ABSTRACT
Changes in workplace employment relations do not take place within a vacuum. The discussion in the latter half of Chapter 1 served to outline some of the principal changes that have taken place in the economic, legal, political and social spheres in Britain over the past twenty years. These included significant shifts in the fortunes of the economy, the character of public policy and the nature of the labour market. However, these wider dynamics were observed and discussed at a level of abstraction from the workplace. Here we seek to explore changes in the population of workplaces-the canvas on which our analysis of change in employment relations is to be portrayed.
