ABSTRACT
Some employees have opposed and obstructed the spread of collective bargaining to new sections of the workforce, especially those increasing numbers employed in 'white-collar' jobs. Unions too have often failed to involve their members closely enough in their work, or to tackle with sufficient urgency the problems of overlapping membership and unnecessary rivalry, which always diminish their effectiveness and sometimes their reputation. The 1980 Act was quickly followed, however, in January 1981 by Mr Prior's Green Paper on trade union legal immunities,8 the next stage in the step-by-step approach. Trade union and Labour party opposition was, as expected, forthright, but with the union membership becoming less militant there was to be no repeat of the successful sabotage of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act. The Health Service dispute which dragged on for eight months in 1982 was competently handled from the government's point of view, even if the spectacular victory over the rail unions was not to be repeated.
