ABSTRACT
Although the Conservative Party won the May 1979 general election in the aftermath of the ‘winter of discontent’, and thus at a time when public hostility towards the trade unions was particularly pronounced, it came to power with relatively little by way of a detailed or predetermined programme for trade union reform. Whilst, as we have already noted, certain objectives and policy proposals had been agreed and formulated during the time in opposition, it would be wrong to assume that the new Conservative government possessed a detailed or long-term package of firm proposals beyond those already agreed. On the contrary, much of the trade union legislation implemented by the Thatcher and Major governments has been devised pragmatically and incrementally, guided undoubtedly by certain principles, but none the less developed in a rather ad hoc manner. It is only with hindsight that the reforms introduced since 1979 appear to represent a coherent strategy meticulously prepared and implemented. For example, whilst the closed shop was finally outlawed by the 1988 and 1990 Employment Acts, the Conservative Party had entered office in 1979 insisting that outright prohibition of the closed shop was not practicable. Thus were many of the Conservative government’s policies towards the trade unions evolved and developed whilst in office, rather than having been predetermined. Indeed, the first Employment Secretary, James Prior, had envisaged, or at least hoped, that his 1980 Employment Act alone would be sufficient to bring about greater ‘responsibility’ and ‘moderation’ by the trade unions, to the extent that a return to dialogue and consultation over economic policy and wage determination between trade union leaders and the government would follow. Prior certainly did not expect, or desire, a whole series of trade union laws, and thus did not envisage or intend that his 1980 Act would merely be the first of many.
