Employee involvement and participation (EIP) - The nature and extent of EIP programs has fluctuated over the past century
- The current form of EIP which gained momentum in the 1980s differs substantially from earlier variants as it is:
- Individualist and direct (as opposed to collective and through representatives)
- Initiated unilaterally by management (not through consultation)
- Directed at securing individual employee commitment to and identification with the employer
Fairness at work - A national minimum wage was first introduced in 1999, as a positive contribution to fairness in the workplace
- Relative pay inequality has not been addressed and has been institutionalised in the form of bonuses and performance-related pay
- Gender inequality remains evident; only a little progress has been made on this front beyond some redress in the form of the national minimum wage
- Increased immigration raises challenges in preventing and resolving disputes over racial discrimination at work
- Workplace bullying and harassment more generally is an issue of increasing importance
European Union (EU) membership - The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), as it was then, in 1973
- At the time the move was generally favoured by employers on the grounds of market benefits, and resisted by the unions
- Unions shifted their position after the Conservative Thatcher government implemented anti-union laws, which were less favourable to workers and unions than the EEC’s social policy measures
- The subsequent faltering progress of European social policy and the increasing prominence of neo-liberal policy objectives in the European Commission has led many unionists to reassess their view of the EU
Consequences of European Union membership - Legislation originating from the EU influences UK labour law and industrial relations in two main fields:
- Since the reversal of the UK opt-out from the EU Social Chapter in 1997, a range of new rights have been enacted in UK legislation, including the regulation of working time, a right to urgent family leave, a right to parental leave, a right to equal treatment for part-time workers and protection for fixed-contract workers
- Provisions for information and consultation, including works councils, are yet to have much practical effect
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