Employee relations public policy developments 1997-2001: a break with the past?

Outlines the new individual and collective rights established for all employees by the first Blair Labour Government. It then discusses the rationale for these developments, namely competitive advantage on the basis of labour market flexibility combined with minimum labour standards and security of employment for employees, the promotion of a partnership, as opposed to adversial, relationship between employers and employees at the workplace and the need to build a political consensus for a legal framework surrounding the UK employee relations system. The article concludes by assessing whether these developments represent a break and/or continuation relative to other twentieth century UK governments.