The Survival of National Bargaining in the Electrical Contracting Industry: A Deviant Case?

Abstract

This article explores what is often seen to be a deviant case in the development of bargaining structure in British industry, namely the electrical contracting industry, where multi-employer national bargaining is often claimed to have remained strong. The first part of the paper briefly outlines the wider context of collective bargaining trends in British industry. In the second section, the development of collective bargaining arrangements in electrical contracting is outlined. The third section then investigates recent developments and the degree to which arrangements in the industry have deviated from the rest of the private sector. In the final section explanations are offered and implications explored. The industry's bargaining arrangements are seen as having some positive outcomes in terms of the regulation of self-employment, employee benefits, and training.

Collective Bargaining and the Gender Pay Gap in the Printing Industry

“…The employers held regional meetings with representatives from member companies and their industrial relations committee, to determine their agenda. However, as the union weakened and local bargaining reduced, pay became the only agenda item, thus, contrary to Gospel and Druker (, p. 251), the agreement became more important as the only source of pay increases.…”

“…Bargaining may occur at a number of levels: national, regional, enterprise or plant. Multi‐employer (national) bargaining grew to the 1960s but thereafter declined so that by 2011 only 6 per cent of private sector workplaces utilized this method (van Wanrooy et al ., , p. 22), those agreements that continued in existence probably no more than ‘safety nets’ (Gospel and Druker, , p. 251).…”

Unions and the Sword of Justice: Unions and Pay Systems, Pay Inequality, Pay Discrimination and Low Pay

“…Gospel and Drucker (1998) show that in parts of printing, textiles and clothing, multi-employer bargaining still sets "a minimum safety net of terms and conditions". Further "national multi-employer regulation has survived in the construction sector.…”

Accounting for change in public sector industrial relations: the erosion of national bargaining in further education in England and Wales

“…The exposition of a 'deviant' case study has its advantages. For example, by exploring the resilience of multi-employer bargaining in electrical contracting, Gospel and Druker (1998) were able to consider why this sector had gone against the more general trend of decentralisation, broadening our knowledge of how bargaining levels are influenced. In a similar vein an analysis of developments in further education points to the strengths and limitations of the strategic choice model as a device for understanding change in public sector industrial relations.…”