ABSTRACT
The political and industrial restrictions in the 1927 Act led to trade unions taking an increasing interest in the running of the industries with which they were concerned. The 1927 May Day Manifesto set out their opposition to the new legal measures in a manner which is curiously apposite to the 1971 Industrial Relations Act. The brief historical rundown of the attempts at legislating to contain industrial disputes certainly confirms the arguments of the unions that legislation of the kind introduced by the 1971 Industrial Relations Act is likely to be counter-productive. Unions have been and are opposed to the legislation of the Tory Industrial Relations Act of 1971 because of the short-term effects on union members. Dismissals procedure is another aspect of industrial relations which is best dealt with by the ‘model clause’ approach’. Too many experts in looking at industrial relations have seen disputes deadlocked at national level and have therefore started searching for some national level solution.
