The genesis of private dispute resolution in Irish industrial relations

This article examines the genesis of private dispute resolution arrangements introduced by employers and unions in Ireland. These forms of collective alternative dispute resolution (ADR) comprise three‐person panels or sole adjudicators, who mediate and issue findings on collective disputes. Findings may be non‐binding or binding. Using data and interviews covering 11 private dispute resolution arrangements in 10 organisations, the paper identifies the circumstances in which they have emerged and a series of influences that lead employers and unions make path‐breaking changes in dispute resolution procedures.     

US Multinationals: changing the framework of Irish industrial relations?

Traditionally it has been argued that the practices of multinationals conform to the industrial relations practices of the host country. Recent arguments claim that a new orthodoxy prevails which originates in the multi-national's country of origin. The authors find little evidence for a new orthodoxy in Irish industrial relations     

The emergence of a dual system of dispute resolution: private facilitators in Irish industrial relations

This article examines the practice of private facilitation in Irish industrial relations, drawing on interviews with key practitioners and on case studies. It explores antecedents of private facilitation, examines the multiple processes involved, identifies influences on the growth of private facilitation and locates the Irish case in comparative context.     

The industrial relations of work-sharing

There is growing recognition in Britain that high levels of unemployment are likely to survive the current recession and economic policies. This explains the continuing interest in the work-sharing issue within British unions; this article examines some of the industrial relations issues and implications of the practice.     

Is positive action ‘positive’? Collective bargaining and gender relations in the Irish civil service

Participation in the EC has given Irish unions the clout to press for equality policies. However, economic factors combined with an entrenched sex-gender system hinder women's progress in achieving employment equity. Within the civil service, positive action policies have tended to perpetuate women's marginal status and discourage their labour force attachment.     

The industrial relations of skills formation

Central to human resource management is the question of employee skills and their effective utilization, through such arrangements as competency-based training, performance appraisal and assessment. In this context, collective issues come to the fore: the formulation of skills-based work and pay systems, the mechanisms and procedures governing workers' allocation to and progression through skills-based job classification systems, the tracing out of career paths and the conduct of skills audits and training programmes. These issues of necessity are largely being resolved at the enterprise level They are complemented by broader questions to do with skills standardization, accreditation and portability of qualifications, which can only be resolved at the trans-enterprise level. Because all these issues have a collective character, they provide an opportunity to extend the traditional agenda of industrial relations, at both enterprise and national and sectoral level. In this paper, the expanded industrial relations agenda is linked with the emergence of new production systems based on high quality, high value-added production where skills formation and effective utilization of skills become a competitive necessity.     

The use of working parties in industrial relations

Problems encountered in introducing a new pay scheme led one company to experiment with the use of joint working parties as a means of implementing major changes. Their experiences proved that, if properly handled, working parties can make an invaluable contribution to joint problem-solving over a wide area.     

Spatialising industrial relations

In this article, we argue for a deeper and more theoretically informed engagement between the fields of industrial relations and geography. We lay out a number of concepts developed more fully by geographers and show, through four vignettes, how such concepts can add to our understanding of industrial relations practices.     

Accounting for change in public sector industrial relations: the erosion of national bargaining in further education in England and Wales

The recent transformation of industrial relations in further education in England and Wales is examined, in particular the role of the national ‘Silver Book’ dispute over lecturers’ conditions of service in causing the erosion of national bargaining in the sector. The experience of further education points to the limits of the strategic choice approach as a device for explaining change in public sector industrial relations and to the importance of supplementing it with a perspective that emphasises the role of power.     

The study of management in British industrial relations *

In this article the author gives a general overview of the study of management in industrial relations and examines the assumptions underlying the increased attention being given to management by industrial relations specialists.     

The changing structure of industrial relations in South Africa

This is the second of two papers dealing tvith the emergence of black shop-floor union power and the changing structure of industrial relations in South Africa. This paper examines union developments in the post-Wiehahn era, The policies of the major union federations and the impact of the black unions' emphasis on shop-floor bargaining. It is clear that the established unions, the State and individual company managements have been significantly affected by this development. The main issue in the near future is seen to be the dividing-line between managerial prerogatives and worker-participation.     

The enterprise response to industrial relations legislation

The authors report a study into the impact of the former Labour Government's industrial relations legislation, much of which remains on the statute book. They focus on joint health and safety committees and provide a useful starting point for further research concerned to develop a model of firm response to industrial relations legislation in any particular subject area.     

Power in industrial relations research

Power is a concept which is much discussed but seldom properly understood, not least in industrial relations theorising. Here the author outlines the role of power in the context of several recent studies which have focused explicitly on the concept of power in industrial relations.     

The wildcat strike and industrial relations*

Institutionalised collective bargaining can be seen as a limited vehicle for the promotion of workers' demands. This detailed participantobserver case study in a plant in northern New Jersey describes the process of a wildcat strike and evaluates its efficacy as a means of advancing important aspects of workers' interests outside the conventional, institutional channels.     

The reporting of industrial relations on breakfast-time television

Breakfast-time television offers a different approach from more established television output; but how significant are the differences? This article analyses the scope and presentation of industrial relations issues on breakfast-time television and evaluates the qualitative implications they are given.     

Microchips and industrial relations

Microelectronics may be precipitating another industrial revolution. Greg Bamber considers relevant public policies in several countries. He identifies the likely issues of conflict and concludes that Britain should set up an Agency for New Technology to spearhead more positive government action, which could help to induce a climate of high trust at the workplace.     

Citizenship and industrial relations

Under the Victorian ideal of laissez-faire, industrial relations are conducted unilaterally by employers unimpeded by employees' rights of citizenship. The four facets of citizenship—civil, political, industrial, and social—impinge in a variety of ways on the employment relationship. Civil citizenship, by barring discrimination on account of race or sex, interferes with maintenance of segregated pools of cheap secondary labor. Political citizenship enfranchises propertyless workers and alters the enactments of legislatures. Industrial citizenship creates the institutional basis for collective bargaining. Social citizenship confers economic benefits and protective regulations not driven directly by market forces. Political ascendancy of laissez-faire advocates undermines rights of citizenship and has a retrograde effect on industrial relations.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the First Industrial Relations Congress of the Americans in Quebec City to the Study Group on Industrial Relations as a Field and Industrial Relations Theory on August 27, 1988. I thank Jack Barbash for the opportunity to present it there.     

The staffing of industrial relations management in the engineering industry

The study indicates that while there has been a gradual movement towards specialization in industrial relations in engineering companies, personnel directors at main board level are still a rarity, and line management is still largely responsible for matters in the formal procedure conferences.     

Changing management strategies in industrial relations

How have employers responded to deteriorating economic conditions in their strategies for managing industrial relations? Here the author, using empirical data for 1977–83, discusses the changes taking place in management strategies and the rationales behind them.     

The industrial relations practices of multi-plant foreign owned firms

Data from a survey of 143 enterprises indicates that foreign-owned firms are likely to devote more resources to, and be more advanced in, modern human resource management techniques while being similar in the extent to which unions are recognised for collective bargaining.