The decline in trade union influence over the past two decades raises the question of whether pay levels in lower-skilled jobs now lie outside the unions’ sphere of influence, as tacitly acknowledged by their acceptance and later endorsement of the principle of the statutory minimum wage....

Flexibility, quality and competitiveness are all hallelujah words in current debate about national economic per formance. The achievement of more flexibility or higher quality or greater competitiveness, it is said, will help the UK become a more successful economy. At the same time increased...

Flexibility, quality and competitiveness are all hallelujah words in current debate about national economic per formance. The achievement of more flexibility or higher quality or greater competitiveness, it is said, will help the UK become a more successful economy. At the same time increased...