Changes in Working Practices in British Manufacturing Industry in the 1980s: A Study of Employee Concessions Made During Wage Negotiations

Abstract

Abstract The 1980s witnessed a considerable increase in the rate of growth of manufacturing productivity in Britain. This paper attempts to reveal the extent of systematic change at the work‐place which was associated with this improvement. The study focuses on changes in working practices introduced concurrently with negotiations over wage increases; in every year throughout the decade around one third of wage settlements involving trade unions included productivity enhancing change. It is argued that the discipline of competitive pressure and the absence of incomes policy gave rise to the growth in the incidence of wage negotiations which featured a productivity element.