Industrial Relations

Abstract

Relations between Harland & Wolff and the trade unions that represented their labour force were generally good. But how typical was this? How far did economic conditions in each city shape employer— labour relations? Was Harland & Wolff unique or can they be fitted into a wider pattern of industrial relations in these years? To try and assess these factors it is necessary to look an industrial relations in other sectors of Belfast’s economy and compare these with the other cities in this study. Employers throughout Britain faced with the emergence of organised labour did not always seek co-operation. Some simply ignored the unions in the hope that they would go away, others drove them out using lockouts and free labour.