unions' functions in a transitional economy are characterised by “path dependency”. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on case studies of employment relations in enterprises operating in Moldova. The approach is...

Discussions about the position of British trade unions under Thatcherism continue to interest scholars and practitioners in the UK, and a variety of theories have been put forward which suggest that unions are becoming increasingly marginal to workplace employee relations. Three of these are...

In the 1980s there was a growing debate surrounding the impact of multinational corporations (MNCs) on employee relations, particularly in the UK. Furthers this research with an empirical study of the employee relations practices of three groups of MNCs (US, Japanese and German) in one UK...

Purpose – This paper has the aim of revisiting the works of Beatrice and Sidney Webb in the field of industrial relations and assessing their intellectual contributions to the study of the labour market, unions and collective bargaining in Britain. Design/methodology/approach – The paper...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the attitudes of employers in a de‐regulated institutional industrial relations framework, and whether they are still willing to engage in collective bargaining (CB). Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional survey design using a...