Labour Relations

Abstract

Among the most arduous of company management’s responsibilities was the control of unionised staff. With strong unions entrenched in the ‘custom and practice’ of overmanning, restrictive practices and regular overtime at high hourly rates, talk of weak management was easy, but thanks to favourable legislation trade unions were at this time too powerful and privileged to be gainsaid even by governments. Across industry and the economy as a whole, they exerted irresistible pressure on Wilson’s, brought down Heath’s and humiliated Callaghan’s. This was a period when good industrial relations were commonly taken to mean the avoidance of strikes. The only means of putting a stop to established malpractices was to gamble on victory in what might prove a long, costly and possibly crippling stoppage, and a risk of this magnitude was rarely worth taking by companies with six-year contracts and no guarantee of an extension.