ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the historical background to the development of modern employment law and examines the operation of the institutions of employment law that advise on employment issues or adjudicate on and settle employment disputes. Employment law regulates the individual relationship between employers and workers and the collective relationship between employers, workers and trade unions. Historically, the employment relationship at the individual level was based on the rights of the 'master' over his 'servant'; limited, by late Victorian times, by the power of collective bargaining where the worker was a member of a trade union recognised by the employer. Employers and opponents of trade unions also had other weapons to suppress organised labour. A feature of the early years of the Industrial Revolution was the rise in the demand for both unskilled and skilled labour as the economy grew. The vast majority of cases concerning employment disputes at work are dealt with at an employment tribunal.
