Industrial Relations Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Industrial Relations Law - Essay Example A central problem in attempts to test empirically generalized models of an industrial relations system mirrors those encountered in the application of generalized theories of the capitalist state. The process of particularization sustains structural mechanisms within an industrial relations system that reproduce limitations in the institutional structure of a particular state. Hence, patterns of regulation legitimize the centralized power of the capitalist class yet are likely to operate in potentially contradictory manner. Partial access to the state through a voluntary system of industrial relations has, in the UK, sustained the historically embedded yet short-term interest of many employers. However, collective laissez-faire and voluntarism have positioned trade unions and collective bargaining as easy targets in proximate explanations of poor post-war economic performance. Collective laissez-faire appeared functional – it helped secured post-war recovery - yet contradictor y; in the context of full employment, it appeared inflationary. More significantly, collective laissez-faire is functional because it is an institutional an embodiment of the process of particularization in the UK state.The extent of industrial action: In the UK, official statistics on the use of industrial sanctions relate only to strikes. They measure three dimension of strike activity – their number (how frequent they are), their size (number of workers involved) and their duration (the number of working days lost). ... state. Hence, patterns of regulation legitimize the centralized power of the capitalist class yet are likely to operate in potentially contradictory manner. Partial access to the state through a voluntary system of industrial relations has, in the UK, sustained the historically embedded yet short-term interest of many employers. However, collective laissez faire and voluntarism has positioned trade unions and collective bargaining as easy targets in proximate explanations of poor post-war economic performance. Collective laissez faire appeared functional - it helped secured post-war recovery - yet contradictory; in the context of full employment it appeared inflationary. More significantly, collective laissez faire is functional because it is an institutional embodiment of the process of particularization in the UK state. The extent of industrial action: In the UK, official statistics on the use of industrial sanctions relate only to strikes. They measure three dimension of strike activity - their number (how frequent they are), their size (number of workers involved) and their duration (the number of working days lost). This last measure is often distorted by a few big strikes. For example, in 1979 an engineering industry- wide strike accounted for 55 percent of the 29.5 million working days lost in that year. In 2000 the number of working days lost in the UK was 499,00. However, disputes still happen - for example, the series of one day stoppages in 2002 on the railways over the widening of pay differentials between drivers, who were in short supply, and other railway employees. The dearth of drivers meant that the