Management of collective bargaining

In the literature of industrial relations little attention has as yet been paid to the attitudes and policies of employers and their organizations towards collective bargaining. This book remedies the deficiency by comparing the development and practice in seven industrialized countries the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Japan and the United States.

The book examines the distinguishing character istics of the structure of collective bargaining, looking in particular at whether or not bargaining is collective on the employers' side. In a range of industries engineering, chemicals, clothing, construction and printing it discusses the nature and extent of employer involvement in collective bargaining in the workplace, the district and industry. It also discusses the multi-industry bargaining in which employers' confederations are involved.

In the analysis considerable emphasis is placed on the origins of and early developments in collective bargaining and their links with patterns of industrialization. The argument is developed in a way that makes it possible not only to present a considerable amount of material previously unavailable in English, but also to explain some of the key features of industrial relations in Britain and other countries.