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Industrial Relations

The relationship between private employers and the trade unions that represents their workers is often difficult because of the political nature of competition and contracting, union concerns about the impact on staff terms and conditions, and the potential impact on union membership.

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More Than We Bargained For: The Social and Economic Costs of National Wage Bargaining (PDF)
Wolf, Alison, 2010
Centre Forum
This paper examines Britain's centralised wage bargaining systems and finds they "create enormous barriers to the improvement of public services" as well as distorting labour markets, restricting economic growth and penalising the the poorest regions.

UK


False Economy? The Costs of Contracting and Workforce Insecurity in the Voluntary Sector (PDF)
Cunningham, Dr Ian and James, Prof. Ian, 2007
UNISON
A report on the impact of the contracting environment on employees in the social care sector.

UK


Individual Employee Voice: Renegotiation and Performance Management in Public Services (PDF)
Marsden, David, 2006
London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Discussion Paper no. 752
A study on the role of employee voice in the use of performance management, looking in particular at the health and education sectors.

UK


Paying the Cost? Public Private Partnerships and the Public Service Workforce (PDF)
Sachdev, Sanjiv, 2004
Catalyst
A report on the effect of PPPs on employment relations which looks in particular at the prison model. 
ISBN 1 904508 11 1
UK


Public Private Partnerships State Government Industrial Relations Policy: A QCU Perspective (PDF)
Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), 2003

A briefing for government as part of its consultation on policy development regarding the use of PPPs.

Australia


Renewal or Rigor Mortis? Union Responses to Contracting in Local Government
Colling, Trevor, 1995
Industrial Relations Journal, 26(2), pp.134-145
A report on the impact of competition and contracting on unions during the period of Compulsory Competitive Tendering in UK local government.

UK


Privatization & Employment Relations: The Case of the Water Industry
O'Connell Davidson, Julia , 1993
London: Mansell
This work draws upon research into restructuring and changing employment relations in the public utilities.

UK


Public Enterprise in Transition: Industrial Relations in State and Privatized Corporations
Pendleton, Andrew & Winterton, Jonathan (eds), 1993
London: Routledge
Study of the impact of privatisation in Britain on industrial relations in various sectors

UK


Ownership or Competition? An Evaluaton of the Effects of Privatization on Industrial Relations Institutions, Processes and Outcomes
Pendleton, Andrew, 1999
Public Administration, Vol. 77, No.4, pp. 769-791
This paper examines whether privatization and exposure to product market competition leads to changes in labour management and industrial relations.

UK


Privatization, Regulation and Industrial Relations
Ferner, Anthony; Colling, Trevor, 1991
British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.29 (September)
This article examines the consequences of privatization for the industrial relations of former public corporations.

UK


Privatization, Contracting-Out and Public Sector Industrial Relations in the Thatcher Years in Britain
Beaumont, P.B. , 1991
Journal of Collective Negotiations, 20(2), pp.89-100
An article on the effects of privatisation and CCT on industrial relations .

UK


Governments, Managers and Industrial Relations: Public Enterprises and their Political Environment
Ferner, Anthony, 1988
Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Through the exploration of the British and Spanish railway services, the author analyses the ways in which public enterprise industrial relations have responded to the resulting changes in their political and economic environment. 

UK


Privatization and Public Employees: The Impact of City and County Contracting Out on Government Workers
Dudek and Company, 1988
National Commission for Employment Policy
A study on contracting out and its effect on employees based on interviews with officials from a sample of 17 cities and counties.

USA


Last Updated: 06 October 2011