This research investigated the need and requirements for the development of a suitable labour relations policy and also investigates the importance of training managers in the skills necessary for achieving harmonious employment relations.The research considered the complexity of the subject through the evaluation of theoretical frameworks, and expert opinion in the form of a literature review.

No description available.

This research investigated the need and requirements for the development of a suitable labour relations policy and also investigates the importance of training managers in the skills necessary for achieving harmonious employment relations.The research considered the complexity of the subject through the evaluation of theoretical frameworks, and expert opinion in the form of a literature review.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In February 1944 the Canadian federal government introduced Order in Council PC 1003, a system of compulsory collective bargaining which has been conventionally characterized as the culmination of the gradual evolution in federal labour relations policy towards the greater recognition of trade unions and collective bargaining. The issue addressed in this thesis is whether this characterization is accurate. As against the tendency to present federal intervention in collective bargaining as having developed towards some inevitable maturity, the account presented herein seeks to draw attention to the suppressed alternatives of history. Thus, the thesis begins with an examination of PC 1003'S historical antecedents dating back to 1900. This is followed by an examination of the developments during the Second World War. Instead of concentrating upon federal collective bargaining policy as a means of responding to wartime pressures by establishing a mechanism for mediating and resolving disputes between labour and capital, the thesis emphasizes the extent to which the policy was part of the large post-war settlement. By ignoring this, the conventional account has failed to provide any guidance for understanding either the actual provisions wheich were introduced or the longevity of PC 1003 as the dominant institutional model for Canadian labour relations. By contrast, if PC 1003 is understood as part of an attempt to forge a post-war settlement between labour and capital it is possible to identify the general thrust of the Order. Although it represented a fundamental shift in Canadian labour policy in that employers were compelled to recognize unions for the purpose of collective agreements, PC 1003 did not radically alter the balance of power to make it easier to organize or constrain managerial prerogatives. In fact, PC 1003 was consistent with the federal government's historical preoccupation with promoting responsible unions and attaining industrial peace and stability.

The present study has three aims. Firstly it endeavours to give a detailed, though not exhaustive, history of the I.C.U. in broadly chronological sequence, to show how it was organised and to record what its leaders were doing, saying and thinking at any given time. Quotations are introduced rather freely in the belief that they transmit thoughts and feelings more perfectly and more vividly and often more succinctly than do paraphrases. Some of the detail, which may at first sight seem trivial and otiose, has been included deliberately in an attempt to build up, a pointillist picture that conveys more in its entirety than the sum of its parts. Secondly it tries to fit the I.C.U. into its historical setting and to show that it was neither rootless nor, in many of its aspects, unique. Thirdly it offers an obligate of interpretation and comment that seeks to be neither importunate nor partisan.

Business transfers and accompanying business changes are a focal point for the tension between the protection of rights of employees, including their property rights in the job and their "right" to meaningful participation, and the interests of management in achieving its economic objectives effectively. A comparison of the law in the United States, South Africa and the United Kingdom can cast the divergent interests, which become conspicuous during corporate reorganisations, into bold relief, and suggest how those interests can be reconciled. This study shows that conventional labour law with its emphasis on voluntarism has not been able to resolve the basic conflict between the economic demands for restructuring and rationalisation (one of the main consequences of the global economy), and the social demands for workers' protection. By arguing that collective bargaining has never succeeded in effectively mitigating the power of management over the workforce, pluralist support of voluntarism is criticised. The main point that emerges from the comparison of the way in which the three countries deal with the phenomenon of structural business changes and the effect of such changes on workers, is that law, even though its effectiveness to bring about major changes in an industrial relations system is limited, can make some difference. Law can intervene in labour relations to set standards and lay down procedures for the exercise of managerial prerogative; specifically, law can introduce the values of liberal society into the workplace, such as rationality, fairness, and respect for individual rights. This study shows how, through the introduction of some of these values, legislation for the protection of workers' acquired rights, can provide a solution to the tension between managerial prerogative and employees' rights.

This thesis develops an alternative to the neo-classical approach to redundancies. The study assumes that the employment relation is not reducible to the labour contract and, therefore, cannot be subjected exclusively to the monetary exchange. It focuses on the intermediate formal and informal institutions that, by entering the process of wage determination and regulating the relationship between capital and labour, constitute a critical factor in explaining industrial and employment change. In doing so, it suggests a complementarity between macro-economic perspectives (e.g. the Keynesian approach, the Schumpeterian theory and Marxist perspective), preference models on industrial unemployment and the insights of the old institutionalist tradition. Industrial restructuring and redundancies are conceptualised as institutionally constructed processes and geographically situated. Rather than envisaging the convergence of firms towards a single, uniform form of restructuring synonymous with redundancies, the thesis holds that corporate adjustments are neither uniform, nor the result of profit maximising behaviours. Redundancies are subject to the actions and strategies of individuals and groups that influence the process of wage determination and, through it, the definition and the pursuit of profitability and efficiency. By considering institutional relations, shaped by external factors, cultural conditions and sedimented practices, the thesis highlights the spatial specificity of restructuring processes and redundancies. The thesis explores processes of corporate restructuring and redundancies in two industrial areas, Teesside (UK) and Brindisi (I), by drawing upon the evidence from two industries: the chemicals and the clothing sectors. Contrary to market-centred analyses, the evidence shows that similar economic pressures have generated different responses in the two sectors and among companies of the same sector. In addition, by focusing on the local environment in which companies are embedded, the thesis reveals how place-specific social and historical practices represent important variables to explain redundancy processes in the two areas.