The Conservative Party and the Labour Market, 1964–97

Abstract

Both the Heath and Thatcher ministries pursued activist approaches towards trade union reform that contrasted sharply with the cautious or hands-off method practiced by the Conservative governments of 1951–64. The Heath government carried out a comprehensive reform of industrial relations with the introduction of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act. The Thatcher government introduced a series of Employment Acts, Trade Union Acts, and a Wages Act that led to a transformation of industrial relations and the labour market in Britain. The subsequent Major ministry largely consolidated and extended the reforms of 1979–90 (Dorey, 1999) and is therefore not considered in any great detail in this chapter.