Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T10:57:22.778Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rise and Rise of Market Relations in the British Public Sector: Implications for Industrial Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Bob Carter ,
Steven Davies  and
Peter Fairbrother
Bob Carter
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Leicester
Steven Davies
Affiliation:
Public Services International Research Unit, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Peter Fairbrother
Affiliation:
Centre for Economic and Social Transformation, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Having outlined a traditional model of British public sector industrial relations, this article focuses on developments from the 1980s to 2001. It argues that there has been a reorganisation of the state through privatisation and an historical shift in employment relations, from the state as a ‘model’, administrative employer to an increasingly managerial employer. In effect, a depoliticisation of employment relations has taken place, with the withdrawal of central government from direct control over operational and organisational activity in the public services. As part of these processes, the public services in Britain have been marketised, with the creation of a public service sector, no longer defined by ownership but by the service provided. These developments are reflected in the changing patterns of industrial relations activity in the public services, with profound implications for trade unionism.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , June 2002 , pp. 36 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, A., Lugsden, E., Chase, J., Arber, S., Bond, S. (2000) ‘Skill-Mix Changes and Work Intensification in Nursing’, Work, Employment and Society, 14 (3): 541–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audit Commission Briefing (2000) Seeing is Believing: How the Audit Commission will carry out best value inspections in England, February.Google Scholar
Bacon, R., Eltis, W. (1976) Britain’s Economic Problem: Too Few Producers, London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Bailey, R. (1994) ‘Annual Review Article 1993: British Public Sector Industrial Relations’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 32 (1): 113–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[Bains Report] (1972) Study Group on Local Authority Management Structure The New Local Authorities: Management and Structure, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Barber, M. (1992) Education and the Teacher Unions, London: Cassell Google Scholar
Beadle, R. (1995) ‘Opting Out of Pay Devolution? The Prospects for Local Pay Bargaining in UK Public Services: A Comment’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 33 (1): 137–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, R. (2002) ‘Blair runs for cover as ministers try to soothe irate union leaders’ Financial Times, 5 February: 3.Google Scholar
Blair, T. (2001a) ‘Blair: trust me on public services’ Guardian, 11 September.Google Scholar
Blair, T. (2001b) ‘Reform of Public Services’, speech at Royal Free Hospital in London, 16 July.Google Scholar
Brenner, R. (1998) ‘Uneven Development and the Long Downturn’, New Left Review, 229: 1–26.Google Scholar
Burnham, P. (1999a) ‘The Politics of Economic Management in the 1990s’, New Political Economy, 4 (1): 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, P. (1999b) ‘The Recomposition of National States in the Global Economy: From Politicised to Depoliticised Forms of Labour Regulation’, in Edwards, P. and Elger, T. (Eds) The Global Economy, National States and the Regulation of Labour, London: Mansell: 42–63.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office (1999) Modernising Government, Cm. 4310, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office (2001) Civil Service Statistics 2000, Norwich: HMSO.Google Scholar
Carter, B. (2000) ‘Adoption of the Organising Model in British Trade Unions: Some Evidence from MSF’, Work, Employment and Society, 14 (1): 117-136CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, B. and Fairbrother, P. (1995) ‘The Remaking of the State Middle Class’, in Butler, T. and Savage, M. (Eds), Social Change and the Middle Classes London: UCL Press: 143–145.Google Scholar
Carter, B., Fairbrother, P. (1999) ‘The Transformation of British Public-Sector Industrial relations: From ‘Model Employer’ to Marketized Relations’, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 7 (Spring): 119–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, B., Poynter, G. (1999) ‘Unions in a Changing Climate: MSF and Unison Experiences in the New Public Sector’, Industrial Relations Journal, 30 (5): 499-513CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations (2000) Annual Report of the Certification Officer 1999–2000, London: Brandon House.Google Scholar
Coates, D (1980) Labour in Power. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Colling, T. (1995) ‘Renewal or rigor mortis? Union responses to contracting in local government’, Industrial Relations Journal, 26 (2): 134–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cully, M., Woodland, S. (1996) ‘Trade union membership and recognition: an analysis of data from the 1995 Labour Force Survey’, Labour Market Trends, May: 215–225.Google Scholar
Davies, S. (1991) Agenda for the future: The Civil Service towards the Twenty First Century. NUCPS.Google Scholar
Davies, S. (2001) ‘The myth of accountability’, Public Finance 9–15 November: 22–23.Google Scholar
Davidson, J. O’C. (1993) Privatisation and Employment Relations. London: Mansell.Google Scholar
Elliott, R., Duffus, K. (1996) ‘What Has Been Happening to Pay in the Public Service Sector of the British Economy? Developments over the Period 1970–1992’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 34 (1): 51–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farnham, D. and Horton, S. (1996) ‘The Political Economy of Public Sector Change’, in Farnham, D. and Horton, S. (Eds) Managing the New Public Services, Basingstoke: MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbrother, P. (1989) ‘State Workers: Class Position and Collective Action’, in Duncan, G. (Ed) Democracy and the Capitalist State, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 187–213.Google Scholar
Fairbrother, P. (1994) Politics and the State as Employer, London: Mansell.Google Scholar
Fairbrother, P. (2000) Trade Unions at the Crossroads, London: Mansell.Google Scholar
Fairbrother, P., Moore, S., Poynter, G. (1996) ‘UNISON Branch Organisation Case Study Reports’, presented to the Strategic Review Committee, UNISON, mimeo: 235.Google Scholar
Fairbrother, P., Poynter, G. (2001) ‘State Restructuring: Managerialism, Marketisation and the Implications for Labour’, Competition and Change, 5 (3): 311–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farnham, D. and Horton, S. (Eds) (1993) Managing the New Public Services. London: MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, D., Scott, P. (1998a) ‘Competitive Tendering of Public Services and Industrial Relations Policy: The Conservative Agenda under Thatcher and Major, 1979–97’, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 6 (Autumn): 101–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, D., Scott, P. (1998b) ‘Conceptualising Union Responses to Contracting Out Municipal Services, 1979–97’, Industrial Relations Journal, 29 (2): 137–50.Google Scholar
Fenwick, J. (1995) Managing Local Government, London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Fraud, J., Haslam, C., Johal, S., Shaoul, J., Williams, K. (1996) ‘Stakeholder Economy? From Utility Privatization to New Labour’, Capital & Class, 60:119–134.Google Scholar
[ Report, Ibbs] Jenkins, K., Caines, K., Jackson, A. (1988) Improving Management in Government: The Next Steps, Efficiency Unit. HMSO.Google Scholar
Fry, G. K. (1974) ‘Civil Service Salaries in the Post — Priestley Era 1956–1972’, Public Administration, (Autumn): 319–333.Google Scholar
Fryer, R., Fairclough, A., Manson, T. (1974) Organisation and Change in the National Union of Public Employees, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, Coventry.Google Scholar
Gall, G. (2001) ‘The Organisation of Organised Discontent: The Case of the Postal Workers in Britain’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 39 (3): 393–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[ Report, Gershon] Gershon, P. (1999) Review of Civil Procurement in Central Government, HM TreasuryGoogle Scholar
[ Report, Griffiths] (1983) Griffiths, R. (1983) NHS Management Inquiry, London: DHSS.Google Scholar
Hall, D. (2000) Impact of electricity privatization on industrial relations — lessons from the UK and Hungary, PSIRU, November.Google Scholar
Harris, J. (1998) ‘Scientific Management, Bureau-Professionalism, New Managerialism: The Labour Process of State Social Work’, British Journal of Social Work 28: 839–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, C. (1999) The Political Economy of New Labour, Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Hicks, S. (2000) ‘Trade union membership 1988–99: an analysis of data from the Certification officer and Labour Force Survey’, Labour Market Trends, July: 329–39.Google Scholar
[ Report, Ibbs] Jenkins, K., Caines, K., Jackson, A. (1988) Improving Management in Government: The Next Steps, Efficiency Unit. HMSO.Google Scholar
Jackson, P., Palmer, B. (1992) Developing Performance Monitoring in Public Sector Organisations Leicester: University of Leicester Management Centre.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. (1996) ‘Union militancy and social partnership’, in Ackers, P., Smith, C. and Smith, P. (Eds) The New Workplace and Trade Unionism, London: Routledge: 77–109.Google Scholar
Kerr, D. (1998) ‘The PFI Miracle’, Capital & Class, 64: 17–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyddon, D. (1998) ‘Rediscovering the Past: Recent British Strike Tactics in Historical Perspective’, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 5 (Spring): 107–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayo, E., Moore, H. (2001) The Mutual State: How local communities can run public services, NEF.Google Scholar
Martin, B. (1993) In the Public Interest? Privatisation and Public Sector Reform, London: Zed Books in association with Public Services International.Google Scholar
[Maud Report] Committee on the Management of Local Government (1967), Management of Local Government. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
McIntosh, I., Broderick, J. (1996) ‘“Neither One Thing Nor The Other”: Compulsory Competitive Tendering and SouthBurgh Cleansing Services’, Work, Employment and Society 10 (3): 413–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, C. (1996) Public Service Trade Unionism and Radical Politics, Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
National Board for Prices and Incomes (1967) Pay and Conditions of Manual Workers in Local Authorities, the National Health Service, Gas and Water Supply, Report No. 29, Cmnd. 3230, HMSO.Google Scholar
Nichols, T. (1986) The British Worker Question: A New Look at British Workers and Productivity, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Pendleton, A. (1997) ‘What Impact has Privatization had on Pay and Employment? A Review of the British Experience’, Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 52 (3): 554–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollit, C. (1990) Managerialism and the Public Services Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Power, M. (1997) The Audit Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Poynter, G. (1998) ‘The Unions and New Labour’, Soundings — The Next Ten Years, Special Issue: 111–124.Google Scholar
Poynter, G. (2000) Restructuring in the Service Industries, management reform and workplace relations in the UK service sector, London: Mansell.Google Scholar
[Priestley Report] (1955) Report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service 1953–1955. Cmd. 9613, 1955. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Public Services Privatisation Research Unit 1996, The Privatisation Network — the multinationals bid for public services, London: PSPRU.Google Scholar
[Seebohm Report] (1968) Committee on Local Authority and Allied Personal Social Services Report, Cmnd 3703, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Shaoul, J. (2001) ‘Debt model fails to take off’, Public Finance, 30 November–6 December: 18–20.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. (1993) The Trade Union Question in British Politics: Government and Unions since 1945, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Thornley, C. (1995) The ‘Model Employer’ Myth: The Need for Theoretical Renewal in Public Sector Industrial Relations, Thirteenth International Labour Process Conference, Blackpool, 5–7 April.Google Scholar
Thornley, C. (1998) ‘Contesting Local Pay: The Decentralization of Collective Bargaining in the NHS’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 36 (3): 413–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treasury (1992) Autumn Statement 1992, November.Google Scholar
Treasury Select Committee Fourth Report (2000) The Private Finance Initiative. 23 March 2000.Google Scholar
Unison (no date), Best Value: What it Means for Unison Members, London: UnisonGoogle Scholar
Waddington, J. (1992) ‘Trade Union Membership in Britain, 1980–1987: Unemployment and Restructuring’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 30 (2): 287–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, G., Hatchett, A. (2001) Public Sector Pay Under Labour: Change and Continuity 1997–2001, Paper presented at the 16th Annual Employment Research Unit Conference at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 10–11 September, mimeo.Google Scholar
Paper, White (1982) Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Civil Service, London, HMSO.Google Scholar
Whitfield, D. (1992) The Welfare State. Privatisation, Deregulation, Commercialisation of Public Services: Alternative Strategies for the 1990s, London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Whitfield, D. (2001) Public Services Or Corporate Welfare? Rethinking the Nation State in the Global Economy, Sterling VA, London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, D., Game, C. (1998) Local Government in the United Kingdom, 2nd Edition; Basingstoke: Macmillan. www.themutualstate.org Google Scholar