Regulation of Industrial Relations in the UK Essay

Regulation of Industrial Relations in the UK - Essay Example Up to the 1950s, the UK state’s role in industrial relations was characterized as involving minimum intervention (Kahn-Freund, 1969). However, since the end of the Second World War, the UK state has increasingly intervened in industrial relations. It is fair to state that given the increased intervention by the UK state in industrial relations it is reasonable to conclude that there has been a determined shift away from voluntarism relative to collective bargaining agreements toward state intervention in supporting some minimum standards within the employment contract. The government or state’s intervention has moved toward a more active role in regulating the relationship between employee and employer and working conditions in the UK. This paper demonstrates the UK state’s shift from voluntarism to actively supporting minimum standards within the employment contract by tracing state intervention and the methods by which state intervention has been utilized. In general, states intervene in industrial relations in a variety of roles and capacities. They may intervene as an employer or as a supervisor or regulatory agent for income and price setting. States may also intervene as economic management, or for the protection of standards. States intervene in industrial relations as legislators and rule-makers. States may also intervene in industrial relations in an attempt to establish and promote the parameters of social order (Hyman, 2009). Historically, the UK has operated as an employer in its own right signifying private employers should follow the state’s example in how it treats its employees. As a result of this approach to employment principles, it was expected that employees in the public sector would seek to avoid tensions and conflicts in the workplace (Rollinson & Dundon, 2007).