ABSTRACT
Since 1995, the point at which the influence of the Labour Party’s commitment once in office to legislate for a statutory means to gain union recognition began to take effect on the industrial relations climate in Britain (Gall 2004b), over 2,800 new recognition agreements have been signed (Table 1.2). These agreements cover around 1,200,000 workers and involve many large and well-known employers (Table 1.2). This represents a major development within trade unionism and the compass of industrial relations in Britain, broadly speaking being the outcome of the interaction of the introduction of union organising efforts and the statutory recognition provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA). For trade unionism, this advance is a potentially vital defence against decline, both in terms of offsetting current decline and providing a bridgehead for taking further corrective action. The collection Union Organizing: campaigning for trade recognition (Gall 2003a) contained a number of overviews and case studies of the processes by which unions attempted to gain, and gained, union recognition. With many of the tranche of new agreements now several years old, it is now appropriate to begin examining the results and outcomes of these agreements. This point has recognised by union leaders such as Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, respectively Amicus and TGWU general secretaries (in A. Murray 2003: 124 and Tribune 27 June 2003) and some academics (e.g. Gall 2003d: 243, 2003f, 2004c; Markowitz 2000: 130). There are a number of salient areas for investigation here. Among the most obvious are the substantive outcomes of recognition and collective bargaining vis-à-vis terms and conditions of employment; employers’ behaviour and strategy in responding to the challenge posed by union recognition; the nature and processes of the bargaining/union-management relationship; and the building of workplace union presence (membership, organisation, activity) and its relation with national trade unionism. For our purposes here, these broadly concern union resources, union processes and union outcomes (Willman and Kelly 2004: 4-5).
