Who Governs Britain?: Trade Unions, the Conservative Party and the Failure of the Industrial Relations ACT 1971 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781526166012)

Providing fresh insights from the archival record, Who governs Britain? revisits the 1970-74 Conservative government to explain why the Party tried - and failed - to reform the system of industrial relations. Designed to tackle Britain's strike problem and perceived disorder in collective bargaining, the Industrial Relations Act 1971 established a formal legal framework to counteract trade union power. As the state attempted to disengage from and 'depoliticise' collective bargaining practices, trade union leaders and employers were instructed to discipline industry. In just three-and-a-half years, the Act contributed to a crisis of the British state as industrial unrest engulfed industry and risked undermining the rule of law. Warner explores the power dynamics, strategic errors and industrial battles that destroyed this attempt to tame trade unions and ultimately brought down a government, and that shape Conservative attitudes towards trade unions to this day.

Author: Sam Warner
ISBN-10: 1526166011
ISBN-13: 9781526166012
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/25/2023
Pages: 264
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.22lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2023