industrial relations
Relationship between employers and employees, and their dealings with each other. In most industries, wages and conditions are determined by free collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. Some European and American countries have worker participation through profit-sharing and industrial democracy. Another solution is co-ownership, in which a company is entirely owned by its employees. The aim of good industrial relations is to achieve a motivated, capable workforce that sees its work as creative and fulfilling. A breakdown in industrial relations can lead to an industrial dispute where one party takes industrial action.
Another approach to industrial relations is that of the Japanese and Israelis, who encourage in their workers a feeling of belonging amounting almost to family membership.
| When agreement cannot be reached by collective bargaining, outside arbitration is often sought. In the USA, there is a highly developed system for private, third-party arbitration. Unions have long sought such provisions, but employers resisted, agreeing generally only in return for ‘no-strike’ clauses in contracts. Working conditions, unfair treatment, and specific complaints are usually handled through the union grievance system, which requires written complaints from workers. New issues are becoming important in the US workplace, such as provision of day care, parental leave, and flexible working hours. |
industrial relations - events
| 17–19 August 1911 | United Kingdom | British railway workers, led by James Thomas and demanding greater union recognition, paralyse the country by holding the first national railway strike. |
| 12 June 1936 | France | A strike by 300,000 workers results in social reforms in France, including a 40-hour working week and paid holiday. |
| 11 March 1974 | UK | The state of emergency ends in Britain when the miners accept a pay deal giving them rises of £6 to £15 a week. |
| 8 March 1984 | UK | The leaders of the British National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) support planned strikes in Yorkshire and Scotland over proposed pit closures. |
| November 2002 | UK | In the first national strike action by Britain's 50,000 firefighters since 1977, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) stages two walkouts – the first for two days, the second for eight – in a dispute for more pay. Responsibility for fire protection passes to 19,000 soldiers and their antiquated ‘Green Goddess’ military fire trucks. Government ministers insist that FBU wage demands must be accompanied by modernization of working practices. |
| 12 June 2003 | UK | A damaging 10-month industrial dispute between the UK Government and the Fire Brigades Union finally ends in a compromise 16% pay deal tied to changes in work practices. |
