ABSTRACT
Since 1997 New Labour governments have implemented a major programme of employment law reform, comprising three major statutes – the Employment Relations Act (ERA) 1999, the Employment Act (EA) 2002, and the Employment Relations Act (ERA) 2004 – and over 80 statutory instruments. Important innovations such as the national minimum wage, statutory union recognition, a right to accompaniment in grievance and disciplinary procedures, and family-friendly policies have been enacted. These measures represent a significant rupture with the policy of preceding Conservative governments, 1979 to 1997. They originate in New Labour’s ambition to improve labour-market efficiency and to create new individual employment rights; the latter in response to its social and political constituency and the European Union’s (EU) agenda for the social market.
