Shooting the past? The modernisation of Conservative Party employment relations policy under David Cameron

Williams, Stephen; Scott, Peter

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.2009.00550.x

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

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“…The 1979-97 Conservative governments provide an obvious source to seek possible continuities in policy themes with a Conservative-led Coalition government. The Coalition's various interventions into the field of UK employment relations intensify many of the themes encountered in the Thatcher / Major administrations' neo-liberal restructuring of this policy area, which is somewhat ironic, given David Cameron's tactical concern in opposition to distance his policies from the 'nasty party' image (Williams and Scott, 2010). Examples of policy continuities with the Thatcher and Major governments include the encouragement of a more flexible labour market, support for employee share ownership, particularly through Chancellor George Osborne's employee -shareholder scheme, further marketisation of the public sector and privatisation (notably, the plan to sell successive shares in Royal Mail).…”

Section: How Distinctive Is the Coalition's Approach?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Coalition Government and employment relations : accelerated neo-liberalism and the rise of employer-dominated voluntarism

Scott

Williams

2014

osb

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The Coalition Government's interventions in the field of UK employment relations represent a sustained attempt to shift further the balance of domestic employment law and workplace employment relations in favour of employers. The Government has deployed the alleged interests of small and medium sized employers, under conditions of recession and accelerated globalisation, to weaken some individual employment rights, including various long-standing protections. Suprisingly little internal dissension to such developments has been apparent within the Coalition. A 'Coalition effect' is detectable through the parallel promotion of 'fairness', most visible in a number of new measures to promote work-life balance. However, we argue that the overall impact on UK employment relations is a deliberate attempt to reduce employment rights and the role of law in the individual employment relationship, to weaken workers' ability to enforce remaining rights, and to strengthen the position of employers vis-a vis employees and government in the regulation of many aspects of the employment relationship.

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Section: How Distinctive Is the Coalition's Approach?mentioning

confidence: 99%