Public‐sector Employment Relations Reform under Labour: Muddling Through on Modernization?

The year 2001 in the UK was dominated by the difficulties the Labour government confronted in developing a coherent programme of public-sector modernization. This review examines recent developments in the public sector, focusing on government attempts to involve the private sector and its continuing reforms of pay determination arrangements. It highlights the tensions that this programme of reform aroused as the government struggled to respond to recruitment and retention problems and widespread perceptions of public-sector 'crisis'.