Introduction

New Labour's standard defence of its record in the sphere of industrial relations is to refer trade union critics to its legislative achievements. Government apologists point to the 1999 Employment Relations Act, the 1998 National Minimum Wage Act and to endorsement of the European Union (EU) Social Chapter soon after the 1997 electoral victory. While these Acts marked a distinct break from the Conservatives’ repudiation of any form of statutory union recognition, and the limited protection afforded the lowest-paid workers by the Wages Councils, many regard the legislation as limited – indeed, minimalist – measures (McKay, 2001; Smith and Morton, 2001, 2006). These strictures also applied to the government's attitude to the EU directives on working time, part-time workers and information and consultation. Similarly, the introduction of the National Minimum Wage was designed to bring the UK into line with other EU countries, and the composition of the Low Pay Commission appointed by New Labour ‘guaranteed that the level would be set well below what trade unions were asking for’ (Howell, 2004, p 7).

Notwithstanding the Labour Party's long-standing organisational links to the trade unions, the Blair government's legislative approach has been characterised by a determination to do nothing that might be perceived to favour them or detract from the overall pro-business agenda. The government has paid the weakest form of lip service to the EU concept of permitting (if not promoting) formal, orderly dialogue between union and employer ‘social partners’ in order to discourage adversarial relations. In practice, UK legislation has been framed so as neither to disadvantage the employer nor to undermine the far-reaching effects of the battery of coercive anti-union laws imposed by Conservative governments between 1980 and 1993. The role of labour law, in Blair's words, is ‘to put a very minimum infrastructure of decency and fairness around people in the workplace’ (Howell, 2004, p 14).

Insofar as it can be argued that workers’ rights have been advanced, then these have been concerned mainly with the position of the individual employee. Thus, legislation has been designed to eschew the use of collectivist terminology that might conceivably enhance the influence of trade unions (Undy, 1999). Indeed, obstacles placed in the way of unions seeking to utilise the limited employee grievance and disciplinary clauses introduced under the Employment Relations Act severely constrain their ability to defend even individual rights (McKay, 2001; Smith and Morton, 2001).