ABSTRACT
A consideration of industrial relations during the years of public ownership enabled two distinct phases to be identified. Between the years 1947 and 1984, industrial relations were both pluralistic and highly regulated. Although the industry was relatively strike prone during this period, relationships between management and the trade unions at national level were based upon co-operation rather than confrontation, and the trade unions operated from a relatively strong bargaining position. During the period 1984 to 94 however, industrial relations were comprehensively reconstructed in order to facilitate the restructuring of the industry which was necessitated both by pressures within the global product market, and the objective of privatisation. During these years management within the industry adopted a unitary approach to labour relations, and managerial prerogatives were vigorously reasserted. The NUM adopted a confrontational response to these developments, and labour relations within the industry were characterised by bitter conflict as a consequence. This study has therefore attempted to assess whether the patterns of labour relations which have emerged following the privatisation of the industry in 1994 have had more in common with those patterns established during the period 1947 to 1984, or with the patterns which were characteristic of the final decade of the nationalised era. In so doing, the research has also sought to ascertain whether industrial relations developments since privatisation have had positive or negative implications for organised labour within the industry.
