Introduction

Deregulation both attracts inward finance and depresses the organizing ability of labour. Governments might vacillate between regulation and deregulation and the employer-labour dimension might be stuck between co-determinative measures and battles over recognition and major substantive issues. The process of restructuring and deregulation has of course both destroyed much industry and severely wounded national economies. The resultant political tensions have led to the development of resistance to further deregulation but within an overall consensus that there is no alternative to market forces. Any analysis of international comparisons of trade union membership is, as J. Visser has argued, likely to be fraught with problems, as different models of trade union entrenchment and legitimacy are inextricably linked to State political regimes and subject to periods of great instability as well as stability. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.