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Exclusion and Disarticulation: The Transport and General Workers' Union in the Road Haulage Industry, 1979–1998
Author(s) -
Smith Paul
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8543.00145
Subject(s) - haulage , restructuring , trade union , incentive , collective bargaining , business , bargaining power , government (linguistics) , industrial relations , principal (computer security) , economics , international trade , labour economics , market economy , engineering , finance , management , microeconomics , linguistics , philosophy , structural engineering , computer science , rope , operating system
The attrition of trade union organization and collective bargaining in the UK is accepted as having been a principal feature of industrial relations since 1980, but there is no general agreement as to the causes. This paper explores trade union disarticulation and exclusion in a 1979–98 study of the Transport and General Workers' Union Road Transport Commercial trade group, which organizes in the road haulage industry. It emphasizes the importance of the legal framework established by the Conservative government in inhibiting union power at a time of the ongoing restructuring of road haulage, providing companies with the opportunity and incentive to exclude trade union organization and fragment union bargaining power.