Recent Developments in US Industrial Relations

The persistence of economic pressures that first challenged American industry in the 1970s continues to reshape US industrial relations. In an effort to maintain their competitiveness, US firms have developed a panoply of strategies ranging from confrontation and labour control to collaboration and employee empowerment. This essay reviews evidence relating to the development and diffusion of these alternative strategies and their implications for long-term US competitiveness. In this context, the recent work of Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations is discussed as well as a number of public policy options intended to facilitate the implementation of high value-added production systems. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications of recent trends for industrial relations research.