Trade Unionism in the Public Sector

Abstract

Most of this volume is devoted to unionism in the private sector because there is considerably more variability there than in the public sector. As unionisation in the latter is very much higher, there is consequently relatively little individual variation. Equally, there is greater uniformity with respect to terms and conditions of employment, and contextual factors. The most significant of these are highly centralised, so that the effective number of ‘employers’, whatever the legal situation, is very limited — indeed, at certain times, and perhaps increasingly, tending to just one, the government in conjunction with the Treasury.