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Workers’ Participation in Work Organisation: The Banking Industry in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Michael Terry  and
Helen Newell
Helen Newell
Affiliation:
Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK
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Abstract

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Employee representation in decisions affecting work organisation in the UK has traditionally been handled through collective bargaining although the reluctance of employers to negotiate such issues, combined with the reactive and economistic nature of decentralised unions has limited the scope and significance of such bargaining. In the 1980s the decline of collective bargaining, with no growth in effective alternative means of employee representation, reduced this already limited involvement. At the same time employer strategies were directed at recovering unilateral control over work organisation in their drive for flexibility. A case study of a major bank reveals employer indifference or hostility to significant union involvement in work reorganisation and serious union problems in translating general national policies on job protection and technological change into effective bargaining strategies. A conclusion suggests that a stronger voice for employees can only come via guaranteed rights with companies, which may require legislative action.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , June 1996 , pp. 46 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1996

Footnotes

*

The authors wish to thank the ILO for their sponsorship and funding of the research project of which this article constitutes one part.

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