The New Politics of British Trade Unionism: Union Power and the Thatcher Legacy : Union Power and the Thatcher Legacy

The curbing of trade union power has been widely regarded as the major achievement of the Thatcher years, yet students of industrial relations have generally argued that little has changed on the shop floor.

David Marsh's new book provides an authoritative analysis of the politics of British trade unionism in the 1990s and an assessment of the last decade's major innovations in legislation, policies, and attitudes.

He shows how the unions were systematically excluded from the policy process, while employers have generally proved reluctant to use their new opportunities for legal redress.

He concluded that such shifts as have taken place in the power balance between employers and unions have been as much the result of economic recession as of government legislation and that much less has fundamentally changed on the shop floor than the government had wished or expected.

The New Politics of British Trade Unionism is the most up-to-date introduction to the state of the trade union movement after Thatcher and is essential reading for students of politics and sociology, industrial relations, and labor law.